A comparison of HRM systems in the USA, Japan and Germany in their socio‐economic context

Abstract

This article provides a comparative analysis of the HR practices of American, Japanese and German companies. The starting point is an investigation of the managerial, economic, socio‐political and cultural contexts of the three HR systems. It will be demonstrated that the socio‐economic contextual factors of the American and Japanese HR systems are in many ways at opposite ends of the spectrum, with the German factors in between. Subsequently, the three HR systems themselves are analysed. The data show that the same pattern, USA and Japan at the extremes and Germany taking a middle position, is valid also for the HR systems. This suggests that the relevant socio‐economic context is highly pertinent for the establishment of an HR system. This outcome does not exclude either the integration of HR practices from a foreign HR model into the domestic one or standardisation efforts of HR practices of multinational companies, but confines the potential for cross‐cultural learning and standardisation to what is within the ‘fit’ of the relevant socio‐cultural context.

Chief human resources officers on top management teams: an empirical analysis of contingency, institutional, and homophily antecedents

“…Given this, other TMT positions, such as the CHRO, have a less important role for US firms. Studies by scholars such as Farndale and Paauwe (2007) and Pudelko (2006) show that national institutional drivers help shape HRM systems and practices, indicating the need to study more than intra-firm or industry levels to understand the role of institutional embeddedness in the HRM context. Moreover, since our sample only covered the period between 1998 and 2007, it is possible that the relative weights of TMT positions, including the position of the CHRO, have changed following the 2008 financial crisis (Sparrow et al 2013).…”

What do we know about cross-country comparative studies in HRM? A critical review of literature in the period of 2000-2014

“…Several scholars, while acknowledging that a degree of convergence continues to emerge in culturally and economically similar regions, argue the importance of context in relation to the realization of specific practices (Budhwar and Khatri 2001;Pudelko 2006). Thus, the ability to adopt 'best practices', for instance, continues to be constrained by institutional, socio-economic, and cultural conditions in which organizations operate.…”

“…Twelve of the 18 articles assessed whether practices across countries from the same region were converging towards each other, while six studies relied on data from different regions. In terms of the cross-regional studies, it was notable that a few articles assessed the extent to which HRM practices from the 'ideal types' of market economies (Hall and Soskice 2001) were converging towards each other (Carr and Pudelko 2006;Pudelko 2006). Similarly, it was explored whether, for instance, pay practices across liberal market economies were becoming more identical (Long and Shields 2005).…”

Le management interculturel comme processus de traduction. Le cas d’une entreprise béninoise

“…Dans une étude récente sur les difficultés rencontrées par les tentatives de modernisation de l'administration publique en Afrique, Olowu (2010) défend ainsi l'idée que les réformes à venir feraient mieux de se baser sur une gestion straté-gique du rendement que sur le recours à des salaires élevés en vue de motiver et de retenir les fonctionnaires de qualité. Une autre manière de rejoindre la position universaliste est de considérer, comme le font certains auteurs, que la globalisation des marchés, la pression des institutions internationales et la formation des élites managériales conduisent à une convergence de plus en plus grande des pratiques de management (Pudelko, 2006). On retrouve ici les thèses de l'approche néo-institutionnelle (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983) selon lesquelles les organisations finissent par adopter des modes de fonctionnement semblables à la suite des pressions isomorphiques de différents ordres : coercitives (contraintes financières, réglementaires, etc.…”