Cultural Differences Between China And UK And Their Impact On Recruitment And Selection Procedure Of Management

Cultural Differences in HRM practices

Explain cultural differences between China and UK and how it has impacted the recruitment and selection procedure of management?

The influences of cultural differences on HRM practices in China are explored. The author has included cultural differences between China and UK and how it has impacted the recruitment and selection procedure of management. How the national differences affect the HRM policies in Chinese subsidiaries. As per Hofstede’s model Chinese culture is categorized high on power distance, low in individualism, moderate in uncertainty avoidance and masculinity and high on long-term orientation. Some leaders have focused few attributes of Chinese management in respect of hierarchy, orientation towards groups, an importance of decision making process which highlights reduction of conflicts and delegation of authority. The Chinese work value includes the management decisions are accepted as the final decisions; it has given emphasize on equality and conflicts avoidance. Recently China has changed its strategy from collectivism and high power distance to a mix of collectivism and lower power distance. Individual-led management culture marks the Chinese control and it, gives the employee more authority and responsibility (Heimburger et al.2014).

In contrast to Chinese culture and management practices, the UK focuses on individualism, comparatively little on avoiding uncertainty and power gap and high on masculinity and femininity. Further, it is characterized by individual performance, change, and less influence is minimized, it is focusing more on individualism, reduced power distance that is very high on UK. The respect to supervisors, harmonious industrial relations are encouraged. ‘egalitarian’ values explain Chinese strategy on pay and reward system. The study revealed how the cultural differences have affected the Chinese subsidiaries in UK  and the adoption of local practices(Waheed et al.2015).

As far as the recruitment is concerned before 1978, the recruitment and selection had little significance and most of the organizations were state owned and are provided welfare coverage that is job security, wage, and importance to seniority. Therefore, business organizations are governed by the socialist state. In the process of transition, the market-oriented model has come in the scenario which has included termination and retrenchment policy as per operational needs to achieve business objectives (Bryson 2013). The change is due to the foreign investment in China that has changed the HRM practices and has given rise to competition among professionals and increased the salary of local recruits. A recent analysis has revealed that that understanding the cultural background is critical before hiring the candidates. There are two approaches to recruitment and selection one is psychometric and exchange methods. The first one describes few attributes that are intelligence, abilities based on that the candidates will be hired. So this approach provides the proper model of recruitment and selection by matching the person with the job profile to get the right candidate for the job. Exchange approach critically analyses psychometric perspective whether all the attributes are correctly applied or not (Waheed et al.2015).  As far the selection is, concerned employers spend less time to determine which selection process is appropriate rather they depends on the probation period to judge the employee performance and cost- benefit analysis of the period. Moreover, as per Chinese law, they do not pay in probation period and the duration of probation period is three months. In UK recruitment and selection are organized to fulfill the organization demand and labor market conditions. There are critical procedures involved in energy management to comply with Government legislation related to the matters of recruitment, the labor relations, and remuneration. Recently UK has developed many performances related pay schemes while the company has formulated retention policy for tenured employees (Calvo et al. 2013).  The Chinese organization is characterized by group work and flexibility whereas hierarchical decisions, and judgments are given importance in contrary with views of subordinates in China. The UK has given emphasis on performance and meeting target whereas Chinese organizations give a broader perspective. The performance appraisal in Chinese state-owned organization determined the bonuses and wage policy and applied for better communication and development in future. However, much Chinese society has replaced the concept of egalitarianism and ‘iron rice bowl’ and increasingly used organization work reform to implement appraisal, incentives system in the body. In contrast with that UK has structured work organization and has formal bureaucracy. By formulating more precise control and supervisory structure, it has designed a smooth career progressions plan and given career aspirations. The management style and approach aim to follow a  standard set by the company. The relationship between the superior and subordinate is more unbiased. Performance judges an individual employeeof performance. Recently the UK organization has undergone few changes and focused on building the more intensive strategy to influence the workforce, line managers and group works, assessment based on performance, flexibility in working arrangements, and it establishes a relationship of transparency and trust between employers and employee (Aspridis et al.2013).

