Description
For this assignment, you will apply decision-making to the process of international human resource management as you determine which of the four final applicants to hire into a global executive position.
You are a member of the management committee of a MNE that conducts business in 23 countries. While your company’s headquarters is located in the Netherlands, your regional offices are located fairly evenly throughout the four hemispheres. Primary markets have been in the European Union and North America; the strongest emerging market is the Pacific Rim. Company executives would like to develop what they see as a powerful potential market in the Middle East. Sales in all areas except the Pacific Rim have shown slow growth over the past two years.
At present, your company is seeking to restructure and revitalize its worldwide marketing efforts. To accomplish this, you have determined that you need to hire a key marketing person to introduce fresh ideas and a new perspective. There is no one currently in your company who is qualified to do this, and so you have decided to look outside.
The job title is “Vice President for Global Marketing”; an annual salary of $250,000-$300,000, plus elaborate benefits, an unlimited expense account, a car, and the use of the corporate jet. The person you hire will be based at the company’s headquarters in the Netherlands and will travel frequently.
A lengthy search has turned up four people with good potential. It is now up to you to decide whom to hire. Although all the applicants have expressed a sincere interest in the position, it is possible that they may change their minds once the job is offered. Therefore, you must rank them in order of preference so that if your first choice declines the position, you can go on to the second, and so on.
First, read the biographies of each applicant. As you are doing this, rank each of them from 1 to 4, with 1 being your first choice, and explain your reasons for their ranking.
For your essay this week, respond to the following questions using the decisions you have made with your rankings.
- The first section of your paper should be an overview of your rankings and reasons for your decisions.
- Did your decision include any culturally based biases you may have—for example, feelings, personality traits, or politics in your rankings?
- Did you make any observations that you feel would have been fully acceptable in your own culture, but were not accepted in other cultures? If so, explain.
- What implications do you believe any of the applicant’s cultural differences would have in business dealings? In what countries or cultures?
- What expatriate adjustments for the candidate need to be considered? How will the company handle these?
- Explain the decision-making process you used to make your decisions.
Park L.
Park L. is currently senior vice president for marketing at a major South Korean high-technology firm. You have been told by the head of your Seoul office that his reputation as an expert in international marketing is outstanding. The market share of his company’s products has consistently increased since he joined the company just over 15 years ago. His company’s market share is now well ahead of that of competing producers in the Pacific Rim.
Park graduated from the University of Seoul and has worked his way up through the ranks. He does not have a graduate degree. In addition to his native tongue, Park is able to carry on a reasonably fluent conversation in English and has minimal working knowledge of German and French.
Saya K.
Saya K. is a woman living in Malaysia. She began her teaching career while finishing her DBA (Doctorate in Business Administration) at the Harvard Business School and published her first book on international marketing ten months after graduation. Her doctoral dissertation was based on the international marketing of pharmaceuticals, but she has also done research and published on other areas of international marketing.
Two months after the publication of her book, Saya went to work in the international marketing department of a Fortune 500 company, where she stayed for the next ten years. She returned to teaching when Maura University offered her a full professorship with tenure, and she has been there since that time. In addition, she has an active consulting practice throughout Southeast Asia. In addition to fluency in Malay, English, and Japanese, Saya speaks and writes German and Spanish and can converse in Mandarin.
Peter V.
Peter had worked in a key position in the international marketing division of a US Fortune 100 company until the company pulled out of his country South Africa eight months ago. Peter has a long list of accomplishments and is widely recognized as outstanding in his field.
Peter has a Ph.D. in computer science from a leading South African university and an MBA from Purdue’s Krannert School of Business. Peter speaks and reads English, Dutch, Afrikaans, and Swahili and can converse in German.
Joe P.
Joe is currently job hunting. His former job as head of marketing for a single-product, high-technology firm—highly specialized workstations for sophisticated artificial intelligence applications—ended when the company was bought out by Texas Instruments.
Joe has both his undergraduate and MBA degrees from Stanford University. In addition, he was a Rhodes Scholar and won a Fulbright scholarship, which he used to support himself while he undertook a two-year research project on the marketing of high-technology equipment to Third World countries. In addition to his native English, Joe has a minimal command of French—which he admits he hasn’t used since his college days.
Explanation & Answer
View attached explanation and answer. Let me know if you have any questions.
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Decision-Making To the Process of International Human Resource Management
Student's Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Number/Name
Date
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Introduction
Making decisions is a critical component in recruiting and hiring new employees. It is a
skill that may be developed through time and utilized to aid managers in an organization achieve
success or failure. A candidate shortlist must be created and assessed against predefined selection
criteria (Luszcs and Kleiner, 2000). Managers may rank all applicants using the selection criteria,
from most popular to least popular. Candidates for the management committee will be chosen
based on their characteristics, educational attainment, and experience; their ability to communicate
fluently in more than three languages; their cultural background; their adaptability; and their desire
to work in an international environment. In our example, we have four applicants interested in the
advertised job: Park L., Saya K., Peter V., and Joe P., from diverse cultural backgrounds.
