MANG6179 International and Comparative Human Resource Management

Module Aims

to assist you to contribute to aspects of people management in an international context. The course aims to enable you to: • appreciate international and comparative developments in the character of the employment relationship • understand institutional and cultural differences • consider, discuss, formulate and communicate human resource strategy and practices for organisations operating across national boundaries including the member states of the EU, the USA, Canada, Japan and South East Asia • achieve an appropriate balance between international strategy and local flexibility • monitor and assess how changes in people management in one country might impact on operations in others • conceive and shape a role for international corporate HR functions • recognise the strengths and limitations of one’s own international/ inter-cultural knowledge and capabilities

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• different aspects of national institutions and cultures, their sources and their implications for international organisations;
• workplace organisation and employment relations processes in the EU and its member states, the USA, Japan and South East Asia;
• the role and effects on organisations of social actors such as nation states, unions, employers associations and international bodies such as the EU and the ILO;
• employment and other laws, systems of joint regulation, and their impact on the HR function and operations;
• differing forms of individual and collective representation, communications, co-ordination and negotiation in different countries;
• distinct training (and other, e.g. social security) systems in different countries; structures and roles of HR functions in different countries;
• the constraints and opportunities offered by differing national infrastructures of employment relations;
• the implications of multi-national operation for the place and activities of the HR function; notions of ‘best practice’ which might be applied internationally.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• consider the impact of cross cultural issues for communicating and operating across national boundaries;
• manage or professionally influence local payment and benefit systems, including transnational and expatriate management reward systems, with knowledge of notions of ‘best practice’ and their limits;
• operate with appropriate sensitivity and responsiveness in cross-cultural situations; assert viewpoints in a culturally sensitive way, avoiding offence or misunderstanding, and exercising influence and persuasion in situations where communications are difficult;
• manage HR functions with different nationally textured identities.
• identify how employment law and joint regulation shape strategic HR choices in different countries;
• more effectively assess how employee management in one country impacts on operations in others;
• diagnose the needs and plans for operating HR functions more effectively at an international level;
• develop and maintain up-to-date engagement on the implications of local/regional issues for international business management;
• assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of HR support resources and mechanisms in subsidiary/associated companies and gain acceptance for making appropriate constructive adjustments;
• locate and organise people resources to meet local/regional/international human resource management needs, including permanent, consultancy, support and temporary staff;
• consider the implications of joint regulation and the most appropriate local response;
• deal with matters of work organisation, development and work-life balance in an international context;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• operate more effectively in terms of cross cultural awareness in communication and teamwork;
• manage the people related ambiguities arising in international contexts more effectively;
• recognise the limitations of your own international/inter-cultural knowledge and capabilities, and where/how to tackle those limitations;
• undertake more effective presentations as a member of a team utilising a range of different media;
• undertake more effective searches for both qualitative and quantitative information using a range of information sources.