1. Human Resource Management Practices in Mexico
Pramila Rao, Ph.D

2. Module Units and Learning Exercises
This learning module is divided into five units:
1. Background information and federal laws.
Presentation from students.
Quiz 1.
2. Mexican HRM practices.
HR practices in Mexico.
Article discussion: Submit two-page handout with class discussion.
The presentation from students is on slide 14.
Quiz 1 is on slide 15.
For article discussion, see slide 24, teaching notes.
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3. Module Units and Learning Exercises
3. Culture and HR practices.
National cultural profile: Definitions of cultural dimensions and scores from the GLOBE study.
Implications of national culture for HR management.
4. Share and learn: Bio-data exercise (connecting national cultural dimensions).
Socrates seminar (emphasizing HRM practices and national cultures).
5. Final quiz and immigration patterns.
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4. Presentation Outline Welcome to Mexico. Quick facts.
History and societal background.
Business facts.
2008 best Mexican companies to work for.
Federal laws.
HR practices.
Staffing.
Training.
Performance appraisal.
Compensation and benefits.
National cultural profile (GLOBE study).
Class exercises.
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5. Unit 1 Quick facts, history, business facts and federal laws.
Assign presentation exercise to students for next session.
Quiz on slides presented this session.
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6. Quick Facts Population:106 million.
Colors of the flag have symbolic meaning.
31 states and a federal district.
Official language is Spanish.
Federal democratic republic.
President elected every 6 years.
Population: Mexico’s population is 106 million. In contrast, the U.S. population is 306,693,247--almost three times more than Mexico.
Mexican flag: Originally, green symbolized independence, white represented religion and red the union of Americans and Europeans. The meaning of the colors later came to represent hope and joy (green), peace and unity (white) and bravery and strength (red). In the white band on the flag is the Mexican coat of arms, which depicts an eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus with a snake in its beak. A legend is held that the Aztecs, early rulers of Mexico, should build their capital city on the spot where they saw an eagle on a cactus, eating a snake. To learn more about the history of the Mexican flag, go to:
States: Mexico has 31 states and a federal district in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. Mexico is considered a federal republic with each state having a separate state government. State governments answer to the national government. The states of Mexico are divided into municipalities, which are governed by mayors.
President and government: The president is elected by national elections and is elected for a six-year term. Unlike the U.S., Mexico’s president may not hold office a second time. There is no vice president in the Mexican constitution; in the event of the removal or death of the president, a provisional president is elected by the ruling party.
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7. Quick Facts
Major cities: Mexico City (25 million), Guadalajara (8.5 million); Monterrey (5 million).
Religion: Roman Catholic (76.5%); Protestant (6%); Pentecostal (1%), Jehovah’s Witnesses (1%). Four percent indicate " other," 14% are "unspecified" and 3% are "none".
Main industries:
Industrial: automobiles, petrochemicals, food and beverages.
Service: tourism, banking, telecommunications.
Agricultural: corn, potatoes, sugarcane, tropical fruits, vegetables.
Major cities
Mexico City is the financial and political center, and was the political center for the ancient Aztec empire as well.
Monterrey is the industrial capital of Mexico and produces 9.4 percent of all the goods manufactured in Mexico. It is also the home to several multinational and domestic manufacturing companies.
Guadalajara, the birth place of mariachi music, is considered the Silicon Valley of Mexico and is the home to leading U.S. and Mexican IT companies.
Religion
The majority of Mexicans are Roman Catholic and express their faith openly at home and work. They firmly believe that Virgin Mary or Lady Mary (Virgincita in Spanish) is their divine protector. It is not uncommon to see places of worship and symbols of faith for the Virgin Mary, in the workplace. Mexican organizations prefer to remain closed on the day of Virgin Guadalupe (El dia de Guadalupe), celebrated annually on December 12. This festival is celebrated to remember and venerate Virgin Mary, who appeared to a young Indian peasant boy in 1531.
Main industries
The service, industrial and agriculture sectors contribute to 70.5 percent, 25.7 percent and 3.9 percent to the GDP respectively.
