Cultural Impacts on Different HR Functions

Executive Summary

This analytical essay was developed on the various cultural influences over the HR functions in several organizations. The individual functions, namely recruitment and selection, training and development, and performance appraisal was described along with their critical reviews. The HR practices had been in most cases influenced by the organizational culture which primarily reflects the core values of the company. However, the organizational culture normally had been changing due to altering demographics, work culture, industry forces, and other relevant factors. The GLOBE as well as Hofstede’s cultural theory had been utilized in many cases in order to evaluate the cultural similarities across different countries by organizing them into clusters. The theory had proved to be beneficial for the HR managers in order to understand the cultural similarities in a different organization located in different countries in order to formulate the HR practices.

Introduction

The HR practices in an organization is an integral part of the progress as well as the success of the organization. The practices of HR has been evolving from time to time in order to make the organization more dynamic and flexible to incorporate the cultural values that primarily promote the organizational culture of the organization. The organizational culture primarily reflects the core values of the organization which represents the mission and vision of the organization (Rusu et al. 2016). The HR managers therefore constantly strive to align the HR policies and statements in accordance with the organizational culture, so that the employees of the organization realize what are the values on which the organization has been functioning and what are their roles and objectives in the organization.

The three most important HR practices that are recruitment and selection, training and development, and performance appraisal are going to be analyzed in this report in order to understand how organizational culture normally has an influence on them. Many organizations across the world have been practicing these HR policies by keeping in mind about the organizational culture in order to bring cultural diversity and a coordinated working environment within the organizational framework. The HR policies and practices integrated with the appropriate organizational culture have been utilized time and again to boost the morale of the employees and also enhance their performance and in turn facilitating to achieve the organizational goals (Kersten-van Dijk et al. 2017). The Hofstede cultural theory and the GLOBE cultural theory are the two most commonly utilized cultural frameworks that have been utilized by the HR managers across the world to analyze the cultural similaritiesin the different organizations across the world.

The aim of this essay is a critical evaluation of international human resource practices considering examples of HRM functions and their impact on different countries. In this respect, it attempts to establish strategic IHRM norms and regulations in respect to global platforms along with cultural diversity management.

Discussion

Description of the Different IHRM practices

Recruitment and Selection

The recruitment and selection methods of the organizations have several approaches. The hiring procedures of the companies differ in their cultural attributes as well. It is seen that the selection procedure may vary in the respect of the ranges of the marketing policies of the companies (Rozario et al. 2019). Some companies follow ethnocentrism, where their own cultural factors are given more priority. Whereas, polycentrism is followed by many in which the cultural behaviors of the host country are adopted by the company and its employees (). However, other companies can abide by geo-centrism. According to this process, any person can be recruited globally with their diversified cultural strategies. No biased situation can thus be entertained in this procedure.

Training and Development

Training and development are some of the most crucial aspects that every staff has to go through for a better realization of the working environment and the cultures of the company. In fact, it is a great challenge to the managers for training people from various races and traditional cultural forms (Dixon et al. 2017). The HR of the company might differ in their nationalism, linguistic behaviors, religions, dressing senses, etc. It is very difficult and rather unethical to completely uproot a person from his own cultural grounds to be established in a new platform. Thus, the training sessions of the employees must be nurtured on an individual basis.

Performance Appraisal

The companies that follow not only its own cultural strategies but also approve other cultural forms have a higher appraisal degree. The higher performance appraisal has a negative effect on the truant behaviors of the staff. Rather, it improves the innovative and productional rates of the companies (Kim et al. 2018). It relies on the norms and policies of the company and the methods of its implementation by the manager. The manager must be in charge to control and rectify any biased appraisals on the employees. Discrimination among staff members can lead to a reduction in job satisfaction.

Critical Reviews

Critical Reviews on Recruitment and Selection

Rozario et al. (2019), stated that functions of the employee's recruitment policies must be inspected through the occurrences as well as the different structural matters in the working environment. It is noted that the procedure has changed and evaluated from generation to generation. The whole process follows a particular chronology for its improvement in the activities. It can have been reckoned by the external features that impact the organization. The internal collisions are thus required to be managed and consoled to resolve the issues among the employees and the directors.

According to Kersten-van Dijk et al. (2017), the miscellany of the conditions that affect the companies has a limited range of personnel, workers, employees, managers, and other unions. The severe diversified conditions and its strategical factors deserve to be considered more strictly.

Alam et al. (2017), argued that the factual prove on the methods of managing the certainty of the norms and its values on cultural views is completely based on the general practices of the companies. On the other hand, the conception of emotional and ethical behaviors has provided the idea of biased operational situations for analysis in future proceedings.

Critical Reviews on Training and Development

Jo & Park (2016), opined that the most important factors of the abilities of the organizations which can be identified and thus reduced to a conceptual view on various proportions. It can be noted that the real empowerment of the staff members on their specific tasks requires some training which depending upon the cultural norms of the organization.

