What Human Resources departments need to do to hire good employees? In 1817, the economist David Ricardo was among the first to articulate the theoretical validity of globalization, in his treatise on the laws of comparative advantage, which established the benefits of specialization and trade. The overwhelming force of that argument has stood the test of time and continues to shape the way that individuals, firms and national economies interact with each other. But globalization to him meant standing at the docks, awaiting the arrival of a ship—that’s changed a bit.
At the enterprise level, globalization imposes a relentless, sometimes cruel, economic discipline that emphasizes efficiency, productivity and delivery of value to the customer. There are relatively few entities that are able to shield themselves from these demands. Even those that do, through tariff walls or other protectionist measures, find it is often a temporary respite.
Again, we must remember this is a process that has been in progress for centuries. It has proven mostly futile to try to deny or obstruct it—our organizations are required to play on a global field. For the HR practitioner, it means a new definition, a new way of looking at the marketplace. We are now in a position where business input, including labor, can be sourced globally, and where the customer can be thousands of miles away from the place of production.
Globalization also means collaboration among teams and across borders. We have clear academic research that demonstrates how well-managed heterogeneous teams nicely outperform homogenous teams. This impacts the way that managers assemble teams of people and leverage
a variety of cultures, behaviors and skill sets to deliver optimum productivity and creativity.
It raises the question, then: how is the HR function being adapted to think and operate globally? If it’s not global today, it will be in the near future, whether it wants to be or not. Let there be no mistake, its customers and partners certainly will be.
Tags: departments, employees, hire, HUMAN, resources