IJMB Journal – Abstracts
International Journal of Management and Business
IJMB Volume VII, Issue 1
Strategic Human Resource Management Success across Cultures: The Importance of Cultural and Emotional Intelligence
Robert H. Bennett III, Ashley B. Houser
Georgia Southwestern State University, Americus, Georgia
E-mail: Robert Bennet
ABSTRACT
Traditional Human Resource Management (HRM) and Strategic Management were brought together in the early 1990’s to create the popular concept of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM). SHRM has been popular in the West among firms wishing to align human capital with the overall mission and strategy of the organization, with the ultimate goal being sustainable competitive advantage. While SHRM calls generally for healthy linkage of human capital with strategic objectives, the SHRM literature has generated a number of lists of high performance HR management practices and policies. By engaging human capital very closely to the mission, objectives, and core competence of the firm, these prescriptive tenets are said to contribute to superior outcomes such as positive organizational culture, high morale and productivity, sustaining innovation and creativity, and sustained company success. Many of these directives have not adequately considered the complicating factors of human culture and globalization. We examine common and familiar SHRM directives in light of Hofstede’s classical cultural dimensions, which vary across the globe. Due to globalization, cross-cultural managers must be very flexible and sensitive in shaping HR direction as a means of creating competitive advantage in tune with the emotional and cultural nuances of the organization and its particular global location. We suggest that while SHRM strategic practices and policies are impactful, it is just as important to focus managerial attention and to train and develop cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence in key leaders and employees.
Keywords: Strategic Human Resource Management, high performance work practices and policies, Cultural Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
Click for full manuscript (PDF) or back to Volume 7-1, Table of Content.