Month: December 2021

University of Mumbai BMS Notes

Concepts of PCNs (Parent-Country Nationals), TCNs (Third-Country Nationals) and HCNs (Host-Country Nationals)

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PCN (Parent-country nationals) are employees whose nationality is the same as that of the firm headquarters, when a company of a country recruits employee from its own country is known as PCN. Here the country is called parent country. For example, a German employee of a German company who is working at a Chinese subsidiary.

HCN (Host-country nationals) are employees who have the same nationality as the local subsidiary. When a company of a country runs their business in another country and recruits’ employees from that country then it is known as HCN. Here the second country is the host country. This could be a Chinese employee working at the Chinese subsidiary of the German company

TCN (Third-country nationals) are employees whose nationality is different from that of either the headquarters or the subsidiary office. In the above scenario, this might mean an Indian employee working at the Chinese office of the German company. They are the citizens of one country employed by a company from another country who worked in a third country.

Management Notes

HRM Perspectives in Training and Development Meaning, Advantages

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Training means imparting the knowledge, skills and aptitudes necessary to undertake the required jobs efficiently with a view to developing the worker to his fullest potential. As an organised activity, training is designed to create a change in the thinking and behaviour of people. Training is a two-way and continuous process because there is no end to learning and secondly, a person gets to learn new technology, new patterns etc., continuously.

The training acquaints the employee with the requisite skill, real life situations at the work place and helps him in the faultless accomplishment of the work. Training, thus, involves the development of the manual and mental skills that are necessary for performing a specific work, through instruction, drill and discipline.

“Training is a process by which the attitudes, skills and abilities of employees to perform specific jobs are increased.” Micheal J. Jucious

“Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skill of an employee for doing a particular job.” Edwin B. Flippo

“Training is the organised procedure by which people learn knowledge and/or skill for a definite purpose.” E. F. L. Breach

Character

  • Training helps to perform the role of different sections of em­ployees, the managerial responsibility and the importance of communication and participation.
  • Training must be help to create an attitudinal change by creating awareness of the overall process.
  • It must enhance skills in organizational and managerial areas
  • Proper orientation and training should be given to the new en­trants.
  • It must make orient new entrants in the organization to the dis­cipline and culture requirement of the organization.
  • An effective training programme should process the following characteristics.
  • Training programmes should be chalked out after identifying needs or goals.
  • An effective training programme should be flexible.
  • It should have relevance to the job requirements.
  • It should make due allowance for the differences among the in­dividuals in regard to ability, aptitude, learning capacity, emo­tional make-up, etc.
  • Training programmes should be conducted by well qualified and experienced trainers.
  • An effective training programme should have the support from top management.
  • A good training performance should prepare the trainee mentally before they are imparted any job knowledge or skills.
  • Top management can gently influence the quality of training in the organization by the policies it adopts and the extent to which it supports training programmes.
  • An effective training programme should be supported by critical appraisal of the outcome of the training efforts.

Purposes:

  • Training is necessary to prepare existing employees for higher level jobs (promotion).
  • Newly recruited employees require training so as to perform their tasks effectively and efficiently. Instructions, guidance, coaching help them to handle jobs competently without any wastage.
  • Existing employees require refresher training so as to keep abreast of the latest developments in the job operations. In the phase of rapid technological changes, this is an absolute necessity.
  • Better performing workers are less likely to make operational mistakes. Quality increases may be in relationship to a company product or services or in reference to the intangible organisational employment atmosphere.
  • Instruction can help employees increase their level of performance on their present assignment. Increased human performance often directly leads to increased operational productivity and increased company profit.
  • Training is necessary when a person moves from one job to another (transfer). After training, the employee can change jobs quickly, improve his performance levels and achieve career goals comfortably.
  • Training is necessary to make employees mobile and versatile. They can be placed on various jobs depending on organizational needs.
  • Training is needed to bridge the gap between what the employees have and what the job demands. Training is needed to make employees more productive and useful in the long run.
  • Organisations that have a good internal educational programme will have to make less drastic manpower changes and adjustments in the event of sudden personnel alterations. When the need arises, organizational vacancies can be more easily staffed from internal sources, if a company initiates and maintains an adequate instructional programme for both its non- supervisory and managerial employees. So, it will help company to fulfil its future personnel needs.
  • An endless chain of positive reactions results from a well-planned training programme. Production and product quality may improve, financial incentives may then be increased, there is a boost for internal promotions, less supervisory pressure and base pay rate increases result. Increased morale may be due to many factors but one of them is current state of an organization’s educational endeavour. Thus, it will improve overall organizational climate.
  • Training and development programmes foster the initiative and creativity of employees and help to prevent manpower obsolescence, which may be due to age or temperament or motivation or the inability of a person to adapt him to technological changes.
  • On a personal basis employees gain individually from their exposure to educational experiences. Again management development programmes seem to give participants a wider awareness, an enlarged skill and enlightened altruistic (kindness) philosophy and enhance personal growth.
  • Proper training can help to prevent industrial accidents. A safer work environment leads to more stable mental attitudes on the part of employees. Managerial mental state would also improve if supervisors know that they can better themselves through company designed development programmes. So it improves health and safety.
  • Training is needed for employees to gain acceptance from peers, (learning a job quickly and being able to pull their own weight is one of the best ways for them to gain acceptance).

Objectives

To Remain Competitive in the Market:

To tackle the immensely growing competition in the target market, it is important for an employer to increase the productivity of its workers while reducing the cost of production of the products. Training, therefore, aims to bring about efficiency and effectiveness in an organization to enable it to remain competitive in a highly competitive market situation and for the achievement of organizational goals.

To Increase Productivity of Employees:

Training helps in developing the capacities and capabilities of the employees-both new and old, by upgrading their skills and knowledge so that the organization could gainfully avail their services for higher grade professional, technical, sales or production positions from within the organization. In case of new employees, training aims to provide them with basic knowledge and skill they need for an intelligent performance of their specific tasks.

