Page 255 - DMGT548_GLOBAL_HRM
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Global HRM
Notes
Example: Philips Electronics N.V. gives each country subsidiary a target number of
people to bring through the ranks for international experience. Some go on to lengthy
international careers; others return to home base, where they then command more respect, both
in the business and with government officials, as a result of their international assignments.
8. Advertise your posts internally: Run your own global labour market. In a large company,
it is hard to keep track of the best candidates. For this reason, companies now advertise
many of its posts on its worldwide Intranet.
Routine internal advertising has many advantages in that it:
Allows a competitive internal job market to function across nationalities, genders
and other categories.
Shows ambitious people they can make their future in the company.
Makes it harder for bosses to hide their leading lights.
Attracts high-flyers who may be ready to jump ship.
Helps to break down business-unit and divisional baronies.
Reduces inbreeding by transferring managers across businesses and divisions.
Gives the rest of the company first pick of talent made redundant in another part of
the world.
Solidifies company culture.
Is consistent with giving employees responsibility to manage their own careers.
There are also certain disadvantages to this practice: Line managers have to fill the shoes
of those who move; a central arbiter may need to settle disputes between departments and
divisions, and applicants not chosen might decide to leave. To prevent that, disappointed
applicants should automatically be routed through the career development office to discuss
how their skills and performance mesh with their ambitions.
Did u know? IBM used to hire only from the inside, but five years ago it began to recruit
outsiders — including those from other industries — to broaden thinking and add
objectivity. Unilever is large enough that it can garner a short list of three to five internal
candidates for any post. Yet it still fills 15 per cent to 20 per cent of managerial jobs from
outside because of the need for specialist skills and because of the decreasing ability to
plan where future growth opportunities will occur.
9. Institute succession planning: Every manager in a lifeline job should be required to
nominate up to three candidates who could take over that post in the next week, in three
months or within a year, and their bosses should sign off on the nominations. This should
go a long way toward solving succession questions, but it will not resolve them completely.
The problem in large multinational companies is that many of today’s successors may
leave the company tomorrow. In addition, managers name only those people they know
as successors. The chief executives of many multinational companies keep their succession
plans — if they have any — only in their heads. This seems to overlook the harsh realities
of life and death. A better approach is that of one European shipping magnate who always
carries a written list with the name of a successor for the captain of every boat in his fleet.
10. Challenge and retain your talent: Global networks that transfer knowledge and good
practices run on people-to-people contact and continuity. Executive continuity also cuts
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