The Multinational Corporates ( Mncs )

This report examines cultural and institutional factors of Mexico and how they can impact global HR management and practices. Specifically, by analyzing Mexican culture based on Hofstede’s dimensions, economy, labor legislation, union and employment tradition we reached the conclusion that the features of Mexican culture (high power distance, strong collectivism, high level of masculinity and uncertainty avoidance) and institutional factors have a strong impact on management styles and HR practices of business in Mexico and may arouse some challenges for global company and their expatriates, especially those from countries that bear different cultural features and institutional conditions. In order to minimize the potential conflict between Mexican local employees and expatriates, parent companies need to provide trainings (culture assimilation, country condition, etc.) before sending anybody to Mexico. Also, whether the expatriates should put more effort to disseminate home country (headquarter) culture or to adjust to local culture depends on the company’s strategy in terms of being localized or standardized around the globe.

The aforementioned increase in expatriations is remarkably in itself, but also as there are reasons advocating a decrease in expatriations besides the aforementioned risks of expatriation failure: High levels of heterogeneity in different markets compared to home market, where differences in culture and high complexity in foreign legislative and other institutional conditions, as well as potential political risk, lead to greater utilization of local management rather than expatriates managers. Subsidiaries also tend to operate on a wide extend of local autonomy in polycentric (Perlmutter, 1966) multinationals structured with a loose coordination and a disperse configuration (Porter, 1986). The fact that career opportunities for locals are reduced if expatriate managers are used, that mobility barriers in dual (two) career families are increasing, that there is an overall unwillingness to go to unattractive locations, coupled with uncertainty about the repatriation and the further career possibilities, may likewise limit expatriations. In some cases there may be work permits / visa constraints too.

. A well-designed cultural awareness training program seeks to foster an appreciation of the host country's culture so that expatriates can behave accordingly, or at least develop appropriate coping patterns. A preliminary trip to the host country provides a preview to assess their

There are so many different factors that go into the equation of what makes a good employee and a person's sex shouldn't be one of those. There are women who have managed to battle their way into the upper ranks and who have likely worked much of this out for themselves (Bellstrom, Kristen and Zarya 24). This shows us that women are determined to make something of themselves and that they will rise above any stereotypes or discrimination to make the workplace more diverse and equal for all. Robinson was asked how women effect the workplace. “Women definitely bring more diversity to business and a great amount of knowledge coming from a different viewpoint. They also bring a different emotional side to business which I think can be a good thing.” Are female customers more difficult to work with than male customers? “Typically no, not in this business. This is not a retail business. I would say that men ask more questions than women as far as accounting goes. I think this is because typically in the family dynamics of things, men usually handle the financial aspects of things.” said Robinson. In 1974, only four percent of all MBA graduates nationwide were women. In 1994 thirty six percent of the ranks of graduating MBAs were women (Haddock 24). Showing that women are hiking their way up to the top. That number has more than increased since then. Gender diversity in corporate businesses and top management groups has received growing attention from academics, investors, interest groups and professional research firms. Diversity is supposed to be a sensible approach to improve board effectiveness and performance (Labelle et al 1). In recent years, the issue of appointing more women as directors has also captured the attention of policymakers and research on gender diversity in the business establishment. The slow pace at which business is integrating gender diversity has started to get government involved (Labelle

Only female samples were chosen in the study by Liu and Kim, (2012), which results into gender bias. It also questions the external

Managers in human relations needs a variety of skills and knowledge to help their firms succeed in the global marketplace. They need to cope with the initial shock that often accompanies working and living in a different culture. Also, they can become more effective through learning the language of the host country and interpreting accurately the work values of their foreign counterparts. The following traits may be associated with candidate’s who are likely to succeed in international contexts, such as, flexibility, sensitivity to culture differences, business knowledge, culture adventurous and a desire for their views. Before doing business with people from different cultures, managers can familiarize themselves with research that describes important cultural differences in work values. There is four dimensions on which different cultures can be compared, which includes of power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity/femininity.

Upon reading about Kelly’s assignment and the problems that she faced while being chosen to work in Japan, it seems as though she along with her family had a difficult time adjusting to the different culture and customs that working overseas can bring. Kelly was selected by a process known as expatriate selection, which is the “selection of personnel for overseas assignments” (Deresky, 2014, p. 278). Her boss believed that due to her performance in her regular domestic setting, she would prove that she would do well while working abroad. However, it seems as though her boss may have overlooked certain cross-cultural factors that are important for international business matters.