Tourism is also a driving force for the Mexican economy, with about 20 million annual visitors.
Banking is a strong component of the service industry, with U.S. and Spanish banks dominating the financial market.
The automobile industry is a significant component of the industrial sector, and Mexico hosts global automobile manufacturers such as Ford, GM, Toyota and BMW among others.
Mexico is the fifth largest oil producer in the world.
The Mexican government provides a lot of subsidies for farmers to produce superior agricultural products that can compete globally.
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8. History of Mexico
Early history was dominated by Toltecs, Mayans and the Aztecs.
Spain invaded Mexico in 1519 and ruled for nearly years.
Mexico received its independence from Spain in 1821.
Miguel Hidalgo is considered the Father of Mexico because he fought for Mexican independence from Spain.
After independence, Mexico was ruled by a single political party, Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), for nearly 70 years.
In 2000, the PRI was replaced by the current ruling political party, Partido Acción Nacional (PAN).
Early history
The early history of Mexico was dominated by the Toltecs, Mayan and Aztec civilizations. All these civilizations were hierarchical in structure. The Aztecs believed they had supernatural powers. Power remained exclusively with the top few, and unquestioned loyalty was the norm.
In 1519, Spain invaded Mexico and ruled the country for nearly 300 years. The Spanish introduced Catholicism, which reinforced the concepts of absolute authority, loyalty and hierarchy. It also set the stage for the development of the Mexican patriarchal society because Catholic priests (padres) dominated the economic and social scene.
On Sept. 16, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo, a priest and a political leader from Dolores, Mexico, made rousing speech titled Grito de Dolores (meaning “shout from Dolores”), inspiring local peasants and workers to rise against the colonial Spanish rulers. With the image of the Virgin Mary and ringing of the church bells, his speech touched an emotional chord and stirred the locals to fight for their freedom. Even though it took Mexico 11 years to become independent from Spain, Sept. 16 is still remembered as Mexico’s Independence Day .
The fall of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or PRI, in 2000 was considered as significant a political event for Mexicans as the fall of the Berlin Wall is for Germans. The domination of the PRI, with their socialist approach and corrupt government, made voters desperate for a political change. In 2000, Vincente Fox, president of the Partido Accion Nacional, or PAN party, was voted into power. Fox promised a market-based approach to improve the country’s economy. The party had strong support and encouragement from local businesses.
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9. Business Facts Mexico opens its doors to foreign multinationals
1965: Maquiladoras, assembly plants on the U.S.- Mexican border, set the stage for international presence.
1992: The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) encourages trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
2008: Mexican information technology (IT) is awarded the best outsourcing destination for U.S. IT companies.
2009: Mexico is the 15th largest exporter economy in the world.
The word maquiladora historically refers to the grinding fee millers collected from their clients. However, today, maquiladoras refer to the manufacturing plants located on either side of the U.S.-Mexican border, which are associated with basic assembly and manufacturing of products for export. Raw materials are imported into Mexico and exported as finished products. This manufacturing process serves two purposes:
It offers abundant low-skilled employment to Mexicans.
It provides relevant foreign exchange to Mexico.
The North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, includes Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. As of January 1, 2008, all tariffs between the three countries were eliminated. Between , the trade among these countries tripled from $297 billion to $930 billion.
Mexico received the 2008 “best outsourcing destination” distinction by United Business Media (UBM) and Gartner Research. The award reflects not only Mexico’s proximity (and time zone compatibility) to the U.S., which encourages interrelated IT work, but also the strong support by Mexico’s federal government to the country's IT industries.
Mexico mainly exports manufactured goods, such as oil, silver, fruits, vegetables, coffee and cotton. Its main export partners are the U.S., Canada and Germany.
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10. Federal Laws
Federal labor law (Ley Federal de Trabajo) passed in It provides detailed employment guidance on:
Minimum wages.
Working hours per day.
Vacations.
Employee profit sharing.
Christmas bonus (aguinaldo).
Social security, housing program, retirement.
Equal pay for men and women.