Dixon et al. (2017), provided a thorough explanation of the entire procedure, which can be enhanced by the motivations and devotions of the categorized forms of psychological treatments on the employees. This includes emotional behaviors toward cultural support and approaches. This is proved to develop the influential causes that empower the activities of the standardized systems and their policies.

According to Olson & Sands (2016), the cultural scenario has an immense effect on the development, implementation procedures, and pieces of training in the workplace for professional upliftment. The diversity in the cultural strata of the employees plays a different role to support or increase conflicts internally. The informal training practices is very essential as it helps to customize the manners of the staff members in the working environment. The linguistic and other cultural frameworks of individual members should be merged and enhanced with highly strict rules to avoid any disruptions. The implementation of these factors is required to be added to the training programs of the organizations.

Critical Reviews on Performance Appraisal

According to the views of Hwang & Seo (2016), the success and innovative performance appraisal of the employees matter on the cultural grounds. The organizations do not always accept and impose over the domestic cultural patterns of the employees. The performance of the staff is always based upon the work satisfaction which is led by the cultural demands on minimum linguistic and religious grounds. When contradicted, the performance level is noted to move in a downward. The norms and systematic values are reconcilable as per the performance appraisal that suggests the manners of the staff.

Kim et al. (2018), developed the ideas of the relations between the authorities and the employees to implement the performance appraisal systems. The reform can methodically evaluate the range of acceptance in the cultural terms of every member. This area of ideological patterns has enhanced several pieces of research.

On the other hand, Rusu et al. (2016), identified the traits of the organizational cultures when considering the typical analysis of the performance appraisal. The journal showed a set of recommendations for the improvement of the performance in the public sectors.

Differences and Similarities of the selected practice of HR functions are influenced by cultures of different countries

It was observed that Asian countries follow a wide process for selections and recruitment. On the other side, the US follows a brief selection procedure (Hui & Lent, 2018). However, it is noted that the basic screening has a series of sessions that even employ a psychologist to provide the cultural knowledge and working environment in the abroad countries. In fact, the staff members mostly fail at the linguistic and cultural adaptations in the new environment. Considering the Hofstede theory of masculinity and femininity (MAS), the example is in accordance with differences in the recruitment and selection process of the organizations as both the cultures have different modes for the selection process that might not be suitable for all.

When considered the cultural influences over the trainingand development policies, a notable mention can be considered on the communications of American and Arabian systems. At the time of informal training, it is the culture in American provinces to maintain a distance that must be more than six inches. This is the practice of interpersonal communicative formulations. On the other hand, the Arabian culture devotes to close communication procedures (Khamis-Dakwar & DiLollo, 2018). The question of maintenance of any formulated rule to keep distance does not arise at all. This is how most of the nations differ in their cultural aspects at the time of training and improvement of the working abilities. The Hofstede theory of Uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) and Power distance index implies the cultural effects of organization on the training process, as many organizations enforce the local culture in their employees that lead to uncertainty or feeling of insecurity among the employees

Considering the influence of culture over the performance appraisal, an apparent distinction was observed.(Rusu et al. 2016). For America, they choose the existing programs for performance management that includes philosophy, intentions, and forms. In America, the performance appraisal is documented over a period of six months to one year which is followed by one to one meeting between the employee and supervisor, that provides him with the required ratings and expectations for the next cycle and the payment is based on the ratings received (Mbah & Kuye 2019). Whereas, for the Japanese system the compensation is not based only on the performance. The observation of individual performance is a difficult task so instead of compensating individual performance, they focus on appreciating group performance as a team. The Hofstede theory of individualism vs collectivism(IDV) implies for the given example of performance appraisal, though the appraisal is based on individuals and groups, all the employees are respected and appreciated.

Similarities

As the business and the organizations are expanding across countries, their recruitment processes have changed towards cultural diversity. According to Ahmad et al (2019) in America, the companies, while planning the recruitment and selection methods, consider a way to create a diverse workforce, and develop strategies to enforce them onemployees (Mbah & Kuye 2019). On the other hand, in Japan, though they are Orthodox toward their culture, the companies work in putting together employees from various cultures and enlighten their employees regarding different cultures.

Considering the similarities of the effects of culture in the training and development process, it has been observed that the organizations look forward to training their employees towards their personal development as well as the organization(Steele et al. 2016). Considering the culture of America, the organization trains its employees in order to enhance their skills and involvement in the work (Mbah & Kuye 2019). Whereas, for Japan, the companies train the employees in order to work better as a team towards development. Hence, it is observed that both cultures lead to development through training. The Hofstede theory of masculinity and femininity (MAS) can be related to the organization's training and development processes in order to explain the orientations and their leadership positions held by them.