For several decades, gender inequality in the workplace has been a problematic topic for discussion. In terms of higher management and pay, some may agree to disagree that women are getting the shorter end of the stick. There is a significant difference in the salary and positions women are obtaining in large companies or corporations. Does that stir up the question, what is it that men are doing better than women? Or are women lacking certain qualities required to achieve these certain rights and opportunities? The preference towards a certain sex is the primary cause of gender discrimination, however, it is important that the theories of each party are understood and why it is present in the workplace today.

This article is connected to my sociological problem in that it shows that after an extensive research conducted on 240 (male and female) employees with high management positions, more than half the women surveyed declared that they would relocate for their career, thus proving women see work as a central factor in their lives. Of the 240 employees surveyed, only 70 of them were women, again demonstrating a lack of equality in the work force.

In the workplace there is both a gender and ethnic gap. One may say that there is more focus on the difference in the work habits of men vs. women, than ethnicity. Where in truth, there is an issue when it comes to women and men in the workplace. Men are thought to dominate most positions of authority and managerial positions in an office environment. Most women are looked over for positions not mainly because of them not being qualified, but because of non-work related commitments and issues that many women face due to having families.

Expatriate staffs are ignorant of the local culture. Recruiting a local staff eliminates the cost of training an expatriate on intercultural issues. Because the expatriate staff is unfamiliar with the local culture, there will often be the struggle to acclimatize and adapt to the new culture. Additionally, the expatriate staff does not know how the employment system in the host country is so to recruit local staff will pose an enormous challenge for the expatriate staff (Malamud & Rotenberg, 2010). Additionally, expatriate staffs will not efficiently and effectively network with local stakeholders because of language and cultural

Historically, women are viewed inversely than men when it comes to managerial positions. Moreover, having the belief that women differentiate in skills and abilities from men constitute a sex-role stereotype (Brown, 1984). Furthermore, women of different ethnicities are also treated very differently.

Why are there just men and a low percentage of women work in the science, engineer and technology industry? Why most of the jobs for women are the low wage jobs? Why in the job description which might suitable for women but more men are hired than women? Why do women have less confident on achieving a higher position in management’s board? Thus, gender diversity is not the abnormal topic these days. Gender diversity has largely been conceptualized and research in many countries. This is the issue not only in society but especially in the workplace. Despite, there are many initiatives such as from organizations through voluntary approaches, or from the government through legislation or regulation to encourage the gender diversity in the business world. The fact that the proportion of women in chief executives is only 17% in Australia in 2015 but in some industries, the percentage is extremely deplorable. There are significant disadvantages for women in the workplace. The biggest barrier to women in top management levels is most of the members of corporate boards are male and they tend to select male rather than female at promotion time. Many debates showed that the glass ceiling is still an invisible barrier to prevent women to develop or promote their career. Some argued that whether the pendulum has swung too far towards to female equality and leads to the new

Even though numbers are slowly rising in the United States, there are still more men in executive positions than women. According to one survey, female workers only made up 43% of legislators, senior managers, and senior officials whereas male workers made up 57%. In congress, congresswomen make up only 17% of representation compared to congressmen making up 83% (Ferrante, 2011, p. 312). Gender stratification is one explanation for the tremendous gap. Ferrante (2011) describes gender stratification as the unequal distribution of opportunities and resources amongst male and female employees. (p. 311) For example, male workers have an increased opportunity to receive a promotion than a female worker. According to Tinsley (2013), women are more likely to receive executive positions when a company is doing well, rather than when a company is suffering. Some companies stereotype that women workers will leave the workforce soon to bear children, limiting their chances of achieving executive status (Ferrante, 2011, p. 316).

In summary, the home culture of an expatriate predisposes them to certain behaviors and situations. It allows them to operate efficiently in that environment. However, moving to the host-culture changes that operating environment and makes their 'mental software ' less efficient and effective. Culture is clearly a relevant variable when expatriating employees and their families for international business assignments. Training can be applied to ameliorate these effects. Also, training provides insight into the procedural, substantive and informational aspects of their work and personal life in the host location.