Global recruitment without cultural bias
The idea of global recruiting is the best way forward as the entire world is looking to cut across cultural and physical boundaries. One thing that the company should ensure is that no discrimination is made on the basis of culture while recruiting. Shell is one of the global companies that faces a similar issue and it has come up with a unique way to address the problems that occur due to cultural bias. "In creating global staffing systems, Shell also faces issues of how to assess competencies on a global basis. Shell's goal is to understand what each competency means across cultures and to devise assessment methods that will allow the company to capture those culture-specific behaviors. Shell uses a global assessment center for assisting with candidate selection and has standard training for all assessors who administer the assessment center" (Vance & Yongsun, 2010, p.170). A similar strategy can be followed by my company when it comes to recruiting global candidates. The assessors should be given adequate training to look beyond the cultural bias and identify the traits that will work well for the candidate as well as the company.
More autonomy for local staffing teams
The staffing teams in India and China should be given more autonomy to recruit candidates as positions open up in India and China respectively. This is known as the ethnocentric approach to staffing. Earlier, the Parent Country Nationals (PCN) were doing most of the recruitment because of the lack of right talent in the foreign countries. However, this has changed during the last few years because of the increase in talent pool in India and China. So, the company can provide more autonomy for the HR teams in these two countries. At the same time, a global center should also work actively with the HR teams in the U.S., India and China to fill the positions through global candidates.
Extensive use of software and technology
The company should look at using the right software and technology that will make it easy for people to collaborate across countries. Video chat and teleconferencing are some of the options already available for employees to communicate with each other irrespective of their physical location. The company can also look to incorporate the extensive use of Virtual Public Network (VPN) so that employees can work form their homes. This will provide more flexibility when it comes to global recruitment. The employee can work from his or her location and country without having to move to the U.S., India or China and still...
This policy will make global recruitment a lot more easier as the company need not have to provide the support required to help an employee to accommodate to the new country and culture. It will also be easier to find potential candidates because they do not have to move to a new country.
Another aspect of technology is the numerous software packages that are available today to make it transparent for all employees to be a part of the workflow process. These software packages are likely to make employees more productive and this in turn, will lead to a higher level of commitment from the employees.
All these measure have to be implemented in tandem so that the global staffing policy is more effective and the number of unfilled jobs come down. Also, a global talent pool can add to the growth of the company and can help it to steer ahead of its competitors. Further, it will give the company a global face and this will prove to be beneficial for the future.
Conclusion
In short, one of the problems in my company is related to the staffing process. The HR team has to effectively recruit and manage employees located across three countries -- the U.S., India and China. It is becoming increasing difficult to find good talent in this competitive environment and so, a good percentage of the jobs remain unfilled. The company can employ some of the best solutions mentioned above to find the right talent that the company needs for its growth. The future is all about globalization and collaboration and so, these measures will do the company a lot of good in the long-run.
References
Bratton, John; Gold, Jeffrey. (2001). Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. Kentucky: Psychology Press.
Cornelius, Dave. (April 2011). The Education and Skills Gap: A Global Crisis. Techniques: Connecting Education and Careers. Vol 86(4). pp50-55.
Shukla, Ravinder. (2009). Talent Management: Process of Developing and Integrating Skilled Workers. New Delhi: Global India Publications.
Vance, Charles; Yongsun, Paik. (2010). Managing a global workforce: Challenges and Opportunities in International Human Resource Management. New York: M.E.Sharp.
Harvey, Michael; Kiessling, Tim; Moeller, Miriam. (Summer 2011). Globalization and the Inward flow of immigrants: Issues Associated with the Inpatriation of Global Managers. Human Resource Development Quarterly. Vol 22(2). pp177-194.
Gordon, Edward. (Sep/Oct 2009). The Global Talent Crisis. Futurist. Vol 43(5). pp34-39.