To Change Attitude of the Workers:

Training not only provides new knowledge and job skills to employees, but also brings about a change in their attitude towards fellow workers, supervisor and the organization. It increases job satisfaction among employees and keeps them motivated. It gives them security at the workplace and as a result, labour turnover and absenteeism rates are reduced. It also develops in them self-consciousness and a greater awareness to recognize their responsibilities and contribute their very best to the organization.

To Mitigate the Risk of Accidents:

Trained workers can handle the machines safely. They also know the use of various safety devices in the factory. Thus, they are less prone to industrial accidents.

To Reduce Wastage of Time and Resources:

Training aims at making employees efficient in handling materials, machines and equipment and thus to avoid wastage of time and resources. It also helps in imparting new skills among the workers systematically so that they may learn quickly. If the workers learn through trial and error, they will take a longer time and even then, may not be able to learn right methods of doing work.

To Enable Workers to Adapt Quickly to Changes:

Technology is changing at a fast pace. Technological changes like automation and development of highly mechanized and computer-oriented systems, threaten the survival of dynamic companies by creating new problems, new methods, new procedures, new equipment’s, new jobs, new skills and knowledge, new product and services etc.

In such a situation, the employees may find themselves helpless to adapt to the changes and may feel frustrated and compelled to leave their jobs. Thus, training acts as a continuous process to update the employees in the new methods and procedures and make them efficient in handling advanced technology.

To Provide Growth Opportunities to Existing Employees:

Sometimes, it may not be possible for the management to fill in higher work positions from outside. Under such conditions, the apprenticeship programmes aiming at improving the skills of the present employees come to the aid of the company by make available their requirements of the personnel from within the organization. This reduces the need for recruiting people from outside and also improves the morale of the existing employees.

To Make the Management Effective:

One of the primary objectives of training and development process is to give rise to a new and improved management which is capable of handling the planning and control without any serious problem. Knowledge and experience gathered through training enables them to handle the tough situations and confusing realities, thus opening the way for bigger and better opportunities for business. It can also be used for strengthening values, building teams, improving inter- group’s relations and quality of work life.

Levels of training of the employees:

  1. Training to Unskilled Workers:

Unskilled workers require training to acquaint themselves with improved methods of handling their work to reduce the cost of production and do the job in the most economical and efficient way. Such employees are given training on the job itself and the training is imparted either by their immediate superior officers, or foremen.

  1. Training to Semi-Skilled Workers:

This category of employees requires training to cope with the requirements of the industry arising out of the adoption of mechanisation and rationalisation. These employees are given training either in the section or department itself, or in segregated training shops, where machines and other facilities are easily available. The training is usually imparted by more proficient workers and it lasts for a few hours or weeks, depending upon the number of operations and speed and accuracy required.

  1. Training to Skilled Workers:

Skilled workers are given training through the system of apprenticeship, varying in length up to a period of 5 years. Crafts training is imparted through training centres and the industry itself.

  1. Training to Senior and Supervisory Staff:

Since the supervisors form a very important link in the chain of administration, therefore, they need advanced up-to-date training at frequent intervals. The training programmes for the supervisory staff must be specific and tailor-made to fit the need of the undertaking.

They are generally given training in:

(a) Organisation and control of production, maintenance and materials handling at the departmental levels.

(b) Planning, allocation and control of work and personnel.

(c) Planning their own work and allocation of time to their various responsibilities.

(d) Effect of industrial legislation at the departmental level.

(e) Cost factors and costs control.

(f) Accident prevention.

(g) Training of subordinates.

(h) Communication, effective instructing, report-writing.

(i) Handling and settling human/Labour problems.

(j) Leadership for effective working of the undertaking.

  1. Training to Other Staff:

5esides the above categories of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers, other employees are also required to be trained; they are computer operators, typists, stenographers, accounts clerks, etc. They need training in their field but such training is usually not provided. Salesmen are also given training about the nature of the products; routine involved in putting through the deal and art of salesmanship, along with the latest knowledge of the products being developed in the organisation.

Advantage

Lesser Supervision:

Well-trained employees have the knowledge about their jobs and equipment’s and can do their work efficiently. Thus, the training reduces the need of supervision to bare minimum.

Improvement in Production and Productivity:

Training helps to improve the efficiency and productivity of employees. Well-trained employees make better use of materials and machinery. Wastage is reduced and as a result quality and quantity of production becomes higher.

Maximum Utilisation of Materials and Machines:

Training teaches the employees the method of doing their job in the best possible manner. They have knowledge of operating machines and equipment’s and handles them properly and methodically. As a result of it, they make the best possible utilisation of materials and machines.

High Morale:

Effective training improves the self-confidence and job satisfaction of employees. Well-trained employees take greater interest in their job and derive a sense of security. By boosting the morale of employees, training helps to reduce absenteeism and improve labour turnover.

Better Chances of Promotion:

As the trained employees have the requisite qualifi­cation and training, they can be promoted to higher grades and position more easily than untrained workers.

Better Safety:

Human error or negligence is the major cause of accidents in the industry. Due to the operational efficiency of the trained workers and the complete knowledge about the working of the plants and machines, chances of accidents are reduced.

Stability and Flexibility in the Organisation:

An enterprise, where trained personnel are available, can expand and grow easily. Its survival is not threatened when a few key personnel are lost because proper replacements are available. Well- trained employees can be transferred from one job to another in order to meet the requirements of other departments. Thus, training also lends flexibility to the organisation.

University of Mumbai BMS Notes

Cross Cultural Training, Issues in Cross Cultural Training

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Cross Cultural Training refers to the training given to employees related to the cultural differences between nations, the awareness of which helps in running smooth business across the nations. Cross cultural training is essential for doing business in present scenario involving multiple nations and cultures. One needs in depth understanding of the culture of the country he/she is dealing with.

Cross-cultural training contributes in increasing ability of employees to understand culture of others, values and ethos of another culture. It develops the interest to understand employees own background and cultural heritage. They should feel good about own culture and similar way the employees should accept and appreciate culture of other employees.

