INTERNATIONAL HRM

International HRM

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What is the relationship of national culture to human resource management?

For the last few decades, the topic of culture and the impacts that it has on the operations of
given organizations has been widely discussed (House et al., 2004). In addition, that topic can
also be said to have become a highly debated topic since on one hand, there are those who are of
the opinion that culture does not have any major impact to the operations of a given organization
while on the other hand, there are others who allege that in order for any organization to be
successful in the market that it operates it, the organization has to understand implement
strategies that are specific to the culture that is in place in the specific region that the company
operates in. This section of the paper focuses on the subject of culture and discusses the type of
relationship that national culture has to human resources. Nevertheless, prior to getting to the
discussion, it is vital to first discuss what the term culture implies.

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From a review of the definitions that have been used by various authors and scholars to define
the term culture, it can be explained that different scholars have explained the term differently.
For instance, Hofstede (1994) discussed culture as the collective programming of the mind that
differentiates the members of one group or category of people from another (p.5). On the other
hand, Spencer-Oatey (2008) explained culture as a fuzzy set of basic assumptions and values,
orientations to life, beliefs, policies, procedures and behavioural conventions that are shared by a
group of people, and that influence(but do not determine) each members behaviour and his/her
interpretations of the meaning of other peoples behaviour (p. 3). Finally, Matsumoto (1996)
discussed that culture is the set of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviours that are shared or
common among a certain group of people, though different for every individual, and are
communicated from one generation to another. From a review of the different definitions, it can
be stated that even though there are different definitions of culture, the definitions tend to have
the same meaning since there are some aspects that are common from the different definition.
Indeed, it can be stated that culture has to be common within a certain group of people.
In context of the relationship of national culture to human resource management, it is important
to point out from the outright that national culture does indeed have a strong relationship with
human resource management. Indeed, it can be explained that as earlier mentioned, the view that
the practice of human resource is universal has been questioned in the past though a conclusive
agreement has never been reached. The reason why that is the case is due to the fact some of the
human resources policies that have been effectively applied in some countries have been found
to be ineffective in other countries. For instance, as expounded on by Newman and Nollen
(1996), while pay for scheme approaches have been found to be common and effective in some
countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, the very same approaches have

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been found to be ineffective in other countries. From that perspective, it can therefore be said
that national culture does indeed have an impact to the human resource management approach
that is adopted by a given organization.
As mentioned by Newman and Nollen (1996), Schneider and De Meyer (1991) and Luthans,
Welsh and Rosenkrantz (1993), national cultures have been found to have major impacts on the
strategic decision, leadership approaches and the human resource management policies that are
used. To better explain the nature of the connection between national culture and human resource
management, various theories of culture that have been advanced by various scholars that have
focused on the subject of national culture can be used.
One of such theories that can be used and can be said to be ideal is the Hofstede's Cultural
Dimensions theory. In this theory, Hofstede explains the impacts that the culture of a certain
society or nation can have on the values of its members and how those values impact the way
things are done. In that perspective, it can therefore be explained that it is obvious that national
culture and human resource management are closely related as will be expounded on the
succeeding paragraphs.
One of the dimensions in the Hofstedes model is the power distance dimension that entails the
extent to which those who are considered as been less powerful in the society acknowledge that
and have no issues with the fact that power is not equally distributed in the society. In that
perspective, it can be noted that for an organization that happens to be operating in a country that
is viewed as having high power distance, it is vital that the aspect of loyalty and obedience is
adhered to. Thus, as noted by Schuler and Jackson (1990) and Smith (1992), it is common that
the human resource management policies that are adopted in such a country are mainly based on
behavioural aspect instead of the result aspects.

