International Human Resource Management

INSTITUE OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES

UNIVERSITY OF THE PUNJAB

International Human Resource Management

Assignment 1

SUBMITTED TO:

Prof. Nadeem Akhtar

SUBMITTED BY:

AYESHA AKRAM 61
FARIHA ISHTIAQ 83
HAFIZ SUBHAN 85
M.WAQAS AMIN 86
NAYYAR ZAMEER 105
SUBMISSION DATE: April 12, 2020
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Question:

If a Pakistani Company decides to go internationally, What Challenges they may face, and being
an Int. HR manager what would be your role to solve those issues. Give the reasons and
Justifications.

Answer:

To answer this Question, We as a group create a Hypothetical Example of a Car Spare Parts
Manufacturing Company in Pakistan Named as Ahmed Din Trading Co. ltd which is going to
business in Tanzania (Country of East Africa). First of all we have to see that what challenges an
HR department will face in Tanzania. After identifying the challenges we as a group will try to
give our best solutions to those problems.

Introduction

Ahmed Din Trading Co. ltd is a spare part company who manufacture spare parts of different
cars e.g. side mirrors, head lights, tale lights, wind glass etc in Pakistan. There are 2000+
employees in Ahmed Din Trading Co. ltd which are working in different cities of Pakistan like
Lahore, Gujranwala, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar etc.

The Company is financially stable and earning huge profit which also helps the economy of
Pakistan. Now the top Management of the company decides to take their business international
and recognize themselves as an international Company.

For this purpose the company target Dar es Salaam Capital city of Tanzania where they are
going to start their business and install their Manufacturing Plant. There might be several reasons
for choosing Tanzania in which low wage rate of labor; Tanzanian Shilling (Currency) is less
then Pakistani Rupee, huge market of car showrooms and much more.

Now the Company Installed their Manufacturing Plant in Dar es Salam and ready to start their
Business in Tanzania, but there are some challenges which might be face by different

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departments of the company. Our question is related to HR challenges So, We will identify and
solve all those possible challenges which is related to HR and try to find the best solution for it.

Challenges for HR Department

Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment and Selection is one of the most important challenges which will be face by the
company. Recruitment and Selection is one of the critical function of HR manager, the whole
Structure of the Business are totally depends on it. To identify right person for the right job will
be a difficult task. For recruitment and selection what method the HR manager will use to recruit
the employees from Host Country. There will be a communication gap between Hiring Managers
and Job seekers. Because in both of the countries there is a language barrier. In Pakistan the
native language is Urdu while in Tanzania the native language is Sawahili. How the Hiring
Managers will communicate to attract potential employees in Tanzania. Another difficulty is to
cross check the background of interviewee.

Beside this there is a possibility of biasness on the basis of the job seeker’s origin, culture,
values, ethnicity and background. Recruitment and Selection will be one of the Major Challenges
which will face by HR department of Ahmed Din Trading Co. ltd.

Proper Performance Evaluation

After the selection of most competent employees the next challenge of HR personnel is that How
HR personnel will evaluate the performance of Employees in Tanzania. HR manager evaluate
the performance of the employees individually or on the basis of groups in which they work.

Most of the employees like that their performance will evaluate individually but many people
believe in Group Performances. Which method will be more suitable for Performance
Evaluation? Because when the company decided to work internationally the standards of
Performance Evaluation may differ from one nation to another. Lack of Transparency while
collecting feedback will also be one of the challenges for HR personnel.

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Political and Legal Factors

Tanzania is a democratic State which means that after every 5 years the elections will be held
there. Most of the time new political party will become the ruling party in Tanzania. After
elections every Ruling Party Comes with their new business polices, some time these polices
give the benefit to international investors and some time it not. Most of the time government
offers number of incentives and positive support to domestic companies. Many changes will take
place in the legal and political framework within which the industrial relation system. Beside this
there are some other political factors which can affect Ahmad Din Company in Tanzania e.g.
Corruption level, Trade control, Employment law, Discrimination law, Environmental Law,
Health and safety law, Tax policy (tax rates and incentives), Government stability and related
changes etc.