Importance

Cross cultural trainings are very important where there is a need to work across various nations and cultures. It helps employees to be better prepared for the travel and gives context which will help work efficiently in the new country and culture. It also increases the knowledge and awareness of the individual and helps make better decisions. For companies where working across different nations is very important, cross cultural training should be a part of employee programs.

  • Collaboration for working on one project with teams from other countries of different cultures.
  • Working in different culture countries.
  • Working of divisions or departments of the company in different countries.
  • Customers located in different countries of different cultures.
  • Suppliers from other countries for outsource activities.
  • When partners and alliances with parties from diversified cultures.

Types:

Training for Dealing Cross-Cultural Challenges:

Diversity of cultures is creating a lot of challenges and opportunities. The difficult situation is to deal with the challenges and to be become more effective in job performance. The training imparted is with the objective to deal the challenges without any difficulty or less difficulty.

In this type of training the methods, techniques, strategies and practices used in different countries workplace are highlighted. The workforce is made aware regarding those things and in turn can be applied in future working. It explains the challenges arose due to cultural diversity, suggests ways to deal with such challenges and provides possible solution to those challenges so that the effectiveness of cross- cultural teams can be improved.

This would be in a position to create awareness, develop trust and confidence so that the team-spirit is developed among them. This ultimate would contribute to cooperation, smooth working and effective communication.

Training for Diversified Workforce:

Due to globalisation in business activities, a lot of job opportunities are made available across the world. The multinational companies during their business have employed talented employees from different countries. The workforce due to this has become highly diversified. The management faces an uphill task to deal with this diversified manpower.

For that purpose the management is provided training to develop awareness regarding cultural elements, values and behaviour. Human resource management team deals with the people and this training is especially useful for them. With proper knowledge of employees and their cultural background the HR manager finds himself in the position to deal with people from various cultural backgrounds.

This helps a lot in understanding people and contributes in maintaining good relationship at workplace. The peaceful working definitely improves the quantity and quality of the performance.

Training on Specific Country:

This depends on the situation of the business. When a company is having business in a particular country, there is need to know the culture of that country only. Training should be conducted to create awareness of culture of that country only. The training should be provided regarding geographical location, climate, culture, economy, behaviour of people of that countries, consumption pattern, social and moral values, etc.

This would create awareness of managers and help in dealing the customers, clients, partners, employees and consultant. If the knowledge regarding the specific country background is good, then difficulties would not be faced by dealing managers. Their effectiveness on jobs would definitely improve. If proper care not taken regarding this then at every step a lot of difficulties are to be faced and may leads to failure in that country.

This training is mainly for the managers working in that specific country or visiting to that country. This is specially designed for teams and personnel who need to visit overseas countries and interact with clients or teams from foreign cultures. This training covers, in details the particular values, ethos, morals, behaviour and business practices and customs of a particular country or an ethnic group.

Training in Management Practices:

Training is provided to the managerial staff for managing the business activities across the world in diversified cultures and manpower. The different practices, methods, techniques, strategies and philosophy used by management team in different countries are highlighted. There awareness is created so that these can be applied in managing projects across the world.

It enables the management to understand business management activities across the global markets and manage, guide and supervise the cross-cultural teams. This would help in performing the tasks smoothly without any difficulty. The effectiveness of management team over cross-cultural projects would improve definitely.

Training for Conducting Negotiations:

During business activities performed across the world market, the management takes a lot of decisions. For finalizing a deal relating to business they are involved in negotiation. For example, deciding partners, mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, dealers, vendors and employees the negotiation process is involved. It is very difficult to deal with negotiation with parties of diversified culture.

In this type of training awareness is creating regarding cultural backgrounds and negotiation skills developed to deal with cross-cultural parties. This training is of a special type and helps to equip with negotiation skills relating to specific culture, negotiating team, clients, customers, employees.

Due to developed negotiation skills the deals can be finalized effectively or settlement can be made by negotiating on terms and conditions applicable to the deals. Without proper negotiation skills the agreements, settlements and deals cannot be finalized properly. Finally, these affect the business performance.

Effectiveness:

(a) Structure of the Programme:

Structure of cross-cultural education and training programme is to be designed to meet the requirement of business in different countries. The contents of the programmes should be according to the objectives, target group, skills needed, duration, position, responsibility and locations. These points are to be kept in mind to match the requirements.

The programme can be designed for executives, senior managers and top executives located in different countries. The programme can be of foundation, technical, team building, etc. The duration of course should vary with objectives and target group for whom the programme has been designed.

Contents and timing and duration of courses should as per the requirement of the target groups. If proper care is not taken then it may lead to mismatch and objectives of the programme would be defeated. Special care should be taken. In future, through review the programmes can be modified so the effectiveness can improve further.

(b) Continuity of the Programme:

The cross-cultural education and training programmes should be conducted till the objectives are fulfilled. These should not be stopped in between without achieving the objectives. Further one programme should be connected with the other programme in course-curriculum itself. The employees should know which course they are undergoing for a particular duration.

The programme should be completed properly and on completion of the course the candidates should be evaluated and certification should be done. This would improve morale of the employees. If not done so the effectiveness of the whole programme would go down and there would be wastage of time, efforts and money. It should not be taken lightly.

(c) Quality of Programme:

Quality means the pre-decided standards of performance are met properly and give satisfaction to the concerned parties. It can be said quality is defined as fitness for use. When the programme is designed, implemented, evaluated and completed should be as per the pre-decided standards. There should not be any deviation anywhere. If any deviation is there then immediately the remedial actions are to be taken.

The effectiveness of the system should not go down. Quality should be maintained in course structure, course pre-work, content, delivery, evaluation of performance according to standard of excellence. Special efforts should be put to complete the programme without any irregularities. Further, if responsible manager is not satisfied with any area of programme then immediate remedial action should be taken so that in future the effectiveness of the programme can be improved.

