new cultural environmentmay face financial challenges depending upon incentives W r i t i n g

Response 1

The author of “A Review of Edward Luce’s In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India” describes India as an evolving global superpower. According to Pritchett (2009), “India is one of the developing worlds’ longer running stable democracies.” India boasts free speech, free press ad, and a country to enable all citizens to participate in the electoral process. The companies that conduct business in the country face issues and problems relating to social, religious, and caste systems. Specifically, education does not support high-performing teams. For example, teachers have increased absenteeism rates that lead to less engagement and commitment to educators. India’s adult literary for the total population is only sixty-one percent. Pritchett believes “the social, political, administrative, and economic transitions all threaten to either accelerate or bring the pace of the others transitions to a halt.” India’s families focus on government corruption, increasing child malnutrition, and environmental concerns. Companies struggle with attracting and retaining top talent to drive business results. Human Resources Management encounters challenges sustaining a workforce can compete in the global marketplace.

Human Resources must understand the local culture and society’s values system to create practices that reflect its people. Employees need the motivation to do their best work. The culture exerts its influence on social norms and employee behavior. These cultural differences can impact HRM practices, including recruitment and selection. According to Thomas (2014), “organizations are best advised to use cultural values as only very general guidance as to what practices may or may not be culturally appropriate.” The selection process should identify the most qualified candidates for the position. Bornay-Barrachina (2019) emphasizes the importance of the recruitment and selection process and concludes that “HR departments must consider that the contracting needs of MNCs are different from those of firms that only act nationally.” HR is faced with the dilemma of sourcing employees from the host country or utilize expatriates. There are four approaches to relocating employees to the country; ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric, and regiocentric. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, all with an associated high cost.

One strategy for overcoming potential biases is to involve local management in the decision-making process. It depends upon the situation, considerations regarding local politics, cultural differences between the parent-country and host-country, lack of skilled labor, and the overall business strategy. It is essential to select based on managerial job skills, administrative capabilities, motivational aspirations, host language skills, and building relationships to minimize any biases. According to Minbaeva (2013), “organizations have invested significant efforts and resources in recruiting, developing, and retaining top talent with the potential to contribute significantly to performance. There are greater challenges to recruit on a global scale than domestically. The qualified talent should reflect the global corporation’s scope and consider the commitment to local cultures. Managing talent is the responsibility of HR and the hiring manager. Besides ensuring that an objective process is utilized, alignment regarding a hiring decision is important as it mitigates bias when varying points of view are considered. All parties validate that the talent strategy supports the development of knowledge, skills, and competencies needed for employees to achieve business results. Minbaeva (2013) states, “creating a line of sight between investments in talent management and corporate performance is undoubtedly a key challenge or the HR function” While both HR and local management has equal value in following the processes, HR is accountable to compliance of legal regulation and standardization.

Response 2

Companies need to understand and acknowledge what they might encounter with local managers relating to hiring and retention. India has experienced a vast increase in economic growth over the past years. However, it is vital for companies to understand the current economy and what are strengths and opportunities. Many Indians are transitioning into a more modern way of living, and there is also a large number of Indians who want to preserve the beliefs of antimaterialistic views. India is heavily populated and has been challenged to sustain a clear, structured process to support Indians from different backgrounds with the same opportunities. For example, the article referenced that only 43.5% of Indian children between 23 months and 12 years have received proper vaccinations (Pritchett, 2009). The statistic is important because it shows a gap between social care and government concern about India’s health and well-being. When there is no vested interest in vital areas, including health and education, it can create a gap in knowledge and skills. The article discusses how individuals are not closely regulated with validation credentials about something as simple as having a drivers-license.
This is also true as it pertains to education. As a manager, how will you ensure the potential employee has the needed skills and abilities to conduct the job. As the manager, it is also important to not assume an individual is not equipped with the proper skill-set. For example, there is also a unique and obvious difference in pay for individuals who work for the state versus the private sector. The article discussed how teachers who work for the state make more money and have fewer absences versus teachers who work in the private sector. Many of the private sector teachers make less money, and it has contributed to the reason there are many absences of teachers within the sector. The process is not closely regulated; therefore, it is difficult to fully know if an individual has received proper education to support them with job placement and the adequate skills to deliver set tasks and objectives. If students are not properly educated, it can negatively impact the individuals as adults. The article also discussed the vast difference in the education of some Indians who have received a better education. The article suggests that it can be challenging to identify true skills and education versus un-skilled individuals.
The government also plays a role in understanding how to engage with local managers. India is one of the world’s largest democracies. India conducts fair government, elections, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary. However, bias decision making takes place within government democracy (Pritchett, 2009). To avoid biases based upon India’s common practices, it is vital to partner and includes the government with fully understanding and setting expectations for hiring practices. It is important to have a human resource division that supports the hiring process. It is vital to establish a thorough recruiting process that allows individuals to have interviews and complete in-person or virtual assessments that speak to their skill-set. It is also important to follow set laws, rules, and regulations set by the government. It is also important for managers to hire diverse employees and not individuals from one set class or demographical area. These are a few ways the company can avoid biases.

