CEMS Course Session Plan For The Year

Transcription

1 CEMS Course Session Plan For The Year Course Title-Human Resource Management in Multinational Corporations Course Coordinator-Prof Pulak Das Course background and Objectives: The objectives of this course are to make the students aware and understand the complexities and challenges of managing human resources in multinational organizations. To manage human resources of subsidiaries spread across many countries and cultures, the managements of these organizations face a constant tension and trade off between HR policies and practice that are same across all their subsidiaries Vs policies that vary from country to country. For day to day operations, the country heads of MNC subsidiaries are quite often confronted with conflicting demands from home country head quarter and host country employees whose expectations and preferences are often couched in local culture, context and goals. Without adequate experience and expertise on business practices and cultural orientations of employees hired from many different countries even an expert country-head may fail to deliver. The course will cover some of the common problems faced by the management of these organizations and the way their senior managers deal with the varieties of pulls and pushes on their HR policies and practices. Session Plan: Session No Learning Creating international organization: strategy and structure, Evolution of multinational enterprise, Choice of method of entry into international business 2 4 HR Challenges faced by international business organizations, difference between domestic and international HRM, variables that moderate difference between domestic and international HRM 3 2,4,5 Case: Human Resource Management in B&Q China: Upgrading Action (A) & (B) B&Q was the number one home improvement retailer in Europe and decided to open chained warehouse stores in 20 big cities in China. With company s decentralized HRM model and weak HRM foundation, Lilly Chen the newly appointed Executive Vice President (HRM & Training) faced an uphill task of meeting needs of adequate and qualified human resources for manning the stores in China. After a company wide discussion between management and executive committee, the management approved HRM improvement plan proposed by Lilly Chen. The main changes were ) application of centralised HRM model; 2) launch of job evaluation process; 3: renew job description system; Implement a scientific result-oriented performance management system and 5) introduce a fair incentive system.

2 Session No Learning 4 3,45 National culture and its implications in human resource management; Hofstede description of national culture and the way it could be used to understand employee behaviours within organization. 5 3,4,5 Trompennar description of national culture and the way behaviours of people from other countries could be understood and used for business success. 6 2, 4., 5 Case: Vodafone Italy: Designing Solutions for effective Human Resource Management and Career Development From 996 to 2006 Vodafone Italy grew fast from a small 60 to a big 0000 employee company. Starting as a start-up company in Italy, many of its employees experienced an informal flexible organization characterised by high task autonomy changing into a rigid, static, and centralized one governed by several procedures coming from its HQ in England. Employee motivations suffered due to reduced career opportunities and slower mobility. Supervisors were perceived as ineffective and unable to coach or develop employees focussed on ex-post evaluation. Procedure and process seemed to prevail over people. 7 4, 5 Business internationalization and challenge of working with a diverse workforce; different kinds of diversity; demographic diversity, national diversity; building multi-cultural team effectiveness. 8 2,3,5 Case: Trend Micro Trend Micro was a Computer antivirus software company headquartered in Tokyo. Company top management team of 2 executives were from different countries. The case describes the CEO s effort to build a multicultural team that combined well the best of Eastern and Western values. 9, 3, 4 Approach to staffing of global enterprise: Ethnocentric, Polycentric and Geometric policies; expatriate failure; cost of failure; factors moderating expatriate failure; Selection criteria 0 2, 3, 4, 5 Case: Ellen Moore: Living and working in Korea; Western Systems Inc (WSI) was a Joint venture between a Korean and a North American IT firms. Ellen Moore, a system analysts was sent from US to manage a project involving a team of North American and Korean consultants. Ellen was chosen as the key North American project manager because of her in-depth knowledge of the subject and impressive international experience. Upon Ellen s arrival she found that Koran partners were far less skilled on technical areas. Ellen understood that both herself and the Korean manager was to be Co-managers in the project. But immediately after her joining, tension started building on who was the boss and authorised to give direction. Tension escalated until it was clear that the project was behind schedule and Koreans were not taking direction form Ellen. The Koreans insisted that Ellen was the problem. Her superior 2