Collective bargaining regulations.
Mexican employment law is governed by the Ley Federal de Trabajo, which was passed in 1931.
Key points of the law that U.S. multinationals should know :
Minimum wages are divided into three geographic areas (A, B, C) determined by the National Commission for Wages and are based on the states’ industries and labor supply.
Average wages for area A is MX$54.80 pesos per day; area B is MX$53.26 pesos per day; and area C is MX$51.95 pesos per day.
By way of comparison, MX$53 pesos equates to about four U.S. dollars.
Employees have the right to six paid vacation days a year. For every year the employee works for the employer, he/she receives an additional two vacation days. By the end of the fifth year of work, an employee has two weeks of paid vacation.
All organizations--including multinationals--are required to give all employees mandatory profit distributions of 10 percent of the gross profit of the company (before the payment of taxes).
Employers must provide employee training programs, the nature of which depends on the industry and relevancy to the industry, such as customer service training, computer training and English language training. The format and duration of the training program must be approved by the federal labor authorities.
Notes continued on next page.
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11. : Comparison of the U.S. and Mexico
Federal Holidays
10 (on average) 7
Paid Vacation Days
15 (on average) 6
Union Density
12%
20%
Aguinaldo (Christmas Bonus)
Not applicable
Mandatory
Annual Profit Distribution of 10%
Minimum Wages
$7.25 per hour
$4.26 per day
for the highest paid region
Varies by state
Varies by three distinct regions
Aguinaldo (Christmas bonus)
Employers must give all employees--regardless of their level in the organization--the equivalent of 15 days’ pay as a Christmas bonus on or before Dec. 20 each year. Employees who have worked less than one year receive a pro-rated Christmas bonus.
Combined, these benefits represent an average of 17.5 percent of the salary.
Employers must contribute about four percent of each employee’s salary to Mexican Social Security (IMSS). The Living Quarters Fund, which represents housing payments or loans (INFONAVIT), is five percent of the employee’s salary. The Retirement Savings System (SAR) represents about 8.5 percent of the salary.
Although there are acts for equal pay for men and women, women are traditionally paid lower wages than men. This is reflected in both blue-collar and white-collar jobs.
Unions may be organized whenever the majority of employees would like to organize. When this happens, a union contract is entered into with the employer, and working conditions and workers’ fringe benefits are regulated by the union. Unions in Mexico have had a strong affiliation to political parties; however, the current ruling party does not want to combine politics and union management issues.
Union density in Mexico is about 20 percent (in comparison to 12 percent in the U.S.), with education workers (teachers of all levels) and technicians being the most unionized. In the U.S., education, training and library occupations are the most unionized.
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12. Seven Mandated Public Holidays in 2009
Jan. 1: New Year's Day Feb. 4: Constitution Day March 16: Birthday of Benito Juárez May 1: Labor Day Sept. 16: Independence Day Nov. 20: Anniversary of the 1910 Mexican Revolution Dec. 25: Christmas Day
There are seven paid public holidays in Mexico (what we refer to as federal holidays in the U.S.). The following holidays are not public holidays, but are often provided because of religious and cultural reasons:
Holy Thursday (Easter) Good Friday (Easter)
May 5: Anniversary of the Battle of Puebla
Oct. 12: Día de la Raza (Columbus Day). Nov. 2: Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)  Dec. 12: El dia de Guadalupe (The Day of Virgin Guadalupe)
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13. 2008 Best Companies to Work for in Mexico*
Rank
Name of Company
Industry 1
Cemex
Construction 2
América Telecom
Telecommunications 3
Carso Global Telecom 4
Femsa
Food, Drink & Tobacco 5
Grupo Carso
Conglomerates 6
Grupo Mexico
Materials 7
Grupo Financiero Banorte
Banking 8
Grupo Modelo 9
Grupo Televisa
Media 10
Coca-Cola Femsa
*Forbes Global 2000
The Forbes Global 2000 is a categorization of the largest publicly listed companies in the world. It is compiled annually by Forbes magazine and has been conducted since Forbes ranks public companies on such parameters as sales and profits, assets, market value, and management practices.
