HRM Cultural Differences
HRM & Change Management
Explain the extent, to which various HR practices work differently (better?) in different countries. Bring evidence from empirical studies.
Increasing research states that HR practices have different effects in different countries because of institutional/cultural differences. Hence, companies that shape their HR practices based upon these geographical differences should have better firm performance according to Fey et al. (2008). Fey et al. (2008) made a choice of the five most popular HR practices in research, being:
Performance appraisal
Employee training
Performance-based compensation
Merit-based promotion
Internal communication
Selective recruitment, however prominently present in literature, was deemed irrelevant based upon the argumentation that selective recruitment would: "not directly influence affect a firm's efforts to make employees an effective asset for the organization" Fey et al. (2008, p. 692). This contradicts findings by for example Lau & Wei (2008), that state Chinese firms struggle to realize organizational goals because of government constraints on recruiting qualified personnel. Fey et al. (2008) choose motivation and ability as mediating variables between HR practices and firm performance, perhaps overlooking the importance of 'opportunity' companies create for employees. The three countries in the research of Fey et al. (2008) are compared solely based upon the 'power distance' dimension by Hofstede because this dimension divides the countries the most, this however limits the conclusions found.
Regardless of the stated concerns in the model construction Fey et al. (2008) came with the comparison based upon power distance. This division is the following: Russia (high power distance), USA (medium power distance) and Finland (low power distance). Combined with the five selected HR practices earlier stated, the following differences based upon cultural influence were found.
Training
Employee
Explain the extent, to which various HR practices work differently (better?) in different countries. Bring evidence from empirical studies.
Increasing research states that HR practices have different effects in different countries because of institutional/cultural differences. Hence, companies that shape their HR practices based upon these geographical differences should have better firm performance according to Fey et al. (2008). Fey et al. (2008) made a choice of the five most popular HR practices in research, being:
Performance appraisal
Employee training
Performance-based compensation
Merit-based promotion
Internal communication
Selective recruitment, however prominently present in literature, was deemed irrelevant based upon the argumentation that selective recruitment would: "not directly influence affect a firm's efforts to make employees an effective asset for the organization" Fey et al. (2008, p. 692). This contradicts findings by for example Lau & Wei (2008), that state Chinese firms struggle to realize organizational goals because of government constraints on recruiting qualified personnel. Fey et al. (2008) choose motivation and ability as mediating variables between HR practices and firm performance, perhaps overlooking the importance of 'opportunity' companies create for employees. The three countries in the research of Fey et al. (2008) are compared solely based upon the 'power distance' dimension by Hofstede because this dimension divides the countries the most, this however limits the conclusions found.
Regardless of the stated concerns in the model construction Fey et al. (2008) came with the comparison based upon power distance. This division is the following: Russia (high power distance), USA (medium power distance) and Finland (low power distance). Combined with the five selected HR practices earlier stated, the following differences based upon cultural influence were found.
Training
Employee