How to overcome HRM barriers on corporate globalization effort

Welch (1994) examines Human Resource Management  (HRM) barriers on corporations' effort  to globalize their operations. Such a globalization process largely takes the form of migrating  from a ethnocentric orientation of an enterprise towards a geocentric orientation. In this case, Welch  formulates a framework that indicates the major HRM barriers and HRM initatives involved. A simplified version of the framework is provided as follows (The one in Welch (1994) is in page 57, Figure 1):





In the discussion, Welch (1994) has compared Multinational Corporations' 4 orientations at some length. These are ethnocentric, polycentric, regiocentric and geocentric orientations.  (NoteTable 1 on page 53 of the article). As to the HRM barriers, Welch (1994) summarizes them under four headings, ie. (i) staff availability, (ii) time and cost constraints, (iii) host government requirements, and (iv) HRM policies.

Overall, the article remains informative and accessible to practising managers. It is a useful reading for Global Business Management study.



Reference
Welch, D. (1994) "HRM Implications of Globalization", Journal of General Management Vol 19(4) Summer, pp. 52-68.