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14. Presentation Exercise
Divide students into groups based on class size.
Assign each group one of the best companies identified from the previous slide.
As a take-home assignment, each group will research two outstanding HR practices from its assigned company using the Internet and academic or practitioner journals.
Groups will have 10 minutes in the next class to present their outstanding HR practices.
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15. Quiz 1
There will be a quiz based on slides 6-12.
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16. Unit 2 Unit 2 covers: HRM practices in Mexico.
Article discussion and submission of a two-page handout with class discussion.
Information about the handout and class discussion can be found in the teaching notes on slide 23.
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17. Bio-data seeks extensive personal and professional information.
Staffing Practices
Bio-data seeks extensive personal and professional information.
Personal referrals.
Succession planning (for middle and upper-level management).
Psychometric tests.
Employment fairs.
Bio-Data Collection
Mexican employers seek elaborate personal information from applicants through gathering bio-data information such as age, family background, marital status, photos, physical characteristics (height and weight), family background, economic background and number of children.
While such detailed personal and professional information is considered unlawful in the U.S., extensive bio-data information is important in the Mexican recruitment culture. For instance, knowing an applicant’s complete personal background helps employers place applicants where they would prefer to work in Mexico (for instance, usually close to their families).
The Mexican culture is high in uncertainty avoidance (this is discussed in detail in Unit 3).
Personal References
In staffing, recruiting and selecting, in-group membership (personal references) is very important regardless of whether the employees are qualified for the job. Therefore, word-of-mouth recruiting, which promotes an employee’s core inner circle, is an important recruitment source. Mexicans’ high value on collectivism promotes favoritism because employers prefer to work with people they trust and cherish.
Succession Planning
The collectivist culture places a strong emphasis on grooming internal candidates. This grooming tendency allows employers to promote employees they trust have established a harmonious relationship with.
Psychometric Tests
Mexico scores high in uncertainty avoidance. High uncertainty-avoidance cultures use extensive psychometric testing (Kolbe & Cleaver personality tests) to identify additional applicant information. These psychometric tests help employers identify important applicant characteristics such as being detail-oriented, working harmoniously with others and being entrepreneurial.
Employment Fairs
Mexican employers usually organize ferias del empleo, or employment fairs, where business and government employers set up employment recruiting booths.
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18. Staffing Practices: E-recruitment
E-recruitment is generally considered isolating and unfriendly in the Mexican work culture. Mexican HR directors have expressed feelings of alienation and power loss with e-recruitment process.
In contrast, in the U.S., e-recruitment is the most widely used recruiting approach.
Monster.com pioneered the concept of e-recruitment in About 804 of the Fortune 1,000 companies in the U.S. use Monster.com as one of their recruitment portals.
The pioneers of online recruitment in Mexico were Bumeran.com and Laborum.com, both non-Mexican firms established in the late 1990s. The corporate offices of Bumeran are in Argentina, and the headquarters for Laborum is in Chile.
Domestic barriers such as high business costs, complicated ownership laws for new organizations, and the lack of a capitalist culture in Mexico prompted non-Mexicans to dominate the e-commerce businesses in Mexico.
Approximately 37 percent of the households in Mexico have Internet access. In the corporate world, only 29 percent of organizations have an Internet connection; 71 percent of the Mexican corporations do not have Internet access.
Mexico: 109,955,400 (Population); 27,400,000 (Internet users); 24.9 percent (Internet Penetration).
USA: 304,824,646 (population); 222,723,436 (Internet users); 73.2 percent (Internet Penetration).
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19. Training Practices
Employees generally receive two weeks of training per year. Training is mandated by the federal law, and there are fines for non-compliance.
Several kinds of training are offered:
Total quality management training (Japanese methods of kanban, kaizen, zero defects).
Technical training.
Management training.
Corporate virtual universities exist to promote continuous learning and education.
A model example is the Mexican retailer Liverpool. Liverpool offers 22 educational programs through its virtual university and won the SHRM competitive workforce award in 2007.
