1. International Human Resource Management
Lecture 1
An introduction to IHRM

2. The course team
Glynne Williams: Nik Hammer: Feim Blakcori:

3. Some rules
10 lectures. Please arrive on time and sign in. 4 seminars, all related to assignment questions Blackboard for lecture slides and additional material Recording of lectures Additional assistance

4. What other IHRM courses promise
“This course will enable you to manage people across borders” “This course will develop your personal and professional skills to enable you to succeed in dynamic and complex international business environments.” “…prepare you to work in organisations to develop and sustain competitive advantage.”

5. What other IHRM courses promise
“This course will enable you to manage people across borders” NO! “This course will develop your personal and professional skills to enable you to succeed in dynamic and complex international NO! business environments.” “…prepare you to work in organisations to develop and sustain NO! competitive advantage.” Can these things be taught in a classroom?

6. Opening questions What do we mean by international HRM?
What questions/problems does it attempt to solve?
How should we understand the rise of IHRM?
Does IHRM only apply to multinational companies?
What are the implications of internationalisation and international HRM on employees and employment relations?

7. HRM in an international context
Question: To what extent is HRM able to respond to these challenges?

8. HRM responses to international economic change
The expert’s view What is the CIPD’s answer? (clue: they don’t have one) How might the challenges facing employers differ? e.g. - a US-based IT MNC? - a UK-based food MNC?

9. Is IHRM just HRM on an international scale?
HRM (as a practice and as a subject) has a long history. Practices/ perspectives have evolved.
Recognition that the employment relationship is a) asymmetrical and b) antagonistic.
Focus on co-operation and conflict.
International HRM is a recent preoccupation.
Narrower range of concerns.
Tendency to adopt an uncritical unitary approach.

10. Our approach A focus on employment and employment relations;
Focus on the collective, not just the individual;
IHRM in its political economy context;
The aim is to understand developments: the Why and How questions.

11. International HRM: lecture topics
Introduction to international HRM
International HRM and MNCs
International HRM and international labour
US multinational corporations
Equality, diversity and HRM
Management and labour in the multinational company
International regimes, labour institutions and labour standards
International framework agreements and industrial relations
International HRM and corporate social responsibility
Review and revision

12. The rise of the MNC
MNCs only employ approx. 2% of the world’s population.
So why do we need to study HRM in MNCs?
MNCs (via their supply chains) account for over half of world trade.
MNCs often provide the best (and the worst) jobs in host countries
They serve as a model for the broader domestic economy
 e.g. performance management; equality and diversity

13. Globalisation and the nation state
Supra-national bodies MNCs NATION The STATE Individual The market

14. Globalisation and the rise of IHRM
Economic factors: - Merger and acquisitions - Development of complex global production networks - Reduction of trade barriers(?) - Increasing competition - Widening markets - Mobile workforce All of these have a political dimension.

15. International HRM: lecture topics
Introduction to international HRM
International HRM and MNCs
International HRM and international labour
US multinational corporations
Equality, diversity and HRM
Management and labour in the multinational company
International regimes, labour institutions and labour standards
International framework agreements and industrial relations
International HRM and corporate social responsibility
Review and revision

16. How should we evaluate globalisation
“Globalisation is a fact of economic life” Do you agree with this statement? When did it become a ‘fact of life’? Does globalisation have a set direction? Does it have a ’purpose’? Does it represent progress?

17. Globalisation has a history, but the current phase is recent
Growth of world FDI (unctad.org)

18. “A rising tide floats all boats”
Growth of world GDP:

19. GDP growth: China and UK
World Bank, 2017

20. Or is it a race to the bottom?

21. Average wages and labour productivity in selected G20 countries, 199-2013 (www.oecd.org)

22. So how should we assess the world economy?
Number of unemployed (million), 1991 – 2016,

23. The evolution of management
Is there such a thing as ‘best practice’?
How do we know?
Why might best practice sometimes be neither ‘best’ nor ‘practical’?
Scale and structure of value chain;
Market pressure;
Cultural factors;
Institutional factors.

24. Working at HQ

25. … and work in the rest of the world
The Amazon worker: paid £18,000 a year to shift 250 items an hour (Guardian, 20/01/2018) shoulder-insecurity-of-internet-shopping-boom

26. The evolution of management?
Is this how progress works?

27. Are universities multinational businesses?
International customer base
International workforce
Internationally financed
‘Subsidiary’ campuses overseas

28. 2018: Pensions dispute with UK universities
Proposal to cut pension entitlement – mainly affecting younger staff.
No negotiated settlement.
Academics will be taking strike action from 22nd February.
Cancellations of lectures and seminars are very likely. Please check Blackboard for any updates.

29. Seminar 1
Please read: Dicken, P. (2011), ‘Tangled webs: unravelling complexity in the global economy’, in Dicken, P. (ed.), Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy (6th or 7th edition), New York: Guildford, Chapter (e-book available)

30. Seminars 2 -4 2) The multinational company
Edwards P., R. Sanchez-­Mangas, O. Tregaskis and C. Levesque (2013), ‘Human resource management practices in the multinational company: a test of system, societal, and dominance effects’, ILR Review 66 (3): 588-­617
3) The transfer of management practices 
MacIntosh, M. (2013), ‘Institutional influences on firm level HRM: some evidence from the Vietnamese garment and footwear sectors’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 51: 228–247.
4) Industrial relations in the global economy
Williams, G., Davies, S. and Chinguno, C. (2015), ‘Subcontracting and labour standards: Reassessing the potential of International Framework Agreements’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 2015: 53(2): 181-­203.

31. Textbooks and background reading
Martinez Lucio, M. (2014), International Human Resource Management: An Employment Relations Perspective, London, Sage Tayeb, M. (2005), International Human Resource Management: A Multinational Company Perspective, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Harzing, A-W and A. Pinnington, (2015) International Human Resource Management (4th Edition) Sage, London. Dicken, P. (2011), Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy (6th edition), New York: Guildford. Frege, C. and Kelly, J. (2013), Comparative Employment Relations in the Global Economy, Oxford, Routledge.