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Managing HR in a Global Organisation

Many organisations now operate across the globe. But what is the role of HR in a global organisation and how can it best add value to both the global corporation as well as the local businesses? The key question is - what services and support should HR provide on a global basis, and what should it provide locally?

This is the first of two articles which explores the role of HR in a global organisation and attempts to answer these questions.

Firstly, by their very nature, Global organisations employ people across a wide range of diverse countries, with differing regulatory constraints, cultures and working practices. As a consequence, there will always be a business need to deliver HR practices and services on a local/country basis that complies with these requirements.

However, HR cannot be simply organised on a country by country basis because there are a number of other ‘global’ issues to consider.

For example, for most international organisations, the reality is that the value and performance of the business globally is influenced and driven by a relatively few key managers. It is vital therefore for the organisation to manage these key people as a group to ensure that their value and performance is maximized no matter where they are located.

In addition, it is also important for international organisations to provide consistency in HR policies and procedures globally so that all employees are treated on the same basis no matter where they are located.

Taking into account these differing needs, it makes sense for HR to be organised in the following two ways:

• Firstly HR needs to be organised on a global basis to ensure that the organisation employs best practice HR policies and applies them on a consistent basis globally. In addition, the global HR function has a role in supporting the senior management to maximise the performance and capability of the key managers.
• Secondly HR need to be organised on a ‘local’ or country basis to provide local HR services and support in each of the countries where the business is located.

The difference in the roles of global and regional HR will be explored in more depth in the following article.
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