The main reason training is mandated by law is because the Mexican educational system does not fully prepare students for corporate demands. The educational system has a very strong rote-memory emphasis and does not build critical skills such as organizing, analyzing and problem-solving. Organizations need to provide this finishing touch so employees can meet organizational expectations.
Mexico is home to thousands of manufacturing companies, and as such, total quality management training is emphasized to enable Mexico to compete internationally. Corporate virtual universities are becoming very popular in Mexico because they help standardize training curriculum to meet global standards.
For more information about Mexican training practices, please read “Top 10 Strategies: Training” in Business Mexico.
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20. Performance Appraisals
Ranking employee performance:
360-degrees feedback.
Management by objectives.
Business unit competencies.
Collectivist and power-distance cultural dimensions make an objective appraisal process quite difficult.
The feedback interview is considered an important information exchange process.
Employment-at will does not exist; Mexican labor law identifies “justified causes” for dismissal.
Several appraisal methods exist: ranking employees performance; getting multiple feedback; and setting individual and business unit goals.
Though the performance appraisal is an established annual practice in Mexican organizations (quarterly or bi-annually in many organizations), it is difficult to implement because of the personal relationships established between Mexican employers and employees.
The collectivist culture places a premium on developing close bonds at work. Therefore, the objectivity of the appraisal process is blurred with a paternalistic management approach. Managers or supervisors provide benefits, training and development opportunities, and perks to employees based on their annual performance, and in turn, employees agree to any work schedules the supervisors would want employees to do.
The feedback interview is an important cultural process because it is a social exchange in which employers and employees evaluate and negotiate current and future goals.
“Justified cause” for termination is an exhaustive list identified by Mexican labor law. Some examples include dishonest acts, violent acts, damage to property, and revealing proprietary information about the company. For more information about justified causes for termination, please read the article by Puente-Tostado and Gonzalez-Uribe (2004).
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21. Compensation and Benefits
Mandatory benefits for employees at all levels:
Christmas bonus of 15 days’ base pay.
10% of the company’s profits.
After a year of work, six days paid vacation.
Mid- to large-size companies usually offer the
following benefits for middle-management employees:
Health care.
Tuition for children’s private schools.
Food coupons.
Mortgage credit.
Employer-sponsored saving fund.
Large companies offer the following perks to their executives:
Company car.
Gym membership.
Club memberships.
Mandatory benefits are provided to employees of all levels. Middle-management employees get certain benefits relevant to their level, while executives get exclusive perks relevant to their level.
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22. Compensation and Benefits
Several practices suggest that Mexican workplaces are family-friendly:
Organizations have a “family day” where families visits employees at work.
Families are invited to employees’ orientation programs.
Organizations host annual picnics with employees’ families.
Organizations host Christmas parties with employees’ families.
Most companies in Mexico offer family-friendly practices because the culture places value on spending time with immediate and extended families. Scholars have found that involving the family at the workplace is a strong preference for Mexicans (Davila & Elvira, 2007; Arias-Galicia, 2005).
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23. Compensation and Benefits
Retirement age in Mexico can be 65, 60 (considered “voluntary retirement”) or even younger than 60 if the employee has enough contributions for a pension.
Women receive 12 weeks paid maternity leave.
Two 30-minute daily breaks are given for nursing mothers after they return to work.
An employee can retire before the age of 60 if he or she has paid at least 1,250 weekly contributions (24 years) and his or her pension is at least 30 percent higher than the guaranteed pension amount.
Men do not receive any paternity or paid leave to look after their newborns.
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24. Article Discussion Read the following article:
Dickerson, M., & Mandell, M (2006). In Mexico, young and thin are often job requirements. Los Angeles Times. Available at
Discussion question: Share and learn
You are the HR director of a major automobile manufacturer that just started operations in Monterrey, Mexico. You need to staff the organization and are looking for administrative and production workers to get operations rolling. You are planning to start recruiting. What would you do as the local HR director?
Would you adopt local hiring practices? Please justify your rationale.
