Challenges for International Human Resource Management

ABSTRACT

Over the past several decades there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of companies that have globalized their business. We’ve experienced different phases of globalization, thanks to the speedy development of internet and the emergence of e-commerce, the global market for almost all different industries has become more and more integrated. Under this trend, the international movement of labor that has been concomitant with such expansion of international business has meant the increasing importance of the international human resource managers. At the same time, the challenges of international human resource management (IHRM) have spread into different dimensions. The research presented in this paper examines the challenges from both the future workforce and from the changing nature of work itself, and how human resource managers react to the challenges arise from the elevation of human resource activities to a core strategic function.

INTRODUCTION

Global companies must have experienced many drastic macroeconomic changes over the past two decades. From the 1990’s financial crisis in Asia to the global financial crisis in 2008, that most economies are still far from fully recover from. Many global companies already took into consideration the various macroeconomic factors when they need to take globalization as important steps for business development. Currently, most companies need to navigate the choppy waters of a complex global economy, and position themselves to attract and retain the workers they will definitely need on this journey. As this paper will show, firms will face several challenges from both the future workforce and from the changing nature of work itself . As a result, global companies’ human resource managers will need to get ahead of the game by really understanding these major changes in future worker demographic, technological and societal shifts, and then preparing themselves accordingly....