Human Resources Chapter 16 Homework Are The Policies Legal Ethical And Fair

Bauer, Human Resource Management

SAGE Publishing, 2020

Answers to In-Text Questions

Chapter 16: Opportunities and Challenges in International HRM

TALENT MANAGEMENT IN THE DANGER ZONE: THE CASE OF MERCY CORPS

Case discussion questions:

1. What do you think the unique and similar challenges are for NGOs versus for-profit

companies in terms of HR and HR strategy?

Responses might vary greatly here. Certainly there are unique challenges tied to being a

2. What advantages do you think Mercy Corps has in recruiting, hiring, training, and

managing employees relative to a domestic business? What are the challenges?

While responses will vary, advantages are that the unique nature of the industry requires

Bauer, Human Resource Management

SAGE Publishing, 2020

3. Cultural intelligence is the ability to work effectively across cultures. How do you think

Mercy Corps can hire based on this skill? How can this skill be developed?

While training may help in making employees more culturally aware, experience will

4. How do you think improved expertise in data analytics would affect the HR functions of

Mercy Corps?

Data analytics might provide real-time data for those in the field as well as the home

5. Organizations have a choice in centralizing or decentralizing their operations, including

those of HR. To what degree do you think that centralized HR operations would be

beneficial for Mercy Corps? Which operations would benefit from centralization? Which

ones are better left to the discretion of local teams?

Bauer, Human Resource Management

SAGE Publishing, 2020

What might be most effective at Mercy Corps may not be effective at all multinational

Spotlight on Ethics: Managing Ethics Globally in Multinationals

Questions:

1. As an HR professional, suppose you are assigned to arrange for your company’s international

employees to receive ethics training to define acceptable and unacceptable behaviors, and to

know what to do when confronted with questionable requests. How would you develop a set

of training objectives? Would you hire an outside training vendor, and if so how would you

select the vendor?

Student responses might turn in to a discussion about ethics instead of how a multinational

Bauer, Human Resource Management

SAGE Publishing, 2020

2. Find an example in the news or in the HR literature of a global company that was accused of

corruption. How was the case resolved? What did the individuals involved do right, and what

could they have done better?

Responses will vary by student based on the company they chose and the ethics violations.

Mini-Case Analysis Exercise: Developing a Global Mindset

What would you advise your CEO that the company do? Develop a concrete proposal about how

to develop a global mindset in the company and provide justification for your plan. Be sure to

include a discussion of the resource requirements of your plan.

First, you cannot send all senior leadership on an overseas assignment at the same time. Those

who go first would, in theory, be promoted first, potentially causing dissatisfaction with those

who have to wait years for this opportunity. While the idea of the overseas assignment as a basis

for leadership, it will take providing this training for all employees. Additionally, having an

overseas assignment will not mean the assignment was successful or that leadership skills were

gained.

While a global mindset and understand might be important, there might also be a variety of

Bauer, Human Resource Management

SAGE Publishing, 2020

Bauer, Human Resource Management

SAGE Publishing, 2020

HR Decision Analysis Exercise: Exceptions to the Rule?

Please provide the rationale for your answer to each of the questions below.

Are the policies legal, ethical, and fair?

These policies are legal, ethical, and fair. While certainly emergencies occur, these policies are

in place to ensure the equal and fair treatment of all employees. There are no laws that say an

Are they evidence based/evidence informed?

These do not appear to be evidence based or evidence informed for either the organization or the

Bauer, Human Resource Management

SAGE Publishing, 2020

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Do they foster healthy employee–employer relationships?

While students might initially view the granting of these requests as a way to foster healthy

employee–employer relationships, they must also consider the impact on those other employees

Are they timely and cost-effective?

These appear to be timely and cost-effective. While the cost of granting these requests are low in

the overall scheme of the organization, they have to potential to be very costly in the future.

Bauer, Human Resource Management

SAGE Publishing, 2020

______________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Do they take a systematic stakeholder perspective?

Students may have different feelings about this. Some will feel the decision does not take a

Considering your analysis above, overall, do you think refusing to make exceptions would be an

effective decision? Why or why not?

Bauer, Human Resource Management

SAGE Publishing, 2020

______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

What, if anything, do you think should be done differently or considered to help make this

decision more effective?

Alternative solutions can be found. The employee can pay for his or her own ticket to the

______________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Bauer, Human Resource Management

SAGE Publishing, 2020

HR Decision-Making Exercise: Assessing the Effectiveness of Expat

Management

Questions:

1. How would you go about measuring the effectiveness of your expatriate program? What

type of information would you collect and how? Develop a plan to collect the information

you need.

Students will have a variety of ideas here. There are several measurements regarding the

effectiveness of the program including the success while on the overseas assignment and

2. How would you assess whether you are sending the right employees for these

assignments? Describe what steps you would follow.

Those who are sent on the assignments should have the KSAs needed to succeed and

Bauer, Human Resource Management

SAGE Publishing, 2020

3. Effectiveness of expatriates relies on their ability to cooperate with local employees, and

perceived unfairness and resentment on the part of locals may hamper expatriate

effectiveness. What can you do to prevent such resentment?

Training before the assignment begins can help the expatriate become more culturally