Human Resource Management

I am very sorry to about the length of this essay. Someone who had supervision with you last term told me that the essay must be about 2000 words. It was only on Monday morning that I found out it should be about 1000 words. I have already worked on more than two third of this essay by then, so I thought it is silly to stop. I will follow the word limit next time, and try to be more concise with my points.

There are many ambiguities and controversies about the meaning of Human Resource Management (HRM). HRM, in a generic term, is the process of managing employment relationship (coordinating an organization’s human resources, and getting the best work from each employee by providing the right incentives and job environment, to meet organizational goal). It is also argued that HRM is a relatively distinctive approach to manage employment relationship amongst a range of different approaches.

Storey (2001) explains that HRM “is a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce using an array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques. ” (Storey 2001, p. 6) In any case, HRM stresses the importance of human resource. While technology and capital can be attained by various organizations to achieve certain level of competitiveness, it is people that make the real difference and give the uniqueness and the competitive advantage, or edge of organisations.

This essay will outline the key features of HRM and discuss about the gaps between the rhetoric and reality of HRM. Before moving onto the main theme of this essay, brief history of the origins of HRM in the US and the driving forces for the emergence of HRM in the UK will be covered. The origins of HRM may “lie within employment practices associated with welfare capitalist employers in the United States during the 1930’s. ” (Beardwell, Holden and Claydon 2004, p17) Changes in government regulations and labour relations also contributed to its origin.

It can also be seen as “the Americanized version of ‘Japanese’ methods” of employment management (Storey and Sisson 1994, p. 15). By the early 1980’s, HRM was well established in the US business structure. It was not until the 1980’s that HRM gained recognition in the UK, when the conservative party came into power. Before this time, “British industrial relations were based on extensive collective bargaining between employers and trade unions. ” (Gill 2004, p. 1) Written contracts, rules and formalised procedures were the conventional ways of managing industrial relations in the UK.

There were many driving forces which moved the UK’s employment management toward HRM model. The reform of the trade unions, introduced in the 1980’s by the conservative party, under Margaret Thatcher, discouraged national (multi-employer) bargaining and made strike actions more difficult to do. The recession during the 1980’s forced employers to rethink their employee relation policies. The UK recession of early 1990’s was the longest in post-war history, and affected both the manufacturing and the service sectors.

Unemployment rose to 2. 87 million in October 1992, and the impact of job losses was felt throughout the country (Beardwell, Holden and Claydon, 2004). Both technological advancements and globalization of businesses during that period have dramatically altered the basis of competition in many industries. The increasing competition, due to economic environmental changes, forced many British managers look for new employment management models to improve their organizations’ competitiveness in the market.

What are the key features of HRM that makes it different from the previous labour management relations? Both the pre-1980’s labour management relation in the UK and the new model HRM identify that allocation of right people at the right jobs is very important in integrating their practices to organizational goals. In this sense, some people argue that HRM is an “old wine in new bottle” (Gill, 2004), or a restatement of existing labour management relation. However, there are number of differences between these two models.

HRM, being more ’employee friendly model’ assumes that it is the human resource which gives the competitive edge. Beliefs and assumptions of HRM states that the success of an organization in its final analysis depends on its human resource capability and commitment. Therefore, it has to be handled with great care and attentions. It emphasize on the maximization of individual skills and motivation through a consultation with the workforce. One of the main elements of HRM model concerns with strategies.

The strategic emphasis of the integration of HRM with the goals of organization is often seen as the defining feature of HRM. Because human resource is regarded as a valuable asset to be invested in, and not as a cost which needs minimizing, HR decisions are of strategic importance to an organization. There are two strategic approaches. One is concerned with the general position of HRM in organization and whether HRM has influential power over core activity of the business. It needs to be considered by top management in the formulation of total business strategies.

Another approach is more concerned with the way in which HRM provide motivation and commitment from the employee, such as better recruitment, better alignment of reward systems with performance and so on. Another key feature is based around the roles of line and general managers in HRM. Line managers are regarded as the crucial element in delivering HR practice (conduction briefing groups, TQM movement, newsletters, performance related pay scheme, keeping people informed about the company’s activity, and so on).

If HRM is vital for the success of business, it must not be left for the personnel specialists alone to handle. In practice, “much of the drive for HRM came in fact, not from personnel specialists, but from the line and general managers (see the evidence in Storey 1992). ” (Storey 2001, p. 7) Greater attention is paid to manage the managers in order to make sure that HRM practices are being carried out. Other feature of HRM is based around the key levers used in the enforcement of HRM.

Management of cooperate culture is regarded as a key to achieving flexibility, commitment, and harmonized work force, which are all desired by employers. Flexibility of organization can be achieved by changing the culture in such a way to remove restrictions of movement between the internal labour forces. Also changes in culture may encourage people to work as one team with unified views and objectives (unitary approach). “Committed employees would ‘go the extra mile’ in pursuit of customer service and organizational goals. ” (Storey 2001, p.

8) Greater managerial control can be achieved by controlling the culture. However, managing culture is very difficult. It may even mean altering traditional views, attitude, beliefs and values of organization. Is there any evidence of rhetoric success of HRM? The Workplace Employee Relations Survey 1998 (WERS98) is a national survey of British workplaces. It”offers some recent and representative information about the extent of use of a number of HR practices and it contains some information about the strategic location of HR. ” (Storey 2001, p.

10) The information can be used to examine the impact of HRM policies and practices on organizational outcome. WERS98 has shown that 68% of all managers said that they had strategic plan that included the development of employees. The increased flow of direct communication with the workforce was observed in all organization. 48% of all work places applied for the attainment of Investor in People standard (to measure the involvement of employee relations managers in the business planning), within which 67% of these companies were accredited. Performance appraisals were reported in 79% of all workplaces.

In general, empirical studies tend to show that individual elements of HR practices are used in organizations (Storey 2001). It seems as if the idea of HRM has permeated almost all organization. However, the actual implementation of the model is extremely complex which leads to discrepancy between the model and reality. Too many British companies appear to have pursued HRM innovations without a clear strategic view or an awareness of the complexities, resulting in limited progress and criticism of HRM. Many of those claiming an HR strategy failed to describe the content of that strategy (Marginson et al 1988).

HR is not taken as seriously as it should be in many companies, and this fact is reflected on lack of HR directors at board level (Marginson et al, 1998). Bit less than 30% of companies with 1000 or more employees have a specialist HR director (Marginson et al, 1998). “Interestingly, apart from an insistence on customer orientation, most companies failed to show much in the way of an integrated approach to employment management, and still less was there evidence of strategic integration with the corporate plan. ” (Storey and Sisson 1994, p. 22)

Introduction of Telenor

In Pakistan Telenor launched its operation in March 2005 as the single largest direct European investment in Pakistan, setting precedence for further foreign investment in the telecom sector. In a little over two years, Telenor have grown to become a leading telecom operator in the country. In fiscal year 2006, Telenor achieved nearly 200% growth in their subscriber base – The Highest in the industry by a wide margin. Telenor is the fastest growing mobile network in the country, with coverage reaching deep into many of the remotest areas of Pakistan. In most difficult terrains, from the hilly

Northern areas to the sprawling desserts in the south, at the time they are the only operator connecting the previously unconnected. Telenor are spread across Pakistan, creating 2,200 direct and 20,000-plus indirect employment opportunities. We have a network of 15 company-owned sales and service centers, more than 200 franchisees and some 100,000 retail outlets.

Vision statement

Telenor vision is simple; they exist to help their customers to get the full benefit of communication service in their daily lives. The key to achieving this vision is mindset where everyone works together. Making it easy to buy and use their services. Their vision is inspiring vision to find new ways.

Mission statement

At Telenor, it is believed that responsibility and trust are inseparable. Telenor must have trusting relationships its customers, owners, employees and society in general. Therefore a determined effort is made to attend to the group responsibilities in society in comprehensive and innovative way. Telenor striving to be a driving force in creating, simplifying and introducing communication and content solutions to the market place.