(d) Consistency of Performance:

When conducted cross-culture education and training programme the delivery should be proper. From one course to another course the standards of performance should be maintained. The quality is to be maintained. If quality is not maintained properly and regularly then the result would not be achieved. It would not be in a position to develop confidence in candidates.

The objectives of the programme would be defeated if consistency in performance and quality not maintained, Proper care should be taken for future so that effectiveness can be improved. If lapses are there in this the candidates would not take interest in such programmes.

(e) Properly Justified Programme:

The cross-cultural education and training programme can be designed and implemented for creating awareness among employees regarding different cultures, motivating their participation and developing good working environment. The programme should be justified properly.

The justification whether it is required or not, design and implementation for the target group is proper, course contents, training methods, involvement of technology, assessment methods, costs involved, time and efforts needed for completion of the programme. If the answer regarding these points is positive then it should be conducted otherwise not. There should be proper justification and should not face opposition in later stages.

(f) Suitable for Target Groups and Easy to Measure:

The structure of the programme should be designed in such a way that it is meeting the objectives of the programme. It may be for different parties such as managers, employees both in different locations. The contents, schedule, methods of conducting training programme, duration, etc., should be such that it becomes suitable to the target group to fulfil the objectives of training programme.

Time-to-time it should be adjusted as per the requirements of concerned parties. It should not mismatch to the requirements. It should be designed as tailor-made programme. Further, the impact of it on knowledge, awareness and performance should be measurable. If it is so then only the effectiveness of the programme can be measured and can say whether it is good or poor.

These two things are possible on the basis of feedback from the participants. After getting feedback the programme can be further tailor-made and the effectiveness and results of programme can be measured.

If the management takes proper care regarding the above mentioned points then the effectiveness of the programme would be good. If anywhere any deviation is found in feedback, then efforts can be put to improve the conditions. The effectiveness in future also can further improve.

Issues in Cross Cultural Training

Different Communication Styles

The way people communicate varies widely between, and even within, cultures. One aspect of communication style is language usage. Across cultures, some words and phrases are used in different ways. For example, even in countries that share the English language, the meaning of “yes” varies from “maybe, I’ll consider it” to “definitely so,” with many shades in between.

Another major aspect of communication style is the degree of importance given to non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication includes not only facial expressions and gestures; it also involves seating arrangements, personal distance, and sense of time. In addition, different norms regarding the appropriate degree of assertiveness in communicating can add to cultural misunderstandings. For instance, some white Americans typically consider raised voices to be a sign that a fight has begun, while some black, Jewish and Italian Americans often feel that an increase in volume is a sign of an exciting conversation among friends. Thus, some white Americans may react with greater alarm to a loud discussion than would members of some American ethnic or non-white racial groups.

Different Attitudes Toward Conflict

Some cultures view conflict as a positive thing, while others view it as something to be avoided. In the U.S., conflict is not usually desirable; but people often are encouraged to deal directly with conflicts that do arise. In fact, face-to-face meetings customarily are recommended as the way to work through whatever problems exist. In contrast, in many Eastern countries, open conflict is experienced as embarrassing or demeaning; as a rule, differences are best worked out quietly. A written exchange might be the favoured means to address the conflict.

Different Approaches to Completing Tasks

From culture to culture, there are different ways that people move toward completing tasks. Some reasons include different access to resources, different judgments of the rewards associated with task completion, different notions of time, and varied ideas about how relationship-building and task-oriented work should go together.

When it comes to working together effectively on a task, cultures differ with respect to the importance placed on establishing relationships early on in the collaboration. A case in point, Asian and Hispanic cultures tend to attach more value to developing relationships at the beginning of a shared project and more emphasis on task completion toward the end as compared with European-Americans. European-Americans tend to focus immediately on the task at hand, and let relationships develop as they work on the task. This does not mean that people from any one of these cultural backgrounds are more or less committed to accomplishing the task, or value relationships more or less; it means they may pursue them differently.

Different Decision-Making Styles

The roles individuals play in decision-making vary widely from culture to culture. For example, in the U.S., decisions are frequently delegated that is, an official assigns responsibility for a particular matter to a subordinate. In many Southern European and Latin American countries, there is a strong value placed on holding decision-making responsibilities oneself. When decisions are made by groups of people, majority rule is a common approach in the U.S.; in Japan consensus is the preferred mode. Be aware that individuals’ expectations about their own roles in shaping a decision may be influenced by their cultural frame of reference.

Different Attitudes Toward Disclosure

In some cultures, it is not appropriate to be frank about emotions, about the reasons behind a conflict or a misunderstanding, or about personal information. Keep this in mind when you are in a dialogue or when you are working with others. When you are dealing with a conflict, be mindful that people may differ in what they feel comfortable revealing. Questions that may seem natural to you What was the conflict about? What was your role in the conflict? What was the sequence of events? may seem intrusive to others. The variation among cultures in attitudes toward disclosure is also something to consider before you conclude that you have an accurate reading of the views, experiences, and goals of the people with whom you are working.

Different Approaches to Knowing

Notable differences occur among cultural groups when it comes to epistemologies that is, the ways people come to know things. European cultures tend to consider information acquired through cognitive means, such as counting and measuring, more valid than other ways of coming to know things. Compare that to African cultures’ preference for affective ways of knowing, including symbolic imagery and rhythm. Asian cultures’ epistemologies tend to emphasize the validity of knowledge gained through striving toward transcendence.

University of Mumbai BMS Notes

Criterion Used for Performance Appraisal of International Employees

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Improvement Potential

When organizations evaluate their employees’ performance, many of the criteria used focus on the past. From a performance management viewpoint, the problem is that you cannot change the past. Unless a firm takes further steps, the evaluation data become merely historical documents. Therefore, firms should emphasize the future, including the behaviors and outcomes needed to develop the employee, and, in the process, achieve the firm’s goals. This involves an assessment of the employee’s potential. Including potential in the evaluation process helps to ensure more effective career planning and development. You should remember that the evaluation criteria presented here are not mutually exclusive. In fact, many appraisal systems are hybrids of these approaches.

