changing role in 21st century

Int. J. of Hutnan Resource Management 12:8 December 2001

I25J-I268

The changing role of the corporate
HR function in global organizations of the twenty-first century

Milorad M. Novicevic and Miehael Harvey
Abstract The primary focus of this paper is to examine how the increased demand for global corporate strategic consistency and flexibility redefines the roles of the corporate human resource function and its venues of influence. In particular, we analyse possible causal linkages among strategic international HR management, strategic leadership of corporate top management team (i.e. TMT), and alternative global assignment options.
As globalization significantly changes not only the operating boundaries but also the symbolic context of the global organization, we argue that corporate HR function can play more influential roles in global organizations than it has in the past.
Keywords Global strategic human resource management; strategic perspective in corporate HR issues; inpatriation; political aspects of SGHRM
Introduction
The globalization of business activities in multinational corporations (MNCs) has created an increased pressure to link intemational human resource management (i.e.
IHRM) policies and practices with the firm-level outcomes (Chadwick and Cappelli,
1999). The increasing demands for modification of control and co-ordination mechanisms in global organizations have distinctly imposed a commensurate need for structural changes within the headquarters human resource function of the MNCs (Roth and
Ricks, 1994). Therefore, the focal point of the corporate human resource (i.e. HR) function in global organizations appears to be moving toward the need to design a supporting infrastructure for managers to manage competently the complex and competing demands for network co-ordination (i.e. consistency and efficiency) and differentiated responsiveness (i.e. flexibility and effectiveness) in global markets (Harvey et aL,

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