According to Thua (2017), regarding the performance appraisal, it has been observed that the American culture promotes compensation as an appraisal for individuals (Mbah & Kuye 2019). They believe in individual development, whereas the Japanese culture believes in group appraisal, through compensation. In the context, both the countries and the cultures believe in compensating the employees, be it individual or the group as performance appraisal.

The HR managers have obtained a cultural framework in order to analyze the organizational culture and assess whether it has been performing well or not. According to Gürhan-Canli, Sarial-Abi, & Hayran (2018), GLOBE cultural framework has been organizing the countries in the form of clusters based on the similarity in their cultural characteristics. For example, according to theGLOBE cultural framework, the Scandinavian countries like Denmark or Finland, exhibits low levels of masculinity, high individualism, and low levels of power distance (Opentextbc.ca, 2020).It hadhelped to compile the cultural information of various organizations located in different countries and aiding the HR managers to effectively deal with the employees by reforming the HR practices based on the cultural similarities and differences. For example, in Latin American countries like Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay generally tends to be more collective, have high uncertainty avoidance, and have high power distance (Opentextbc.ca, 2020). So, the individuals in these nations tend to work collectively in order to be more successful.

Examples of organizations in order to show the integration between theory and practice

According to Kerdpitak & Jermsittiparsert (2020), the influence of organizational culture on HR practices can be seen in many organizations. However, only a few organizations across the world have successfully integrated the theories of organizational culture with the HR practices of the organization. The task of integrating the theory with the practice is no easy task for the HR manager. Although some of the renowned as well as the lesser-known organizations have been able to do that and set examples before the other organizations. These organizations have been trying to implement the theoretical practices of cultural dimensions by bringing about changes in the HR policies and practices in order to bring in more uniformity in the organizational culture.

For example, Adobe, which comes among the top 100 companies in the Fortune magazine, by giving away patents to the employees when they come up with some unique and innovative ideas, and even they are rewarded for such ideas in the annual banquets organized by the company to honor the intelligence and dedication of the employees. Moreover, the company offers reasonable educational reimbursement to their employees in order to pursue their higher education (Adobe.com, 2020). Hence, this is indeed a great example of organizational culture being practiced at Adobe which boosts the morale of their employees.

L.L. Bean is another organization that features among the top 100 companies in the Fortune magazine which have been giving a lot of importance to its organizational culture. The employees of the 103-year old retail company enjoy advantages like discounted gym memberships, discounts on different types of products offered by the company, paid time off for volunteering, health insurance, and even reimbursement on their tuition fees (Llbeancareers.com, 2020). These cultural practices of the organization have truly motivated the employees who have been working and performing with renewed interests.

The cultural impact on HR practices

The HR and the overall HR department plays a significant role in helping to assure that the cultural aspects of the organization stay pertinent within the organizational framework. The cultural aspect of an organization is not a stationary entity and it keeps on evolving with the altering workplace norms, demographics, forces of the industry, and other relevant factors (corporatefinanceinstitute.com, 2020). It is quite feasible to measure the cultural aspect of an organization and the information can be used conveniently to form a standard based on which the organization can work on future enhancements. The organizational culture can generally have an impact on everything within the organizational framework starting from the productivity of the organization to enhancing the morale of the employees as well to determine the reputation of the organization.

In this context, it becomes quite crucial for the HR managers as well as the HR department to appropriately assess how organizational culture affects the bottom line and needs to figure out what steps the organization can adopt in order to evaluate regularly how the organizational culture has been performing within the organization (Wang et al. 2020). The cultural values of an organization are generally reflected in the mission and vision statement of an organization. The core values of the organization can be acknowledged through the organizational culture, which generally aids the HR managers and the HR team to treat the employees with due care and dedication in order to boost their morale. The HR practices of recruiting the candidates or appraisal of the employees have been largely influenced by the organizational culture.

Conclusion

In the end, it is seen how the organizational culture plays a pivotal role in the HR practices and also helps in boosting the morale of the employees of the organization. The organizational culture generally reflects the core values of an organization, which has been also exhibited in the mission and vision statement of the organization. The primary HR practices like recruitment and selection, training and development, and performance appraisal have been mainly influenced by the organizational culture on most occasions. So the HR managers need to keep on monitoring and reviewing the HR policies and practices in order to assess whether they are performing well within the organization and check whether they are conforming with the organizational culture or not. The organizational culture generally changes over time as there are changes in the demographics, work culture, industry forces, and other factors, and with that, the HR policies also need to be changed in order to maintain a balance between the organizational culture and the HR policies.

The HR managers continuously strive to make the policies more flexible and dynamic, in order to make the work environment more suitable and favorable for the employees, so that they can work collaboratively in order to deliver improved performance. The cultural theories of Hofstede and GLOBE have been utilized in several cases by the HR managers in order to understand the different cultural dimensions based on the cultural outlooks, which help them to frame the appropriate HR policies and programs that help to enhance the organizational culture.

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