Article Review: Opportunities and challenges in international human resourcemanagement

Article Review: Opportunities and challenges in international human resource management

The title of the article under review in this paper is “The Challenges and Opportunities for Human Resource Management in a Globalized World”. It was written by Kramar. The article presents the report of a study that examined the challenges as well as some of the opportunities of international human resource management. For this article, the target audience is mainly the business people of different ages and gender. The people who may find this article to be relevant to them are those who own business companies and managers of human resource departments in companies. 

Summary of the article

This article presents the issues and opportunities that arise with the management of workers at an international level. According to Kramar (2013), it is possible to develop better strategies for international human resource management through academic reforms. Kramar (2013) observes that the entire world is substantially changing as human resource management becomes a globalized practice in companies. The developments of the past decades have always presented both challenges and opportunities for the managers of the human resource within organizations at the international level. The challenges and opportunities are always both theoretical and practical in nature. With the emergence of trade unions, managers of the international human resource are now facing trying times where they have to balance the interests of the company and those of the workers as presented under their trade unions. In most cases, these interests are always extremely conflicting hence need to be balanced strategically. The huge challenge is always that the managers of the international human resource are agents of the owners of the companies hence owe allegiance to their employers. Kramar (2013) notes that today, managers are discharging their duties amid a lot of interference. Moreover, the practice of balancing the duality of strategy and practice in international human resource management is another significant challenge.

However, Kramar (2013) observes that there are opportunities at the same time, in the international human resource management. Through strategic international human resource management, a company can achieve a strong competitive edge as well as high financial performance both in the short-term and the long-term. Moreover, the diverse talents that international human resource presents the management of a company are an opportunity for achievement of very high productivity in the organization.

Analysis of the article 

The issues that Kramar (2013) presents in the article are quite real. For the last two decades, there has a remarkable rise in the number of companies that have globalized their operations. With the expansion of international business activities, there is also the increase in international labor movement making global human resource management a very significant function in organizations. The article done by Kramar (2013) is based on this concept and draws on existing evidence as published data to provide some of the challenges as well as the opportunities that exist with international human resource management. The conclusions made by Kramar (2013) in the article are based on logical and critical reasoning, making his article be a source of genuine insights on the state of the international human resource management. 

Lessons from the article

Kramar’s article has given me many lessons, particularly in the field of international human resource management. It has enabled me to understand some of the strategic approaches that an organization can use to ensure it uses foreign labor to gain a competitive advantage in the industry. The article has made me acknowledge the challenges that face international human resource managers and learn ways of overcoming them. 

Reference

Kramar, R. (2013). The challenges and opportunities for human resource management in a globalized world. The European Financial Review . Retrieved from http://www.europeanfinancialreview.com/?p=1260 on 26/6/2016.