om Poland and shoes from Brazil. Competition comes not only from recognized industrial nations, but also from developing nations and the former Soviet Union.
Globalization means that companies are no longer competing on a local, regional or even national basis; instead, companies now have operations throughout the world. This means that there are employees based in many different countries, even though they all work for the same organization. This can be a particularly challenging situation for the human resources department since it is up to the department to ensure that all employees enjoy the benefits of working for the organization, and that employees performing similar tasks in different countries are fairly remunerated for their work.
It is the responsibility of the human resources department to be aware of the various legal and environmental factors which vary from country to country in order to attract and retain the highest quality workers regardless of the country in which the company operates. In some cases, that means relocating nationals from one country to another, which can bring with it problems of diversity and cultural differences. In other cases, it means that the human resource department takes an active role in helping to develop workers who might not otherwise possess the skills needed to succeed in the company (Haque & Kim, 1995, p. 580).
The globalization of the world market also means that companies will have to learn new ways of managing employees as employees in any given country come from a number of countries. This situation is already acute in the United States, but countries such as those in western Europe also will have to reach new management techniques that enable a manager from one country to supervise employees from other countries while reporting to a supervisor from yet a different country (Massie, 1987, p. 205). These different cultures coming together in the workplace demand a high...