Challenges of HRM in a Global Business Environment: A Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

This paper explores the various challenges of HRM and its practice in a global busi-ness environment. The roles and responsibilities of HR departments are transforming as the modern business faces pressures of globalization, hyper-competition in the markets, declining margins and changing consumer demands, workforce diversity, technological advances and changes in the political and legal environment. Today, global HR management has become a front-and-center issue for a wide variety of firms. Many larger corporations, and even smaller ones doing business in key interna-tional markets, now have full-time HR managers devoted solely to assisting with the globalization process. For the HR managers to thrive and be relevant in the global context, new roles and agenda for the profession should not focus on traditional HR activities such as recruitment and selection, training and development, and compensa-tion, but on its outcomes. There is presently an increasing interaction of national eco-nomic systems all over the world through the growth in international trade, invest-ment, and capital flows. This interaction is a worldwide drive toward globalization and a globalized economic system. Globalization, an inevitable and irreversible force is a new reality in which HR practitioners, enterprises and government are always on the lookout for new processes and innovations. This globalization process, therefore, necessitates an investigation into human resource management. The paper utilizes the methods of descriptive analysis and synthesis of the scientific literature and empirical investigation. The paper sums up with requisite conclusion and recommendations that will help HR professionals contribute positively to employees’ well-being and meeting organizational targets in a global business environment