Core values

Telenor has mainly four core values:

1. Make it easy
2. Keep promising
3. Be inspiring
4. Be respectful

Market share of cellular industry in Pakistan

From the above chart we see that Telenor has catched up the warid. Both are tied up at this time.

Human Resource management planning

Human Resources (HR) is about creating a winning organization, generating outstanding business performance through the development of people and teams.

Working in Telenor organization is high profile, rewarding and demands the ability to take tough, insightful decisions and translate them into action. HR’s overall function is to devise and implement strategies and policies to ensure that they have the right people with the right skills. Within that, there are numerous options For example; it could be covering culture change, leadership development, strategic talent management, coaching and skills development or alignment of reward with performance.

Objective of Human Resource departement

The objective of the Human Resource department is “To Facilitate Growth. Telenor people are the most important asset. In Human Resources (HR) they support and develop people, enabling them to deliver outstanding business performance. Telenor culture is about empowering people, both to contribute to their business objectives and to achieve their own personal and career goals. HR’s overall function is to devise and implement strategies and policies to ensure that we have the right people with the right skills. HR manager has most important function to they guide the employees how they move on corporate ladder. Manager must know what is the employee’s strength and weakness. So they train the employees in weak areas.

Recruitment & Placement practices

Telenor selection process is designed to identify the potential to become the future business leaders, while helping people decide if Telenor is the right organization for them.

Job postings

The type of mediums that they use in order of preference for posting their jobs.

• Internal CV Pools

They keep track of all their employees CV’s & when they have jobs available they look for potential candidates among their own staff for internal recruitment. Filling a vacancy by their current employees is their first choice.

• Head hunters

Telenor has assigned human resource corporations or agencies to look for talented & well knowledgeable people for them & provide them with people with the specific descriptions that Telenor has posted.

• Newspapers

In case they don’t get people from above sources they go for public offerings by giving ads in news papers mostly well known and mass published newspaper having goodwill in the market such a s” Dawn”, “The News”’ or “Jang”

• Campus Drives

Telenor also sends its HR teams to different universities campuses for finding out the potential talent that can be of use to them in the future. Their HR people have the descriptions or know description according to which they look for prospective employees. They also provide internship opportunities and then select suitable candidates and then conduct 1-2 normal interview and then offered to job to selected candidate.

Compensation practices

Before deciding on the compensation plans the H. R department try to understand the goals of the company. Groups of pay ranges are developed so that it would be easier to make compensation plans for the employees.

Usually promotions to higher group depend upon the efforts of the employees and very seldom on their experience. Compensation plans include both direct and non-direct compensations.

Job evaluation

The HRM department of Telenor does Job evaluation. The method used by the company is Point method. In point method points and degrees are specified. HRM department conduct the salary surveys, evaluate jobs, and develop pay grades, use wage curves and fine tune pay rates. The information is kept as confidential to make sure that no information is being leaked out.

In Telenor employee also do job evaluation by himself. The employee is often being given individual goals, so he has to work on how to achieve those goals. The goals assigned to him will make sure that employee constantly learns and improves in order to achieve the goals. The goals are always very challenging and require the employee to critically analyse his strengths and weaknesses and look for the competencies that he wants to develop.

Performance development planning system

Telenor have “Annual confidential reporting” for their employee’s evaluations, under which they measure employee performance. This process of measuring performance is run in collaboration with HR & the concerned department whereby each employee is evaluated on occasional basis & in case the performance is above expectations they are instantly rewarded, however in other circumstances of less than par performance there are no punishments such as demotions, salary cuts etc but they are warned in writing, if this does not improves their performance they are again given a second letter in writing which is the last warning they get for improvements.

Appraisal methods

Telenor uses various appraisal methods most common ones are:

• Ongoing Feedback
• 360Degree Feedback

Pay structure

The pay structure of Telenor is kept confidential. They don’t provide much information regarding their pay structure. The limited information that was provided to us was that including the basic pay. They are also given bonuses, fuel, and advance in case of emergency. Telnor provides it employees with increments on annual basis. The factors that are kept in consideration during increments are the inflation rate of the country, the kind of task the employees have performed and the kind of experience or position the employees hold.

All these factors ensure that they don’t encounter any salary compression problem in their work setting. They also analyze the pay structure of their competitors & if they see any changes they also work out their basic pay structures accordingly. Measures are also taken to keep an internal equity among various jobs in the organization. However what we have analyzed during the whole reporting process is that they are paying comparatively higher than the industry.

Job safety programs

Telenor provides certain job safety programs such as Smoke free environments: there are certain areas called “Smoking room” where people can smoke. Smoking inside the office is strictly prohibited.

• Fire Equipment: Fire alarms are installed in various places and people are given training to operate them.
• Emergency Bell: the employees are made familiar with the emergency bell, which will ring in case of earthquake or any other matter.

Healthy work environment

Telenor is responsible for supporting a working environment characterized by high job-satisfaction, opportunities for personal and professional development, and low rate of sick leave and injuries.

Telenor’s managers are responsible for establishing effective arrangements to identify and eliminate or control work-related hazards and risks, and promote health at work. These arrangements are organized, planned, implemented and evaluated with employee participation. Telenor has established a Health, Safety and Working Environment (HSE) Management System to ensure that the effort to develop and maintain a good working environment is an ongoing process throughout the Telenor Group.

Telenor employees strategies to move up on corporate ladder

Most employees want to move the corporate ladder and is the responsibility of manager how they guide them. They help to choose the right career. They guide the employees about their career and they also trained the employees according to their job.

Career planning process at Telenor

An on going process preparing, implementing and monitoring career plans undertaken by the individual alone or in concern with the organizations career systems. The practice of organizational career planning involves matching an individual’s career aspirations with the opportunities available in an organization.

If a career management is successful, the individual and the organization must assume an equal share of responsibilities for it . The individual must identify his or her aspiration and abilities and through counseling, recognize what training and development are required for a particular career path. Long term career planning focuses on Core Workplace Skills such as communications (verbal and written), critical and creative thinking, teamwork and team building, listening, social, problem-solving, decision-making, interpersonal, project management, planning and organizing, computer/technology, and commitment to continuous/lifelong learning.

Short-term career planning

Short-term career plan focuses on a time frame ranging from the coming year to the next year. For a short term career planning Human resource department with the help of HR manager focuses on following exercises:

• Analyze likes and dislikes

They enjoy training programs, company’s quarterly/annual meetings and dinning, national and international traveling etc. Every single corporate decision is taken after a consultation with all relevant departments.

• Analyze Passion

Analyze passion reflects on times and situations in which they feel most passionate, most energetic, most engaged.

• Analyze strengths and weaknesses

In this analyze work experience, education, training, skill development, talent and abilities, technical knowledge, and personal characteristics.

• Analyze Definition of success

“Success comes to those who make it happen not to those who let it happen” It means spend some time on knowing how they define success. What is success in their point of view such as wealth, power, control and contentment?

• Analyze Personality

They prefer young, bachelors, soft spoken, cool minded, found of traveling,excellent team player/leader, down to earth and definitely educated etc In each department they seek an individual who is a good intellectual.

Long-term career planning

Long term career planning usually involves a planning of five years or longer and involves a broader set of guidelines and preparation. Long range career planning should be more about identifying and developing core skill that employees will always value while developing personal and career goals in broad strokes.

Like HR department has its own plan that how to develop managers and leaders for tomorrow. They have strongly plans to develop individuals who can look after several different regions while sitting in Islamabad office (Head office). Similar opportunities and case studies are offered to such members to gauge their skills and interests. Beside this an emphasis is also on providing knowledge of all related and relevant things that may help in their future jobs.

Useful tools/resources of career planning at Telenor

These are the tools that use for career planning at Telenor

Career assessment tools

They have a collection of best self assessment tools, designed to give a better idea to their employees to analyze attitudes and interests as they relate to possible career choices. Employees are welcomed to share their classified information with HR department and seek professional solutions for their work-related problems. For example; the major tool they used for self assessment are workbooks and workshops and for organizational assessment major tools are performance appraisal, succession planning.