Competencies

Competencies include a broad range of knowledge, skills, traits, and behaviors that may be technical in nature, relate to interpersonal skills, or are business-oriented. Some managers recommend that cultural competencies such as ethics and integrity be used for all jobs. There are also competencies that are job-specific. For example, analytical thinking and achievement orientation might be essential in professional jobs. In leadership jobs, relevant competencies might include developing talent, delegating authority, and people management skills. The competencies selected for evaluation purposes should be those that are closely associated with job success.

Research conducted by the University of Michigan Business School and sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Global Consulting Alliance determined that success in HR is dependent on competency and specific skills in the following five key areas:

  • Strategic contribution: Connecting firms to their markets and quickly aligning employee behaviors with organizational needs.
  • Business knowledge: Knowing how businesses are run and translating this into action.
  • Personal credibility: Demonstrating measurable value; being part of an executive team.
  • HR delivery: Providing efficient and effective service to customers in the areas of staffing, performance management, development, and evaluation.
  • HR technology: Using technology and Web-based means to deliver value to customers.

Traits

Certain employee traits such as attitude, appearance, and initiative are the basis for some evaluations. However, many of these commonly used qualities are subjective and may be either unrelated to job performance or difficult to define. In such cases, inaccurate evaluations may occur and create legal problems for the organization as well. This was the case in Wade v Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service where the circuit court ruled: In a performance appraisal system, general characteristics such as leadership, public acceptance, attitude toward people, appearance and grooming, personal conduct, outlook on life, ethical habits, resourcefulness, capacity for growth, mental alertness, and loyalty to organization are susceptible to partiality and to the personal taste, whim, or fancy of the evaluator as well as patently subjective in form and obviously susceptible to completely subjective treatment by those conducting the appraisals.

At the same time, certain traits may relate to job performance and, if this connection is established, using them may be appropriate. Traits such as adaptability, judgment, appearance, and attitude may be used when shown to be job-related.

Goal Achievement

If organizations consider ends more important than means, goal achievement outcomes become an appropriate factor to evaluate. The outcomes established should be within the control of the individual or team and should be those results that lead to the firm’s success. At upper levels, the goals might deal with financial aspects of the firm such as profit or cash flow, and market considerations such as market share or position in the market. At lower organizational levels, the outcomes might be meeting the customer’s quality requirements and delivering according to the promised schedule.

Behaviors

When an individual’s task outcome is difficult to determine, organizations may evaluate the person’s task-related behavior or competencies. For example, an appropriate behavior to evaluate for a manager might be leadership style. For individuals working in teams, developing others, teamwork and cooperation, or customer service orientation might be appropriate. Desired behaviors may be appropriate as evaluation criteria because if they are recognized and rewarded, employees tend to repeat them. If certain behaviors result in desired outcomes, there is merit in using them in the evaluation process.

Qualities:

Quality of Work

One of the most important criteria for judging an employee’s performance is the overall quality of work, according to Workforce. What is the employee’s performance like on a day-to-day basis? Quality of work is an umbrella category that may encompass aspects such as teamwork, communication skills and productivity. It may also include details on the employee’s targets. You can evaluate this category as a whole and provide specific measurements for the criteria this category contains.

When evaluating the quality of work, think of both the big picture and small details. Provide examples in your evaluation, such as how much of the company target the employee has achieved. Also, include specific details regarding a project where the employee did well or a meeting that needed improvement.

Goals and Target Achievement

Your criteria for judging employee performance should include quantitative elements such as their goals and target achievement. While much of a performance appraisal is qualitative and subjective, the goals and achievement element is objective and measurable in clear numbers. For example, if your sales rep has a target to close 25 new accounts each quarter and only closes seven, you can see that there is a problem with achieving the target.

Include the hard numbers in the performance evaluation, but also consider the context surrounding those numbers. Are there any external or uncontrollable factors that have affected how much of the target your employee has achieved? For example, a change in customer needs could be why the employee was able to close only seven new accounts, instead of the expected 25.

Level of Productivity

The level of productivity employee evaluation criteria is important because it looks at employee output over a specific period, according to Workable. For your business to be successful, you need an efficient and productive team that’s fast and agile. If some of your team members take twice as long as others to complete simple tasks, you may end up missing out on important sales opportunities.

Consider what your industry average for specific tasks or duties is for the job description you’re evaluating and see how your employees compare. Keep the quality of work in mind when reviewing productivity, because it doesn’t matter how fast someone works if the work needs to be redone due to poor performance.

Initiative and Motivation

Business professionals at Optimus Performance identify initiative as one of the top five employee evaluation performance criteria. Effective employees need to motivate themselves to take action without needing to be told by their manager or colleagues. If employees need external motivation to complete their tasks, managers may micromanage or spend too much time helping their employees complete their work. Employees with initiative can see what needs to be done and complete tasks without waiting for the manager to nudge them.

Provide your employees with an example of a time where they took the initiative to complete their tasks. If they went above and beyond their job description, this is another example of taking initiative. If the employee lacks initiative and isn’t motivated to complete tasks, explain how this affects the performance of the business as a whole.

Teamwork and Leadership Skills

Whether or not an employee has a leadership position, leadership skills are important. In line with leadership, employees also need to be able to work effectively with their colleagues. In your performance appraisal, cover how well the employee showcases leadership during projects or meetings. Are they good at taking charge and keeping their team on track? Do they encourage other team members to succeed by inspiring them?

In addition, mention whether the employee helps out coworkers by offering guidance or answering questions. The Evaluation Forms website advises that a good leader is approachable by everyone to discuss problems and issues. It’s also important to install confidence in team members by providing positive feedback and encouragement to others where possible.

Ability to Problem Solve

Regardless of the kind of job your employee has, being able to solve problems effectively is essential. Employees need to know what to do in a difficult situation without asking a manager or senior employee. Ensure that employees have the training and resources they need to solve problems in their roles. In your employee evaluations, discuss how well they react to stressful situations.

