IHRM Practices An international business must procure, motivate, retain and effectively utilize services of people both at the

corporate office and at the foreign plants. The process of procuring, allocation and effectively utilizing human resources in an international business is called International Human Resources Management. The 3 broad activities if IHRM, namely procurement, allocation, and utilizing cover all the 6 activities of domestic HRM. They are HR planning, employee hiring,, training and development, remuneration, performance management and industrial relations. The 3 national categories involved in IHRM activities are host country where a subsidiary may be located, the home country where the company has its head quarters and other countries that may be the source of labour or finance. Basic steps in IHRM: HRP R&C T&D Performance management Remuneration - Repatriation Employee Relations Multicultural management. Cross- Cultural and Diversity Management It is about culture. Basically human races came with different background. "Cultural background". The way of doing things in one culture may not be the way in other culture. What is good in one culture may be bad in other culture. Some time the activities are all the same in two different cultures, but two different meanings, two different interpretations. When person from one cultural background, meet, interact with, understand and deal with person from other cultural background. That is cross-cultural management. Some people are in favor of the world is converging; all things are going to be same. They are right. Some people are arguing still the world has divergence. They are also right. Dont fight over this issue. We are smart people. learn how to manage both the convergence and divergence. That is the key to success. I will give you examples. In USA, it is performance that counts. Based on that you will be give higher assignments and promotions will be given. In Indian companies, performance is not the main criteria. It is "Organizational compatibility" that counts. That is the employee "fit" in to the organization that counts. India is a High context society. The "fit" in to the organization has to be interpreted in Indian way. The business has different interpretation. IN USA, doing business means creating organizations wealth. In India doing business means "Individual wealth". On recruitment, In USA it is the process of selection, In India it is the process of rejection. And the difference goes on...

Certainly, the differences are innumerable. Increasing an individual's or an organization's cultural intelligence is not an easy task. Diversity management "Diversity Management" is a strategy to promote the perception, acknowledgement and implementation of diversity in organisations and institutions. Human beings differ in age, social and national background, gender, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability as well as religious belief and worldview. (for further differentiations see "Layers of Diversity") Diversity is a source of creativity and innovation that can provide the potential for future development and competitive advantage. Diversity and its potential is essential for the University as it satisfies the mandate of an institution of higher education to offer a broad range of teaching and learning opportunities to students and staff alike.

Ensuring that diversity is made visible and fruitful remains a central concern of diversity management. In doing so, individual and structural representation of perception and appreciation may be reflected upon. This means that social, institutional as well as personal views and expectations are questioned: How do we provide for and/or perceive physically disabled people? How does our society treat homosexual, bisexual and transsexual people? Do women have equal career opportunities at the University of Vienna? Although schemata of perception and assessment make us feel secure by providing a structured view of the world, they may also cause discrimination if they remain rigid. Relying on a negative and rigidly stereotyped view of a person or group of persons may deprive this (group of) person(s) of equal opportunities. It may block their access to resources such as knowledge, money or decision-making power. Diversity management aims at reducing discrimination and promoting equal opportunities. Work-life integration Worklife balance is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between "work" (career and ambition) on the one hand and "life" (Health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development) on the other. Related, though broader, terms include "lifestyle balance" and "life balance". Goals & Objectives The objectives of the Work-Life Integration project are:

To expand our current conceptual framework of work-life integration for family members who have children and adolescents with emotional disorders, by including variables (such as family structure and caregiver strain) based on new empirical evidence. To learn from family members the ways in which they have worked with HR professionals to assure their ability to participate in employment. To conduct research that answers specific questions about HR professional practice regarding work-life integration, the reduction of stigma in the workplace, and the provision of resources and benefits needed by culturally-diverse families to optimally engage in employment. To prepare and pilot-test professional development and technical assistance materials for use with human resources and work-life professionals based on the research findings of this project and prior studies of our research team. To provide employers with capacity-building strategies that they can use to promote work-life integration for employees, to design effective policies and benefits packages, and to attract and retain a more diverse work force. To compile resources and provide technical assistance materials for family members and family organizations based on our findings. To disseminate these materials to family members, family organizations, human resources professionals, work-life specialists, and employers.