Career change resources

Some tools and resources specially established for jobseekers contemplating a career change. For example I f an employee want to change his career from IT professional to HR person they are provided opportunity for job shadowing. Employee’s actual moves between few departments he likes work therefore a few days and then finalizes with relevant head of departments and HR manger to switch to specific department.

Career exploration resources

They give their employees opportunity to find some great resources designed to help them in order to learn more about different jobs, careers and career exploration.

Transferable skills

The concept of a transferable skill is a vital job –search technique that all the job- seekers should master, through the concept is especially important for career changers and college students. For example each member involved in any type of training is held responsible to transfer all these skills to a next person.

Workplace value assessment

The assessment tool is used to better understand the core values of the employees working in organization and also analyze what the employees want in their jobs, and career. For example make their employees to fill the required details of all kind of national and international training in the event feed back forms then the management able to know the learning objectives of employees which they want further in their careers. Telenor offers exciting and challenging careers with competitive pay, excellent benefits and exceptional advancement opportunities.

Telenor care their employees and provide them with a relaxed and enriching working environment. Telenor training and further education programs ensure a high professional standard amongst our employees. Telenor believe that a talented and loyal workforce plays a crucial role in the organization’s ongoing business success. Telenor’s management and organization is imbued with joint values. The Group Management has devised five leadership requirements that apply to all managers in the Group, and all management groups shall discuss what these requirements mean to them.

The demands are:

• Passion for business
• Change and constant renewal
• Operational excellence
• Empower people
• Integrity

Training & Development practices training

The process for providing employees with specific skills or helping those correct deficiencies in their performance.

Training is the systematic process of altering the behavior of employees in a direction that will achieve the organization goals. Training is related to present job skills and abilities. It has a current orientation and helps employee’s master specific skills and abilities needed to be successful. A formal training program is an effort by the employees to provide opportunities for the employee to acquire job related skills, attitude and knowledge.

Learning is the act by which the individual acquire skills, knowledge and abilities that result ion a relatively permanent change in his /her behavior.

Training methods

There are two types of training methods.

1. On the job training
2. Off the job training

On the job training

It includes job rotations apprenticeship, understudy assignment and formal mentoring program. 2.

Off the job training

Off the job training includes:

• Seminar
• Lectures
• Conferences
• Workshops

Telenor training methods

In Telenor training methods include:

• Class room lectures

It conveys technical, personal and problem solving skills and also demonstrates their technical skill by film and videos.

• Simulation exercise

It includes actual performance, case analysis, and experimental exercises, role playing and group interaction.

• Vestibule Training

It includes learning tasks on the same equipment but in a simulated work environment

Goals of training

These are the goals of training

• Training Validity

Did the trainees learn skills or acquire knowledge or abilities during the learning.

• Transfer Validity

Did the knowledge, skill, abilities learned in training lead to improved performance on the job?

• Inter-organizational validity

Can a training program that has been validated in one organization be used successfully in another firm?

Type of traning

Following are the types of training that are commonly used in general in any organization.

• Skills training

It includes basic literacy skills, technical skills, and interpersonal skills and problem solving skills.

• Cross-functional Training

It involves training employees to perform operation in areas other than their assigned job.

• Creativity Thinking

It is based on assumption that creativity can be learned

• Literacy Training

It involves the mastery of basic skills reading, writing, arithmetic and their uses in problem solving.

• Diversity Training

Diversity training program are designed to teach cultural differences and how to respond to these in work place.

• Crisis Training

It involves preparing employees with tragedies, crashes and workplace violence etc.

• Customer Service Training

It include provide customer service to give the employee the skills they need to meet and exceed customer expectation.

Telenor types of training

Training divided into two parts:

• Technical Training

Technical training is conducting whenever they introduces new scheme so that they train their employees about the usage of this new scheme.

• Non-Technical Training

This training is further divided into two parts

• IT-Based Training

This training relates to equipment and technology

• Non –IT based Training

Non IT based training is also divided in two section in first section Management training, Communication training, Teams training, Group training is given to employees. And in second section is consisting of launch scheme training, Price training, Customer training.

Relationship between performance appraisal and career

There is specific description of HR manager responsibilities that are associated after conducting evaluation with respect to career development. Assessment:- Effective preparation of performance development plans, for their employees, requires the ability to assess the needs of the employee and the organization.

Employee may develop own skills in this area by attending the course, “Enhancing Career and Organizational Options,” offered by Staff Education and Development on job. Help their employees to set career goals that are consistent with their skills, knowledge, experience and interests by providing feedback based on observations and assessment of their abilities, readiness and potential. The assessment should be based on manager’s actual experience and observation of employee performance and behavior rather than on assumptions and personal biases.

Providing Information:- HR manager will support career development when he informs an employee about options for and possible barriers to career movement. For example, he may tell his employees about upcoming positions or openings for which they may be qualified, or about budgetary constraints which may inhibit career options or development opportunities in the unit or department Referral:- Refer employees to others who can assist them in achieving development goals.

It is the responsibility of HR manager, to be aware of the appropriate referral sources both within and outside of the department. He may refer employees to books, journals, professional associations or other sources of information. He may also put them in touch with people who might be willing to serve as mentors or with those who might provide an information interview in which employees can learn more about a field or position from someone who is currently working in that area or capacity.

Guidance

Encourage employees to focus on clear, specific and attainable career goals.

Share knowledge and experience with employees. Typical questions employees have are:

1. What is required to move to the next logical position?
2. What are the chances for advancement in this department?
3. How to be mobile within the company?
4. What is the difference between a promotion and an upward reclassification?
5. Who to contact for further information or career counseling.

Provide guidance to employees about steps they might take to improve existing skills and knowledge or develop in new functional areas.

Develop

HR manager support employee development when he assigns employees roles or tasks which challenge them and provide the opportunity to grow. Base decisions about development options and opportunities on a careful assessment of the employee’s readiness to accept additional or new responsibilities or challenges. Provide on-the-job training and refer employees to classes, workshops, and other learning and development opportunities, and recommend employees to serve on committees, task forces or cross-functional teams.

Conclusion

As Telenor one of the best cellular organization, thus it is very difficult to for me give recommendations to them. They continuous review their strategies and make adjustments according to their requirements. They follow almost all norms of efficient working environment and at the heart of it lies the HRM department that manages people very effectively. The HRM departments make programs like performance development planning, which ensures that the employees learn the skills are necessary to achieve the organizational goals.

Other then that, they also want employees to put up suggestions for training needs. These way employees evaluate themselves and ask for training if they feel any deficiency. They have also discussed the career path from both perspective organizational point of view and individual point of view. After informal chat with the employees we come across that they are satisfied with their work, working environment, salary, incentives and the behavior of top management. In my point of view Telenor is the best company providing services to their customers.

But few things like long working hours and working even on public holidays and fear of monotonous job is one of the greatest challenge which HR department need to meet in coming years. After analyzing I came to know that the training they provided to their employees is satisfactory after informal chat with some employees I realize that employees are happy and satisfied with their current job status and also they are able to handle all the tasks given to them because they trained in such a manner that they become the master of all traits that’s why they easily handle every new challenge and complicated projects.

Their performance appraisal is directly link with the career of their employees and that’s why after evaluating it will be helpful for employees that HR manager properly guide them in order to set career goals that are consistent with their skills, knowledge, experience and interests by providing feedback based on observations and assessment of their abilities, readiness and potential. By this employees get to know where they stand right now and what are their strengths and weaknesses through which they get the opportunity to know the possible movements in their careers.

They are also triumphant in order to keep the motivational level of their employees and that’s why turnover rate is tremendously low as compare to other companies because they give appropriate incentives to their employees, provide them such type of friendly environment so that employees themselves motivated towards their work and provide their employees full opportunity to develop their career. In this way Telenor organization guide their employees how they move up on corporate ladder.

Recommendation on Telenor

The company should increase the number of intakes for the management trainee programs and also for internships.