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The other dimension in Hofstedes model entails the dimension of individualism (IDV) vs.
collectivism which basically implies the extent to which individuals from a given group or a
society are used to work either on individual basis or on group basis. Indeed, according to
Hofstede (1994), in some countries people are used to work on individual basis while on others,
people are mainly used to work on teamwork basis. Thus, in that perspective, it can be noted that
it is very important that organizations have to consider the national culture of the specific
countries that they are operating in and then ensure that the human resource management policies
adopted are specific to that culture. For example, a company coming from a culture that is
mainly individualistic and expanding to Japan which can be said to be a collectivist country has
to review and definitely modify its human resource management policies upon entry in Japan
since it is certain that human resource management policies that are individualistic in nature are
not going to be effective in country like Japan that is highly collective (Pascale and Maguire,
1980).
The other dimension in Hofstedes model entails the uncertainty avoidance dimension that entails
the extent to which a certain society is tolerant to uncertainty. Indeed, it can be explained that for
countries that have high uncertainty avoidance index, it is vital that the human resource policies
that are in place in such countries reflect that aspect while on the other hand, in case of countries
that have low uncertainty avoidance index, the human resources policies that are present in such
a country also have to reflect the same in case the company wants to be effective. For example, a
company moving to Africa where the uncertainty avoidance index is low has to accept the fact
that it is common for employees to be late with a few minutes though that might not be
acceptable in countries with high uncertainty avoidance index.

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In conclusions, it can be stated that from the discussions above, there is sufficient evidence to
show that there exists a strong direct relation between national culture human resource
management. Indeed, as has been highlighted, in order for any organization to be effective, it is
vital that the organization first considers the national culture in place in the specific market that
the company operates in and then develops human resource management policies that are in line
with that specific national culture. Thus, even though there are those who argue that human
resources management are converging, it can be pointed out that the fact that national cultures
are different implies that there is no way all aspects of human resource management can be the
same in different countries.
How does national culture affect the selection process? Give some examples of the different
selection processes that are used in three countries and explain why these differences occur.
As the title of the essay suggests, this essay focuses on the topic of national culture and how it
affects the selection process. Nevertheless, in order to be able to have a clear understanding of
the impacts of national culture on the section process, it is vital to initially explain what national
culture implies as well as the meaning of the selection process.
From a review of the various definitions that have been used by different scholars to explain
what national culture entails, it can be noted that different scholars have used different
approaches to explain the term. Nevertheless, according to Gomez-Mejia and Palich (2007),
despite different scholars describing national culture differently, the definition that was given by
Hofstede (2001) and makes the people differ from people coming from another country. For
instance, the difference between the manner in which things are done in UK and USA can be said
to exist due to the differences in the national cultures of the two countries. On the other hand, as
far as the selection process is concerned, Roberts (2005) has explained that it involves the
procedure of interviewing and assessing candidates for a vacancy in an organization and then

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making the decision on the candidate that will be chosen or selected to fill the position that
happens to be vacant.
Now that a clear understanding of what the term national culture and selection process implies
has been established, it is ideal to now focus on how the national culture affects the selection
process. To begin with, it can be stated that the fact that the national culture in place in a given
country affects the manner in which things are done in that specific country implies that it is
obvious that national cultures have to affect the selection processes used in different countries.
To expound on how national culture affects the section process, the two most popular theories of
culture (Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory and Trompenaars' model of national culture
differences) will be used. As far as the Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory is concerned, the
theory uses the dimensions of power distance index, individualism, uncertainty avoidance,
masculinity, long term orientation and indulgence versus restraint to show the differences that
exists between different cultures. The Trompenaars' model of national culture differences as
described by Smith et al. (2008) features seven dimensions where five dimensions concentrate on
how human beings get to interrelate with one another while the other dimension concentrates on
the aspect of time and the other one the aspect of environment. The seven dimensions entails:
universalism vs. particularism, individualism vs. communitarianism, neutral vs. emotional,
specific vs. diffuse, achievement vs. ascription, sequential vs. synchronic and Internal vs.
External control. On the other hand, the Hofstede cultural dimension models explains the
impacts that the culture of a certain society or nation can have on the values of its members and
how those values impact the way things are done. When the two theories are compared, it can be
explained that even though the theories might be different, they two theories seems to concur that
different countries have different national cultures and that the different national cultures affects