Response 3

As companies operate on a global scale, decisions regarding how to fill critical roles are essential. There are several approaches to staffing in an international marketplace. If the headquarters leads the charge, not the local management team is known as an Ethnocentric Orientation. On the contrary, when the regional business makes hiring decisions, the approach is called polycentric. In either case, an opportunity for a high-performance employee creates career growth and development. An expatriate has the advantage of taking a leadership position in a country with diverse cultures than their own. The one primary concern is that expatriation lacks possible benefits if the employee ends the assignment early. Bornay-Barrachina (2019) identifies three primary reasons for creating an international assignment. These include “working in a specific and qualified job when people from the host country are not available, develop global managerial competencies, and transfer knowledge between the subsidiaries. The approach enables the expansion of technical expertise throughout the world and enables succession planning for future leaders. According to Waggoner (2003), “it is critical that companies use a rigorous selection process to identify which employees would likely succeed as expatriates.” While there are many considerations when staffing with expatriates, some of the disadvantages are listed below:

Employer Perspective:

• Does not institute measurements and tracking to calculate return on investment that identifies program success
• Lacks established corporate governance to develop leadership skills and knowledge transfer
• Assignments lack goals and objectives to measure individual performance
• High costs associated, compensation and benefits, with the program by providing various allowances for employee and family home and host country
• Practices not in place to ensure retention of the employee, such as contractual agreements
• Assumes the majority of risk for the failure of overseas assignments
• Extensive documentation required by the governments’ regulations and compensation compliance
• The repatriation process is deficient in providing a positive experience for the employee

Employee Perspective:

• Families have difficulty adapting and assimilating to the new cultural environment
• May face financial challenges depending upon incentives, allowances, benefits, and tax implications
• Companies forget about the expat and consider them for promotional opportunities
• Lack of cultural awareness training to help with assimilation into a new country
• Face cultural shock and do not adapt to new norms, values, and beliefs of the host country
• Loss of status upon returning from international assignments such as prestige, power, and authority

A successful international assignment lies heavily on the employee’s ability to influence individuals, groups, and organizations with diverse cultural perspectives. According to Minton-Eversole (2008), “it takes a special blend of characteristics to add up to an outstanding expat who can be productive and accepted in an unfamiliar setting.” The individual’s mindset and aspirations are critical to achieving the desired results. The employee demonstrates a willingness to change and adapt to a new environment and work with others that possess attitudes and beliefs different than their own. It takes more than job-related knowledge and skills but the ability to go out of a comfort zone and embrace new challenges in the face of uncertainty. An organization must put benchmarks and standards in place to get the most value for expatriation. Krell (2015) states that a company “can have a very cost-efficient international assignment that fails to meet any of its objectives and costs the company much more in the long run.” Having an expatriation strategy will ensure a positive experience, win-win for both the employer and the employee.

Response 4

Organizations need to understand the benefits of expatriate staffing and identify the pros of leveraging the process. The expatriate process takes an employee from the company and transfers them to the parent company in an international location. Expatriate staffing can be long-term or short-term assignments, depending on the organization’s need (Thomas and Lazarova, 2014 Chapter 3.6). The expatriate staffing process may afford the host company in India the opportunity to have a skilled individual who has experience in the field of interest. The process ensures someone with proper knowledge, know-how and has delivered the United States job can support India’s set initiatives. Another pro has the opportunity to leverage local talent to support set initiatives, and that meet the job requirements. The process of leveraging the expatriate staffing process affords the individuals to seek the best talent based upon the organization’s needs. In many instances, the expatriate staffing process typically brings out an inner motivation within the candidate. Many expatriate staffing individuals are self-motivated for the opportunity to support the company’s efforts abroad. The overall move can be challenging for individuals. However, in many instances, the individuals see the bigger picture and their overall purpose to successfully support the company’s efforts abroad. In many instances, the individuals rise to the occasion and leverage their drive and commitment to supporting the company’s overall growth (Iotova, 2018).
Finally, the process leverages the expertise of individuals who have experience in the area of discussion. In some instances, it is vital to have someone who has proven to excel in a set area of expertise to support efforts domestically and internationally. In this situation, the expatriate staffing process can benefit India to support the staffing efforts of the organization (Iotova, 2018).