Does the employee know what to do if there is a defective product? Do they know how to resolve a customer dispute? If not, provide steps that your employee can take in the appraisal to show what effective problem-solving looks like. Keep in mind that employees need to have confidence in themselves and their skills before they are ready to resolve difficult situations on their own.

Written and Verbal Communication Skills

Performance evaluation criteria should include the employee’s ability to communicate with managers, coworkers, customers, partners and other stakeholders. Is the employee able to be honest with team members without being aggressive? Do they know how to provide feedback while being cordial?

Listening is also an important part of effective communication. How well does the employee listen to leadership’s directions and follow through with them? When having a conversation with a colleague, do they pay attention to the details or are they just waiting to say what they want to share? Listening well helps employees to learn about other roles in the company and how their tasks fit together as a whole.

Customer and Colleague Feedback

Performance review criteria should also include feedback from others in the organization. If the employee has a management role, ask their subordinates how effective the employee is as a leader. If the employee has a customer-facing position, you may want to reach out to high-value customers for their opinions. As a business owner, you may not have the full picture of an employee’s performance without considering how others see them.

Performance Self-Appraisal

Provide your employees with the opportunity to evaluate their own performance and include these details in your performance appraisals. They may provide a unique insight into the quality of their work and their ability to reach targets. This is also a good way to understand what employees view as their weaknesses and strengths.

Some organizations provide employees with a full employee evaluation that they fill out before meeting with their manager. The manager evaluates the employees based on the same criteria, and they discuss the differences. For example, if employees believe they hit all their targets, but the manager says that they didn’t, it’s best to figure out the discrepancy right away. Similarly, an employee may feel their leadership skills are lacking, while a manager may believe them to be quite strong. Knowing this builds confidence in the employee.

Advantages

  • It helps the supervisors to chalk out the promotion for performing employee and dismiss the inefficient workers.
  • It helps the organization to decide the compensation of the employee. Also, based on the performance and the additional efforts put by the employee the extra benefits and allowances can be decided using records of performance appraisal.
  • Special actions can be taken for the development of the employees. The performance appraisal system will highlight the weakness of the employee based on which the training program arrangement can be carried out by the organization.
  • The performance appraisal further suggests the changes in the selection process which will help to hire better employees.
  • Performance review is a effective way to communicate the status of the performance of the employee. It is a way to provide feedback about how the employees are doing on their job.
  • The evaluation of the performance can act as a motivational tool. It provides a picture about efficiency of the employee and motivates the individual to improve the performance.

Disadvantages

  • Performance appraisal is totally depends on the factors used for the evaluation of the performance. The use of incorrect or irrelevant factors can lead to failure of performance appraisal.
  • Sometimes the vital factors responsible for the performance are ignored during performance appraisal.
  • The factors like attitude, abilities and initiative are very vague and difficult to gauge.
  • Sometimes the managers who carry out the performance appraisal are not qualified enough to properly assess the abilities of the employees. Thus, it leads to irrelevant data collection and failure of performance appraisal.
University of Mumbai BMS Notes

Problems Faced in International Performance Management

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The primary aim of this process is to measure and improve the performance of employees. But it has its own challenges that render its effectiveness futile:

Biased Perception

Employees think that performance management process is full of biases. The ratings are subject to the reviewer’s whims & favouritism, and fail to take into account the true estimate of an employee’s performance or potential. It is a challenge for organizations to convince employees about implementation of fair and equal performance system.

Review Period

Even today, a majority of organizations do performance management exercise once a year. This means that employees get late feedback on how they are performing and may not get enough opportunities to improve. On the other hand, ongoing feedback mechanism is trending wherein companies prefer weekly, monthly or quarterly performance discussions with employees. Many organizations have revamped their performance processes. But, establishing the right metrics and frequent changing of goals may be disadvantageous. So, whether performance system should be ongoing or yearly practice is another challenge.

Rating Method

The traditional bell curve is still the most acceptable rating method across the organizations. Here, the employees are categorised as top (reward), middle (training) and bottom (fire) performers. But, it has drawn criticism for its archaic methodology. HR experts have been recommending new practices and tools, but their effectiveness is not proven yet. Hence, the choice of rating method also remains a concern.

Lack of Standardisation

While there are goals/appraisal sheets and documented processes to implement performance management system, there is hardly any consistency. The employees don’t receive inputs on how to fill up their sheets, while managers don’t get trained on how to carry out the process or use the rating scale. There are also no clear standards on what level of performance, trait or behaviour will differentiate between successful, average and non-successful performers. This leads to lack of clarity among both parties and across the organization, resulting in ineffective and inaccurate system.

Challenges of International performance management

There are many challenges associated with expatriate performance management. Although we have listed some below, they are likely to vary by business. Ideally work to identify the challenges your company is likely to encounter and attempt to mitigate them in the expatriate performance management plan.

Environmental Variations

Performance management systems rarely work in the same way domestically and internationally. Environmental variations including; different growth rates, the immediate environment and differences in performance, usually mean international performance appraisals need to be unique to each expatriate manager.

Time and Distance

Improvements in technology make this less of an issue than it once was, but time differences and local infrastructure will impact on performance and appraisals. This is particularly true of expats working in underdeveloped countries.

Cultural Adjustment

The employee’s ability to adjust to the organisational culture within the subsidiary, as well as the wider culture within their new country, is likely to impact performance. An understanding of the local organisational culture by the HR team, the management team and the employee will facilitate the creation of a measurable international performance management system.

Inconsistency of implementation

Like all performance development, it will only be successful if implemented consistently in company subsidiaries. Oversight of this may be a challenge if most Human Resource functions are centralised to headquarters, meaning some employees thrive while others are left directionless.

Tips for International performance management

Developing a system that will work successfully across markets is a significant challenge for a global human resources manager. To further compound the situation, there is very little best practice research as existing studies do not focus on the same variables or countries.

