Ihrm Assignment free essay sample

Within these foreign settings, utmost importance is placed on the need to reduce risks and uncertainties: The hiring of expatriates to control and lead these cross-border ventures is widely viewed as the most logical solution to the problems that may be encountered abroad. The dilemma highlighted by the case study, ‘Quality Compliance at the Hawthorn Arms’, involves the appointment of a new quality compliance manager at their recently set up firm in Hungary that needs to be done by Trianon’s director of personnel development. The director needs to take into account the risks and uncertainties involved, the interests of the company itself, and the socio-cultural and technical abilities of the potential employee in making their decision. The recruitment and selection process of Trianon must fit within best practices and must also take into account the strategic needs of the company by creating and describing the job description and the selection methods to be used. We will write a custom essay sample on Ihrm Assignment or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Consider the three candidates in Exhibit A below. If forced to make a decision tomorrow, which candidate should Alistair choose for the job? What major factors should determine his choice? A major process within human resource management is staffing. The importance of selecting the right employee for the job cannot be underestimated, especially when a firm’s future successes in a new environment depend on the right staffing decisions being made. Over the course of globalization, the strategic importance placed on alliances has increased significantly (2). Whether they are mergers and acquisitions, or international joint ventures, the role of human resource management is crucial for both types of alliances to succeed in meeting their strategic goals. As one of their major processes are to select the most qualified applicants, if any mismatches were too occur, the effectiveness of other human resource management functions may diminish, which is why so much importance is placed on hiring the correct people. The case study, ‘Quality Compliance at the Hawthorn Arms’, details three candidates that were short listed for the position of quality compliance manager. These 3 candidates were; Marie Erten-Loiseau, a parent-country national from France, Janos Gabor, a host-country national from Hungary, and Sinead Marrinan-McGuire, a third-country national from Ireland. The proposed role of quality compliance manager is to be based in Hungary, working for the recently set up joint venture between Trianon, an Anglo-French avionics firm and a local firm backed by the Hungarian government, for a period of 3 years. If, as stated in the case study, the decision is to be made tomorrow, several factors and theories must be investigated in order to determine which potential candidate is the most qualified for the position. Firstly, it must be determined why the international transfer of managers occurs. Herzing (3), observed a few main reasons that companies decided upon this particular transfer. First and foremost, the transfer itself fills a position, which concerns itself with the manager’s ability to transfer their technical knowledge to developing countries, where the locals may not be qualified. Secondly, it gives the manager a chance to gain international experience and help develop them for future tasks that may concern the company, or it’s subsidiaries, abroad. Thirdly, the final goal is not individual development but organizational development, transfers that are used to change or maintain the structure of the firm, and decision-making processes of the organization such as a coordination and control strategy. This strategy consists of two elements: socialization of both expatriate and local managers into the corporate culture and the creation of a verbal information network that provides links between subsidiaries and headquarters. The first motive of filling the position is the potential employee’s ability to perform the required tasks at hand, in addition to providing essential managerial and technical skills. Janos Gabor would seem a good fit considering his prior education and employment have taken place in Hungary. His experience as a senior engineer proves that he has experience with the particular product as well the ability to maintain a facility. His family’s connections with the national government could prove an important asset in the attempt to negotiate future contracts within Hungary. However, he has limited management experience and is unproven at such a high level. Sinead Marrinan-McGuire has great technical experience even in joint ventures and the appropriate technology, however she seems to have a weak cultural aptitude, considering she has spent the majority of her life in Ireland and the UK, with only short trips to the continent providing her with foreign experience. Her family status is also quite undesirable as her partner is working full time, and they have three very young children to care for. Uprooting them and moving them to Hungary may not be the wisest decision. Marie Erten-Loiseau seems to be the best fit to the position at hand. Her education as an aeronautical engineer in France amp; Germany, shows that she her cultural and language skills would definitely be up to par. Thirteen years service to Triaton, with her extremely successful work on various projects in different countries will also facilitate the knowledge transfer to the joint venture firm’s employees, as knowledge-intensive firms need to share knowledge held by employees if they are to gain the most from their intellectual capital and compete effectively in the marketplace as noted by Swart amp; Kinnie (4). Her considerable technical and managerial skills, in addition to the transfer of knowledge, cover the first two managerial criteria very well. In Trianon’s case, the third motive to be taken into consideration is the organisational control over the joint venture. As the first joint venture outside of Trianon’s home bases of the UK, Germany and France, even more importance must be placed on the selection process. Considering how difficult global staffing has been for firms, not just in terms of financial costs, but strategic value, control must be high at this early level of the venture itself, as without proper guidance the company risks failure in a foreign environment (5). Also as a former eastern bloc country, Hungary may pose political risks not present in Trianon’s current operating base. By sending in a parent country national such as Marie, the introduction and subsequent implementation of policies and practices, will be made much easier. Outline a general recruitment and selection process for the company. Explain how it represents best practice and meets Trianon’s strategic needs. Organizations whose hiring practices engender a good match (or fit) between the characteristics of managers and the requirements of organizational strategy will likely achieve superior performance compared to firms whose selection practices do not emphasize manager-strategy fit (6). Effective international human resources management can make the difference between survival and extinction for many multinational enterprises (7). The first step in any recruitment and selection process is to create the required job description for the role of Quality Compliance Manager to be based in Hungary. A job analysis is mainly used to provide