This would help students from all over the country who want to be a part of this multinational to learn from their practices. On the other hand, the organization will get more people to assist them. ? There should no biasness at all because due to this the conflicts are not to solve but it will increase so it should better,do not iterfere any personel matters of others but try to understand each and every one should live equality. other so that they would exactly know what are the deficiencies in the current employees and what are the areas that they will have to focus on for training. Job rotation is not effectively used by the organization as a tool which would help employee learning and growth. Other then the management trainee program, the tool is not used anywhere else. Thus, restricting the employees in their own departments and with their own works and limiting their understanding about the workings of other departments and jobs.

• Frequent postings to different locations within the country creates dissatisfaction among the employees. The organization must recruit employees from the same location where the vacancy is from.
• Recruiting the employee from different city and then placing him in other city would decrease employees job satisfaction.
• Communication trainings and tests should conduct by the company for the betterment of the Company and the employees.
• The Company should be flexible in recruiting the person because no one is perfect in this world so he should be up to the mark and have ability to fulfil the requiments of the Company.

Tyson uses both soft and hard approaches to human resource management. Human resource management is making the best use of all employees to achieve corporate goals. Dagon’s average engineer is about 26 years old, and as quoted by the CEO Max Zone, “their energy, ingenuity and motivation to work hard more than make up for their lack of experience. If you lack experience, there are also enough experienced engineers and managers In senior roles to learn from”.

Continuous professional development is taken seriously. Workers will be learning all the time, and there are many whose only Job is training and development of others in the company. The managers are happy to set budget aside to send people to International conferences, courses, and industrial events. From this I have gathered that Tyson have a keen interest in improving the skills of their workers and focus on motivation roles when training and courses for employees to go on.

This could suggest Tyson to have a soft HARM as it indicates that they believe that employees are the most important source, which they have to be when it comes to research and development as the engineers and researchers of the business are the driving for behind Dagon’s new products, designs and innovative ideas. According to McGregor Y theory, the leaders show innovation and imagination and are not just motivated by money but other things such as success. This has aspects shown from Tyson such as that the leaders have creative minds and thrive in innovation.

Also parts of Herbage’s theory can be seen such as the satisfiers being achievement e. G. Reading a new product, growth and also recognition. However Herbert also states that motivation Is affected by hygiene factors being working conditions and co-worker relationships. After looking at many company reviews from Tyson employees I have noticed the following Issues appearing most, ‘a rolled working culture’, ‘bad/lancelet management’, ‘company expanding too rapidly causing chaos’ and ‘poor performance reviews and bonuses’. Many said that the managers do not communicate with workers enough and do not address the issues arising daily.

This shows some aspects of hard human resource management such as poor appraisals and also possibly high staff turnover if employees are unhappy and do not feel they can work at Tyson any longer. Tyson faced was relocation of Its production to Malaysia and Singapore in 2002 and thus laying off employees in united Kingdom. However, it is held by the company that the cost saving was utilized in research and did not go in vain. This possibly could Indicate slight aspects of Hard HARM such as hiring and firing of employees to save money, however it was in the best interests of Tyson to reinvest onto research and development to continue to innovate.

So in this case I wouldn’t say that this shows significant hard human resource management. Overall Dagon’s hard human resource management approach would be expected to result in a more cost – effective workforce where decision making is quicker and more focused on senior managers. However this approach pays little attention to lower employees and may expect to suffer from high absenteeism and staff turnover and ultimately a less successful recruitment.

MNCs continue to evolve and persist with advancement in strategic change. Global corporations are in view of implications of coalesce of both hard and soft model of human resource management. It further entails that both HRM and strategic change management are interwoven in the context of internal and external environment. Organizations are more and more adopting the concept of freedom to change where employees are empowered, assigned responsibilities, provided guidelines and are given flexibility to make decisions.

More importantly emphasis is being given to training and development, ethical and moral values, collaboration, integration and cross-functional approach. In the recent era of advancement intangibles are given more importance as compare to tangible rewards and benefits. More often domestic culture is being preferred over global culture where different functional departments are entwined with IT infrastructure and technological systems. Furthermore government intervention has further enhanced the scope of job creation and organizations are espoused to

Introduction:

Change management has brought evolution. MNCs and global corporations have transformed and adjusted business processes, operations, policies, rules and organizational structure. Human Resource Management has undergone major changes and adopted the market requirements. There exist lots of opportunities for the HR personnel to further enhance the productivity of the organization. A New paradigm shift in Human Resource Management:

Farquharson and Baum (2002) acknowledged that change management remains an imperative in the contemporary era and multifaceted organizations are developing strategies to gain competitive advantage and pursue with the dictum. The primary emphasis is given to downsizing, TQM philosophies, technical perspective and the implementation of diverse methods and procedures. Nevertheless these dimensions overlook perceptual, attitudinal and behavioral aspect of change within the organization hence primary stakeholders i. e. employees are disregarded and not given importance during such practices.

Moreover the role of HRM remains a dilemma in change management. The soft model of HRM states that employees must be regarded as valuable assets for the organization which results into commitment, proactive approach, and enhanced skills and outclass performance. The prominent importance is given to leadership, proper communication and motivation. The hard model of HRM considers employees as a source of economy and production hence more emphasis is given to rewards and appraisal system. HRM plays an important role in initiating structural change.

Both HRM and organizational change are interwoven where three factors play crucial role:

• Outer context: It focuses on economical, political, legal, social, cultural and technological factors.

• Inner context: It highlights the role of individual employees, technology being used, organizational structure, hierarchy, culture, outputs and leadership.

• HRM context: The realm analyzes different rules and regulations, policies, management and outputs. MNCs and global corporations identify constraints and opportunities so that HRM can formulate the entire system in accordance with the environmental changes.

• HRM context: The realm analyzes different rules and regulations, policies, management and outputs. MNCs and global corporations identify constraints and opportunities so that HRM can formulate the entire system in accordance with the environmental changes.

There exist an enormous gap between the theoretical and practical perspective of HRM and organizational change management. Pioneering in change management program: BAA (British airport authority) initiated a program by the name of “Freedom to manage” in which they focused on specific skills and brainpower requirements which can enhance customer satisfaction, reduce cost and build up efficiency and effectiveness among internal processes. The key objective stated that employees need to be empowered and they must have the ability to analyze opportunity and contribute at their utmost.

Employees were given major responsibility within their areas of business. The entire framework delivers guidelines and flexibility where managers can assign priorities among different assignments, tasks and projects. It emphasized on two wide dimensions:

• HRM endowed with rewards in parallel with training and development where key focus was given to collaboration, integration and two-way communication.

• To develop a psychological bond between employees and the organization where specific consideration

• HRM endowed with rewards in parallel with training and development where key focus was given to collaboration, integration and two-way communication.

• To develop a psychological bond between employees and the organization where specific consideration were given to moral, ethical and emotional conducts.

The corporation developed a specific vision comprising of three important factors:

• Process: It was stated that all the business processes need to be streamlined and value addition must be done within support services. RDMP (resource develop and motivate people) program was initiated and as a result individual employees developed proactive approach and started taking responsibilities.

• Technology: An integrated system comprising of finance, purchase, marketing, human resource and administration was established along with IT and advanced database infrastructure among front-end facilities.

• People and Organization: The entire task force was provided with updated skills and the organization was transformed into a learning organization. The domestic culture is preferred over global culture.

The domestic culture is preferred over global culture. More importantly standardization of processes decreases personnel involvement therefore empowerment is given primary importance. In order to transform into a secure and trustworthy culture employment relationship and teamwork approach is being adopted by MNCs. Reid et al. , (2002) instigated that HRM has dynamically transformed workplace conducts.

Conventionally personnel management and Industrial relations are being considered as a part of HR managers where the skills are utilized at the potential. It is stated that HRM has contributed a lot towards business expansion and diversification. Recently government intervention for the purpose of jobs creation has further enhanced the role of HRM in organizations. More prominently HRM is playing an important role in differentiating between ownership and management.

According to one research in U. S. industries alone about 55% of the operating budget is allocated to workforce management. Furthermore there exist a high correlation between HRM and organizational gross profit. Whittaker (2003) examined that due to continuous evolution of change more and more line-managers are being assigned HR responsibilities. Furthermore both line-managers and HRM employees are operating in partnerships with each other. Buck et al. , (2003) stated that both internal and external disorders have made the organizations to re-think about environmental issues and adjust their strategies.

