跨国人力资源管理文献综述

LiteratureReviewofInternationalHumanResourceManagementSubject:TransnationalManagementClass:093StudentNumber:296602205ChineseName:HouYunanEnglishName:HelenTheEssayto:MaggieXieTotalWords:1485Date:May23,2012IntroductionPuciketal.(1993)haveindicatedthatMNC’shumanresourcemanagement(HRM)playscrucialroleinacquiringandenhancingorganizationalcompetencesforthefirm.PriorstudieshavealsoconfirmedtheimportantroleofMNC’sHRMinenhancingorganizationalperformance(LeeandvanWitteloostuijn,1998;Brown,1999;Grossman,2000;LeBlancetal.,2000;Dzinkowski,2000).Existingstudies,however,havenotpaidsufficientattentiontohowHRMmayofferspecificadvantagestocompeteintheinternationalarena(LeeandvanWitteloostuijn,1998;Brown,1999;Grossman,2000;LeBlancetal.,2000;Dzinkowski,2000).Assuch,afirstaimofthestudyistoinvestigatetheinfluenceofhumancapitalmanagementonafirm’sglobalcompetiveness,andtofocusonidentifyingcriticalHRMpracticesthatcontributestoafirm’ssuccessintheglobalmarket.Fortheabovepurpose,wefurtherintroducetheconstructofinternationalhumancapitalmanagement(IHCM).IHCMhasbeenreferredtoasHRpracticesthatfacilitatethedevelopmentandexploitationofafirm’sinternationalhumancapital,thehumancapitalthatenablesafirmtocompeteintheglobalmarkets.Tothisend,weintendtoidentifythekeycomponentsofIHCMthatcontributetoafirm’sglobalcompetiveness.InternationalHumanResourceManagementMultinationalcorporations(MNCs)areofparticularimportancetointernationalcomparativemanagementresearch(Fenton-O’CreevyandGooderham,2003)becauseoftheirincreasinglyimportantroleintheglobaleconomy(Porter,1986;PrahaladandDoz,1987;RosenzweigandSingh,1991).Theeffectivenessofhumanresourcemanagement(HRM)hasbeenseenasthekeytothesuccessofMNCsinthe21stcentury(BartlettandGhoshal,1994,1995;Pucik,1992).TheabilitytoeffectivelytransferHRMpracticeswhichhavebeenprovenefficientatparentcompaniestoMNCs’overseassubsidiariesisakeycharacteristicofthesuccessfulMNC(NohriaandGhoshal,1997)and“amatterofconsiderablepracticalimportanceformanagersinMNCs”(Fenton-O’CreevyandGooderham,2003,p.2).ThistransferabilitycanalsoformakindofspecialcompetitivecapabilityforanMNCthatmaybedifficultforcompetitorstoimitate(Floodetal.,2003).Humancapitalisessentialfortheexecutionofflexiblestrategiesinglobalmarket.Itconsistsofcollectiveknowledge,skills,abilities,expertise,experiences,competency,orcapabilityofemployeeswithinafirmthatarevaluableandunique,andshouldbekeptoutofreachofothercompanies.Assignificantgrowthhasbeenexperiencedindevelopingeconomies,achallengeformultinationalcompanies(MNCs)ishowtoeffectivelymanageandenablehumancapitaltocompetesuccessfullyintheglobalmarket.Internationalhumancapitalmanagementandglobalcompetiveness.Fromtheperspectiveofresource-basedtheory,firmswithhigherlevelsofhumancapitaltendtobemoreefficientinutilizingtheknowledgetheyacquireandsustainablycompeteintheinternationalarena(SchulerandRogovsky,1998).Superiorhumancapitalservesasanenduringresourceassociatedwithbetterfirmperformance(Grossman,2000;Carpenteretal.,2001;BontisandFitz-Enz,2002;Fulmeretal.,2003).AstudyonUSMNCshasdemonstratedthatCEOswithinternationalassignmentexperiencearecriticalhumancapitalforMNCs;suchhumancapitalcreatesvalueforthefirmswhenitisbundledwithotherorganizationalresourcesandcapabilities.Accordingly,IHCMpracticesmightcontributetoafirm’sglobalcompetivenessbyenhancingafirm’shumancapital.Fulmeretal.(2003),forinstance,havesuggestedthatcompaniesthatemphasizepositiveemployeerelationsrelatedtohumancapitalmanagementtendtoenjoynotonlymorepositiveworkforceattitudes,butalsobetterperformancethantheircounterpartsinthebroadmarket.Literaturehasalsorevealedthathumancapitalenhancesafirm’sglobalinitiativesinvariousways(Madsenetal.,2003).IntheMNCsetting,aparentcompanyoftendecentralizeresponsibilitiestolocalbusinessunitsforstimulatingsubsidiaries’initiatives,whiletryingtomaintainnormativeintegrationbycentralizingtheframeworksandprocessesguidinglocalselectionanddevelopment.ItisIHCMthatholdscommonvalue,clearstandardsandprocesstobeembracedbyemployees.NotonlydoesIHCMenableacompanytounifygeographicallyandculturallydiverseemployeesandguidetheirdailydecisionmaking,italsoinspireshigherlevelofcreativity,leadingtomorebreakthroughinnovations(Kanter,2008).Thus,globalinitiativesprovideacommonlanguageonabaselineplatformfortalentdevelopment,formultinationalorganizationstosteertalentselection,performancemanagement,development,andadvancementdecisionsacrossthematrixofoperations(BriscoeandHall,1999).Hence,globalinitiativescanbeusedasamechanismforafirmtomanageitsinternationalhumancapitalbasedonitsstrategicgoal.Theabovediscussionleadstothefollowinghypothesis:IHCMispositivelyassociatedwithafirm’sglobalcompetiveness.Intheliterature,itisgenerallyagreedthatentrepreneurialleadershipofTMTsrepresentsanimportantresourceforafirmtoachieveglobalinitiatives(Birkinshaw,1997;Hittetal.,1998;Bartlettetal.,2003;Banutu-GomezandBanutu-Gomez,2007).Forinstance,toachievegloballearning,TMTsofMNCsneedtopossessbroadknowledgeaboutdifferentcompetitors,industriesandsocieties,andprocessaperspectivethatcanidentifyopport