Introduction
The birth of globalization has brought an end to organizations, whether they are big or small, to stop existing as merely local entities. These organizations have been moulded to fit in the global model, bringing along the increasing need to diversify the workforce, understand their cultural diversity and adapt to global needs. This task, though challenging, is easily tackled with the implementation of Global Human Resource Management (Bae and Rowley, 2001).
Organizations, regardless of their geographical location, are all connected and dependent on each other. A bond of interdependency links them all together, but on the other hand, it has placed an organization in a position to handle the ever-growing challenge of communication. Communication on a global scale requires organizations to understand the demand for change to better accommodate their stakeholders at a whole new level.
Description
Managing people in a Global Organization
Global organizations have recognized the need to understand the various elements that prevail in the environment, which have both a direct and indirect effect on the organization’s progress and productivity (Greenberg and Baron, 2003). The understanding comes with the basic insight into recognizing the fact that the employees, being the building blocks, are responsible for developing and implementing organizational goals and business strategies, bringing about innovation, and ultimately serving and addressing the ever-growing customer needs.
Executives in organizations responsible for overlooking the workforce have come to the realization that cultural difference and their impact on the organization’s goals (Jackson and Schuler, 1995). These cultural differences can be addressed by addressing the fact that the policies and laws that are present in one country may not necessarily be valid in another country. Similarly, the leadership styles that have proven their worth in one country will likely be equally effective in another country as well.
In consideration of this, HR departments in organizations have developed a method to better address this need by planning out policies targeted at retaining employees and attracting more skilled resources for the organization while stabilizing and increasing the organization’s overall progress and productivity (Friedman, 2007). Fashioning the environment within an organization to accommodate a consistent culture while being capable of handling local differences. These elements present their worth towards bringing critical success to any global organization if implemented in a proper way.
Communications in Global Organization
Communication indicates the method of establishing sending and receiving information across a platform while taking on the role of both the sender and that of a receiver. Communication takes on a similar role in organizations as well, however, in scenarios of a global organization it may come as one of the hardest challenges. In most global organizations, the workforce is divided into teams, with each team formed of individuals from different social and cultural backgrounds, interpreting language, signs, and forms of communication in their respective manner. This ultimately leads towards confusion based on organizationally defined goals and policies and a gradual decrease towards their morale.
The communication challenge is often taken for granted, although if left unnoticed for long, these problems turn into a collective form of crisis. Some of these issues are categorized as,
Direct and Indirect communication challenges
Overcoming the challenge of fluency, accent and diverse culture
Understanding the growing need for authority and hierarchy
Establishing a method to tackle the norms related to decision-making
Communication is one of the key elements within the organization which strengthens the workforce, enabling employees to align their interests with the goals and objectives of the organization. Global Human Resource Management has developed various practices that assist with establishing communication channels that permit the workforce to communicate with ease.
Comparison & Argument
Understanding the above-mentioned points and finding the intersection between the two can provide insight into how they relate to each other, accommodate each other, and prove to be useful to an organization as a collective strength or pose a threat as a weakness. Managing the employees can be successfully accomplished if an effective model of communication is present in the organization (Lengnick-Hall and Lengnick-Hall, 1988). This can best be understood through the example of cultural diversities that arise due to a workforce composed of individuals from different cultural and social backgrounds. The organization can successfully clear away their confusion by conveying their message through a communication channel that accommodates them (Wilpert, 2009). An effective channel of communication is beneficial for aiding the organization in clarifying its mission and vision with its workforce, informing and bringing them on board with various expansion plans, and motivating them towards adopting a positive attitude.
Unilever’s Globalization Approach
Exemplifying the meaning of the two terms through the example of Unilever can help explain the necessity of having these two elements working collaboratively. Unilever, a multinational organization, is solely dependent on developing strategies that can assist it in expanding and globalizing according to the needs of the present economy. The Executives at Unilever were well-versed in the need for growth, which would ultimately require them to hire new and skilled resources to meet the demands of their expansion. To enable themselves to bring forth the potential of delivering a high-end performance, the Executives planned out methods that were both cost-effective and aligned with the goals of the company. These goals focused the effort towards understanding and delivering according to customer expectancy while also understanding the need to adapt to the statutory requirements present in local markets and differences depicted by people towards their preference in aspects of motivation, development, and payment.
Communication, if effective, can prove to be an organization’s critical advantage in the market since communication plays a key role in terms of developing a product, presenting services, and also employee management. So, in essence, it can be stated that employee management is linked to the success of communication in a global organization. Creating a sound channel of communication to convey the company message to the employees is crucial towards engaging the workforce and bringing them on board with the organization’s goal. Employees, being the focus of organizational communication, is purely based on the fact that employees are identified as mediators towards other audiences. In a scenario where employees are properly informed, there are higher chances that they will be fully engaged towards productivity, exhibiting chances of the communication being stronger for other constituencies as well.
Employee Management & Communication
Hawaii, being a company that has been noticed to be fully devoted towards global expansion, is a prime example of having exceptional communication and employee management practices. Their aim towards the induction of a diverse cultured employee force is a prime example of it (Rogers and Wright, 1998). This translates into the fact that effective communication can prove to construct exemplary and strong relationships. These relationships will prove useful in creating trust and loyalty, serving as key factors towards boosting communication, assisting in transferring information, and in the acquisition of feedback. In terms of being a key element towards an organization’s strength in employee management, communication can serve as a good conduit in regard to the organization’s understanding and resolving employee conflicts, misunderstandings and differences (Truss and Gratton, 1994).
Communication, Innovation & Employees
Setting up a proper channel of communication will assist the company in conveying its concerns, goals, and objectives to the employees. An employee who is on board with the organizational demands will have a clear understanding towards important areas to focus on while working on improving and choosing the right opportunities to innovate and benefit the company (Colquitt et al., 2011). Through communication, proper employee management policies can be implemented, under which employees will have a clear insight towards what is needed for them and the level of progress the company is demanding.
Management through Expectancy
A well-structured method of communication will aid the company in forwarding its concerns, goals, and objectives to the employees. An employee who is on board with the organizational demands will have a clear understanding towards important areas to focus on. From the perspective of employees, understanding the expectations of the organization can assist the employee in understanding their impact on the company’s overall progress. An indication towards this factor will assist the company in implementing a globalized method of employee management from a positive aspect. Communication can implement a proper employee management mechanism companywide, under which employees will have a clear insight towards what is needed of them and the level of progress the company is demanding (Kapoor, 2011). The Global Human Resource Management Policy indicates that to enable employees to bring forth the potential of delivering a high-end performance, it is necessary to look into all aspects that could have a positive effect.
Conclusion
Organizations are facing a major crisis due to the increasing globalization in the past few years. For this reason, the organizations have been structured in such a way as to fit the global model. The newer structures of such organizations show an ever-growing interest in bringing a change in the workforce, apprehending their cultural differences and moulding the organizations according to global needs. Even though the task proved to be difficult to accomplish, it was managed by implementing global human resource management. Global organizations work towards administering the need for understanding the numerous elements prevalent in the environment that influence the organization both directly and indirectly. Employees are managed according to their responsibilities, and their needs are addressed timely. Stress is paid for communicating needs and interests so that the organization can work towards finding solutions to the problems that the workforce faces and improve its productivity.
References
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