2. 15-3
Hofstede’s Five Dimensions of Culture
1. Individualism/Collectivism Describes the strength of the
relation
between an individual and other individuals in
the society.
2. Power Distance Concerns the way the culture deals with
unequal distribution of power and defines the
amount of inequality that is normal.
3. Uncertainty Avoidance Describes how cultures handle the
fact that
the future is unpredictable.
4. Masculinity/Femininity The emphasis a culture places on
practices or
qualities that have traditionally been
considered masculine or feminine.
5. Long-term/Short-term
Orientation
Suggests whether the focus of cultural values
is on the future (long term) or the past and
present (short term).
15-4
3. Economic System
• The economic system provides many of the
incentives or disincentives for developing the
value of the labor force.
• In developed countries with great wealth,
labor costs are relatively high. This impacts
compensation and staffing practices.
• Income tax differences between countries
make pay structures more complicated when
they cross national boundaries.
15-5
Criteria for Selection of Employees for
Foreign Assignments
1. Competency in the employee’s area of expertise
2. Ability to communicate verbally and nonverbally in
the foreign country
3. Flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity, and sensitivity to
cultural differences
4. Motivation to succeed and enjoyment of challenges
5. Willingness to learn about the foreign country’s
culture, language, and customs
6. Support from family members
4. 15-6
Training and Developing a
Global Workforce
• Training and development programs should be
effective for all participating employees,
regardless of their country of origin.
• When organizations hire employees to work in a
foreign country or transfer them to another
country, the employer needs to provide the
employees with training in how to handle the
challenges associated with working in a foreign
country.
15-7
Table 15.1: Effects of Culture on Training
Design
15-8
Delivering Training in Other Countries
• Know your goals – clarify what overseas training is
supposed to achieve.
• Consider international differences among trainees
when developing the training plan.
5. • Keep an eye on quality – overseas trainers should
meet the same quality standards as training at
headquarters.
• Be clear about standards for confidentiality and
intellectual property.
• Know the local laws that affect training programs.
15-9
Performance Management Across
National Boundaries
• When establishing
performance
management methods
in other countries,
organizations have to
consider:
– Legal requirements
– Local business practices
– National cultures
• Differences may
include:
– Which behaviors are
rated
6. – How and the extent to
which performance is
measured
– Who performs the rating
– How feedback is
required
15-10
Compensating an International Workforce
• Market pay structures can differ substantially
across countries in terms of both pay level and
the relative worth of jobs.
• This creates a dilemma for global companies:
– Should pay levels and differences reflect what
workers are used to in their own countries?
– Should pay levels and differences reflect the
earnings of colleagues in the country of the
facility, or earnings at the company headquarters?
15-11
Managing Expatriates:
Selecting Expatriate Managers
• Expatriate managers need technical
7. competence in the area of operations.
• In addition, many other skills are necessary to
be successful in an overseas assignment:
– Ability to maintain a positive self-image and feeling
of well-being
– Ability to foster relationships with host-country
nationals
– Ability to perceive and evaluate the host country’s
environment accurately
15-12
Managing Expatriates:
Preparing Expatriates
• Pre-assignment site visit
• Job orientation
• Country orientation
• Culture orientation
• Language training
• Compensation /
benefits / taxes
counseling
• Housing counseling
8. • Health care / schools /
shopping / recreation
counseling
• Counseling by returning
expatriates
• Local sponsorship from
host country
15-13
Compensating Expatriates
• Balance sheet approach – this approach
adjusts the manager’s compensation so that
it gives the manager the same standard of
living as in the home country plus extra pay
for the inconvenience of locating overseas.
• This approach involves an effort by the global
organization to ensure that its expatriates are
“made whole.”
15-14
Summary
• More and more companies are entering international
markets by exporting and operating foreign facilities.
10. 14-3
Goals of Management
• Management goals are to increase the organization’s profits.
Managers tend to prefer options that lower costs and raise
output.
• When an employer has recognized a union, management’s
goals continue to emphasize restraining costs and improving
output.
• Managers prefer to keep their organization’s operations
flexible. In their labor relations, managers prefer to:
– Limit increases in wages and benefits, and
– Retain as much control
14-4
Goals of Labor Unions
• Labor unions have the goals of obtaining pay
and working conditions that satisfy their
members and of giving members a voice in
decisions that affect them.
• They obtain these goals by gaining power in
numbers.
• Unions want to influence the way pay and
promotions are determined.
11. 14-5
Goals of Labor Unions (continued)
Checkoff Provision
• Contract provision
under which the
employer, on behalf of
the union,
automatically deducts
union dues from the
employees’ paychecks.
Membership Security
• Closed shop
• Union shop
• Agency shop
• Maintenance of
membership
14-6
Laws Affecting Labor Relations
National Labor Relations Act
(NLRA) of 1935
12. Taft-Hartley Act of 1947
Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959
14-7
The Process of Organizing
Signing authorization cards
Petition for election
Election campaign
Election and certification
14-8
Table 14.1: What Supervisors Should and
Should Not Do to Discourage Unions
14-9
Union Strategies
• Organizers call or visit employees at home to
talk about issues like pay and job security.
• Offer workers associate union membership.
13. • Conduct corporate campaigns.
• Negotiate employer neutrality and card-check
provisions into a contract.
14-10
Collective Bargaining
• In collective bargaining a union negotiates on
behalf of its members with management
representatives to arrive at a contract defining:
– Recognition
– Management Rights
– Union Security
– Compensation and Benefits
– Grievance Procedure
– Employee Security
14-11
Bargaining Over New Contracts
Distributive Bargaining
Integrative Bargaining
14. Attitudinal Bargaining
Intraorganizational Bargaining
14-12
When Bargaining Breaks Down
Strikes
• Strike: a collective
decision by union
members not to work
until certain demands
or conditions are met.
Alternatives to Strikes
• Mediation
• Fact Finder
• Arbitration
14-13
Figure 14.7: Steps
in an Employee-
Initiated Grievance
Procedure
15. 14-14
Labor-Management Cooperation
Employee involvement in decision
making
Self-managing employee teams
Labor-management problem-solving
teams
Broadly defined jobs
Sharing of financial gains and business
information with employees
14-15
Summary
• A union is an organization formed for the purpose of
representing its members in resolving conflicts with
employers.
• Labor relations is the management specialty
emphasizing skills that managers and union leaders
can use to minimize costly forms of conflict and to
seek win-win solutions to disagreements.
• Management goals are to increase the
organization’s profits. Managers generally expect
that unions will make these goals harder to achieve.