3 Session No Learning disagreed. He and Ellen must decide how to proceed. The challenge was to find balance between project goal and individual action. 2,3,4,5 Employee repatriation management; Case: Andreas Weber s Reward for Success in an International Assignment-A Return to an uncertain future Early in his career, Andrea Weber was selected as a high potential in a large German bank and was posted in its operations in USA. He progressed swiftly when he was posted in New York office. After sometime, he and his wife decided to return home. But headquarter could not find a suitable position for him in Germany that was appropriate for his experience and expertise. Andreas was wondering what to do. 2 2, 3, 4,5 Employee development for international assignment Case: Reinforcing the international culture at Unilever This case reviews the management development strategy at Unilever. 3, 4,5 Performance management of expatriate and foreign managers: factors affecting performance assessment of country heads; role conception and cultural boundary; performance assessment of third country and host country nationals. 4 2, 3, 5 Case: Black & Decker-Eastern Hemisphere and the ADP Initiatives The Black and Decker is a relatively weak player in Eastern hemisphere and its president is convinced that he needs to significantly increase the number and quality of managers in the region. To assist in the development process the president is considering a US designed appraisal development plan (ADP) in the region. This plan uses 360 degree feedback from peers, subordinates and superiors to assist employees to develop managerial skills and increased managerial accountability. Despite its success in Black & Decker, North America, top management are concerned that ADP will be a failure in eastern hemisphere. 5,4, 5 Management of Compensation of International employees Different methods for setting compensation of managers in MNC: Negotiation; Going rate, Balance sheet, localization, lump sum payment; taxes on expatriate income: Tax equalization; tax protection. 6 2,3,5 Management of Labour Relations in Global Firms Case: Lincoln Electric in China This case looks at how Lincoln Electric, the US-based company renowned for its compensation scheme, tried to implement its human resource policies globally, and particularly in China. The objective is to expose readers to some of the difficulties and myths of pushing well-worn ideas overseas. The case ends off with an important question regarding the company's future, one that depends on its overseas strategy, of which HR is key. 7, 4,5 HRM in International Joint Venture HRM in Joint Venture: Multiple stake holder model; Guideline for managing human resources in International Joint Ventures. 8 2,3,5 Case: Queensland Minerals Limited This case is an up-close look at the management of a large mining and smelting alliance in Australia. One partner is American, the other Australian. Although it is an equally owned venture, the Australians are the 'lead' partners, but they are not doing a very good job. The Americans are frustrated by this, but uncertain as to how 3

4 Session No Learning to influence their partner. The Americans also have been frustrated in their attempts to introduce a new technology to the mine and expand it. The case is an excellent vehicle for exploring the issue of management control and influence in joint ventures. Does having a lead partner make sense? What should be the role of each company vis-a-vis operating issues? Strategic issues? 9, 4, 5 HRM in International Merger and Acquisition Three stage model: Managing HR issues during Stage (pre-combination); managing HR issues during stage 2 (combination and integration) and managing HR issues in stage 3 (solidification and assessment. 20 2, 3, 5 Case: SULZER METCO (C): POST-MERGER INTEGRATION In 994, Sulzer Surface Tech, a division of Sulzer Corporation headquartered in Switzerland and number 2 worldwide, merged with Metco, a US-based division of Perkin-Elmer and No worldwide in the thermal spray industry. The new company with over 800 employees and annual revenue of $33 million became known as Sulzer Metco. The case examines project work toward integration of the two merged entities and how tasking was divided into three phases as the firm cut costs, reduced assets, and combined staff. The case describes how the company undertook efforts to streamline operations (25 units with subsidiaries in 7 countries) and integrate the two corporate cultures, including staff cuts of 23%. The case is suitable for courses dealing with international business strategy and issues of corporate merger and integration. Note:* The numbers in the Learning Objectives column represent; ) Internationalism 2) Business Embeddedness 3) Responsible Citizenship 4) Reflective Critical Thinking 5) Comprehensive Leadership Reading Material: Text Book: International Human Resource Management: Managing People in a Multinational Context- Peter J. Dowling, Alan D. Eagle & Marion Festing Cengage South- Western, 5 th edition, 2007 Reference books:. International Management: Culture, Strategy & Behavior- R. M. Hodgets, F. Luthans, & J.P. Doh, Irwin McGraHill 4 th edition International Human Resource Management: Policies and practices for multinational enterprises- Dennis R Briscoe and Randal S. Schuler, and Lisbeth Claus- Routledge, 3 rd edition Managing Human resources in cross-border alliances- Randal S. Schuler, Susan E. Jackson & Yadong Luo, Routledge The Regional Multinational: MNEs and Global Strategic Management- Alan M. Rugman, Cambridge University Press,

5 5. International organizational behavior: Text, Reading, Cases & Skills- Anne M. Francesco & Barry Allen Gold, Prentice Hall, Culture of the Organization: Software of the mind- G.Hofstede, McGraw Hill, Trompennar, Fons & Hampden-Turner, Charles, Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business, London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, Chris Brewster, Paul Sparrow & Guy Vernon- International Human Resource Management, Universities Press, Evaluation Scheme: A quiz during mid term week 40% A comprehensive end term exam 50% Class Participation during lecture as well as during case presentation 0% 5