Would you adopt U.S. hiring standards? Please justify your rationale.
In your opinion, which staffing method will help multinationals get the best talent: local hiring methods or global hiring methods?
Have students read the article before Unit 3. Students should submit their responses in writing to the instructor. The written response should be no longer than two pages, submitted in Times New Roman, 1.5 spacing.
The class will then discuss their answers as a group. Plan to dedicate 30 minutes of class time for this discussion.
There may be copyright protections for articles you might want to reproduce in this learning module. Please use the correct protocol while reproducing others’ work.
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25. Unit 3
National Cultural Profile: Definitions of cultural dimensions and scores from the GLOBE study.
Implications of national culture for HRM.
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26. National Cultural Profile (GLOBE STUDY)
Power distance: The degree to which organizations and societies view power between superiors and subordinates.
Mexico: 5.22 (Rank 30)
Morocco: 5.80 (Highest score)
Institutional collectivism: The degree to which organizational and institutional practices encourage collective action.
Mexico: 4.06 (Rank 38)
Sweden: 5.22 (Highest score)
Source: Chhokar, J., Brodbeck, F., & House, R (Eds) (2007). Culture and leadership across the world. The GLOBE book of in-depth studies of 25 societies. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Mahwah, New Jersey.
The GLOBE national culture study was conducted in This study is a collaborative effort of about 170 researchers from 61 countries with 951 non-multinational organizations. GLOBE respondents were managerial employees, and this theory-driven research is based on extensive academic literature. This project is considered the latest on work-related practices and national cultures, and is important to HRM because it reflects how cultures influence HRM practices (please see discussion below). Multinationals must be cognizant that universal HRM practices might have to be adapted to local cultures.
Mexico’s high scores on power distance reflect a society that is characterized by the clear hierarchy established by the early Aztec rulers and subsequently by the Spanish. As a result, Mexican business is defined with a clear pecking order and a formal structure. In government meetings, ministers rarely disagree with or oppose the superior’s opinion, even though they may have contradictory opinions. Examples of power-distance at work would be the use of formal titles such as “jefe” or “patron.” Unlike in the U.S., Mexican employees do not call their superiors by their first names, reiterating a work culture of power and status.
Mexico’s high scores on institutional collectivism reflects a society that endorses collective behavior. Examples of this at work would be having and providing a strong team-orientation for both work and rewards. Employees like and enjoy working together because of their collectivist orientation (discussed in more depth later in this unit).
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27. National Cultural Profile (GLOBE STUDY)
In-group collectivism: The degree to which individuals in societies reflect collectivist behavior.
Mexico: 5.71 (Rank 12)
Philippines: 6.36 (Highest score)
Uncertainty avoidance: The degree to which organizations and societies avoid uncertainty by relying on practices and procedures.
Mexico: 4.18 (Rank 26)
Switzerland: 5.37 (Highest score)
High scores on in-group collectivism reflect a society that is identified by a tight social framework where members distinguish themselves from in-group (family, close friends, church members) and out-group (casual acquaintances and other business contacts) members. Therefore, in-group members prefer their own group members rather than out-group members. Examples of this at work would be hiring family and friends regardless of their qualification or experience.
High scores on uncertainty avoidance reflect a culture that has dealt with a lot of uncertainty through decades–such as Spanish rule, unpredictable political parties and volatile currency rates. Mexican employers prefer clear rules and procedures that minimize unpredictability. Examples of this would be seeking elaborate information about employees, such as in the Mexican bio-data or employment testing, to reduce uncertainty in the hiring process.
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28. National Cultural Profile (GLOBE STUDY)
Performance orientation: The degree to which upper management in organizations and leaders in societies reward group members for performance excellence.
Mexico: 4.10 (Rank 32)
Switzerland: 4.94 (Highest score)
Assertiveness: The degree to which individuals in organizations or societies are assertive in social relationships.
Mexico: 4.45 (Rank 16)
Albania: 5.80 (Highest score)
Gender egalitarianism: The degree to which organizations or society promotes gender equality.