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the way things are done in different countries with one of the things been the section process. In
order to provide good examples of how national culture impacts the selection process used by
different countries, the theory of Hofstede's cultural dimensions as well as the Trompenaars'
model of national culture differences can be used.
One of the dimensions by Trompenaars model that can be used to illustrate how national cultures
affect the selection process can be said to be the dimension Universalism versus particularism.
Indeed, the fact that there are countries that are universalistic while others are particularistic
implies that it is impossible for such countries to have similar section process. For example,
India is well known to be a particularistic country while US and UK are considered to be
universalistic countries and in that perspective, it can therefore be explained that the selection
process to be used in India and UK or US will be different. Indeed, in view of India, when the
applicants of a vacant position are been assessed, social status and affiliation tends to be of great
importance in India as it is common to find the recruiters researching even on the social
background of the applicants. Contrary to that, in case of the United States as well as the United
Kingdom which can be explained as been universalistic, the specific job requirements are
considered when evaluating the applicants. Indeed, in these countries, the experience of the
candidate, the education background and past achievements are among the main factors that are
highly valued and mainly focused on when evaluating job applicants. On the same context, the
same can also be said of Saudi Arabia and other countries that are mainly Muslim based and tend
to be more particularistic since in such cases, applicants who are male often tend to be preferred
at the expense of the applicants who are female while that cannot be said to be the case in
Western countries like the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States among other
countries. As a matter of fact, it can be noted that from a review of the findings of a study that

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was conducted by Aycan (2005) and found that social class status tends to highly valued when
evaluating candidates in India while on the other hand, hard job criteria is used in European
countries as well as other Western countries.
Similarly, as far as the aspect of uncertainty dimension is concerned, it can be explained
that from a review of the section processes that are used in some countries, there is enough
evidence to suggest that the level of uncertainty in each national culture affects the selection
process used in each country. From a study by McFarland et al. (1999), it was established that
national cultures that have high rates of uncertainty avoidance mainly tend to put the applicants
through various tests before they can hire them since they want to ensure that they hire the ideal
candidate how has the required skills and is less likely to leave the organization within a certain
period of time. Indeed, it is common for job applicants in Germany to expect to take part in
different tests and interviews before they can finally get to know whether they have been hired or
not. However, that is not the case in China which can be said to have low uncertainty avoidance
level as it is common for the recruiters to make their mind on whether to hire a candidate or not
after a candidate has attended one interview.
In perspective of the theory by Hofstede, it can be explained that the dimension of
collectivism and individualism can also be used to show how national cultures affect selection
process. Indeed, Japan is well known to be a highly collectivist country while on the other hand,
United Kingdom can be explained to be low collectivist country and in that perspective, the
dimension of collectivist can be used to explain why there are some differences when the
selection process in UK is compared to the selection process in Japan. Indeed as pointed out by
Bjorkman and Lu (1999), in most cases, it is common for organizations to in Japan to hire from
within mainly due to the fact that once the company hires from outside the company, the hired
employee will find it hard to settle and fit in the existing social structures and that can have

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devastating impacts to the performance of the organization. On the other hand, the same cannot
be said to be the case as far as the companies based in the United Kingdom are concerned as
these companies mainly prefer hiring from the outside as they are aware that employees coming
from the outside will bring a different perspective to the organization while at the same time will
have no difficulties settling down in the organization.
In summation it can be noted that the fact that national cultures have a major role in the
selection process implies that companies that have operations in different countries needs to
ensure that they have a clear understanding of the national cultures in the different countries that
they operate in and have modified the selection processes as per the national cultures (Luthans
and Jonathan, 2012).

References
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Harzing, A., Pinnington, A. (2011). International Human Resource Management (3rd ed.).
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Hofstede, G. (1994) Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind.
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