Two key aspects have been identified:

• ‘Adaptational’ school of thought: A paradigm shift in which organizations adopt proactive approach.

• ‘Selectional’ school of though: Organizations have to opt for a reactive approach in order to protect themselves from failure.

However institutional change results into different consequences which can be negative as well as positive. On one side it is believed that strategic change results into negative impact on the organization and it results into transience of the business.

On the other hand strategic change is considered as a major risk which can result into alternative outcomes and more often improves the survival chances of the firm. Transitional economies provide an eminent paradigm which focuses on the concept of institutional change related to corporate governance and strategy formulation. Moreover employment policies are deeply embedded organizational strategies which results into resistance to change. More often it is perceived that unchanged strategies results into decrease in cost incurred through radical changes however it seems inappropriate in accordance with current environmental shift.

The gradual developments in the field of Human Resource Management (HRM) are today well documented (see for instance, Schuler and Jackson, 1999 and Sisson and Storey, 2000). In spite of that, the eager discussions on HRM issues continue even though their focus has transformed with the lapse of time. The main topic which interested researchers in the 1980s was the gradual development of HRM.

Then the topic moved on to issues belonging to the inclusion and adaptation of industrial relations into HRM (Guest, 2001); then the combination of the HRM practices with business strategies, and seeing HRM as an important source of competitive advantage for modern global companies(Braun and Warner 2002). At the moment, there is an ongoing discussion regarding the contribution of Western HRM practices to the Third World firm’s performance (for example, Bjorkman and Fan 2002).

While some highly important HRM research findings have been produced in recent decades, research has often been based on generalized data or the researchers looked at HRM issues in Western Europe or the United States of America. In essence, these researches have focused their attention on HRM practices in advanced industrial countries of the West. As relatively very little analysis on incorporation of Western HRM practices by developing countries has been done, many researchers have put forward the need for more comprehensive cross-national HRM evaluation.

The goal of the paper ‘Transferring Western HRM practices to developing countries – The case of privatized utility in Jordan’ by Al-Husan, Faten Z. Baddar, Brennan, Ross, and James, Phil is to examine and analyze how managers in a recently privatized Jordanian organization, Telecom Co, which is part-owned by a French multinational, and has implemented a programme of HRM reform using much of the latest Western management practices, cope with issues and problems related to management of human resources.

Thus, the researchers made effort to highlight the major factors that have impact on HRM policies and practices in Jordanian context. Their evaluation contributes to the development of HRM theories and relevant policies and practices. This critical analysis provides an examination of the research paper, including the rationale, objectives and significance of the research; and then outlines the framework used by the researchers.

Critique of ‘Transferring Western HRM practices to developing countries – The case of privatized utility in Jordan’

The objective of this the research paper by l-Husan, Faten Z. Baddar, Brennan, Ross, and James, Philis is to explore the implementation of HRM practices in Jordanian organisation through the examination of human resource practices prior to and during the continuing organisational reform that has been occurring since privatization of Telecom Co. , the appraisal of future HRM trends, and the analysis of various variables which effect HRM. This objective is achieved by conducting systematic in-depth research carried out over a period of two and a half years, 1999-2002.

The researchers conducted both a review of current literature and field investigations, in addition to follow-up interviews at different periods and the staff survey. The paper, first of all, provides the reader with a brief summary of the developments in the field of HRM practices and how they are transferred to developing countries (pp. 105-107). Second, the paper emphasizes the need to understand the particular characteristics of HRM practices in developing countries.

Third, the paper introduces a framework for conducting cross-national HRM research and, finally, it provides the reader with specific description of the structure and findings of this research and introduces each of the steps (pp 107 -109). The questions pursued by researchers in the paper and which require further attention include the following: 1 How is HRM structured in privatized Jordanian organization, Telecom Co?

• What Western HRM strategies are developed by the Jordanian company?
• How does the Jordanian company implement Western strategies?
• What are the similarities and differences in the HRM systems in different countries?
• What are the reasons for such similarities and differences?
• What is the influence of national factors such as Jordanian culture, government policy and educational level on implementation of Western HRM practices?

• To what extent if any are HRM models established in Western countries appropriate or relevant to Jordanian organizations?

One way the researchers examine thoroughly such questions is by identifying and examining the influence of the main factors and variables which have impact on implementation of Western HRM practices in Jordanian national settings. Researchers note that Jordanian HR practices are determined by both ‘organisational culture’ factors (such as age, size, and nature of organisation) and ‘sub-culture-bound’ factors (such as professional identities, status, position and seniority) (pp. 109-110).

Really, it is now generally accepted fact that management practices including HRM are not universal but are ‘socially constructed’ in each nation (Boxall, 1995). If the nature of HRM practices are known to be ‘context-specific’ (Boxall, 1995), then the degree and direction of influence of both ‘organisational culture’ factors and ‘sub-culture-bound’ factors on HRM vary from society to society and are responsible for the context-specific nature of the importation by the company of Western HRM policies and practices.

Researchers have identified how important contingency variables such as the highest educational attainment, length of service with the current employer, job category, and the division in which the employee works influence HRM policies and practices (p. 116-118). However, other researchers in the field (for example, Budhwar and Sparrow, 2002 and Sparrow and Hiltrop, 1997) acknowledged the important role of contingency factors and have stated that more complex culture-bound arguments must be applied to the study of cross-national HRM practices.

Research on the impact of the main factors on HRM practices in a cross-national context is thus crucial for the study of HRM implementation in other developing countries. This is specifically so taking into consideration the main developments and transformations which are happening in developing nations which have made their economies free and opened their doors to multinational companies. It is of great importance for researchers to be familiar with the pattern of HRM systems predominant in such developing nations. However, the successful accomplishment of such a large objective does require more research.

Focusing on cultural context of developing nations would add a new stimulus and force to HRM research and make possible for researchers to make in-depth analysis. Importantly, such a research approach would also help researchers to investigate the transferability of human recourse management methods and practices. Up to the 1970s, the thought that management theories and practices are universally applicable was quite tending to pervade. Nevertheless, the influence of the ‘convergence hypothesis’ has now faded as sufficient evidence has been obtained which conflicted with it (Hofstede, 1993).

But the important question still is to be asked, to what degree if any can this contingency view be used for the comparatively new field of cross-national HRM, given that most HRM models have been developed in the Western world? McGaughey and De Cieri (1999) indicate that Third World companies are becoming more similar in regard of macro-level variables (in other words convergence). At the same time, they are maintaining their culturally based distinctive characteristics in regard of micro-level variables (in other words divergence).

This is an important finding which in all likelihood can be applied to HRM practices in developing societies. Although both macro-level variables and micro-level factors (discussed above) are indicated to have an effect upon cross-national HRM, it can be concluded that more meaningful cross-national HRM comparative analysis can be made by investigating the influence of cultural factors on HRM. This statement is founded on the premise that cultural factors such as national culture and national institutions constitute the very basis of HR functions in any developing nation.

As a result, in order to analyse and highlight the nature of HRM transition to the developing country in different national settings, researchers need to identify and evaluate the major national factors that influence HRM practices in such context. The question of which factors to include under all-inclusive concepts of ‘culture’ or ‘institution’ then needs to be considered (see Budhwar and Sparrow, 2002). In the following, a framework used by researchers of the paper for examining implementation of cross-national HRM practices by Jordanian company will be analysed.

First, the scenario of HRM in Jordan will be examined.  Framework for examining the implementation of Western HRM ideas at Telecom Co. in Jordan, used by researchers of the paper In order to develop a conceptual framework to examine application of Western HR practices at Telecom Co., researchers defined HRM in the broadest sense. There exist several reasons for doing this. First, the contemporary literature indicates that the concept of HRM is comparatively new phenomenon and sometimes non-existent in some regions of the developing countries.