Major Activities The project activities are summarized below.

Explore work-life issues for families caring for children receiving mental health services through a secondary analysis of data from the National Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and their Families Program (CCMHS). Explore the perspectives of both human resources professionals and parents on combining work and caring responsibilities and workplace supports when employees have children with emotional and behavioral challenges. Conduct a web-based survey of members of World at Work, a large national professional membership organization for human resource and allied professionals. Design, develop a research-based training intervention for human resource and allied professionals on work-life issues for this group of employees. Conduct a pilot implementation and evaluation. Disseminate project finding to family members, family organizations, and employers.

Module V: Employee Relations Overview of Industrial Relations, Industrial disputes, Collective Bargaining, Workers Participation and Management, Grievance handling What is Employee Relations? Every individual shares a certain relationship with his colleagues at the workplace. The relationship is either warm, so-so or bad. The relationship can be between anyone in the organization - between co workers, between an employee and his superior, between two members in the management and so on. It is important that the employees share a healthy relationship with each other to deliver their best performances. Industrial relations is a multidisciplinary field that studies the employment relationship. Industrial relations is increasingly being called employment relations because of the importance of non-industrial employment relationships. Many outsiders also equate industrial relations to labour relations. Industrial relations studies examine various employment situations, not just ones with a unionized workforce. Industrial relations has three faces: science building, problem solving, and ethical. In the science building phase, industrial relations is part of the social sciences, and it seeks to understand the employment relationship and its institutions through high-quality, rigorous research. In this vein, industrial relations scholarship intersects with scholarship in labor economics, industrial sociology, labor and social history, human resource management, political science, law, and other areas. In the problem solving phase, industrial relations seeks to design policies and institutions to help the employment relationship work better. In the ethical phase, industrial relations contains strong normative principles about workers and the employment relationship, especially the rejection of treating labor as a commodity in favor of seeing workers as human beings in democratic communities entitled to human rights. The term human relation refers to the whole field of relationship that exists because of the necessary collaboration of men and women in the employment process of modern industry. It is that part of management which is concerned with the management of enterprise - whether machine operator, skilled worker, or manager. It deals with either the relationship between the state and employers and workers organization and the relation between the occupational organizations themselves

Objectives: To safeguard the interest of labor and management by securing the highest level of mutual understanding and good-will among all those sections in the industry which participate in the process of production.

To avoid industrial conflict or strife and develop harmonious relations, which are an essential factor in the productivity of workers and the industrial progress of a country. To rise productivity to a higher level in an era of full employment by lessening the tendency to high turnover and frequency absenteeism. To establish and nurse the growth of an Industrial Democracy based on labor partnership in the sharing of profits and of managerial decisions, so that ban individuals personality may grow its full stature for the benefit of the industry and of the country as well. To eliminate, as far as is possible and practicable, strikes, lockouts and gheraos by providing reasonable wages, improved living and working conditions, said fringe benefits. To establish government control of such plants and units as are running at a loss or in which productions has to be regulated in the public interest. Improvements in the economic conditions of workers in the existing state of industrial managements and political government. Control exercised by the state over industrial undertaking with a view to regulating production and promoting harmonious industrial relations. Socializations or rationalization of industries by making the state itself a major employer Vesting of a proprietary interest of the workers in the industries in which they are employed.

The main aspect of Industrial Relations are: Labor Relations, i.e. relations between union and management Employer-employees relations, i.e. relations between management and employees. Group relations, i.e. relations between various groups of workmen. Community or Public relations, i.e. relations between industry and society. Promotions and development of healthy labor-managements relations. Maintenance of industrial peace and avoidance of industrial strife Development of true industrial Democracy. Industrial Dispute An industrial dispute may be defined as a conflict or difference of opinion between management and workers on the terms of employment. It is a disagreement between an employer and employees' representative; usually a trade union, over pay and other working conditions and can result in industrial actions. When an industrial dispute occurs, both the parties, that is the management and the workmen, try to pressurize each other. The management may resort to lockouts while the workers may resort to strikes, picketing or gheraos. From the point of view of the employer, an industrial dispute resulting in stoppage of work means a stoppage of

