Introduction
Revolution in the business sector is really based on the many recorded changes. The present-day investment world originates from the nineteenth-century industrial revolution in Europe. During the past centuries, business success mainly relied on the ownership and control of a vast supply of raw materials and the latest technology in the market. Capital owners thus spent much money buying land and machinery for bulk production to realize maximum profits. However, the situation changed during the last quarter of the twentieth century, with businesses noticing human resource’s central role in facilitating organizational success. Consequently, the human resources management (HRM) concept is one of the most studied business aspects today. The subject covers all the issues concerning human factors in an organization, particularly people’s specific needs, and how to coordinate such to realize the best out of organizational employees. Organizations initially viewed workers as standard beings with similar desires. However, the rise of multinationals and the emergence of globalization attested otherwise. Accordingly, HRM practices are state-dependent, emphasizing the prominence of macroeconomic factors. The present work uses the case of France and the U.K to show HRM’s diverse nature.
HRM Growth through Cultural Transformation in the U.K. and France
Comparing locations’ HRM practices requires an appreciation of such regions’ cultures and values. According to Popescu and Kyriakopoulos (2022), HRM performances depend highly on the social values of the persons living in distinct societies. For example, France’s and British current HRM practices result from the regions’ cultures. The same case applies to other states, including the U.S., African republics, China, and all the other parts of the world. Most of the British HRM practices surround the region’s culture-based individualism and liberty, while French people’s cultural appreciation of piece rate remunerations shapes the state’s present HRM policies (Xiao & Cooke, 2022). Studying a community’s culture thus forms basic research necessary for anyone intending to invest in a foreign nation. Xiao and Cooke (2022) define culture as people’s way of living, which applies to multiple settings. Therefore, a nation’s culture and human resources management practices are never disconnected aspects but highly related social aspects worth appreciating as an investor.
Comparative Country Study
The U.K. and France form part of Europe’s economic giants. The matter, coupled with the fact the two nations are allies, makes one think that organizations assume similar operation procedures and that succeeding in one implies victory in the other. However, variation in cultures leads to the development of unique HRM standards in the U.K. and France. The former society (the U.K.) exhibits extreme individualism levels that trigger the trade union-dependent HRM policies. On the other hand, France has a relaxed culture that values piece rate remunerations, with the lack of unions forcing the government to arbitrate HRM issues. Such implies the strong involvement of the two countries cultures in the development of the distinctive national HRM structures as described below.
Main Features of HRM Characteristics for the U.K. and France
French and U.K.’s HRM practices exhibit significant resemblances as described below. The similarities depend mainly on the nations’ minimal connections. Each comparable (HRM) value has an underlying cultural element common between the paralleled societies.
Hierarchy
Organizations have different employee groups and categories based on the performed duties and engagement terms. The classes range from the top management lot to the casual staff undertaking menial tasks. Being typical communities, business establishments have people in these work positions who work together to meet specific set targets and goals. A top manager must thus relate to the junior casual laborer, among all the other positions at the workplace. The flow of communication and the nature of interactions between the various positions lead to the realization of unique organizational structures, including hierarchical, matrix, and platter patterns (Wilkinson & Dundon, 2021). Each of these organizational arrangements has benefits and demerits, with the hierarchical model favoring authority and control (Wilkinson & Dundon, 2021). France and the U.K.’s preference for the hierarchical structure connotes a major HRM practices similarity between the two nations. The flow of communication in many French and U.K. businesses assumes a vertical order, mostly coming from the top management team to the lower groups. Consequently, the factor introduces noteworthy relationship pressures, where many workers lead a dissatisfied work life.
Class Relationship
Similar to the hierarchy maintenance is the issue of class-based relationships in both the U.K. and France. According to OECD (2021), persons serving in managerial positions in France and the U.K. exhibit unique treatment by organizations relative to those in lower job positions. For example, managers in businesses with feeding programs have special meal rooms for their service, which follow significantly relaxed rules. A manager can go for tea after the stipulated tea-break session, something that a casual or junior worker is not allowed to do by many organizations’ rules. Moreover, even the normal interactions during free time favor class in many U.K and France organizations. Managers interact with fellow managers during breaks to discuss issues concerning their levels of work, while junior employees follow suit. Workers intending to apply for credit facilities equally look for guarantors within their class, implying the general acceptance of class-based affairs in the two nations. The practice is not similar in nations such as the U.S., where CEOs value the matrix structure over classes.