Second, because a few different HR models can exist within a company in a particular country, each of which depends (together with a series of other factors, among which are different institutions and particular culture) on several different ‘internal labour markets’ (see Boxall, 1995). In the context of each labour market, HRM includes a range of sub-functions and practices among which are systems for workforce management, workflow organisation, long-term staffing and development and reward programmes (Begin, 1992).

HRM practices and politics are consequently concerned with the management of all employment relationships in the company, including the management of managers in addition to non-management work. Conforming to these views, Al-Husan, Brennan, and James have put forward a framework for conducting international HRM research in Jordan which presents a simple set of variables which can be tested empirically. This framework enables researchers to accomplish effective research. Researchers have identified four levels of factors and variables which are known to influence HRM policies and practices.

These are:

• Effect of educational attainment level on employee attitudes;
• Effect of length of service on employee attitudes;
• Effect of job category on employee attitudes;
• Effect of department/division on employee attitudes.

Taking into consideration that HRM in developing countries is in its early stage of development and the widespread agreement that HRM in a cross-national context can best be investigated by examining the influence of cultural factors, the researchers’ proposition to examine the impact of only four national factors on HRM in Jordan seems reasonable and justified.These broad variables form the macro environment of Telecom Co. in a national context.

Analysis of research methodology

This section outlines the rationale for the research methodology used in the current research. It describes and evaluates the design and conduct of the case study by the researchers and the survey research component of the study, as well as the development and quality of questionnaires and methods utilised for survey data analysis.

The research questions examined in the study focus for the most part on the ‘what, how and why’ of implemented Western HRM practices and policies in Jordanian organisations, especially those which have undergone process of reformation. Given the fact that implemented western HRM practices in Jordanian organisations, in particular in the non-state sector, is an under-researched area, the researchers came to conclusion that an exploratory approach was the most appropriate method for this case-study. In their study, researchers used qualitative and quantitative approaches. It seems that these approaches are quite justified for the present study.

A qualitative approach helped the researchers accomplish an in-depth and rich description of specific case study. The research is based on the assumption that this is the best way to get information about some aspects of organizational life in Jordan. As may be concluded from the research questions, this research is interested in understanding, discovery and interpretation of facts rather than methods of testing some hypothesis. In addition, it intends to examine a contemporary phenomenon (Western HRM practices in the Jordanian organisation) within its real-life environment.

Taking into account that this research has the exploratory, real-life and process nature character, the choice to utilise the case study method is justified. Despite the fact that the case study method can derive its rigour from “the researcher’s presence, the nature of the interaction between researcher and participants, the triangulation of data, the interpretation of perceptions, and rich, thick description” as stated by Merriam (1998, 151), its limitations (taking into account aspects of validity, reliability and generalizability) need to be managed with attention (Yin, 1994).

One of the tactics to address such limitations is also to use a quantitative approach as it “can indicate relationships which may not be salient to the researcher”, while “the qualitative data are useful for understanding the rationale or theory underlying relationships revealed in the quantitative data” (Eisenhardt, 1989, 538). Thus, the combination of qualitative with quantitative evidence can be highly synergistic.

In the present research the authors used survey questionnaires in addition to multiple interviews to collect required information from relatively large numbers of managerial and non-managerial employees working in Jordanian organisation (44 interviews over a period of two and a half years and a staff survey, 202 completed and usable replies).

The survey questions covered the main HRM activities and referred to those research questions that were more quantitative in nature, such as the extent to which current and future Western HRM activities are and should be conducted and the perceived effectiveness and usefulness of Western HRM practices and policies. The obtained data give strength to the case study analysis in several ways, as observed by Sieber (1982):

the data help correct the holistic fallacy by guarding the researcher against the assumption that all aspects of a situation in the case study fit an emerging theory; the data can be used to support a generalization made from a single or limited case study; observations based on fieldwork can be verified. Finally, survey results can cast a new light on field observation, or more precisely, the serendipitous nature of some survey findings can illuminate a field observation that was hitherto inexplicable or misinterpreted (Sieber, 1982, 187).

The case study was designed and conducted in the context of recently privatized Jordanian organization, Telecom Co, which is part-owned by a French corporation. This research used a comparative case design. It can be considered as a powerful means of creating theory. This method permits “replication and extension of individual cases” (Eisenhardt, 1989, 98). Replication allows researchers to see and understand patterns without considerable difficulty and removes chance associations.

At the same time, extension allows researchers to develop a theory which is more planned and executed with care and exactness. In addition, case study method can also help to make the validity and stability of the findings much stronger. Case study was conducted in three phases over a period of two and a half years, 1999-2002 to investigate current reformed HRM activities and practices, to compare these activities with previous types and investigate the impact of reforms on these activities.

Collection of data on the HRM strategies and policies that were in place before, or immediately after, privatization was prepared at the first stage to help document the entire research procedure, and more importantly, to assist the progress of the study across major HRM functions in this case design. Its main part was to gather information primarily through in-depth semi-structured interviews, which were taped and transcribed.

Data analysis and reports of the case study

The first step in the data analysis was to make examination of the case study collected data. This data included relevant document records, interview transcripts, field notes and the researchers’ comments and observations. This procedure allowed the researchers to categorise all gathered data. This, in turn, made possible that the events, relationships and interactions perceived could be understood and interpreted properly within the context.

This categorization enabled the researchers to give form to, examine and rearrange uncertain findings obtained at the first stage of data analysis. Taking into account the case study objectives and questions, a standardized outline was prepared by the researchers. Going in accordance with this outline and including all categorized data, the case report was produced. As case report was completed, the researchers were able to have great knowledge of the case.

Data on the staff experiences of the HRM reforms were mainly collected using the staff survey. General survey analysis was conducted after the analysis of all samples which were obtained from all five the organisation’s divisions –Technical, Marketing and Sales, IT, Finance and Human Resources. Each sample analysis was compared with the research questions and the literature reviewed in the beginning, and then a comparison of all samples identified their similarities, differences and patterns coming into view.

The combination of qualitative and quantitative evidence in this analysis was used to avoid narrow and idiosyncratic theory and hence “to raise the level of generality of the theory” (Eisenhardt, 1989, 547), and also “to build a general explanation that fits each of the individual cases, even though the cases will vary in their details” (Yin, 1994, 121). The cross-case analysis allowed researchers to examine intra-organizational variations.

Techniques used by researchers for analysing the data

Analysis of survey data was conducted using the coding in SPSS for Windows. Researchers were using 1 for “significantly decreased” or “strongly disagree”, and 5 for “significantly increased” or “strongly agree”, with 2, 3 and 4 used for the intermediate points (108). In addition, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was utilized to identify variation in responses. This helped to combine some items that were highly correlated instead of examining them individually, and to create informative scales. Various techniques were employed for a range of analyses.

For example, “tests of statistical significance were carried out to test the hypothesis that there is variation in responses between categories of employees based on their gender” and whether reported differences were statistically significant (108).

Limitations of the data

Although the overall response rate was quite high, researchers note that the data have major limitations. First, almost all HRM practices noted in the questionnaire were not used in the organisation before the reforms were implemented, or employees and managers were not familiar with these practices.

Therefore, the questions obtained in the questionnaires are not quite reliable. 8. Significance of the Research Given the size of its growing economy and the desire of private Jordanian companies to support more independent and growing private sector in the country, Jordan gradually becomes significant in international business decisions. This is because the changes, which have occurred and are intended to implement in Jordan, hold considerable consequences for various groups including managers, HRM researchers and policy-makers at both country and company levels.

HRM research conducted by Al-Husan, Brennan, and James is significant for managers, especially local managers who are working in Jordan, but for foreign managers also who are going to work in Jordan. The growth of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Jordan has resulted in greater involvement of foreign businesses in technology transfer and in the infusion of managerial special skills and knowledge into Jordan’s economic development. Foreign companies have become the most widespread form of foreign investment in Jordan.

However, many foreign companies in Jordan experience considerable problems, which prevent them from reaching success. Some of these problems often originate from differences in political, economic and social systems, national culture. On the other hand, they stem from conflict with the traditional Jordanian HRM practices that are an inheritance of the pre-reform days. Al-Husan, Brennan, and James have pointed out differences between Jordanian and Western work attitudes, behaviour and concepts.