information about what duties need to be completed and what characteristics are needed to perform said duties. This information is to be used by Trianon to develop the job description for the role at hand. Since the duration of the job is for three years and to be based in Hungary, these details must be clearly stated along with the job specification. A very useful function of a position description is the alignment of roles and responsibilities very clearly against specific organizational requirements while still retaining job clarity. A typical position description, in addition to including job identification details, will also include: position purpose, reporting and client relationships, responsibilities or duties, complexity factors in performing the job such as problem solving and decision making, indicators of the job size, and performance goals or key result areas. From a recruitment and selection viewpoint, they should also include experience and knowledge, qualifications and skills required to do the job (8). After the job has been created, the next step is to advertise the job: both internally, within Triaton itself, and externally, in order to help reach a larger pool of qualified potential applicants. This should be achieved by providing both a link through the Triaton website and through external executive search firms. The reasons behind using both are quite simple. The Triaton website would mostly be used by current Triaton employees, providing the internal aspect of the employee search, while the executive search firms are used to find applicants in the external labour market. Once applications have been received, they are to be analysed against the key criteria, the need for an engineering background and skills in project management, and then if the applicant meets the set requirements, they are to be short listed for an interview. Contacting the referees of potential applicants in order to get another perspective on the potential employee can further refine the shortlisting process. The selection methods that could potentially be used include; personal interviews, cognitive ability tests, and work samples similar to the tasks that the successful applicant will be performing. For personal interviews, a panel of relevant Trianon employees should be created in order to pass final judgement on the applicants. This panel should consist of, the director of personnel development and the general director of joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions and potentially one or two others involved with foreign ventures. This has the advantage of enabling information to be shared and reducing overlaps. The interviewers can discuss their joint impressions of the candidate’s behaviour at the interview and modify or enlarge any superficial judgements (9). The questions themselves should be focused on criteria relevant to the position of quality compliance manager, such as the applicant’s cross-cultural suitability and relevant technical abilities. If the employee meets these requirements, it is up to the panel to determine whether or not they deem them acceptable enough to achieve the strategic goals and targets Trianon has set. Cognitive ability tests are used to differentiate applicants on their mental abilities, rather than physical. Usually, these tests involve activities that examine and determine an applicant’s reasoning and quantitative ability to work effectively in a new environment. The third option, a work sample test, can also be implemented in order to test applicants’ interpersonal relationship skills as well as their technical knowledge and skills on the products that they’ll be working with. Should Human Resources be involved early in major strategic decisions such as joint ventures? Why? Considering that Triaton are planning on setting up from scratch a new firm in a foreign environment, with a large number of employees needing to be hired and trained, the input of human resources in this situation cannot be overlooked. Dowling (10) states that human resource managers only become involved in strategic decisions when there is a critical mass of expatriates to be managed, and that senior management is more likely to recognise human resource issues when international assignments become of significant strategic values, and therefore are more likely to leverage the required resources. Bearing in mind how important the early successes of a new firm are, especially in a new location, the above-mentioned roles of human resource managers in international strategic decisions should not be undervalued. Essentially, the answer to this depends on how important or large the particular strategic decision is. In this case, they definitely should be involved as they can help lay the groundwork for this particular joint venture to succeed. Conclusion In a rapidly evolving business environment, the strategic importance of expanding firms through mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures is coming to the fore. Within this case study, ‘Quality Compliance at the Hawthorn Arms’, the decision-making skills of Triaton’s human resource department were examined, through employee analysis and the planning and implementing of a suitable recruitment and selection process. Throughout these processes it was determined which applicant was most suited for the new role of Quality Compliance Manager in Triaton’s newest joint venture based in Hungary. Marie Erten-Loiseau proved to be the most logical applicant for the job, due to her impressive technical and managerial abilities, as well as her potential for cross-cultural suitability. It was also determined which recruitment and selection policies would be most effective: the advertising of job vacancies, which should subsequently be followed by selection methods, which include personal interviews and work sample and cognitive ability tests. The role of international human resource management in strategic planning should not be discounted, especially considering how helpful it is in achieving a company’s goals. Stefan Manojlovic, s3330309 References (1) Armstrong, M. 2006, A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 10th edn, Kogan Page Limited, Philadelphia. 2) Schuler, R. S. , Budwar, P. S. amp; Florkowski, G. W. 2002, ‘International Human Resource Management: Review and Critique’, The International Journal of Management Review, vol. 4, no. 1 (3) (4) Multinational Enterprises’, The Academy of Management Review, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 729-757. Swart, J. amp; Kinnie, N. 2003,’ Sharing Knowledge in Knowledge-Intensive firmsâ₠¬â„¢, University (5) Scullion, H. amp; Collings, D. 2006, Global Staffing, Routledge, London. Shen, J. 2006,’ Factors Affecting International Staffing in Chinese Multinationals (MNEs)’ (6) Gupta, A. amp; Govindarajan, V. 986, ‘Resource Sharing among SBUs: Strategic Antecedents and administrative implications’, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 29, (7) Schuler, R. S. , Budwar, P. S. amp; Florkowski, G. W. 2002, ‘International Human Resource Management: Review and Critique’, The International Journal of Management Review, vol. 4 (8) Parrott, L. H. 1998, ‘Recruitment and Selection’, Business Date, vol. 6, issue 3. (9) Armstrong, M. 2006, A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 10th ed, Kogan Page Limited, Philadelphia. (10) Dowling, Festing, Engle, 2008, ‘International Human Resource Management: Managing People in a Multinational Context’, 5th ed