Cross-Culture Management

Session 6: Culture and HRM

The role of human resource
From a normal resource to a key
resource
HRM from a normal function to a
central, critical one
Alignment between strategy and HR

Intro on HRM and cultures
Human focused as individual -
resource or as member of social
system leads to different HRM
treatment:
instrumental: individual needs, motivation,
reward, performance appraisal (US)
or
social: employee power, representative,
equality (EU)
Components of HRM
Recruitment and selection
Socialization
Training
Performance appraisal
Compensation and benefits

Link these with cultural assumptions
Cultural determinants
Refer to Table 6.1
Culture and selection
Finding culture-appropriate employees
from host country is challenging
Hiring for fit vs. skills
HR preferences of different cultures
Germany
France
Spain
Culture and selection
Opportunities for MNCs in finding staff
from sectors neglected by local
companies
The case of Japan

Difference of hiring practice in task-
oriented cultures and relationship-
oriented cultures
Country differences in
selection methods
Italy one-to-one
interviews/education/application form
UK/US employer
references/education/application form
Germany education/one-to-one
interviews/application form
Spain one-to-one interviews/personality
test/cognitive ability test
Greece one-to-one interviews/education/biodata
Hong Kong application form/education/certificate or
license
(Ryan et al, 1999)
Selection methods
1 one-to-one interviews (Greece - Ireland)
2 education (Portugal - Spain)
3 employer references (Sweden - Germany)
4 application form (Hong Kong -
Sweden)
5 panel interviews* (Netherlands - Italy)

* especially Netherlands, Australia and Ireland
(Ryan et al, 1999)
Culture and socialization
The rituals
drink and entertainment-karaoke with the
senior after work in Japan, Korea (2
videos)
strict orientation of corporate culture in
IKEA
informal parties organized by newcomers
in Vietnam
Culture and socialization
Cultural issues to watch out
Hierarchies
Power distance
Separation between private lives and work
High-context vs. low-context
Individualism vs. collectivism (Salomon
Brothers vs Goldman Sachs)

Examples from yourselves
Culture and training
The views on the right person for the job
Generalist (UK) vs specialist (Ger)
Company-specific vs general knowledge
Based on the views, methods of training
would be different
On-the-job, observation, mentoring,
practicing
Job rotation, seminar, official training
Culture and training
Self-help mentality
The issues of control and destiny
Bottom-up training (US)

The case of top-down training in
Vietnam
Cultural meaning of top-down training:
hidden agendas from companies and
trainees
Culture and training
Modes of training
structured, pedagogical (Swiss)
unstructured (UK)
Training activities
discussion, debate, challenge
practical (US) vs theoretical (European)
experiential vs cognitive

What underlying cultural difference?
Culture and performance
management
setting goals
measuring outcomes
providing feedback

purpose: improving performance
Culture and performance
management
Typical performance management is
welcome in US but not in local Asian
firms
Culturally, why? (views about control,
doing vs being, character vs
performance)

Giving feedback is complicated, too.
Culture and compensation
the issue level reward can be traced to
individualism and collectivism
meritocracy vs. harmony
ascription vs. achievement
America (effective pay for performance)
vs. the world (ineffective, infeasible)
financial rewards (US) vs. other rewards
Culture and development
Relevant assumptions
being vs. doing
perception about nature of managerial
tasks
skills
technical expertise
conceptual ability
Culture and development
Advancements depend on
results, ability (US)
elite education (France)
who you know (where?)

Culture favors generalists: more job
mobility, culture favors specialist: more
loyalty and less mobility
Culture and HRM
Refer back to Table 6.1