Also, Yordanian HRM policies and practices are quite different from those used in both developed and other developing market economies. Thorough consideration of local unique HRM practices is thus required to operate successfully in Jordan. Today’s HR practices in Jordan have distinctive ‘Jordanian’ characteristics, as they have been produced based on the old management system (Al-Husan, Brennan, and James 106).

As a result, the comprehensive study of Jordanian organisational management practices allows not only to provide helpful information of direct relevance to those who participate actively in that economy, but also to clarify the relevance of Western thinking to Jordanian management. The results of study conducted by Al-Husan, Brennan, and James will allow better assessment of the effects of transition to a free market economy on management and implemented Western HRM practices and policies.

An understanding of Jordan’s past and present management, particularly concerning HRM practices, gained from the current research, is of great value to foreign managers and their local Jordanian counterparts. The results of the conducted research will be also helpful for their understanding of the transformations which have occurred in Jordan and the emerging role of Western HRM in organisational management, and become aware of the inefficiencies in today’s HRM practices for future improvement and development.

Research by Al-Husan, Brennan, and James is also significant for management researchers as Jordan begins to represent an attractive site for research on HRM, in particular in the field of comparative and transnational management practices. While moving from a highly centralized command economy to a more free market economy, Jordan retains in part its political ideology. Therefore, Jordanian organizations can be examined to evaluate the universality of the macro and micro theories of management and organization that have been developed largely in the West or originated from Western practice.

In the current research, the HRM function and major HR activities are considered to investigate how Jordanian employees have been managed both prior to and after the economic and organisational reforms. Moreover, a survey questionnaire built upon the work of Western researchers was adopted by the researchers to study a range of HR practices in Jordan’s organisation. This research will assist the progress of HRM researchers’ understanding of the application of Western-developed HRM practices in the Jordanian context and the similar issues.

The results of the present research, which is based on both qualitative and quantitative data, should add significantly to an understanding of Jordanian HRM and its transformation. Moreover, policy-makers will find this study helpful as it reveals that the impact of economic reforms and the following transformations in traditional systems and practices on the management of human resources are deep. It thus presents the reader with some significant insights in the context of policy-making, organisational and government activities.

For instance, foreign businesses that might have desire to transfer their home country HR policies and operations to their subsidiaries in Jordan will discover that this research supports the point that foreign companies should not assume that identical HR practices can be applied to their Jordanian enterprises. This research also presents for consideration issues for government policy-makers in regard of the regulation of organisations. These issues involve the implementation of social security policies and future reform of managerial positions for senior enterprise managers.

A comprehension of these important issues could help government policy-makers carefully examine their present policies to assist the progress of development of HRM practices in local organisations. 9. Conclusion Al-Husan, Brennan, and James provide an examination of the application of Western HRM systems and practices in Jordan. The researchers demonstrate how a mixture of different social factors, pre-reform principles and models impact on application of Western HRM practices by Telecom Co. Like other developing countries, Jordan is also finding it hard to get rid of the former practices and policies in its reformed HRM practices.

The researchers nicely summarise the impact of the national factors on Jordanian HRM. The analysis is based on a large number of in-depth interviews, surveys, and comprehensive literature analyses. The researchers also report that Jordanian organisation is making a serious attempt to adopt the Western HRM philosophy. Al-Husan, Brennan, and James obtained the research findings from both the in-depth qualitative interviews and an internal, quantitative employee survey which were analysed and discussed in detail in relation to the research questions posed in the beginning.

The comparative analysis across the case study and surveys enables a use of research findings in the future studies. The paper concludes with a strong indication that a role for implemented Western HRM practices is emerging in Jordan, even though one still in transition together with the Jordanian economic system. The primary purpose of this research paper was to explore the emerging role of Western HRM practices in Jordan organisation.

This purpose was successfully achieved by researchers through the development of the major research questions, the investigation of findings obtained from the case study and the interviews and surveys completed. The analysis of findings of the case study and the discussion of survey results alone are just part of the inductive theory-building process used by researchers. To strengthen the theoretical outcomes obtained from different research methods and to enable the integration of research findings, researchers then made a comparative analysis across all findings and what relevance they have to each of the major research questions.

The research paper provides the reader with key statistical information regarding the Jordanian economy and its impact on Jordanian’s work employment system. It should be noted however, the author should have more explained about the main policy programmes initiated over the years and their impact on the HRM policies and function in Jordan. The unstable economic and political environment of Jordan has considerably influenced its HRM practices. At the same time, the authors present very detailed analysis of the impact of national culture on Jordanian HRM practices.

References

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Academic resilience presents factors that are involved in the enrollment of a student. Different factors contribute to the effect. The importance of understanding, accepting, and working at the goals to achieve academic resilience is essential. Below are five different studies that each explains their definitions of academic resilience and the contributions that can be made to impact student success. Morales (2008) researched academic resilience despite the fact of risk factors that would contribute to low academic performance.

Some of the risk factors are environmental issues that place students in danger (Morales, 2008). Risk factors include; inferior schools, a culture of violence, and/or lack of parental attention (Morales, 2008). He found that students have vulnerability areas that may create problems in a specific situation. Some vulnerability areas can be gender, class, and race/ethnicity. Statistics have indicated that females have surpassed men in terms of degree attainment at the baccalaureate and master’s level (Morales, 2008).

One of the biggest obstacles for females is the familial and social obligations which create stressful situations. Morales conducted a qualitative research on a sample size of 50 persons. Of the 50 participants 31 were female and 19 were male, with 30 self identifying as African American and 20 as Hipic (Morales, 2008). All of the study participants were attending predominantly White higher education institutions (Morales, 2008). The students were chosen because they were the individuals who could best help understand a given phenomenon—in this case the process of academic resilience (Morales, 2008).

The findings of the research concluded that females face more resistance than males. Borman and Overman (2004) investigated whether the allotment of an individual and school characteristics were associated with academic resilience differed due to race/ethnicity. They tested four models of risk factors in order to have a better picture of how schools might affect student resilient outcomes (Borman & Overman, 2004). The four risk factors included; effective schools, peer-group composition, school resources, and the supportive school community model.

Schools that have students of poverty and of color may fail to provide a supportive school climate, by having low academic expectations, or by delivering inadequate educational resources (Borman & Overman, 2004). The individual characteristics, school characteristics, and the interaction between both may contribute to a student’s risk of academic failure (Borman & Overman, 2004). There research began with 3,981 students and diminished to 925 after careful selection. The goal of the study was to reveal school effects, student’s attitudes, and behaviors that were related to resilience construct (Borman & Overman, 2004).

There research outcome was greater engagement in academic activities, efficaciousness in mathematics, a more positive outlook in school, and higher self esteem were characteristics of low SES (Socio Economic Status) students who achieved resilient outcomes in mathematics (Borman & Overnman, 2004). The results suggested that their economic status didn’t interfere with their academic resilience. McTigue, Washburn, and Liew (2009) explained that an academically resilient student needs to have a lot of self-regulation to maintain a positive attitude.

Their further explanation of factors in preschool that is important for predicting later reading success are usually alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness. Even though those are important skills to adhere the personality factor is one that has been overlooked (McTigue, Washburn, Liew, 2009). There argument was to provide a theoretical basis for the role of socioemotional development in reading (McTigue, Washburn, Liew, 2009). The promotion of student self-efficacy was demonstrated in six key principles. The first principle is creating an environment with acceptance and warmth (McTigue, Washburn, & Liew, 2009).

A safe environment allows students to feel comfortable and at ease in order to allow for knowledge to sink in. The second principle is literacy assessment should include measures of academic resiliency (McTigue, Washburn, & Liew, 2009). The key features are engagement and participation levels, self monitoring, and inquiries for help. Third principle involves; using direct modeling to promote literacy and self efficacy (McTigue, Washburn, & Liew, 2009). The fourth principle is effective feedback should be specific, accurate, and emphasize effort (McTigue, Washburn, & Liew, 2009).

