HR and Management Strategies for Multinational Corporations
When a corporation becomes a multinational corporation, it means they are operating in many countries across the globe. Thus, there are some strategies bound to change in order to adopt the company to the host countries. In any organization, the people or human resource is the greatest determinant to success as well as management of the organization. All countries and regions have their different organizational cultures that result from the similarities of languages, cultures, religions among other aspects. Thus, in every country a multinational corporation enters, there are bound to be differences that dictate the kind of strategy that can guarantee success.
One of the strategies used by the HR and management is seeking to adapt to the needs of the employees depending on the host country. In countries with cultural diversities form the parent company, there are many differences and it requires the management to change in order to accommodate some of them. In this strategy, the human resource and management have to consider the legal, political economic and technological factors in the host country that dictate what approach the management should use. However, despite the differences, the worlds has globalized, where there are internationally accepted practices used across many countries and rarely have much differences. Despite having to consider the host country influence, the organization should also remember to keep the parent company with much influence to ensure the corporate vision is shared across all the subsidiaries (Briscoe, Schuler & Tarique, 2012).
Impact of Globalization on Success of MNCs
Globalization refers to the integration of people from across the whole globe through interaction in businesses, trading among other things. Globalization has allowed people to travel across the whole globe and establish businesses in other countries with minimal barriers, which has allowed for exchange of ideas. Thus, globalization happens in several forms such as transfer of information across the whole world through technology such as internet, transfer of people through immigration that allows transfer of labor, and transfer of materials allowing production in various places as well as transport of finished products for sales. Although multinational corporations are regarded as drivers of globalization, globalization also determines the success of the multinational corporations in several ways (Briscoe, Schuler & Tarique, 2012).
The effect of globalization stems from the fact that multinational corporations have several subsidiaries in different countries. Some of these subsidiaries can benefit from globalization positively or negatively. One of the effects of globalization on multinational corporations is providing an opportunity to international markets. Globalization allows multinational companies and corporations to access markets in other countries, which otherwise would be impossible to access without globalization, which facilitates establishing businesses in other regions (Briscoe, Schuler & Tarique, 2012). In addition, through internet that drives globalization through information, consumers from all over the world can purchase goods from anywhere in the world and have them delivered. Thus, through globalizations, multinational corporations are in a position to expand their customer base, increasing their success especially in expansion of their business.
In addition, globalization allows access to labor from all over the world. Multinational corporations can access labor at cheap costs from other countries, which is facilitated by globalization. Globalization allows movement of people from one area to another with ease and faster. In addition, opening up businesses in other countries provides the corporation with access to more diversified labor since every country will have people ready to work. This is most evident in countries such as China and India where the population is dense and there are so many willing to work at cheap prices. It also allows businesses to outsource some of their operations to regions where production is cheaper. Thus, globalization plays an important role in the success of multinational corporations. Globalization could also act as a hindrance to their success due to stiff competition posed by globalization as well as differences in the different regions.
Role of ERP in HR Practices
Currently, things have changed where businesses have devised ways of integrating their systems within the organization to meet the diversified customer needs. Thus, better management of resources and information crucial for the delivery of production and services. When different department within the organization hold their own data, and each department has its database, collecting information about employee issues becomes hard. This will mean recording of data in different places by different people, increasing chances of making eras. ERP, Enterprise Resource Planning, aims at solving this problem through integrating all the information across all departments together, for all departments to use. All the data of the company is recorded in a central database where users can have access to the information without having to get it from the department it is sourced.
With an ERP, which integrates all the processes of an organization in the different departments, HR can be in a position to control information they require from all the departments with ease. Organizations in the current age are to a bigger extent dependent on attracting of most talented workers, developing them, and retaining them. For this to be possible there is need for a system responsible for management of the employees. Through Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP, it is possible for the human resource department to centralize control but keep the operations decentralized (Briscoe, Schuler & Tarique, 2012). This allows the human resource personnel to lay their focus on the strategic responsibilities necessary for the planning of personnel programs for development.
ERP enables and provides the management of human resources department with integration of the different process of the department such as planning, administering or preparation of the payroll, development of employees, and administration of healthy of work in the organization. ERP plays an important role in decision-making, analysis, embracing management, and reporting of control. ERP also provides a solution to communication within the organization, which is one of the key factors in operations of any organization. Through integrating information from all the department of the organization and allowing all users from all departments to access information they need from other departments, making timely informed decisions becomes easy. Finally, ERP is meant to contribute to the automation of processes of the human resource department. The system assists the users with fitting of personnel management into core business processes of the organization in general. Thus, it helps in promoting the relationship between the organization and the employees. The main role of ERP in human resource is integrating the processes and information allowing centralized decision making while operation activities remain decentralized.
Role of Knowledge Management Practices
As many organizations and companies have become increasingly aware the necessity of knowledge management as a key factor and crucial asset, they are not only seeking to use it for competition, but also maintain a competitive advantage. Knowledge has been recognized as a crucial asset of creating and sustaining competitive advantage, which is its main role. Knowledge management refers to the use of knowledge of the organization in the creation, storing, transferring and applying knowledge of the organization. Organizations seek to use knowledge management in order to ensure they remain competitive in the market. Knowledge management practices have many roles in an organization, with the main role being to make decisions that enable organizations to be at an advantage in the market. This entails acquiring knowledge from different sources of information concerning factors affecting businesses as well as areas of interest where an organization can realize some advantage. It is then used for making decisions concerning the organization. Decision-making uses knowledge as the raw material, which is provided through knowledge management (Briscoe, Schuler & Tarique, 2012).
Another role of knowledge management practices has been recognized as the key driver of attaining new knowledge as well as new ideas that lead to innovations of new products and services. Thus, knowledge management practices in organizations are usually an effort to acquire new knowledge that is necessary for making innovations to currently existing products and services. Some of the innovations also include coming up with better ways of doing business such as reducing costs, increasing of value and profit, responding fast to issues concerning the organization, and providing a chance for expansion and growth. All these are designed to create a competitive advantage, which all organizations seek achieve a competitive advantage in order realize more profits and revenues. Currently, knowledge is the most sought resource in any organization, since without knowledge organizations have very little chance of survival. Organizations require knowing more about markets in which they exist in order to provide what is demanded. This requires good knowledge management. Thus, knowledge management practices in organizations seek to create a competitive advantage as well as its maintenance.
Reference
Briscoe, D., Schuler, R & Tarique, I. (2012). International Human Resource Management, 4E: Global HRM. New York, N.Y: CRC Press.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|