Past Orientation
Past orientations signify preceding experiences and exposures during one’s work life. French and the U.K. human resources management norms have relative esteem for employees with past work experiences. The element plays a critical role in the organizations’ hiring and placement processes. Employees disclosing significant work experience qualify for jobs more often compared to those from colleges. Favoritism toward job experience over degrees sees many educated, but inexperienced jobseekers remain unemployed for a long. The matter leads many affected citizens to seek employment opportunities elsewhere, including outside their nations, leading to a massive brain drain. Accordingly, most employees working in organizations in the U.K. and France have advanced ages (Wilkinson & Dundon, 2021). Consequently, multinationals intending to operate within these nations can play with the prior placement requirement to take advantage of the many neglected young talents from colleges missing opportunities in conventional local businesses.
Chauvinism
Chauvinism is a critical feature of both U.K. and French HRM ideals, though undocumented. The trait implies an open dislike towards foreigners, often due to the whites’ supremacy issue (Wilkinson & Dundon, 2021). Many organizations in the two nations prefer hiring locals over aliens. Some do that to promote employment rates among the natives and to protect the locals from unfavorable job competition. The point that almost all the businesses in France and the U.K. belong to white investors makes chauvinism seem normal. The whites prefer fellow whites due to the belief that persons from within understand what the employer requires, meaning that hiring such reduces workplace social pressures. Therefore, employers advertising jobs seek local applicants’ suitability before considering the locals. The general belief is that foreigners seeking employment in distant countries can do it elsewhere, while the locals may lack such an opportunity. Equally, the point that many foreigners seeking employment overseas are young and new to the French and the U.K. cultures justifies the chauvinism aspect.
Open Conflicts
Hatred towards open conflicts or corrections among French and U.K. business employees makes the two republics’ HRM practices similar. While the U.S. and many other parts of the world view corrections as a normal learning process, human resources management principles discourage such, especially when done openly, even between persons in the same working positions. Managers and supervisors notice mistakes among employees and thus invite them to their offices or call them aside to do the correction. Moreover, the rectification must adopt a humane way making sure that the person receiving them hardly experiences excessive emotional pressure that may affect one’s personality and productivity. Consequently, a multinational operating both in the U.S. and France or the U.K. must run parallel HR strategies to succeed.
Trade Union Traditions and Laws
The rise in workers’ population and the need to protect employees’ rights since the nineteenth-century industrial population led to the worldwide development of trade union traditions. Such unions mainly push for better pay and safe working conditions for their members by engaging employers through bargained contract agreements (OECD, 2021). Despite their positive impact, many nations now legislate against trade unions due to the witnessed corruption and misconduct in the past. One such country is France, where more laws banning trade unions keep coming, with the size of unionized employees falling significantly (OECD, 2022). The matter introduces substantial HRM differences between France and the U.K. The latter republic acknowledges the position of trade unions and allows workers to join several unions at a go. Consequently, most U.K. organizations have workers covered by different unions, some opposing each other (OECD, 2021). Therefore, the issue of trade unions is generally not acceptable in France but highly welcomed in the U.K., making the two country’s HRM practices dissimilar.
Payment Terms
Organizations in France often pay their employees based on the piece-rate strategy, while Britons mostly receive a monthly salary. The U.K. does that due to the underlying social values requiring individuals to lead a planned life. Receiving a monthly salary allows workers to establish a monthly budget, thus protecting them from emergencies. The monthly pay further helps financial institutions to generate people’s financial worthiness, which influences the working citizens’ access to credit facilities. According to Steingold and Hotfelder (2021), embracing month-based remuneration makes taxation easy, as the U.K. government relies significantly on salary-based taxes to raise money. On the other hand, France’s wish to have citizens receive money sooner to invest it, other than have finances remain in the bank saves, leads to the laws promoting piece rate engagements and remuneration. The French government and culture believe in the just-in-time policy that advocates immediate action. The French administration’s desire to offer citizens maximum financial freedom promotes the alternative mode of payment as the summation of the piece rate earnings often give money relative to the monthly pay rate.
Conservatism versus Change Approval
The U.K. is generally conservative on many issues, including employment terms and job operations. The nation’s HRM norms value conservatism, with workers and investors disliking abrupt changes. Wilkinson and Dundon (2021) report that Briton investors and employees operating locally are not early absorbers of new technology or fresh products. The culture’s past dominance over the world’s economy and political systems gives its citizens a skewed preference for tested and proven things. Elements from without the U.K. society remain questionable among many Britons, unlike in the case of France. Employment customs in the country (U.K.) further value verified and supported procedures over innovative practices. Employees thus expect to work almost throughout their lives without facing major changes in operations. Accordingly, the U.K. employment standards do not require employers to train workers, leading to reduced productivity across the nation. The French situation is not like that of the U.K. on this matter. The latter culture esteems innovativeness leading to faster and finer task management. Companies spending money to train workers receive tax reliefs based on the spending money (OECD, 2022). Therefore, U.K.’s HRM system promotes conservatism, while France approves the change.