production. This results in increase in the average cost of production since fixed expenses continue to be incurred. It also leads to a fall in sales and the rate of turnover, leading to a fall in profits. The employer may also be liable to compensate his customers with whom he may have contracted for regular supply. Apart from the immediate economic effects, loss of prestige and credit, alienation of the labor force, and other non-economic, psychological and social consequences may also arise. Loss due to destruction of property, personal injury and physical intimidation or inconvenience also arises. Reasons for disputes Personnel and retrenchment: The personnel and retrenchment have also been an important factor which accounted for disputes. During the year 2002, disputes caused by personnel were 14.1% while those caused by retrenchment and layoffs were 2.2% and 0.4% respectively. In 2003, a similar trend could be seen, wherein 11.2% of the disputes were caused by personnel, while 2.4% and 0.6% of disputes were caused by retrenchment and layoffs. In year 2005, only 9.6% of the disputes were caused by personnel, and only 0.4% were caused by retrenchment. Indiscipline and violence: From the given table, it is evident that the number of disputes caused by indiscipline has shown an increasing trend. In 2002, 29.9% of disputes were caused because of indiscipline, which rose up to 36.9% in 2003. Similarly in 2004 and 2005, 40.4% and 41.6% of disputes were caused due to indiscipline respectively. During the year 2003, indiscipline accounted for the highest percentage (36.9%) of the total time-loss of all disputes, followed by cause-groups wage and allowance and personnel with 20.4% and11.2% respectively. A similar trend was observed in 2004 where indiscipline accounted for 40.4% of disputes. Bonus: Bonus has always been an important factor in industrial disputes. 6.7% of the disputes were because of bonus in 2002 and 2003 as compared to 3.5% and 3.6% in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Leave and working hours: Leaves and working hours have not been so important causes of industrial disputes. During 2002, 0.5% of the disputes were because of leave and hours of work while this percentage increased to 1% in 2003. During 2004, only 0.4% of the disputes were because of leaves and working hours. Miscellaneous: The miscellaneous factors include Inter/Intra Union Rivalry Charter of Demands Work Load Standing orders/rules/service conditions/safety measures Non-implementation of agreements and awards etc. Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and a group of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions. The interests of the employees are commonly presented by representatives of a trade union to which the employees belong. The collective agreements reached by these negotiations usually set out wage scales, working hours, training, health and safety, overtime, grievance mechanisms and rights to participate in workplace or company affairs. The union may negotiate with a single employer or may negotiate with a group of businesses, depending on the country, to reach an industry wide agreement. A collective agreement functions as a labor contract between an employer and one or more unions. Collective bargaining consists of the process of negotiation between representatives of a union and employers in respect of the terms and conditions of employment of employees, such as wages, hours of work, working conditions and grievance-procedures, and about the rights and responsibilities of trade unions. The collective bargaining process comprises of five core steps: Prepare: This phase involves composition of a negotiation team. The negotiation team should consist of representatives of both the parties with adequate knowledge and skills for negotiation. In this phase both the employers representatives and the union examine their own situation in order to develop the issues that they believe will be most important. The first thing to be done is to determine whether there is actually any reason to negotiate at all. A correct understanding of the main issues to be covered and intimate knowledge of operations, working conditions, production norms and other relevant conditions is required. Discuss: Here, the parties decide the ground rules that will guide the negotiations. A process well begun is half done and this is no less true in case of collective bargaining. An environment of mutual trust and understanding is also created so that the collective bargaining agreement would be reached. Propose: This phase involves the initial opening statements and the possible options that exist to resolve them. In a word, this phase could be described as brainstorming. The exchange of messages takes place and opinion of both the parties is sought. Bargain: negotiations are easy if a problem solving attitude is adopted. This stage comprises the time when what ifs and supposals are set forth and the drafting of agreements take place. Settlement: Once the parties are through with the bargaining process, a consensual agreement is reached upon wherein both the parties agree to a common decision regarding the problem or the issue. This stage is described as consisting of effective joint implementation of the agreement through shared visions, strategic planning and negotiated change.