U.S., the Organization Discussed Below Has Increasingly

¶ … U.S., the organization discussed below has increasingly been interacting with businesses in other cultures. In fact, the company is seriously pursuing a joint venture in Asia to expand its production. This means that the human resources manager will be responsible for a more diverse employee population. How does she feel she must prepare for this change in her position? She realizes that globalization has made the human resources position much more complex. It has created new challenges, such as managing a much wider base of personnel and overseeing employee regulations in different countries and cultures.

First, she says, it is important to look at the broader picture of the two businesses and how they will succeed in the future. She must base this on the company's overall strategy, goals and mission. She must consider such questions as how the present policies, practices, and various ways of thinking within organizational culture have a different meaning and impact on each culture. More importantly, she must decide what organizational changes will meet the varied needs of this new globally diverse workforce. The goal is to maximize the employees' potential.

Personally, she must have an understanding and acceptance of managing diversity concepts. If necessary, this may take additional training and education. She must come to terms with her own thoughts on how she feels about others. Does she hold any biases or prejudices? Only then can she make sure that diversity is woven through every aspect of management and there are no barriers because of differences in background and experiences. Her company must maintain its relationships and communication with all the employees consistent with its mission 1) that people are the wealth of the business and 2) developing employees is just as important as developing products. The way this is done may have similarities or differences in each country depending on the specific needs of the culture.

When the globalization of companies took off at the turn of the century, Arthur Anderson did a benchmarking survey to determine the differences between what companies were doing in human resources. The study found that companies change the focus of their human resource services at different stages of organizational development. Based on information from HR executives at 76 companies in North America and Europe, the study examined differences in HR functions at international, multinational, and global companies. Attracting and retaining talented employees was the biggest challenge noted by HR professionals in organizations at all three development stages. The study stated that over 50% of respondents at multinational and global companies said they are focusing on developing key people as part of their global leadership strategy.

Other key challenges cited included: increasing organizational performance, establishing global competencies, aligning compensation and business strategy, enabling change on a global scale, reinforcing corporate culture. There were major differences between respondents in the area of organizational culture. International respondents suggested difficulty in recognizing and understanding cultural differences. Multinational respondents seemed to place the stress on managing and balancing the efficiency of cultural diversity. Global respondents appear to focus more on the integration of cultural differences within the overall corporate culture. Other major differences between respondents included

* A majority (67%) of respondents at global companies have established success measures for some or all of their global services. Top measures include internal customer satisfaction, impact on business goals, reduced costs, and increased employee retention. In contrast, only 43% of multinational respondents and 33% of international respondents have global success measures.

* Nearly three-quarters (72%) of respondents at global companies said they provide global training programs. Only about 40% of respondents at international and multinational companies provide global training programs.

Global and multinational companies place greater emphasis on developing global leadership. As a result, more than 70% of respondents from companies in both categories said they provide development opportunities through international assignments, compared to about 40% of international respondents.

Respondents from all three groups agreed that more HR involvement in developing business strategy was needed. While 98% of respondents said they have developed or are in the process of developing a global HR strategy, 85% said they have only moderate involvement or less in the development of their company's overall business strategy.