With significant operations around the world, Savannah
Engineering, Inspection, and Insurance Company (SEIIC) is truly a global
company. Its most significant international operations are in the European
Union (EU) countries and Asia. Growth in China has been particularly rapid over
the last five years. Because of the highly technical nature of its business,
SEIIC has had a difficult time getting the people with the right skills in the
right places and then keeping their skills up to date. The company has worked
hard at identifying and hiring local talent, but the efforts have not been
entirely successful. To the extent that it can, it has tried to accommodate
local needs in its HRM system. However, it has found it difficult to carry out
some of its initiatives because of the different ways of working in different
areas. It has been difficult for people who transfer from one area to another
to deal with the different HRM policies and procedures.
As a part of the overall review of HRM operations, the
company is interested in identifying key factors that differentiate its global
and domestic operations and in understanding how it can develop a more global
approach to HRM.
With a focus primarily on the EU and Asian areas of
operations, identify key factors that SEIIC should pay attention to in revising
its approach to HRM. Consider, for example, the cultural, economic system, and
legal and labor relations differences, in these areas of operation.
(1) Analyze, identify and discuss at least one factor in
each of the areas of cultural, economic system and legal and labor relations
differences for EU and Asia.
(2) Analyze and discuss how the differences may affect
specific HRM activities such as recruiting and staffing, training and
development, compensation, performance management, and labor relations.
(3) Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each
approach
(4) Analyze and make a recommendation on whether SEIIC
should have a uniform approach to HRM around the globe or a
multiregional/local approach.