It’s a challenge for HR manager to familiarize the new laws and regulations for the international
business specially the laws related to labor and make their strategy according to it.

Retaining the Local Employees

Retention is a foundation to building a strong and capable team, and once the team is in place
then there are many opportunities for higher levels of success. When employees are treated well
and are working in an environment that helps them to develop their selves, then productivity
increases and the company will meet their organizational goals easily. Some other important
factors are the culture, work ethics, management styles and work life balance.

For retaining the best employees all the factors should must kept in the mind of HR personnel.

Most of the time motivates your employee by giving them incentives are not enough. The HR
manager should know that factor which will help them to retain their best employees which will
be a challenging task for them.

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Manage Work Force Diversity:

Importance

Diversity actually has become very essential factor for the success of an organization. And world
has become a global village people from different regions come and join multinational and
national organizations so diversity has been increased in every field. Here are few benefits of
having diverse groups:

Innovation and creativity

Diversity plays very important role in an organization success. One of the biggest advantages of
having a diverse workforce is improved innovation in the workplace. Because employees from
different backgrounds, culture, age, gender, demographic etc see things differently and also think
differently have different opinions and experience according to their culture and ethnicity.
Interaction of these employees will result in the sharing of ideas, knowledge and experience
which makes brainstorming fruitful. Diversity in the workplace makes employees more receptive
to trying out new things which is key to creativity and innovation.

Increased productivity

Diversity also provides us with broad mix of expertise and experience in certain process which
will encourage our employees to interact and learn from each other additionally diversity has
been noticed to build up morale within the workforce which not only leads to increased
productivity but also increased employee satisfaction as well.

Increased adaptability

When we have heterogeneous employee it helps increase your organization’s adaptability in the
market. As the diverse groups will be in the better situation to understand and indentify the what
the customer wants. This will lead to better decisions.

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Broader market

When there is a work force with a variety of skills and experiences (including cultural
understanding norms and languages) it allows our business to be able to distribute products to
pour customers over the globe. This is a big competitive advantage.

Solutions of Challenges.

Recruitment and Selection

R&S one of the most important challenge which will be face by the HR personnel of Ahmad Din
Trading Co. ltd. For solving the Problem reading recruitment and selection an HR manager
should have kept in mind the problems of R&S. We mention above for recruiting an employee
Language is great barrier. To overcome this barrier we will advertise for the job in both
languages i.e. in Sawahili and English by using this approach we will grab all the labor market in
Tanzania so that they can apply for the job. The stats show us that the unemployment rate is less
as compared to Pakistan. In Tanzania the Unemployment rate is almost 2.00% while in Pakistan
the unemployment rate is more than 5.00% to motivating people in Tanzania so that they can
apply for the job in Ahmad Din Trading co. ltd will be a difficult task. To motivate them we will
provide some more incentives as compared to other manufacturing companies in Tanzania.

The Selection Process will also be a difficult task for the HR managers of Tanzania. First of all
we have to identify that which method of selection process will give us the best result. We will
make sure that there will be a minimum communication gap between the recruiter and the job
seeker. For this we can also hire a translator on contract bases, which means that whenever we
appoint an interview for a person we will call that translator so that the communication gap will
be minimum. This translator can be an effective medium for the lower post job like swiper, gate
keeper etc. But for the Higher Post of Job we will prefer those who have a good grip on English
language as well as those who will have good communication Skills.

The selection method will be based on several tests which will be held during the interview
session. In which we will design our interview in such a way that we can easily identify the

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personality, IQ, EQ and job knowledge regarding the job he applied for, on the bases of their
scores and without any biasness we will select most competent person who will fit with the job
and who can adopt the culture of the organization easily.

Performance Evaluation

As a HR Manager of Ahmed Din Trading Co. limited We will evaluate performance of my

employees by following these five steps:

o Develop an evaluation form.

o Identify performance measures.
o Set guidelines for feedback.
o Create disciplinary and termination procedures.
o Set an evaluation schedule.

Develop an evaluation Form.

We will conduct fairly, consistently and objectively to protect our employees’ interests and to
protect our practice from legal liability.

Second way to ensure consistency is to use a standard evaluation form for each evaluation.