Mexico: 3.64 (Rank 16)
Hungary: 4.08 (highest score)
Mexico’s score in performance orientation suggests a work culture that strives for employee excellence and performance improvement. While the traditional Mexican culture did not place such an emphasis on performance, the presence of U.S. and Japanese multinationals has emphasized a performance work culture. Examples of emphasis on performance is now evident in Mexico with ranking in performance management and total quality management in the manufacturing environment.
The assertive and gender-egalitarianism scores indicate a societal preference toward male dominance reiterated by the early Spanish presence, male-dominated Catholic clergy and autocratic political leaders. The Mexican culture allows macho behavior in the workplace, especially at the supervisory level.
Women represent about 33 percent of the Mexican workforce, but only 14 percent represent managerial positions. In contrast, in the U.S., women represent 54 percent of the workforce and about 36 percent are in supervisory positions.
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29. National Cultural Profile (GLOBE STUDY)
Future orientation: The degree to which individuals in organizations or societies plan for the future.
Mexico: 3.87 (Rank 26)
Singapore: 5.07 (Highest score)
Humane orientation: The degree to which individuals in organizations or societies reward individuals for positive behavior.
Mexico: 3.98 (Rank 34)
Zambia: 5.23 (Highest score)
Mexico’s scores in future orientation indicate that the Mexican work culture is moderately well prepared for the future. Improvisation or on-the-spot planning is quite common in the work culture. As a consequence, though, methodical HR planning (such as staffing for the future) is not very common.
Mexico’s score in human orientation indicates that Mexican culture rewards altruistic work behavior (helping co-workers) because harmony at the workplace is important.
Teaching Note:
It would be helpful for the instructor to read articles that reflect the role of culture on HR practices. Some articles are suggested below:
Javidan, M. & House, R. (2001). Cultural acumen for the global manager. Lessons from Project Globe. Organizational Dynamics, 29 (4),
Chhokar, J., Brodbeck, F., & House, R. (2007). Culture and leadership across the world. The GLOBE book of in-depth studies of 25 societies. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Chapter 1.
Howell, J., Cerda, J., Martinez, S., Bautista, A., Ortiz, J., Prieto, L., Dorfman, P. (2007). Societal culture and leadership in Mexico: A portrait of change. In The GLOBE book of in-depth studies of 25 societies. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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30. National Culture and HRM practices
Scholars have found a strong connection between cultural dimensions and HRM practices.
High power distance cultures create a(n):
Hierarchical organizational structure.
Loyal and committed subordinate workforce.
Autocratic relationship between managers and subordinates.
What kind of HRM practices would low power-distance cultures adopt?
What staffing practices would high power-distance cultures encourage?
Low power-distance cultures tend to have flatter organizational structures, participative managers, and a focus on fairness and equity.
High power-distance cultures create loyalty; staffing practices like internal recruitment and succession planning are important. Such practices provide for a committed and loyal workforce.
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31. National Culture and HRM practices
High institutional collectivism cultures value:
Group harmony and cooperation.
Conformity to societal norms.
High in-group collectivism cultures feel a:
Close bond with their organization family, friends and relatives.
What kind of HRM practices would low institutional collectivism cultures adopt?
What staffing practices would high in-group collectivism cultures encourage?
Low institutional cultures advocate individual achievement and encourage employees to be different and creative. Compensation practices are geared to awarding individual performance and employee initiatives.
High in-group collectivist cultures create an environment of nepotism and favoritism. Providing personal and family references for employment positions is common and expected. It is not unusual for personal relations to supersede employment criteria.
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32. National Culture and HRM practices
High uncertainty avoidance cultures create:
Formalized procedures to minimize unpredictability.
Clearly defined roles for employees.
Focus on security and trust.
What kind of management practices would low uncertainty-avoidance cultures create?
What staffing practices would high uncertainty-avoidance cultures encourage?
Low uncertainty-avoidance cultures encourage risk takers and promote flexible job roles and quick decision-making.