Modeling is important in student self efficacy but is not complete without feedback (McTigue, Washburn, & Liew, 2009). Goal setting is the fifth principle and should be achieved after proper feedback. In the final principle teachers should promote self-evaluation by allowing the students to view their accomplished goals. In conclusion, McTigue, Washburn, and Liew (2009) believe it is important to take into consideration all aspects of student development (cognitive, language, social, emotional) in synchrony. Students needs all have the above to function better in school but not all children have the same learning capacities.

This report lacks to mention the children who might have mental retardation, cerebral palsy, autism, etc. and would need further attention than a regular student. Martin & Marsh’s (2008) study compares academic buoyancy to academic resilience. The differences are; the samples to which they relate, the operational differences, methodological distinctions, and the interventions that respond to them (Martin & Marsh, 2008). Academic resilience is characterized as “acute” and “chronic” adversities that are seen as a hardship to the developmental process (Martin & Marsh, 2008).

It also focuses on ethnic groups, interaction of ethnicity, and underachievement (Martin & Marsh, 2008). Their argument is that buoyancy on the other hand focuses on the hardships that people deal with on a day to day basis rather than from acute or chronic adversities. Academic buoyancy is recognized in two areas, “every day hassles” and “coping” (Martin & Marsh, 2008). This study understands that there are multiple reasons behind student’s academic success in school. No one person is the same or lives similar lifestyles; therefore there are multiple reasons for unsuccessful academics.

Gayles (2005) study was of three African Americans seniors in high School at one of the least affluent high schools in their area. In this research academic resilience signifies academic achievement when such achievement is rare for those facing similar circumstances or within a similar sociocultural context (Gayles, 2005). These students were the first in their families to graduate with honors, earned college scholarships, while they lives in non-affluent homes and community (Gayles, 2005). Gayles used open ended questions to and questions were directed towards the construction of the meaning of academic achievement.

His study showed that for the students diminished their own achievement because they didn’t feel they were better than others (Gayles, 2005). The motivations that lead to their success were from living in their affluent homes and trying to surpass that by parental advisement, if they wanted something they had to work at their education. In conclusion, each of these studies indicated different areas or reasons behind academic resilience. As previously mentioned, the situations that students are in make an impact on what academic route they take.

Some students may not overcome unsuccessful academics due to neglect in motivation or situational means. It is believed that with efforts and a strong set in mind academic resilience can overcome regardless of any situation. References Borman, G. D. , Overman, L. T. (2004). Academic Resilience in Mathematics among Poor and Minority Students: The Elementary School Journal. The University of Chicago Press. Vol. 104, No. 3, pp. 177-195. Gayles, J. (2005). Playing the Game and Paying the Price: Academic Resilience among Three High-Achieving African American Males.

Anthropology and Education Quarterly. Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 250–264. Martin, A. J. , Marsh H. W. , (2008). Academic Buoyancy: Towards an Understanding of Students’ Everyday Academic Resilience. Journal of School Psychology. Vol. 46 Issue 1, p53-83, 31p Mc Tigue, E. M. , Washburn, E. K. , Liew, J. (2009). Academic Resilience and Reading: Building Successful Readers. Reading Teacher. Vol. 62 Issue 5, p 422-432, 11p, 6 charts Morales, E. E. (2008). Exceptional Female Students of Color: Academic Resilience and Gender in Higher Education. Innovative High Education, 33:197–213.

Introduction: This paper seeks to explain and provide examples for the difference between domestic human resource management and international human resource management (HRM) in U. K.

This paper will include the following issues in discussing the distinction between the two: additional activities, increased complexities, increased involvement in the employee’s personal life, more complex employee mix as a more significant part of the workforce, more complex external influences, increased risks, human resource managers and organizations which fail to comprehend this new internal orientation and its complexities are unlikely to ever realize the full potential of their overseas ventures.

Analysis and discussion: Using the work of Edwards, C. & Zhang, M. on Human Resource Management Strategy in Chinese MNCs in the UK: A Case Study with Six Companies , this paper attempts to explain the differences of the domestic from international human resource management. As to whether additional activities is applied international HRM as compared to domestic, the study revealed that the Chinese MNCs would recruit and train employees for local staff up to managerial positions in their UK subsidiaries.

The names of the Chinese MNCs are only described by the authors as China’s leading and largest state-owned enterprises their UK subsidiaries which all located in London include four from the financial sector and two are in international trade with employees ranging from range from 30 to 200 . Recruitment and training would be considered as additional activities because of the need to adapt to the local culture and to comply with local laws of UK. As to whether there are increased complexities in international HRM at UK, the Chinese the UK subsidiaries are believed to have the same.

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The increased complexities could be found in localization strategies adopted in the strategies. This fact was confirmed by the six companies as interviewed by the authors. The subsidiaries wish to learn and use UK management practices as they saw positive benefits in adopting UK HRM rather than merely a requirement to comply with local regulation and practice despite the differences with Chinese practices. The localisation strategy was seen as the only way for the subsidiary to retain the local expertise it required.

The increased complexities as discussed above must also result in increased involvement in the employee’s personal life. The differences in the culture between the two countries will have to find common grounds to work together and this will need going into some personal life of the employees to find linkages from history and other relationships as a way of promoting better relationship. As to whether the international HRM in UK will result to a more complex employee mix as a more significant part of the workforce, this paper can only confirm as indicated for the requirement to localization strategy of the company.

In regard to whether there will be more complex external influences from international HRM in UK, the same should be expected in the case of the these Chinese MNCs. The study by Edwards, C. & Zhang, M. revealed in the adoption of UK local strategy, UK middle managers and key staff were asked for their opinion on the similarity of the company’s practices to UK local companies, and Chinese expatriates working in UK subsidiaries were also asked to assess on the differences company’s practice from the parent company. Although this appears to be asking only the opinion the comparison and corresponding external influences are inevitable.

As to whether there are increased risks in investing with UK, the study failed to mention a categorical fact. But theoretically international operations must be generally presumed to exist for one extending to operate outside its home based to lack of familiarity of the of foreign country’s business culture. However, in the case of UK and China, it could be inferred that UK economy is not necessarily more risky. On the contrary, being more a first world country, making investment UK may be less risky than in China.

Internationalization is presumed to involved greater risks as far the Chinese SMC is concerned but subject to the stability of the economy of UK, the country hosting the foreign subsidiary of Chinese MNC. Using the experience of the Chinese MNCs in their UK subsidiaries, as a rule, the same may be said to apply to McDonalds, which a US company with subsidiaries in many part of the world including UK. The company’s business is in the form of franchise from which the foreign subsidiary earns franchise fees in addition to rent since in most cases where the restaurant is located, the subsidiary owns the place.

With the independence of each restaurant, including that in UK, the recruitment and training also involves hiring from local people. Hence, the issue of additional activities, increased complexities, increased involvement in the employee’s personal life, more complex employee mix , more significant part of the workforce, more complex external influences are likely to be observed also like in the case of six UK subsidiaries of Chinese MNCs. The increased risk would mostly like be governed by the general rule that going to UK is more risky for McDonald since both US and UK are considered to be both developed economies. Conclusion:

There is a difference between domestic human resource management and international human resource management in U. K. as found in this paper. Internationalization does not necessarily require the carrying into effect the culture and management practice of the parent company. In this paper, what was clear was the need to localization strategy that recognizes the unique characteristics of the foreign market. It could then be stated that human resource managers and organizations which fail to comprehend this new internal orientation and its complexities are unlikely to ever realize the full potential of their overseas ventures.

Work Cited: Edwards, C. & Zhang, M. Human Resource Management Strategy in Chinese MNCs in the UK: A Case Study with Six Companies, Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 11(1), 1-14. , 2003 http://rphrm. curtin. edu. au/2003/issue1/strategy. html, Accessed August 5,2007 The 100 Times, McDonalds Case Study- Recruiting, Selecting and Training for Success, nod. {www document} URL, http://www. thetimes100. co. uk/downloads/mcd/mcd_10_full. pdf, Accessed August 5, 2007.