Talent retention is not a new problem, but it seems to be ever more critical. The question of attracting the brightest and best talents is a key issue for successful companies. Today with large signing bonuses and very attractive salaries and benefits, the more perplexing question is how to best build the loyalty of the talented people. The more talents organizations retain, the more talents they’ll attract. Organizations should focus on designing a sustainable career package that supports a graduate’s continuous professional and personal development. It is important that an organization keeps track of each individual’s changing needs and priorities. This will be down to the job of a coach or a mentor who should carry the long-term and important responsibility of coaching and mentoring the graduates. Being new to the organization, graduates require continuous feedback and coaching to help them to assimilate well and be successful in their role. Continue reading
International HRM
Selecting Managers for Foreign Assignments
International assignments are the heart of international HR, and it is therefore disconcerting to see how often such assignments fail. U.S. expatriates assignments that end early (the failure rate) range from 16% to 50%, and the direct costs of each failure can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. The exact number of failure is hard to quantify, in part because “failure” means different things to different people. An early return rate is perhaps the most obvious indicator. However, some expatriates may fail less conspicuously, quietly running up the hidden costs of reduced productivity and poisoned customer and staff relations. The processes firms use to select managers for their foreign assignments and domestic operations obviously have many similarities. For either assignment, the candidate should have the technical knowledge and skills to do the job, and the intelligence and skills to be a successful manager. However, it is seen that Continue reading
Evolution of Performance Management
Traditionally, performance appraisal has been used as the guide for employee performance. Performance appraisal also known as ‘performance evaluation’, ‘merit rating’, and ‘performance assessment’ is a process of recording assessment of employees’ performance, potential and development needs. According to Wayne F Cascio (1995) performance appraisal is defined as “the systematic description of job related strengths and weaknesses of an individual or a group”. Performance appraisal is a system of review and evaluation of an individual’s (or team’s) performance. Lately it has been supplanted in more and more companies with performance management (PM), a more comprehensive human resource management process. Within the recent past there has been a shift from traditional annual performance appraisal to continuous performance management. The obvious reasons behind this have been the inadequacy of Performance appraisal in serving as a performance enhancement tool. Performance appraisal is known to be a contentious and unpopular activity of Human Resource Continue reading
Three Approaches for Promoting Diversity in the Workplace
Though, diversity can have a wide range of meanings, some companies use the traditional Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) definition of diversity, which deals with differences in gender, racioethnicity, and age. Other companies tend to favor the broadest definitions of diversity, ones that encompass differences in gender, racioethnicity, age, physical abilities, qualities, and sexual orientation, as well as differences in attitudes, perspectives and background. Many individuals rely on a more detailed definition of diversity considering diverse people as being in the non-dominant social system who have been traditionally under research and under served. While there is no correct definition of diversity, the three diversity initiatives discussed in this article seem to target a definition that encompasses creating a diverse work environment that is inclusive to everyone, specifically focusing on the inclusion of minorities and non minorities. Three Main Approaches to Workplace Diversity 1. Colorblind Approach The colorblind approach is similar Continue reading
An Introduction to Workforce Diversity Management
Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, the world is submerged in a wide range of demographic trends which have the potential to radically change the demographic, cultural and ethical mixture of the population in many countries within just a few decades. Top managers often say that their company’s people are its most important asset. In a tight job market and a global economy a company that puts people first – regardless of their race, religion, gender, age, sexual preference, or physical disability – wins. Companies, especially big multinational players which have to deal with these changes, are growingly forced to react. Employees, once a homogenous group in many countries, are increasingly diverse and need to be integrated within and into working environments. Diversity can present an immense source of opportunities but it can also mean the opposite, a big threat. Diversity management is a managerial approach in response Continue reading
Human Resource Management (HRM) in a Global Environment
As the organizations continue to grow globally at a rapid pace, nations are increasingly permeable to the international exchange of knowledge, capital, goods and services, giving rise to more complexities and uncertainties. Intensified rate of globalization is evident from the changing trends in foreign direct investment which is increasingly indicating a shift toward developing economies like China and India. Growing internationalization is breaking down organizational and geographical boundaries with business processes and structures undergoing complete transformation. This has brought the role of human resources to the fore as the competitiveness of these organizations is contingent on their ability to adapt and design human resource strategies that can sustain global nuances and dynamics. International human resource management (IHRM) from an organization’s perspective is defined as the effective management of human resources in global markets for multinational companies(MNCs), in order to gain a key source of competitive advantage and to be globally Continue reading