International human resource management (IHRM) is becoming more significant as
businesses of all kinds globalize. Historically, international human resource management and
organization have emphasized the effect of cultural differences on global business policies and
practices. National culture and philosophy have become a serious issue after the demise of
communism. As a result of globalization and organizational interconnection, there has been an
increasing need to understand how culture affects human resource management. Effective human
resource management is critical for global company operations; managing people with varied
cultural backgrounds provides organizational and leadership difficulties. This article aims to
investigate the impact of national culture on labor management. This study aims to evaluate the
cultural differences amongst workers of multinational firms' subsidiaries.
Ranks of Application
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Park L. is ranked second on my list of applications, Peter V. is ranked third, and Joe P. is
ranked fourth. Multinational firms' failure to swiftly expand their global sales is mostly due to a
shortage of highly trained managerial staff. International firms on the cutting edge have recognized
that human resources and intellectual capital are just as critical as financial assets in establishing a
sustainable competitive advantage in today's knowledge-based society. To follow their lead, CEOs
of other multinational corporations will need to close the gap between their company's human
resources rhetoric and reality. H.R. is now obliged to have a prominent seat in the boardroom.
Human resource management at a multinational corporation is about finding the right people for
the correct positions at the right time and at the right cost. They must then be incorporated into a
worldwide network capable of quickly identifying and capitalizing on breakthrough notions.
Saya was ranked highest based on her previous jobs, which included over a decade as an
international marketer for a Fortune 500 company, teaching, and managing a global consulting
firm throughout Southeast Asia. Saya is also fluent in Malay, Japanese, German, Spanish,
Mandarin, and her native English and Malay languages. Additionally, I prioritized Saya because
of her impressive educational background and vast Pacific rim marketing operations expertise.
Saya's experience in Southeast Asia, a rapidly growing region, will benefit the business
significantly. She will be able to communicate successfully with marketing representatives in other
places and potential customers in the new market due to her multilingualism. She is a professor
and works in the international marketing department, indicating that she has strong interpersonal
skills. According to National University (2020), CEOs should possess good interpersonal skills to
overcome cultural barriers and grow their company's market reach. Burke (2007) asserts that
leaders must be able to adapt to a range of cultural settings and changes in the business
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environment. Burke (2007) recommends that firms recruit leaders with a diverse cultural
background since it facilitates problem-solving and develops innovation.
Apart from his vast international marketing experience and proficiency in English,
German, and French, Park L. was the runner-up candidate I picked. Park's I.T. firm, of which he
is a senior vice president, has grown significantly compared to its competitors in the field. As a
result, he has considerable competence in global marketing. Additionally, he is well-versed in the
Pacific Rim's traditions and cultures and the habits of its customers. His cultural understanding
may aid in product development, therefore expanding the market for his wares. Peter, a former
international marketing executive with a Fortune 100 company in the United States, would fill the
third position.
Additionally, he has a high level of education and is proficient in many languages,
including English, Dutch, Afrikaans, and Swahili. Additionally, he is conversant in German. Peter
was placed third due to a lack of knowledge in the Pacific rim, a developing area where the business
desires to focus its efforts. This implies that he will be confronted with cultural disparities in his
profession. According to Gortner, leadership in a culturally diverse market requires leaders who
can communicate, identify difficulties, develop viable solutions, boost business culture, and
innovate (2009). In this situation, Peter is lacking in regional expertise. Consequently, he will be
unable to fulfill the job's essential functions.
Joe P takes up the last available space. Joe was ranked fourth on my list due to his lack of
global marketing skills and inability to communicate in many languages. Joe's sole fluent language
is English. Another way his performance may be impacted would be if he had never worked in a
culturally diverse environment (Peppas, 2002). Despite his position as the company's head of
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marketing, he was responsible for just one product, restricting his capacity to promote a diverse
range of products globally.
Factors Affecting the Decision-Making Process
I made picks based on various qualities throughout the ranking process, including culture,
education, personality, and adaptability. Because Saya and Park, the top and second scorers, are
from Southeast Asia, the region's rapidly increasing emerging market, I feel my evaluations were
culturally prejudiced. These applicants were picked over Peter and Joe due to their lack of cultural
awareness. According to their information, the applicants' English and other language abilities
differed significantly. English, German, or French language fluency is considered critical in my
society, and people who lack these abilities encounter cultural hurdles.
Human resource management is sometimes misunderstood as supporting top management
decisions or other company operations. This is not the case. This may have been the situation a
few years ago. This is no longer the popular opinion, though. Decision-making has become a vital
part of human resource positions in today's organizations and the human resource community.
When we talk about human resource decision-making, we refer to all personnel procedures linked
with it. The choices made by this department have an impact on every aspect of an employee's
career, from recruiting to hiring, performance review, compensation, and termination. H.R. makes
better decisions quicker by using market data, internal input, and insights. Compensation increases,
for example, are tied to the firm's success, the way professions are rewarded, the number of roles,
and the pay disparity between internal and external markets.
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Additionally, decision-making has an impact on all aspects of a business. Contrary to
popular belief, human resources have matured into a true business partner. Each of the
corporation's lines of business is touched by the corporation's activities. For instance, a planned
business endeavor will need the acquisition of new skills. H.R. will finally decide whether to create
or acquire the Skills Matrix. Human resource managers are responsible for making these critical
business choices. All human resource choices must be made in the context of the organization's
goal. It is no longer necessary for human resources to function in silos in...
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