Impact of Cultural Differences on Recruitment and Selection Procedure in China and UK

In past, there are more organized, and traditional practice and an adversarial role of labor were there in UK but recently the role of the trade union is reduced, but collective bargaining is still existing in some industries whereas trade union still plays a significant role in management in China. With the changing social, economic and political system China is adopting a more market-led system.  Thus, the Chinese MNC’s requires more internationalization process, which requires more change in management (Thoo and Kaliannan 2013).

The basic principles aim to reduce discrimination at a workplace in respect of gender or race, an abolition of child labor and workers are given the power to organize. The law also refers to duty hours and working conditions, minimum wages, holidays. The Chinese labor law defines working time that is fixed for 8 hours per day, and it constitutes 44 hours a week. The law confirms one day off per week, but as per Regulations on Employees’ Work Time 2 days per week (Louw 2013). As per the laws, overtime work is permitted after the discussion with trade union only in the emergency situation such as natural disaster or in other emergency situation. The duration of overtime work is 36 hours per month. Overtime worked on weekends will be paid at double rates and extra work performed on holidays will be paid three times more than the standard wages. In UK, only 26% members are union members whereas the private sectors presence of trade unions in the public sector is more compared to private sector. One third of all the employees in UK are covered by collective bargaining (Kelly 2012). The union will appoint the safety representatives to ensure health and security but for nonunion workplaces the employer will decide whether they will elect the safety representatives or the employees should be consulted directly. Non-union safety officials have less power compared to trade unions, as they cannot do the direct inspection (Wei and Zhizhang 2013).

With the significant social and economic changes, and the information gathered from focus group and from MNEs in China given a framework that analyzes work life balancing issues in China. China has the market driven economy, which focuses on private ownership and foreign investment. China has strong labor laws based on equality, negotiations which are impacted by the political system. Moreover, it covers working hours, leaves management, and compensation and workers migration to another company and which has affected their families. China has one-child policy that has reduced the child- dependency proportion is comparatively small(Afroze 2016). In China they have given importance to gender equality and more women are participating in the labor force.  In China, there is highly motivated workforce recruited by MNEs and given equal opportunity to both male and female. Family values exert special influence on lifestyle and decisions. They have adopted diversity in work culture created a workplace that facilitates development and learning opportunities for all the people. The Chinese companies have included health and well-being initiatives and employee assistance programs and developed stress reduction programs. It has focused on talent management perspective by developing and by training the employees and by retaining the best talent. Work-life initiatives also identify that workplace and workforce are rapidly changing, and organization needs to create a work culture to adopt the changes. Government policies and regulations have a significant impact on work-life regarding the working hours, overtime, and compensation (Kopteva 2013).

Recruitment and Selection Procedures in China and UK

UK organizations are more aware of balancing work life and implemented policies to reduce work pressure. Working hours for employees is 48  hours per week. Therefore, it focuses on long hours and hard work; all these are directed to create a balance in work-life. People are paid to work on bank holidays and paid incentives for the work. They have developed a policy EU directive that resisted the employee to work beyond 48 hours in a week. Technological changes and advancement have given an opportunity to work at different hours to reduce the geographical boundaries between the countries. Such organization facilitates a shift system to segregate three changes to distribute the employees in it to keep a proper balancing approach towards the job (Rouyendegh and Erkan 2013).

Reference List

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Calvo, N., Bastida, M. and Feás, J., 2013. A simulation tool for talent management in knowledge-intense firms. An opportunity for HR managers?.Global Business Perspectives, 1(3), pp.261-273.

Heimburger, D.C., Warner, T.L., Carothers, C.L., Blevins, M., Thomas, Y., Gardner, P., Primack, A. and Vermund, S.H., 2014. Recruiting post-doctoral fellows into global health research: selecting NIH Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellows. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 91(2), pp.219-224.

Kelly, J., 2012. Rethinking industrial relations: Mobilisation, collectivism and long waves. Routledge.

Kopteva, E., 2013. The model of strategic measurement as a basis of information provision of an enterprise’s value-oriented financial policy.International Journal of Advanced Studies, 2(1).

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Thoo, L. and Kaliannan, M., 2013. International HR Assignment in Recruiting and Selecting: Challenges, Failures and Best Practices. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 3(4), p.143.

Waheed, W., Hughes-Morley, A., Woodham, A., Allen, G. and Bower, P., 2015. Overcoming barriers to recruiting ethnic minorities to mental health research: a typology of recruitment strategies. BMC psychiatry, 15(1), p.1.

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