Employment Protection and Superiors’ Recognition
France ranks greatly in employment safeguarding among global nations, while the U.K. exhibits minimal laws hampering the firing and contracting of employees. The French HRM standards require employers to maintain workers, with any emerging differences going through a well-established conflict resolution scheme to promote the relationship. The nation’s move protects its task-compensated employees from the organization’s exploitation. France’s HRM principles thus promote job security and curb most of the issues that would arise due to the persistent death of trade unions. Workers in France equally face minimal rules and control relative to those in the U.K., where employers readily fire workers who fall out of favor (OECD, 2022). The French government intervenes by charging fines on businesses found to violate the employment protection decree. Organizations firing employees due to a difficult economic situation applies the set procedures to avoid government-charged penalties. Consequently, doing business in France and the U.K. involves substantially different HRM norms that organizations must appreciate to operate smoothly in the two economic regions.
HRM Characteristics’ Significance for the Theory of International HRM
Studying HRM practices in the U.K. and France demonstrates the facet’s inconsistency even among similar global players. France and the U.K. match in several aspects, including their developed economy, being European nations and being members of the G20 union. Accordingly, a U.K.-based multinational would expect to operate smoothly in France after succeeding in the U.K. However, the situation is not like that due to the multiple HRM variations exhibited by the two developed economies. The republics’ cultures play a principal role in the recorded differences, with the U.K.’s individualism and privacy norms affecting its HRM substantially. On the other hand, France’s less formal culture forces local organizations to adopt considerably laidback HR standards (Wilkinson & Dundon, 2021). Businesses operating in the two countries must implement differentiated HRM values to succeed, leading to the internationalization of HRM practices.
Undertaking an HR management course today exposes one to the international HRM facet critical for understanding the world’s trends regarding personnel administration. The philosophy investigates variations and similarities in nations’ HR management undertakings to establish a clear understanding of the matter as necessitated by the multinationals’ emergence and the globalization aspects. Multinationals are business establishments operating in more than one nation (Kyove et al., 2021). Organizations use different strategies to enter and operate in multiple locations of the world. Often, investors from developed nations realize a business gap in the developing states and come up with plans and tactics to make money by bridging the supply gap. The corporations do that by either exporting employees from the parent country into the foreign land as workers or employing the locals. The U.K. and France are nations with many foreign firms originating from different parts of the globe. Some multinationals even operate in the two republics, the U.K. and France, thus facing significant human resources issues manageable only through the international HRM theory’s application.
Conclusion
Doing business in France and the U.K. exposes an organization to substantially different HRM principles. Such variations come mainly from the dissimilar social values exhibited by the two republics. The U.K. exhibits high levels of individualism and liberty, which dominate the HRM domain. Management policies in the nation require workers to remain independent and conservative. Similarly, the laws do not regulate the firing and hiring of specific workers, granting employers the freedom to eliminate and acquire new workers at will. However, France exhibits unique HRM standards that differ substantially from those of the U.K. Despite the two regions exhibiting tolerable chauvinism, France encourages piece rate engagements and payment while operating laws that protect individuals’ employment. Such, plus several other aspects discussed earlier, makes France and the U.K. different on matters of HRM, implying the need for multinationals to be keen when targeting the two regions.
References
Kyove, J., Streltsova, K., Odibo, U., & Cirella, G. T. (2021). Globalization impact on multinational enterprises. World, 2(2), 216-230. Web.
OECD. (2021). United Kingdom. Web.
OECD. (2022). France. Web.
Popescu, C. R. G., & Kyriakopoulos, G. L. (2022). Strategic human resource management in the 21st-century organizational landscape: Human and intellectual capital as drivers for performance management. COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on New Economy Development and Societal Change, 296-323. Web.
Steingold, F. S. & Hotfelder, A. (2021). The employer’s legal handbook: How to manage your employees & workplace (15th ed.). Nolo.
Wilkinson, A. & Dundon, T. (2021). Contemporary human resource management: Text and cases. SAGE Publications.
Xiao, Q., & Cooke, F. L. (2022). Contextualizing employee perceptions of human resource management: A review of china‐based literature and future directions. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 60(2), 252-282. Web.