EVOLUTION OF GLOBAL HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Nancy Wairimu Mwema - Ph.D. (Human Resource Management), Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
Dr. Hazel Gachoka Gachunga - Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
ABSTRACT
The scarcity of qualified managers has become a major constraint on the speed with which multinational companies can expand their international sales. The growth of the knowledge-based society, along with the pressures of opening up emerging markets, has led cutting-edge global companies to recognize now more than ever that human resources and intellectual capital are as significant as financial assets in building sustainable competitive advantage. To follow their lead, chief executives in other multinational companies will have to bridge the yawning chasm between their companies' human resources rhetoric and reality. Management of human resources must now be given a prominent seat in the boardroom. Good H.R. management in a multinational company comes down to getting the right people in the right jobs in the right places at the right times and at the right cost. These international managers must then be meshed into a cohesive network in which they quickly identify and leverage good ideas worldwide. Such an integrated network depends on executive continuity. This in turn requires career management to ensure that internal qualified executives are readily available when vacancies occur around the world and that good managers do not jump ship because they have not been recognized. This paper outlines a global H.R. action agenda based on the approaches used by some leading multinational companies. The goal is to build sustainable competitive advantage by attracting and developing the best managerial talent in multinational companies. The strategy demands global H.R. leadership with standard systems but local adaptation. The key underlying ideas are to satisfy multinational companies’ global human resources needs.
