It has been widely acknowledged that IHRM is the core area in which the success of international businesses and organization is based. That is the reason as to why this research proposal focuses on the international human resource management and the challenges faced in to inform business ventures who would wish or already operating international businesses of critical success factors as far as human resources management is concerned. It is worth to acknowledge that the approaches to human resources issues vary according to factors that are endogenous to the firm or organization as well as the exogenous factors such as the national culture of parent organization and where it's operational, yet there is need for integration of culture with that of foreign country. This gives insight to nature of dilemma international human resources management ought to solve for it to run successfully.
In this regard, this paper discusses a proposal viable to conduct a systematic research on international human resource management (IHRM) by examining the successful approaches and the potential pitfalls to enhancing better performance of international human resources.
Purpose of the study
The main motivation to this study is to understand the basis of the international human resource management, and how it is linked to the international business management, this will help in to understand how human resource management is being applied as part of the strategic management of this multinational organization, this will bring out the competences that the international managements require in order to be operational globally. Furthermore, to understand the pressure that is driving the need to globalize.
Significance of the study
The research will be of great importance such that it will assist multinational organizations or companies on the application of the best management practice so as to enhance the performance and the efficiency of their international businesses. It will also bring light to the aspiring managers who would want to take international business management on human resource at the global level so that they may develop an international business perspective, this research will also bring in information on the dynamics of international human resource management and how it can be made better.
Introduction
The international human resource management is almost similar to the domestic human resource management, the only difference comes in terms of context, that the IHRM is placed on the global context, where it this organizations do business in social contexts with which they are unfamiliar with, they bring in employees from different culture backgrounds and harmonize them to work together in social environments, all this creates a set of challenges for the human resource. Therefore ,the need to focus on issue such as the impact of culture on the organization of work, the challenge of maintaining an international work force and the link between the main company and the branches in the other countries.
Literature review
The past studies on international human resource management such as the one done by Morgan (1986) on the development of IHRM suggests that there are three main dimensions of IHRM, that defines it as the interplay among the three dimensions, that is; the human resource activities, types of the employees ,and the countries that the companies are operating. It is evident that most failure encountered by companies on the international trade are coursed by poor management of the human resource (Desatnick and Bennet,1978).in their review on the conceptualization of the IHRM, weber and festing made observations that all other things held constant, the geocentric approach is seen as a goal for every multinational companies (Weber and Fasting 1994).they suggested that following contingency perspective as the best way for the human resource to function at the global platform. As the globalization accelerates ,there are many changes expected to take place to many work places as many markets becomes global the human resource has also been pushed towards globalization (Evans, Pucik and Barsoux, 2002).strategic human resource management issues, function and policies and also the practice that result from the strategic activities of the multinational organizations and that impact that on the international concerns and the goals of those organizations is the international human resource management (Schuler et al,1993,p.720). As it is pointed out by Pucik (1998) the multinational companies are facing very many demands on their organizational human resource management.
Studies show that international human resource management have added complexities and urgency that is brought on by potentially more complex business environments and also high levels of cultural diversity. The most challenging task for the IHRM manger is in the areas of human resource planning recruitment, selection, placement, performance management, training and development, career management, remuneration and industrial relations among others (Evans et al., 2002).
The development of the IHRM as the major aspect, research has been very keen with the coordination across national borders to the international in the transfer of management and the management practices (Evans et al.2002).in addition, other related research is developing on the comparative human resource management (Dowling,1999).The researchers and the practitioners are increasing their attention on the strategic nature of IHRM and to the implications of the strategy for the firm's performance (De cieri and Dowling, 2006).
Research methodology
There are two methodologies for carrying out research; qualitative and quantitative methodologies. In this case, the researcher will utilize the quantitative methodology (Porter M.1986). The researcher will also utilize both primary and secondary methods of data collection. First, the primary methods will be based on information gathered from several business organizations using survey where questionnaires will be utilized. Their responses will be collected and fully incorporated throughout the research process .Questionnaires are going to play a significant role in ensuring that those vital individuals, who could not be reached easily, are able to participate in the research endeavor (Hiromto 1991).
Postage of questionnaires will be postpaid to ensure more respondents. The research questions to be used will be based on an in-depth evaluation of the research objectives and targeted group whereby random sampling method will be greatly employed owing to its effectiveness in eliminating biasness and that it offers a better representation of the population (Shanks, 1996). The researcher will utilize secondary data like journals, books, written articles, and magazines in the process of collecting data as secondary sources useful for informing the topic and literature review (Dixon et al, 1990).
Procedure
The following procedure will be utilized when carrying out research: First, Collection of data both from primary and secondary sources. Stage two will deal with analyzing the collected data which is expected to take much longer time. In stage three researches commences after which the researcher will recommend and conclude the research (Bromwich and Bhimani 1991).
Timeline
The research has been estimated to follow the following timeline; stage one represents data collection; stage two, data analysis; stage three, initiation of research writing process. (Jason, D., et al, 2006)
1'st Jan to 6'th Jan 2011
7'th Jan to 13'th Jan 2011
14'th to 20'th Jan 2011
Project Proposal
Literature Review
Stage one
Stage two
Stage three
Dissertation finalization
Submission
Section 5: Budget
The researcher in the due course of the research has estimated the following costs:
ITEMS
AMOUNT (USD)
Data Collection costs ( questionnaire printing and posting )
12000
Interview costs (scheduling, travelling, telephone)
7000
Books, internet, and journal costs
5000
TOTAL
24000
Bibliography
Dowling, Schuler, R. & Welch, D 1994, International dimensions of human resourcemanagement. (2nd ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Dowling, P.J., Welch, D.E. & De Cieri, H 1989, International joint ventures: a new challenge for human management. In R. Luostarinen (Ed).Proceedings of the fifteenth conference of the European international business association. Helsinki, December, 1989
Evans, P., Pucik, V. & Barsoux, J 2002, The global challenge: Frameworks for IHRM. Boston: McGraw-Hill
Schuler, R.S., Dowling, P.J. and De Cieri, H 1993, An integrative framework of strategic internationalhuman resource management. Journal of Manage-ment, 19, 419-459