Lack of Credibility

A strong performance management system relies on a trusting relationship between employees and supervisors. When the employees doubt the credibility of the supervisors, they also will distrust the results of any performance management metrics those supervisors produce. The lack of credibility may come from inexperienced management, poor communication skills or general incompetence, according to ERMA. The lack of credibility from supervisors can lead to employees “checking out” of the job, either by leaving or by marking time without putting forth any effort.

Lack of Consistency

Performance management issues can also stem from supervisors delivering inconsistent feedback. Mixed messages and shifting types of employee evaluation methods can cause confusion and resentment among employees, leading them to distrust the performance management reports. Small businesses are highly prone to the damage that mixed messages can cause, as the small number of employees are more likely to communicate those mixed messages to each other. Business owners must maintain consistent tone and content in their feedback to workers if they want to ensure implementation of any performance management recommendations.

Lack of Established Goals

Business owners must have clear goals they wish to meet to keep the business alive. If they have not established specific goals, the employees will have no idea whether or not they’ve accomplished their tasks. Entrepreneurs must also clearly communicate those goals to the workers for the performance management processes to be effective, according to Jazz HR. A goal of “more sales” is not specific enough, but a goal of “20 percent increase in sales in the next 90 days” gives employees a goal they can reach.

Lack of Clear Strategy

Just as a lack of clear goals can cause performance management problems, so can a lack of a clear strategy on how to achieve those goals. Small business owners function as leaders for their employees. Leaders must provide guidance and plans for their subordinates to follow. A clear strategy also gives the business owner “milestones” to measure the company’s progress toward its goals and alternative tactics if the current actions are ineffective.

Management Notes

International Industrial Relations Meaning

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“Industrial Relations” refers to all types of relations between employers and workers, be they at national, regional or company level; and to all dealings with social and economic issues, such as wage setting, working time and working conditions. Each industrial relations system is grounded in the national historical, economic, and political context and therefore differs from country to country. As part of industrial relations, social dialogue is key for communication and information sharing; for conflict prevention and resolution; and for helping overcome work-related challenges. Social dialogue has demonstrated its potential as an instrument for democratic governance and participation; a driver for economic stability and growth; and a tool for maintaining or encouraging peaceful workplace relations.

Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labour/trade unions, employer organizations and the state.

The newer name, “employment relations” is increasingly taking precedence because “industrial relations” is often seen to have relatively narrow connotations. Nevertheless, industrial relations have frequently been concerned with employment relationships in the broadest sense, including “non-industrial” employment relationships. This is sometimes seen as paralleling a trend in the separate but related discipline of human resource management.

While some scholars regard or treat industrial/employment relations as synonymous with employee relations and labour relations, this is controversial, because of the narrower focus of employee/labour relations, i.e. on employees or labour, from the perspective of employers, managers and/or officials. In addition, employee relations are often perceived as dealing only with non-unionized workers, whereas labour relations are seen as dealing with organized labour, i.e unionized workers. Some academics, universities and other institutions regard human resource management as synonymous with one or more of the above disciplines, although this too is controversial.

No doubt, the global shift towards more liberal markets, privatization factors of production, and greater division of labour has opened up the opportunities for specialized talents. However, at the same time, it has resulted in adverse consequences with respect to the matters relating to wages, employment, working conditions, and, most importantly, the labour relations in many developing countries. Critics argue that globalization has evidently contributed to rising unemployment levels, contingent labour force, and weakening labour movements. This scenario is clearly evident, especially in the context of third world developing countries that have to deal with the multidimensional effects of globalization on industrial relations. Non-standard forms of work such as part-time, fixed-term, and self-employment (sometimes, freelancing) are common occurrences in the modern-day labour market today. In general, industrial relations has been drastically affected by the increased competition in the global labour market.

The increasing global demand for flexible labour has led to changes in the manner in which the human resources are mobilized in the workplace, working practices and wages, mobility of the workforce, and the set of skills expected from individual labour. However, this process naturally challenges institutionally and statutorily regulated industrial relation systems in many countries. The global economic integration and interdependence have made the industrial relations susceptible to international competition and changes, which previously used to be confined within the national rules and regulations. In this context, the industrial relations system has to undergo critical changes, especially in the case of the power and legitimacy of trade unions. The critical issue here is to find the balance between the government regulations regarding industrial relations and the global trend of labour market deregulation while remaining competitive.

Permanent employment has become a thing of the past. Technology and automated industrial processes have made it possible for employers to get the same (or increased) level of output with a reduced workforce. The hierarchical boundaries and distinctions between the management and laborers have blurred, and focus is given on innovation, efficiency, and productivity. The emergence of new concepts in organizational designs such as cross-functional teams, virtual and boundaryless organizations are preferred over traditionally rigid organization structures. The production process has thus evolved to become more standardized, stable, and segmented. As a result, employment conditions are independently determined by the company policies rather than the government rules and regulations. This changing environment provides little to no opportunity for trade unions and collective bargaining, which is fundamental to any industrial relations.

Theoretical perspectives

Industrial relations scholars such as Alan Fox have described three major theoretical perspectives or frameworks, that contrast in their understanding and analysis of workplace relations. The three views are generally known as unitarism, pluralism, and the radical or critical school. Each offers a particular perception of workplace relations and will, therefore, interpret such events as workplace conflict, the role of unions and job regulation differently. The perspective of the critical school is sometimes referred to as the conflict model, although this is somewhat ambiguous, as pluralism also tends to see conflict as inherent in workplaces. Radical theories are strongly identified with Marxist theories, although they are not limited to these.

Pluralist perspective

In pluralism, the organization is perceived as being made up of powerful and divergent sub-groups, each with its own legitimate interests[30] and loyalties and with their own set of objectives and leaders. In particular, the two predominant sub-groups in the pluralist perspective are the management and trade unions. The pluralist perspective also supports that conflict is inherent in dealing with industrial relations since different sub-groups have different opinions in the day-to-day operations.[citation needed] Consequently, the role of management would lean less towards enforcing and controlling and more toward persuasion and coordination.[citation needed] Trade unions are deemed legitimate representatives of employees,[30] conflict is resolved through collective bargaining and is viewed not necessarily as a bad thing and, if managed, could, in fact, be channeled towards evolution and positive change.

