India: Key Influencers to consider in Developing Strategic HR practices

Corporations strive to find new and more effective ways as a means to improve their

competitive advantage in the business arena, as they continually expand across international

global borders. The transformation of human resources today is a direct result of the changes

within business due to factors such as globalization.

India is one of the most dynamic economics in the world. It is an example among

emerging market in its economic liberalization, integration of foreign and domestic business

activity and dynamic growth. This has attracted more investments coming from multinational

corporations (MNC) in various industry sectors. The fact that many Indian people speak English

and are well educated make India appealing to U.S. and British firms (Stumpf, Doh, & Tymon,

2010). Considering the economic potential of India, organizations that venture in this state

should reflect on a few key determinants influencing the efficiency of HR practices, such as

national culture and presence of expatriates, among others.

Cultures have an impact on approaches to managing people, thus it calls for different

management practices (Trompenaars, Hampden-Turner, 2004). A study by Gamble (2003)

suggests that when cultural differences is great and this has not been bridged, the result is that

HR practices would be hard to transfer from the parent corporation to the local subsidiary. As a

result of this, MNCs will likely follow local customs (Gamble, 2003).Hence, organization must

consider the collectivist and conservative culture of India. Another influencer is the presence of

expatriate managers which has been found to increase the similarity of HRM practices between

the subsidiary and parent by encouraging stricter adherence to guidelines set by the MNC. They

also function in a communicative role within the subsidiary (Gamble, 2003). Walmart is a sample

organization that embraced the challenge of assigning expatriates in India, even to the point that
their employees volunteer themselves because they provide adequate privileges and competitive

opportunities as their HR practices (Harvard Business Review, 2011).

References

Gamble, J. (2003). Transferring human resource practices from the United Kingdom to China:

The limits and potential for convergence. International Journal of Human Resource

Management, 14(3), 369-387.

Trompenaars, F. and C. Hampden-Turner (2004). Managing people across cultures. Capstone

Publishing.

Stumpf, S., Doh, &Tymon, W. (2010). The strength of HR practices in India and their effects on

employee career success, performance, and potential. Human Resource Management. 49. 353 -

375.

Harvard Business Review (2011). Harvard Business Publishing.