International Human Resource Management [Document subtitle]

Transcription

1 International Human Resource Management [Document subtitle]

2 Table of Contents Introduction Approach to resource management team Cultural differences between UK and Germany Implications of the Cultural differences to HR practices Long-term strategic approach Should the company stick with the ethnocentric strategy or not?...5 Conclusion...6 References...8 1

3 Introduction Greenway Hotels is a large chain of hotels that operates in the UK, it has around 60 hotels and 20 are specifically located in London. The organisation generated total revenue of 220 million pounds in its last financial year. It has a high number of employees, almost 7,000. In the UK, the hotels are managed with highly competent managers and leaders who maximize their potential to see the organisation succeeding. All management functions within the organisation are carried out effectively hence the reason why it generates great profits (Company website). Employees are realistically the most vital resources that can be possessed by any organisation. Bearing this in mind, the management of Greenway Hotels ensures that all its employees are effectively managed and utilized to produce quality and quantity outputs. The company aims to expand its operations into Germany. It faces a number of challenges that are language barriers, re-branding, recruitment and high costs of operations in Germany. 1.0 Approach to resource management team The approach that the Greenways hotel can apply to source its management team is advertising vacancies for the posts and then inviting applicants for interviews. Simply, the organisation should apply the interviewing approach to recruit its management team to head its hotel in Germany. There are two types of interviews that are sequential interviews and in depth interviews (Ingemar, 1997). In sequential interviews there is a guideline that outlines specific questions that interviewees will respond to. Interviewers are not given any opportunities to ask any question that might arise as long as it is not included in the guideline. In depth interviews lack a guideline for carrying out the interviewing process. Interviewers are free to ask any questions that might arise (Mathews, 2000). The interviewees on the other hand have the 2

4 opportunities to fully express themselves and campaign for their competencies. The main advantage of sequential interviewing techniques is that it is less time consuming. Results comparison is much easier and can be applied to large population at the same time. On the other hand, in depth interviewing technique gives interviewers and interviewees opportunities to express themselves further. Through this technique, sufficient information can be obtained from the interviews vital in selecting the most competent applicant. Greenways hotels should apply either in-depth or sequential interviewing techniques to source for its management team. 2.0 Cultural differences between UK and Germany Collectivism VS individualism- In the UK, employees and management are united (Benardin, 2007). They believe in working together so as to develop as a unit, hence showing management achievement in the creation of united company. In Germany, employees and their management are not united strongly. They have differences since most managers apply the Autocratic leadership style and this makes employees to dislike their managers. Power distance- The power distance in Germany is high when compared to the UK as a result of the large gap between the rich and the poor (Terry, 2000). This comes up as a result of unequal distribution of income in the country which affects economic prosperity in one way or another. The wealthy people tend to be well protected as compared to those from poor backgrounds. Uncertainty avoidance- The uncertainty avoidance culture in Germany is high when compared to the UK meaning that Indonesians are very emotional. They tend to learn from uncertainties and outline laws and policies to deal with future similar changes. They work collectively to come up with effective plans to solve current uncertainties that they were not prepared of. 3

5 Germans focus mostly in the future and pays little emphasis on short term objectives unlike in the UK. This motivates them to set policies, values and strategies that are long-term. As a result of this, any (Benardin, 2007)company is in a state of coming up with effective plans to handle any future changes or uncertainty. This makes it to prepare well for the economic disasters that it s exposed to and experiences abruptly each year. In both Germany and UK, gender balance is given first priority. Both men and female are given opportunities to head state and institutional positions as long as they meet set goals and objectives. There is no single person that is discriminated against in terms of gender. However, German has more female leaders when compared to the UK. 3.0 Implications of the Cultural differences to HR practices As outlined above, it s clear that employees and managers in Germany are not united due to the leadership strategy applied. The autocratic leadership strategy is specifically the one that brings about such individualism. As a result of this, the human resource manager to be deployed in German should come up with a good leadership strategy to unite employees. Democratic leadership style should be applied as it gives employees high opportunities to relate well their management (Dowling, Festing and Engle, 2008). Employees are free to share their ideas and vital information with management, hence creating a united company. In German, managers believe in setting long term strategies. In order to establish a competitive advantage over rival hotels in Germany, the HR manager should come up with effective HR strategies that are both short term and long term. This will make it easier for the manager to handle current and future HR uncertainties in the most appropriate manner. Since female in Germany are given more leadership opportunities than in the UK, the HR manager should ensure that reasonable 4

6 leadership posts are given to females in Germany so as to avoid getting into conflicts with Germans. This is vital in enabling the company attract clients and grow without sabotage from the German Consumers. 4.0 Long-term strategic approach In Germany, companies succeed in establishing large client bases by focusing on meet their clients needs and wants. They respect their clients opinions and make them feel of great value to their success. In order for the Greenway Hotel being opened in Germany to succeed, the management of the company should apply the customer focus strategy as its long-term plan. The customer focus strategy is an approach that makes a business organisation to be concerned mostly with meeting needs and wants of clients rather than revenues (Brewster and Scullion, 1997). The best way to generate good revenues is to satisfy fully the needs of customers according to the customer focus strategy. Once customers needs and wants are fully met after consuming various products and services from an organisation, they develop positive attitudes towards the company. In fact, they always propose the organisation to family and friends. In the process, they market the organisation indirectly. As a result of this, the company establishes a strong client base that makes it easier to realise its goals and objectives. By applying this strategy, regardless of the cultural differences that exists between German and UK, Greenway Hotel that will be opened in Germany will be able to prosper and realise its goals and objectives. 5.0 Should the company stick with the ethnocentric strategy or not? Greenways hotel should not continue with its ethnocentric strategy. This due to the fact that bringing their employees from the UK will result to a number of management challenges. For example, communication between the managers and German employees will be very difficult. 5

7 Also, organising German classes for the management team will make the company to incur high extra expenses. Also, the company is likely to face sabotage from German consumers because they will feel undermined by the company by allocating top organisations to managers from UK. The Polycentric strategy should be the one applied in this case. Conclusion Greenway Hotels is a large chain of hotels that operates in the UK, it has around 60 hotels and 20 are specifically located in London. The company wants to open a new hotel in Germany. Before doing so the company should analyse closely the cultural differences between Germany and UK. This is vital in coming up with effective plans and strategies to ensure that the new hotels is well established. The company currently prefers applying the ethnocentric strategy. This strategy is very tricky and may affect the organisation s opportunity to establish its new hotel. It should therefore adopt a strategy that will make it easily gain the support of Germans. The approach that the company may benefit from is the Polycentric strategy. This will make Germans to rally behind the new hotel and support its establishment. 6

8 References Bernardin, H Cultural differences in Europe. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Brewster, C., and Scullion, H A review and agenda for expatriate HRM. Human Resource Management Journal, 7(3), Dowling, J., Festing M. and Engle, D International Human Resource Management. 5th ed. London: Thomson Learning. pp. 81,82,83. Ingemar, T. I Staffing for international operations. Human Resource Management Journal, 7(3), Matthews, V.E Competition in the international hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 12(2), Terry, D. M Effective management strategies and approaches. Human Resource Management Journal, 7(3),