PGDM IV SEMESTER
Session 2020-21
PGDMHR01 – International Human Resource
Management
Assignment 1
Date of Assignment: 18th Feb 2021 Date of Submission: 23rd Feb 2021
Submitted to: Submitted by:
Prof. Shipra Shri vastava (RISHAV ANAND)
(ABS/PGDM/19/102)
Q1. Offshoring or expatriation is been considered to be the difficult for
the HR to handle. Elaborate the typical HRM problems in offshoring
organizations? How can companies, for example in India, design their
human resource management systems to avoid these problems?
Ans: These are some of the typical HRM problems in offshoring
organizations:
Political stability of the country to be outsourced- Political stability is
one issue but economic conditions are perhaps the most critical. The
establishment of foreign operations is a major investment and even
contracted a major investment and even contracted outsourcing
relationships tend to last over several years.
Cultural differences which can make an impact on the employee
Policies, communication styles and more importantly time zones
Language- English language skills and offshoring is dominated by
English-speaking companies. Countries with large speaking countries
are sure offshoring winners.
Legal Framework: The legal framework of the destination country is
also consideration. More rigorous internal processes and safeguards
may need to be put in place in offshore operations because of
security reasons as some countries have few laws or legal precedents
for dealing with issues such as identity and data theft.
Data Security: Protection of sensitive and confidential employee data
is already a key concern for HR professionals who may be called
upon to develop data protection measures that are tailored to
specific regional needs and take into account a complex network of
relationships with foreign contractors.
These are some of the ways through which companies, for example in India,
design their human resource management to avoid these problems:
Fair Organizational Policies: HRM will assist the company in
developing employee-related strategies that are equitable to
everyone. Policies should not discriminate against workers on any
basis that is not explicitly linked to job performance, such as gender,
age, religion, nationality, etc. If discrimination is committed on some
such basis, it is likely to generate animosity among workers that can
harm the organization.
Training and Education Programs: While training and education
programs are common with most of the organizations, these
programmers put emphasis on developing work-related skill sets.
These programs should also cover such areas as creating awareness
about the need for workforce diversity, helping employees to
understand value of workforce diversity, providing the skills
necessary for working in diverse work teams, and providing skills
and development activities necessary for diverse groups to do their
jobs and have the opportunity for advancement.
Q2. As an Expatriate Mentor or trainer this is your responsibility
to support and guide the repatriates. What are the elements of a
good mentoring system for international assignees? And why
mentoring is been considered as the best way for repatriation?
Ans: STRATEGIC PURPOSE
This one is common sense. Determine why your organization is doing a
mentoring program and what you want to get out of it. This should be
aligned with your organization mission, vision, goals, values and overall
strategy. For SRC, our mentoring program’s why is connected directly to
our Mission of embracing “our safe, creative and diverse work
environment, which enables us to excel personally and professionally.”
CONTINUED COMMITMENT
This needs to come from various people: management, employees, external
stakeholders, partners, program mentors and mentees. Support and
commitment can lag over time, but new faces and fresh ideas and can help
the program stay exciting and keep people engaged and committed.
INTENTIONAL PROGRAM DESIGN
Every aspect of your program should align with your strategic purpose.
Consider things like:
● What does success look like for participants and the organization?
● What is your end goal? Is it employee retention, a more diverse and
inclusive employee base, employee engagement, recruitment?
● Who should be involved in the program?
STRONG GUIDANCE & COMMUNICATION
Communication is the foundation of any strong relationship – including
mentoring relationships. The Program Manager should be involved in
helping matches create goals and action plans, offer regular training and
team building opportunities and communicate frequently with participants
at regular checkpoints throughout the life of the program. Offer ideas for
mentoring activities and suggest additional training through webinars,
podcasts and white papers.
EARLY TARGETED TRAINING
Providing this to both the mentors and the mentees sets expectations from
day one. It provides them with the basic tools they will need to have a
successful mentoring relationship. Training should ensure participants
understand the purpose, needs, benefits and outlook for the program, along
with their respective roles and responsibilities.
PROMOTION
For SRC’s mentoring program, we’ve focused our promotion on three main
ideas: working with program champions or ambassadors, highlighting the
mentoring successes that have come from our program and offering our
participants something others cannot. Narrowing the focus of our
promotion down to three strategic ideas has allowed our program to
successfully reach our target audience in a short amount of time.
STRONG MATCHES
Ensuring a strong match between mentors and mentees is integral to the
success of a program, but matching is also often one of the most challenging
aspects of a program. A match should be based on the skills of the mentor
and the needs of the mentee. You can’t do this unless you get to know your
potential matches. The more you know about your participants, the better
chance your participants will have for a great fit and a happy, productive
mentoring relationship. SRC’s program has included both our potential
mentors and mentees in the matching process, resulting in better aligned
matches and more engaged participants.
MEASUREMENT
It’s important to monitor, track and measure the results of the program
against the program objectives. Measurement and improvement should be
an ongoing part of the program. Some questions to consider:
● Are you meeting your overall program goals?
● What percentage of goals set during the mentorships have been
achieved?
And perhaps most importantly, what changes need to take place to ensure
continued success?
And why mentoring is been considered as the best way for
repatriation?
A good repatriation program helps employees adjust to the “reverse”
culture shock of returning home by reducing emotional turmoil, for one.
But good repatriation programs also recognize that expats are an
important asset to the business. For example, expats can be a trove of
accumulated knowledge and experience. What better and more visible role
model could future expats have than someone who has been in the
trenches and returned—having done the job successfully? Retaining the
wisdom of returning employees and institutionalizing it is critical for the
message it sends to future expats, and for the organization as a whole.
It’s important to keep in mind that the talent pool for potential expats is not
great, even in the largest and most successful global companies. However, if
an organization recognizes and values their repatriated employee’s
contribution, it sends out a profoundly different message than a firm where
employees return to no job, are passed over for promotion, or are slotted
into a dead-end position. In such a scenario, workers inevitably depart the
organization to enhance their careers and capitalize on their expatriate
experience elsewhere. And they create a brain drain in the process.
When expatriates return from international assignments, there is a re-
entry culture shock that occurs.
