Michael Muller-Camen

Dynamics of Central Control and Subsidiary Autonomy in the Management of Human Resources: Case-Study Evidence from US MNCs in the UK

This article revisits a central question in the debates on the management of multinationals: the balance between centralized policy-making and subsidiary autonomy. It does so through data from a series of case studies on the management of human resources in American multinationals in the UK. Two strands of debate are confronted. The first is the literature on differences between multinationals of different national origins which has shown that US companies tend to be more centralized, standardized, and formalized in their management of human resources. It is argued that the literature has provided unconvincing explanations of this pattern, failing to link it to distinctive features of the American business system in which US multinationals are embedded. The second strand is the wider debate on the balance between centralization and decentralization in multinationals. It is argued that the literature neglects important features of this balance: the contingent oscillation between centralized and decentralized modes of operation and (relatedly) the way in which the balance is negotiated by organizational actors through micro-political processes whereby the external structural constraints on the company are defined and interpreted. In such negotiation, actors’ leverage often derives from exploiting differences between the national business systems in which the multinational operates.

Subsidiary responses to institutional duality: Collective representation practices of US multinationals in Britain and Germany

New institutionalist studies of human resource management in multinational companies argue that subsidiaries are faced with institutional duality-pressures to conform to parent company practices and to the local institutional environment in which they are based. To date, they have concentrated on how subsidiaries respond to parent company pressures. This article considers how subsidiary management responds to both parent company demands and host country pressures in trying to reconcile the challenges of institutional duality. It focuses on how such responses are shaped by the interdependence of subsidiary management with the parent company and the local environment. It does so by comparing case study evidence of collective representation practices in US-owned subsidiaries in Britain and Germany.

A typology of international human resource management strategies and processes

This paper develops a framework of international human resource management (IHRM) that moves beyond strategy and structure to focus on processes. The results of six case studies of large German multinational corporations in three countries show different configurations of IHRM strategies and policies. International knowledge flows and coordination varied in intensity, content, direction and mechanisms used. With ‘cognofederate’ IHRM one type was identified that has been hitherto neglected.

Changes in Academic Work and the Chair Regime: The Case of German Business Administration Academics

Today universities around the world are becoming subject to audits and evaluations that not only open them to outside scrutiny, but also force them to compete with each other for students, staff and funding. This development is supposed to lead to radical changes to academic work in business schools. Whereas there is an intensive debate about this issue in the UK, much less is known about changes in higher education in other European countries. This paper will show through the example of German business administration academics that similar pressures might not lead to similar outcomes. In the German system, hierarchy will remain more important than the market for academic work. Although role conflicts seem to increase for academics at all hierarchical levels, the traditional regime is likely to resist any far-reaching changes.

Between home and host country: multinationals and employment relations in Europe

Foreign-owned firms employ a significant proportion of the European workforce. This varies considerably between countries but in manufacturing, where the figures are highest, it generally represents more than 10 per cent of employment (see Table 1). Furthermore, it increased strongly between 1985 and 1995. Foreign-owned transplants are likely to provide a challenge for national systems of employment relations (ER) in Europe. They represent the most visible manifestation of the influence of global pressures on national economies and societies. However there is only limited empirical evidence to support such an assessment. Existing research has largely concentrated on the behaviour of US and Japanese multinational companies (MNCs). This suggests that US firms in Europe have transferred practices from their home country and thereby challenged national systems of collective representation and bargaining and acted as HR innovators in areas such as pay and work organisation (Almond, Edwards and Muller, 2001; Ferner, forthcoming). Innovations by Japanese firms have mainly been in the area of work organisation (Elger and Smith, 1998; Morris, Wilkinson and Munday 2000). The more limited research about ER practices of firms from other countries suggests that they also transfer home country practices, but in a way that is less challenging to their

National institutions and employers’ age management practices in Britain and Germany: ‘Path dependence’ and option exploration

We pursue a comparative analysis of employers’ age management practices in Britain and Germany, asking how valid ‘convergence’ and ‘Varieties of Capitalism’ theories are. After rejecting the convergence verdict, we proceed to ask how far ‘path dependence’ helps explain inter-country differences. Through 19 interviews with British and German experts, we find that firms have reacted in different ways to promptings from the EU and the two states. Change has been modest and a rhetoric-reality gap exists in firms as they seek to hedge. We point to continuities in German institutional methods of developing new initiatives, and the emerging role of British NGOs in helping firms and the state develop new options. We argue that ‘path dependence’ offers insight into the national comparison, but also advance the idea of national modes of firm option-exploration as an important way of conceptualizing the processes involved.

Reporting on sustainability and HRM:a comparative study of sustainability reporting practices by the world's largest companies

As a response to the growing public awareness on the importance of organisational contributions to sustainable development, there is an increased incentive for corporations to report on their sustainability activities. In parallel with this has been the development of ‘Sustainable HRM’ which embraces a growing body of practitioner and academic literature connecting the notions of corporate sustainability to HRM. The aim of this article is to analyse corporate sustainability reporting amongst the worlds largest companies and to assess the HRM aspects of sustainability within these reports in comparison to environmental aspects of sustainable management and whether organisational attributes – principally country-of-origin – influences the reporting of such practices. A focus in this article is the extent to which the reporting of various aspects of sustainability may reflect dominant models of corporate governance in the country in which a company is headquartered. The findings suggest, first and against expectations, that the overall disclosure on HRM-related performance is not lower than that on environmental performance. Second, companies report more on their internal workforce compared to their external workforce. Finally, international differences, in particular those between companies headquartered in liberal market economies and coordinated market economies, are not as apparent as expected.

Contemporary developments in Green (environmental) HRM scholarship

This article reviews the contemporary literature on Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) to contextually frame the seven articles appearing in this Special Issue. Review findings reveal the embedded nature of GHRM workplace-level practices and additional research needing to focus on HR systems, individual behaviors and emerging theoretical lenses. As a set, the articles herein span green recruitment, competencies, employee participation, financial/environmental performance links, and contextual issues utilizing national culture, paradox, and stakeholder theories. By recognizing such multi-level dynamics, HRM scholars and practitioners can enhance GHRM initiatives that stimulate progress toward workplace environmental sustainability.

HRM in the German Business System: A Review

Human resource management in Germany is deeply rooted in its institutional environment. Thus, US style HRM cannot be simply transferred to the German context. Nevertheless, the German business system is not hostile to HRM principles. Rather, these practices have to be adapted to the demands and constrains of the German socio-economic context. The key labour market institutions of collective bargaining, co-determination, and initial vocational training in particular require a pluralist style of human resource management. As our review suggests, these institutions support the implementation of some HRM principles while inhibiting others. Also, the concept of Strategic HRM in Germany may only be fully understood against the background of labour market institutions.

Trade union responses to ageing workforces in the UK and Germany

Ageing workforces are placing conflicting pressures on European trade unions in order to, on the one hand, protect pensions and early retirement routes, and, on the other, promote human resource management (HRM) policies geared towards enabling their older members to extend working life. Using interviews from German and United Kingdom (UK) trade unions, we discuss how unions are both constrained and enabled by pre-existing institutional structures in advocating approaches to age management. In Germany, some unions use their strong institutional role to affect public policy and industrial change at national and sectoral levels. UK unions have taken a more defensive approach, focused on protecting pension rights. The contrasting varieties of capitalism, welfare systems and trade unions’ own orientations are creating different pressures and mechanisms to which unions need to respond. While the German inclusive system is providing unions with mechanisms for negotiating collectively at the national level, UK unions’ activism remains localized.