Cultures high in uncertainty-avoidance conduct many assessments and seek elaborate information from applicants, such as age, family background, etc., to minimize or reduce any unpredictability in the hiring process. These cultures believe having more information provides more reliability in the hiring process.
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33. Unit 4: Share and Learn
Bio-data exercise (connecting national cultural dimensions).
Socrates seminar (emphasizing HRM practices and national cultures).
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34. Unit 4: Share and Learn Exercise: Mexican Bio-data
Identify the various categories of the Mexican bio-data.
Discussion questions:
What national cultural dimensions do you think shape such an elaborate information-seeking process?
What categories of the bio-data would you consider personally invasive? Please justify.
Allow 30 minutes to complete this class exercise.
Please refer to Appendix 1, which provides a Mexican bio-data form with detailed descriptions for each category. Please provide these handouts to students and allow 15 minutes to read. Once they have finished reading, ask students to discuss the questions on this slide.
What national cultural dimensions do you think would shape such an elaborate information-seeking process?
Uncertainty avoidance dictates extensive information-seeking behavior. Such cultures are risk-averse and believe elaborate information will reduce uncertainty in the hiring process.
What categories of the bio-data would you consider personally invasive? Please justify.
Students’ answers will vary, and possible answers could be personal data, personal habits and family data.
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35. Socrates Seminar: In-Class Learning Exercise
Read the following articles:
Gannon, M. (2004). The Mexican Fiesta. Understanding Global Cultures. London: Sage Publications,
Friedman, T. (2005). The Virgin of Guadalupe. The World is Flat. A Brief History of the Twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
Encourage a Socrates seminar where students ask “why,” “what for” and “so what” questions to understand how national cultures dictate management practices.
This is an in-class reading assignment in which students develop their own questions to the class readings provided. Please allow 50 minutes for this seminar; 30 minutes for reading and 20 minutes for a Socrates dialogue among students. After reading the articles, students will initiate their own questions based on the article (sample questions included).
Socrates seminar handouts are provided in the learning exercise document. The instructor will provide this handout and encourage students to develop 2-3 questions. Other students will try to answer the questions based on their understanding of the readings. The instructor will only facilitate this seminar, and all the questions should come entirely from the students. This is only a suggested learning method, and the instructor can use any type of discussion method he or she prefers.
There is no grading rubric for this learning exercise, but students are strongly encouraged to participate.
Sample Questions (Gannon, 2006):
Why do U.S.-Mexican joint ventures fail?
Why are fiestas so important in the Mexican culture?
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36. Unit 5: Quiz 2 There will be a quiz on slides 17- 32.
Other HRM issues: Mexican Immigrants in the U.S.
©SHRM 2011

37. Other HRM Issues: Immigration
There are 11.5 million Mexican immigrants residing in the U.S. (as of the 2006 Census).
This accounts for 30.7% of all U.S. immigrants and one-tenth of the Mexican population.
One of out five Mexican immigrants become U.S. citizens.
Popular U.S. destinations for Mexicans are California and Texas.
Other states experiencing an increase in Mexican immigrants include South Dakota, Louisiana, Alaska and Ohio.
40% of Mexican immigrant men are employed in transportation, construction and extraction jobs.
37% of Mexican immigrant women are employed in service jobs.
Mexican immigration to the U.S. started increasing in 1980 when the Mexican economy was undergoing a tremendous financial crisis.
Discussion questions
What are some possible HR issues that may occur because of the high Mexican immigration to the U.S.?
Language skills (providing language skills to immigrant workers).
Illegal immigrants (ensuring that immigrants have proper work status).
Developing low-level work niches (immigrants accept specific jobs--such as construction--for much lower wages than the local population, therefore developing special work niches).
Article discussion
Provide the article to students and ask them to address the first question on language skills. This should take approximately minutes to complete.
What would you have done as the HR director of Sheraton to prevent the lawsuit of $80,000?
Hotel Settles Language Suit With EEOC; Sheraton National, Parent Firm to Pay Former Dishwasher Over English-Only Rule, The Washington Post, Nov. 10, 2005.
©SHRM 2011