Only important job performance areas should be focused.

Maximizing areas of focus make testing more accurately and prominent and most of the issue
that occur can be solved easily.

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Identify Performance Measures

While filling the evaluation form standard performance measures allow us to evaluate an
employee's performance during job, which can be cut down the time and stress involved in it.
During expansion of these measures it can be the most time-consuming part of formation of
performance evaluation system and the most powerful also. If during practice we have job
description of present position in our training we have taken the first step to form standard
performance measure.

Set Guideline Feedback

It is essential to take monthly feedback from employees for better work.

We will not criticize employee on his every common mistake and not only appreciate on his or
her powers.

Tell every employee the improvement you need in his or her work.

Create disciplinary or termination procedures

We will have to state clearly to our employees that you should behave well with your colleagues.

We will inform them about the behavior or mistakes on which they can be terminated.

They will be clearly informed about every rule and regulation of our company.

Either they will know about their termination in written form if they will not follow the
instructions or behave against the rules and regulations.

Explain the reason for the termination

The termination or warning must include the following objectives:

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o A description of the behavior or problem that includes objective findings,

o The measurable actions and changes expected of the employee,
o The support the employer will provide for improvement,
o A description of what will occur (e.g., unpaid time off or termination) and when (e.g.,
after one more occurrence or two) if the warning is not heeded,
o The signature of the employee and appraiser and the date of the warning

Set An Evaluation Schedule.

When we will create performance evaluation system (the evaluation form) the performance
measures, the feedback guidelines and the disciplinary procedures. We need to decide when to
conduct the performance evaluations.

We must decide to schedule our evaluations, make sure that each examiner meets the deadline.

If we Ignore employees’ overdue evaluations it can make them feel complexes and may hurt
their confidence or performance

Political and Legal Factors

As HR manager of Ahmed Din Trading Co. ltd we will follow the following plan to overcome
the risk of political factors.

We will make strategies that are flexible and creative which may help us to deal with political
factors which can be affect our business.

We will use our pre-active approach to deal political uncertainty.

We will build a network of people which are in touch with the latest up to date of politics. So,
that we will be able to create new HR strategy according to upcoming policies. It provides us
easiness in many other things.

 Up to dated with laws & regulations of the Government

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 We will maintain a diversified portfolio in order to avoid any specific political risk

significantly impacting the overall portfolio. Diversification should include hedging the
risk that is inherent to international investments.
 We will manage risk by hedging our portfolio against future problems. For instance, an
investor that senses problems arising in Tanzania might decide to buy put options.

Retaining of Local Employees

Employees are the backbone of company, without employees an organization can’t run.

Retention of a positive and motivated employee is very important for the organization's success.

High employee turnover increases the expenses and also has a negative impact on the
organization's morale Performance and Productivity Maintenance Employee retention practices
help support an organization's productivity.

As a HR Manager of Ahmed Din Trading Co.ltd I’ll do my best to retaining the employees.

Here are some important points which will help me to retain the local employees of Ahmed Din
Trading Co.ltd.

o Get to Know Employees Individually

o Provide Constructive Feedback
o Offer Growth Opportunities
o Give Employees a Voice in Decision-Making
o Ensure Equitable Treatment
o Maintain an Open-Door Policy
o Acknowledge and Reward Outstanding Work

o Hire The Right Person At The Start

o Reduce Employee Pain

o Have Leaders, Not Bosses

o Keep An Eye On Managers

o Make Employee Engagement Possible

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o Be a Brand They Can Be Proud Of.

We’ll follow all these points for the retention of employees because with the help of these I’ll be
able to retain the employees. Moreover when the employees retain in my company. It will
definitely reduce the turnover hassle, Reduce in Acquisition and Training Time and Reduce
Costs. And Increase overall productivity better customer experience.

Manage Work Force Diversity

How can we manage diversity in an organization?

Diversity can present number of challenges if not managed correctly. It’s very important that
managers as well s employees in the organization, understand how to manage it for both their on
benefit and for the organization.