Unitarist perspective

In unitarism, the organization is perceived as an integrated and harmonious whole with the idea of “one happy family” in which management and other members of the staff all share a common purpose by emphasizing mutual co-operation. Furthermore, unitarism has a paternalistic approach: it demands loyalty of all employees and is managerial in its emphasis and application. Consequently, trade unions are deemed unnecessary since the loyalty between employees and organizations are considered mutually exclusive, and there cannot be two sides of industry. Conflict is perceived as destructive and[citation needed] the result of poor management.

Radical or Critical perspective

This view of industrial relations looks at the nature of the capitalist society, where there is a fundamental division of interest between capital and labour, and sees workplace relations against this background. This perspective sees inequalities of power and economic wealth as having their roots in the nature of the capitalist economic system. Conflict is therefore seen as a natural outcome of capitalism, thus it is inevitable and trade unions are a natural response of workers to their exploitation by capital. Whilst there may be periods of acquiescence, the Marxist view would be that institutions of joint regulation would enhance rather than limit management’s position as they presume the continuation of capitalism rather than challenge it.

Key Issues in International Industrial Relations

Who should handle Labour Relations; Headquarter or the subsidiary in the concerned country.

The national dissimilarities in economics, political, and legal systems create diverse labour-relations system across countries, MNCs HQs typically delegate the control over labour relations to their foreign subsidiaries. Having said that, the participation of the MNC headquarters in host-country labour relations is impacted by 4 key elements:

  1. In case there is a high level of inter-subsidiary production integration,the labour relations function is centralised and is coordinated by the head quarter.
  2. The nationality of ownership of the subsidiary has an influence on who should take care of employee relations.
  3. Furthermore, subsidiary character has a bearing on who should deal with employee relations.
  4. Finally, where a subsidiary is dependent more on its parent company for resources, you will see a greater corporate involvement in labour relations.

Trade Union Tactics

Trade Unions make use of a number of tactics to deal with international business:

  1. The most common one is ‘strike’. A strike is a concerted and temporary suspension of work, intended to put pressure. Unions should be cautions prior to resorting to a strike in international scenario because the bargaining power of a union could possibly be threatened or weakened by the financial resources of an MNC. This is specially evident where a multinational firm uses transnational sourcing and cross subsidization of its products or parts across different international locations.
  2. Form International Trade Secretariats (ITSs): There are Fifteen ITSs who help the exchange of information. Main objective of ITSs is to accomplish transactional bargaining with the MNCs.
  3. Lobbing for limited national legislations: Trade unions have for several years lobbied for restrictive national legislation in the U.S. and Europe. Trade unions pursue restrictive national legislation to avoid the export of jobs via multinational investment policies.
  4. Intervention from the global body like ILO, UNCTAD, EU, OECD: ILO has issued guidelines which cover disclosure of information, competition, financing, employment, industrial relations, taxation, science and technology.

Political

There is little doubt that national industrial relations (IR) systems continue to be greatly different. There are 3 faces of industrial relations which the international union movement encounters in the international environment, specifically social democracy, neo-liberal and authoritarian. The dissimilarities in national industrial relations systems are also mirrored in the structure, power and status of individual actors in the system. For example, trade unions maintain a comparatively strong position within the Scandinavian IR model while their role is a lot more limited in the US context. The international labour movement is usually prohibited direct access to robust intergovernmental establishments like the WTO. So they have to depend on national government to represent their interests to these institutions. Significantly, the interests of government might not always be directly in-line with the union movement.

Social and Identity

A key problem with the international labour movement and specifically international collective bargaining is the absence of identity that individual workers have with their international associates. Additionally, they see these peak associations to be a lot more conservative than activists at the local level. Associated with this point, there is a common lack of solidarity between actors at a national level. Additionally, there are endemic cultural, social and language differences among individuals in different countries resulting in lowering the degree of a shared identity between workers on an international level.

University of Mumbai BMS Notes

Trade Union and International IR

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Trade unions, also known as labour unions in the United States, are organizations of workers in a common trade who have organized into groups dedicated to improving the workers’ work life. A trade union generally negotiates with employers on behalf of its members, advocating for improvements such as better working conditions, compensation and job security. These unions play an important role in industrial relations the relationship between employees and employers.

History

The origins of trade unions can be found in guilds and fraternal organizations composed of people practicing a common trade, which date back hundreds of years. However, the modern conception of trade unions, in which unions represent a specific set of workers in negotiations with employers, dates back only to the 18th century. Membership in unions only became widespread in the United States and Europe in the 19th century.

Trade unions are associations of workers formed to represent their interests and improve their pay and working conditions.

Types

There are four main types of trade unions.

Craft unions

These represent workers with particular skills e.g. plumbers and weavers. These workers may be employed in a number of industries.

General unions

These unions include workers with a range of skills and from a range of industries.

Industrial unions

These seek to represent all the workers in a particular industry, for instance, those in the rail industry.

White collar unions

These unions represent particular professions, including pilots and teachers. Unions in a country, often belong to a national union organization. For example, in India, a number of unions belong to the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).

This is the oldest and one of the largest trade union federations in the country. A number of them also belong to international trade union organizations such as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, which has more than 230 affiliated organizations in 150 countries.

Role of Trade Unions:

Unions carry out a number of functions. They negotiate on behalf of their members on pay scales, working hours and working conditions. These areas can include basic pay, overtime payments, holidays, health safety, promotion prospects, maternity and paternity rights and job security.

Depending on the circumstances, unions may try to protect or improve workers’ rights. They also provide information on a range of issues for their members, for instance on pensions. They help with education and training schemes and may also participate in measures designed to increase demand for the product produced and hence for labour.

Some also provide a range of benefits to their members including strike pay, sickness pay and unemployment pay. In addition, many get involved in pressurizing their governments to adopt a legislation, which will benefit their members or workers in general, such as fixing a national minimum wage.

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