Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management

(Steven Felgate) #1

achieve organization and individual-level performance goals. Managers are in-
creasingly realizing that for their organizations to become or remain competitive
in global markets, they need to attract, motivate, and retain people who are
accepting of diversity, have strong personal networks, and who excel in collabora-
tive work (Tung 1993 ). There are increasing calls for HRM strategies to develop
managers who areXexible, mobile, multi-skilled, and multidisciplinary, and who
possess a high degree of cross-cultural sensitivity.
It has been argued that HRM practices that incorporate diversity initiatives in
transnationalWrms lead to improvements in theWrm’s operational and managerial
eVectiveness by helping managers and employees to adapt to diverse contexts
(Evans et al. 2002 ). For example, in the case of JapaneseWrms in China, Chinese
employees work with Japanese managers, despite historical rivalry between the two
nationalities. Liu et al. ( 2004 : 730 ) suggest that identifying ‘co-operative goals and
applying abilities for mutual beneWt contribute(s) to eVective leadership even when
managers and employees have diVerent nationalities.’





    1. 5 Employees in Developing Countries




Countries such as China and India provide examples of nations where the ‘liber-
alization of the economy, and the extra competition from overseasWrms, has put a
lot of pressure on the personnel function of... domestic companies to prepare
and develop their human resources’ (Budhwar and Baruch 2003 : 701 ). In such
countries, the impact of foreign direct investment is complex and has been the
subject of considerable debate (Jones 2005 ). For transnationalWrms, and particu-
larly for HRM professionals, there are opportunities to contribute to developing
countries via initiatives such as the introduction of vocational training programs
and career planning and management, the facilitation of cross-national technology
and knowledge transfers, and the provision of advice to governments, trade unions,
consumers, and communities, as well as employers in developing countries. How-
ever, such initiatives have been criticized for assuming the appropriateness of
universal application of Western approaches to HR development.


25.7 Future Directions for Theory,


Research, and Practice
.........................................................................................................................................................................................


Overall, in the past, many Western researchers and managers have assumed that
Western approaches to management are universally applicable. Traditional


transnational firms and cultural diversity 523
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