Some traditions Etiquette and customs of Tanzanians

 keep your left hand to your self

 Don’t smoke in public place

 Sniffing food is no-no

 Tanzanian very rarely get angry

 Ask before you photograph

 Never knock the aged respect your elders

The country has two major religious groups Muslim and Christian. There are 100 ethnic groups
and tribes in Tanzania. Over 120 languages are spoken in Tanzania most of them are from Bantu
family, Swahili and English are two official languages but Swahili is the national language of
Tanzania.

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Here in Ahmed Din Trading Co. ltd HR Manager going to use five tips to manage a diverse
work force for the best results.

1. Start with Hiring

In the hiring stage we cannot be averse to diversity. The inroads into the organization for any
aspiring employee should reflect what the organization is trying to achieve in terms of diversity.
The focus is that our hires resemble the country and the community in which our company is
based as much as possible this can only be possible by ensuring our recruitment policies
encourage and welcomes diversity. To hire for diversity we have to overcome biasness in the
interviews assessment process. We will achieve this by creating a diverse interview panel that
will ensure that the selection process is free of prejudices and biases

2. Provide Diversity Training

Our one of the most important priority is to give training to employees of diverse groups how to
work in a team for the improvement of company and also for creating a friendly environment
between them. We will provide training to our employees especially to those who are in
leadership positions, helps people understand and respect the differences in religion, race,
cultural values, ethnicity, gender and thinking styles. Diversity training helps employees become
self aware which plays a critical role in helping them understand their own prejudices, cultural
biases and stereotypes. Its only by understanding where we currently stand that can you improve.

3. Create Comprehensive Policies and Practices

We will need to ensure our organizations overall practices and policies are supportive to
everyone and do not discriminate and favor a certain set of employees. Leaders who make
policies will therefore, need to consider the differential impact policies and practices will have
on the diverse groups before they enforced. Its very necessary to ensure that all the employees
understand all of the organization’s unwritten rules and to ensure inclusion from the get-go.
Leadership and managers should encourage and be willing to take feedback on practices and

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strategies from employees and be ready to make changes where there are perceived barriers for
certain groups in the workforce.

4. Provide Effective Communication

The biggest challenge of managing diverse workforce is ensuring effective communication

throughout the organization. To ensure everyone is on the same page, make sure that all the
employees understand all the procedures, policies, safety rules and other essential information.
Managers ensure that cultural and language barriers are overcome when communicating with our
employees. Pictures and symbols that everybody can understand should be used where
applicable.

5. Encourage Interaction

We are also focusing on how to encourage interaction between diverse groups because it’s the
best way to understand, appreciate, and respect the differences that exist among them. We will
encourage our employees to collaborate with other co-workers who are different from them. This
will not only help our employees know and value each other as individuals but will also expand
the views and experiences of team members helping them appreciate the strength of their
combined perspectives and talents.

As we all know that diversity might be somewhat challenging to manage, encouraging and
fostering it is the way forward for organizations in this increasingly global business environment.
Organizations which can achieve diversity and manage it well will gain a competitive advantage
in terms of innovation and differentiation.

-Make diversity in the workplace one of our recruitment goals.-

Conclusion

At the end we conclude that when ever the company goes internationally for the business there
are several challenges they might be face in which recruitment and selection, performance
management, retention of local employees, political factors and work force diversity are

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included. For every challenge there are some positive and negative effects of it. Being an HR
manager we kept in mind all those challenges and try to solve them align with our HR strategy
with Companies Strategy. The Strategy of the Company is Growth so we make our HR strategy
according to it. The role of HR personnel is very important to deal with all those challenges.

References

 http://www.fibre2fashion.com
 http://www.scribd.com/ritesagarwall/d/19269071-Human-Resource-Mgmt
 http://www.slideshare.net/birubiru/emerging-challenesin-hrm-7623957
 www.google.com
 Shuana Zafar Nasir (2017) Emerging Challenges of HRM in 21st Century: A Theoretical
 Mrs. Ekta Srivastava, Dr. Nisha Agarwal (2012) The Emerging Challenges in HRM
 Sheila M. Rioux, Ph.D. Paul R. Bernthal, Ph.D. Richard S. Wellins, Ph.D. (2000) The
Globalization of Human Resource Practices Survey

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