Competencies for International HR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Competencies for International HR - Essay guinea pigReferring to Stroh and Caligiuri (1998), one of the most critical factors for the success of a federation is its management of the human assets. The most grave issue for HR in global organisations to decide at generate is to decide whether they should depend on convergence or divergence. Convergence refers to developing the same basic rules and regulations for all locations, and divergence refers to allowing diversity harmonise to local requirements. As Amstrong (2006) pictures out, the decision to make a community centralised or decentralised is dependent on a number of factors. These factors are the extent to which there are well-defined local norms, the leg to which a unit is embedded in the local environment, the flow of resources from parent play along to the subsidiary, and the nature of the exertion (ibid). Admittedly, one thing becomes evident from this description HR has an important role to play in this situation . A think over in Malcrum(Alexander et al , 2009) with the support of HSBC looked into the role of internal and external communication in the present day international HR. It is found that the purposes in enhancing internal communication for businesses are creating understanding of the company dodging and direction, supporting organisational change, keeping people informed of company news, building company pride, and helping people to alive values (ibid). Thus, it becomes evident that the purposes all are linked to HR. The main purpose of internal communication is employee engagement. Then, the study looked into how this internal communication is linked to external communication. In the present day business world, companies undergo mean scrutiny from the part of media and governments. That means companies will have to ensure that they practice what they preach. As Alexander et al (2009) states, if a company makes a public statement, it should make sure that the employees are awa re of the same, and vice versa. When this point is discussed, it becomes necessary to point out how a lack of relationships with external media, governments and local communities can be deadly at times. An example is the crisis faced by Shell Oil in Nigeria. To illustrate, it was during 1990s that Shell crude came under heavy fire from the part of international press and local media for alleged environmental taint of the delta. Noted public figures like Saro-Wiwa raised their concern against the company, and mass agitation began in no time. The company realised that it had little chance for improving its image or to bounce back to its previous ring as it had not cared to keep relationships with international media or the local community. In order to improve its image, the company took the following public relation initiatives. Firstly, it started balancing its business with active citizenship/working in partnership with communities. Secondly, the company decided to position itse lf as a company that respects human rights and environment. Thirdly, the company started publicising itself as a law-abiding, non-sectarian company. As Turk and Scanlan (1999) reflect, the company decided to propagate what it did for community and environment. Thus, one thing becomes very evident. International HR needs to be able to keep both internal and external