Human Resource Management in UK and Japan (Essay Sample)

Comparison, contrast and evaluation of Human Resource Management in UK and Japan
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Introduction
Human resource management and development in international scenery remains one of the key challenges regarding multinational ventures since it involves the employment, development as well as the rewarding of individuals in international firms (Dowling et al., 2008). This essay will compare, contrast and evaluate human resource in UK and Japan to give an insight into each country’s Human resource management, differences in specific human resource practices and how institutional as well as cultural aspects shape human resource management.
Overview of HRM in the UK
According to Dowling et al. (2008), in the UK, there is a high delegation regarding the human resource management responsibility leading to the reduction of trade unions’ roles. The firms in the UK apply a system of recruitment highly based on the position. Brewster & Tyson (2001) argues that it is done through an open competition to ensure that recruitment is in accordance with the guidelines that are established. In the HR decisions, the firms in the UK considerably use the performance assessment in the form of annual meeting where the immediate supervisor gives a feedback. In payment and remuneration, the bonuses, as well as the base salary, are established by a collective bargaining that is centralized. For example, in the civil service, there is an annual revision of the base salary. According to Carr (2006), the country’s base salary is set by determining the employee experience, the content of the job, performance as well as qualifications. Brewster & Mayrhofer (2012) argue that in the UK, promotions are done based on the competence of the employee and there aren’t formal promotion restrictions between hierarchical grades. Working conditions is an important HRM element In the UK whereby an annual average of working hours is 1667 hours since 2010 due to less weekly hours of working and public holidays Brewster & Mayrhofer (2012).
Overview of HRM in Japan
According to Georgiadis & Pitelis (2012), unlike other countries of Asia, the Japanese culture’s collectiveness has been carried over to the firms. Japan embraces lifetime employment referring to core employees, excluding, seasonal employees, and part-timers as well as dispatched employees. It is practiced commonly by larger organizations implying to the keiretsu including the transfer of employees to another company. The country uses nenko as a payment system where the labor force joining a particular firm without the necessary experience gets low starting salary, but their salary rises steadily with age increment as well as seniority till retirement. But this system greatly depends on the lifetime employment (Brewster & Tyson, 2001). Regarding the labor relations, the country is based on "kigyo-nai kumiai" which is a union based on the Japanese enterprise. According to Nel 2(011), the "kigyo-nai kumiai" acts as a conciliatory during the negotiation of salary and ensures that there is a job security to its members. Usually, "kigyo-nai kumiai" pledges a behavior of corporation by their members if firms behave appropriately. In recruitment, Japan maintains a steady annual influx of new graduates that ensures that there is steady and stability regarding the Japanese firms. Frequently, the Japanese firms employ a sophisticated test as well as other devices of screening to help in the selection of high-quality recruits (Brewster & Tyson, 2001)
HRM and national institutional in the UK and Japan
According to Carr (2006), national institutions refer to activities as well as structures that offer the society with stability. These systems include the social, political and family structures. This kind of establishments helps in the shaping of the firms since they are built into the society’s fabric and constraint as well as aid in the setting of the conditions of the firm's actions. Brewster & Tyson (2001) reiterates that in UK, economic factor is one of the most important elements that have drastically changed the practices of HRM. In the last seven years, UK’s economic condition has advanced drastically founded on the Country’s strong rule of law, a trading environment that is open, as well as its open financial system. The country’s liberal market of labor matches UK’s effective environment of business (Georgiadis & Pitelis, 2012). According to Redman & Wilkinson (2002), these economic conditions are directly linked to the labor market as well as the supply of labor. This consequently affects firms’ patterns of selection as well as recruitment. In a great way, the country’s economic stability has greatly influenced the Human Resource Management practices on training and development, selection, and recruitment as well as practices on reward management. According to Georgiadis & Pitelis (2012), the political factor is also another institutional Human Resource Management element having a great impact in the UK. In the last few years, UK has been stable politically amid Europe’s political turbulence. To some extent, government policies have an impact on the practices of the Human Resource Management. For instance, in the UK, the minimum wage set by the government is very high. This poses a great challenge to the Human Resource managers in coping with this concern since it increases the firms’ labor cost that is a major proportion of the UK’s manufacturing firms. Crawley et al. (2011) reiterates that UK’s political factors also have a great impact regarding the process of recruitment. For instance, employees are not required to discuss the subject of politics at their workplace. Also, the government of UK monitors the practices of Human Resource Management such as the system of pay as well as incentives hence Human Resource managers have a responsibility of ensuring that the government rules and regulations are executed by each and every firm (Brewster & Tyson, 2001)
In Japan, HRM and national institutional factors have a great impact in the country. By the nominal GDP, Japan’s economy is the third largest in the globe. This is influenced by the country’s large industry of automobile as well as the industry of electronic goods. This also has a great effect on the country’s Human Resource Management practices (Nel, 2011). According to Branine (2011), the recruitment and selection of the workforce working in the automobile and the electronic industries are highly linked with the labor market as well as the labor supply. The high demand regarding the certain skilled labor also has a great influence on the firms’ strategies of training as well as development. Nel (2011) argues that in 2015, the minimum wage in Japan increased from764 JPY/Hour to 780 JPY/Hour. This was due to economical parameters such as DGP as well as per capita income. Minimum wage is an important component of Human Resource Management practices since it helps in the establishment of compensation and other benefits. In Japan, demographic factors are also an important institutional facet of the country (Blyton & Turnbull, 2004). Over the years, firms in Japan have kept the balance of gender as an important HRM practice. The job designs, considerations are also made to ensure that there is a balance between work and job. Therefore, demographic factors have a great influence on the practices of HRM linked to recruitment, HR planning as well as security in the workplace (Needle, 2010).
HRM and cultural factors in the UK and Japan
According to Branine (2011), there is a lot of questioning regarding the universality of culture in Human Resource Management practices. Numerous human resource policies practiced effectively in one country may be inappropriate when applied to another country and vice versa. Branine (2011) further argues that in the United Kingdom, pay for performance schemes are applied to reward employees if they effectively undertake a particular measurement of performance for efficiency as well as quality. It penalizes workers poor results as well as increased costs on the other hand Japan employs quality circles. The quality circles refer to a collection of employees undertaking a similar task. According to Aswathappa & Dash (2008), this group frequently meets to identify, examine as well as solve job-connected problems. The group comprising few members and frequently managed by supervisors comes up with management solutions so as to improve the organizational performance as well as motivate the workers.
There is also a great influence regarding national culture in the strategic decision making as well as practices of the human resource management (Branine, 2011). Several practices of the human resource have a definite trait linked to that particular country. In Japan, there is a policy on lifetime employment; however, it is unpopular in the UK (Aswathappa & Dash, 2008)
Cole (2004) argues that compared to the UK, firms in Japan are usually described as having a high rate of informal communication which is an important element of corporate success. These tendencies are traced by the management theory of the culture of collectiveness value instead of individualism as well as the desire of restraining the responsibility of an individual. Japanese believe in a decentralized decision-making practices amid the combined responsibility of collectiveness (Blyton & Turnbull, 2004). This helps in promoting employee commitment to the organizations as well as a sense of loyalty and contribution. On the contrary, the UK firms apply formal procedures of corporate planning whereby...