The Modern Business in Comparative Perspective

One of every economy’s most valuable resources and a crucial driver of long-term competitiveness is its human capital (Sung and Choi 2014). In fact, managing human resources is more difficult than managing capital or technology, and any economy needs an effective human resource management system to manage them effectively. Sound HRM techniques and abilities should be part of the HRM system. HRM practices are actions taken to manage a group of people in order to make sure that they are used to achieve economic objectives.

The effectiveness of human resource techniques and skills, among other factors, affects a nation’s competitiveness and prosperity. HRP plays a crucial role in anyeconomy since it involves bringing people with different talents to achieve economic objectives. Also, the economies are working within the HRM laws to ensure that they achieve the level of competitiveness without violating the internal trade regulations (Sung and Choi 2014). Nonetheless, the economies improve skills such as technical, engineering, and research to achieve competitive level. In fact, economies meet long-term objectives by maintaining and enhancing the right skills. Therefore, the collaborative-based selection and recruitment, innovation, laws, training, and remuneration make an economy achieve competitiveness and long-term goals.

A competitive recruitment and motivation practices enhance the level of the competitiveness of an economy (Sung and Choi 2014). That is, general recruitment method assists a country to employee qualified people. For example, in the US, the government used the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) to review the national recruitment competitive tools employed by different departments. The process aimed at providing the General Assembly with the recruitment examination to determine the level of employees’ competitiveness. Sung and Choi (2014) argue that when the government agencies conduct competitive recruitment, it motivates the applicants. That is, people become satisfied that the process was conducted fairly thus they work hard towards attainment of country’s economic goals. For example, the employees at US Department of Justice derive satisfaction from the work they do since they believed that they were hired rightfully. The achievement by the US Department of Justice reveals that once a country adopts good HRP, employee’s productivity improves considerably (Cooke, Saini, and Wang 2014).HR managers should adopt structures and practices that enhance commitment and compliance in an organization.

A competitive collaborative-based recruitment and selection practices determine the level of success of developed economies. The recruitment and selection techniques emphasize on both social and technical criteria. Tewarie and Escalante(2016) argue that if a country weighs both “social and technological criteria” in a selection process, employees would be more productive (p.38). In other words, an employer should consider the social and technological condition where an employee would work. Therefore, including applicants in the selection and recruitment process makes them confidence and contribute significantly to the progress of the country. For example, they might give their opinion on the practices they deem necessary to achieve long-term goals such as infrastructure development.

A competitive collaborative-based recruitment further enhances problem-solving skills in the country. For example, France realized a nominal GDP of $2.4 trillion due to employment of qualified people (Chadwick and Raver 2015). However, if the government fails in the selection process, it ruins the entire system. Moreover, the selection process is expensive and requires time; therefore, undergoing the process again due to mistakesdrains a country’s resources. Thus, the process should be conducted holistically. Haughton and Allmendinger (2008) attest that collaborative-based selection process assists an organization to have employees who understand how their efforts affect others in the quest to accomplish a company’s goals.For example, in the US, the United States Federal Civil Service ensures that selection process consider competitive employees who have the ability to solve economic, social, and political problems (). In fact, the government entities or departments have competitive civil service system, which shows how employees address different problems in their areas of jurisdiction.

A competitive collaborative-based recruitment and selection practices enhance cooperative exchange among employees. That is, workers adapt to a social system in the organization, thus facilitate personal interaction. Ulrich (2013) and Haughton and Allmendinger(2008) found that when an employee better fit with the general pace or work and social environment, there is a creation of a favorable work environment. Therefore, the government ought to create a favorable environment, which improves productivity and innovation. Examples of economies that promote better work environment include China, US, and Australia. Employees in these economies are competitive since there is a positive employer-employee relationship. The chart (Appendix 1) reveals that the productivity of employees increased by 7.7% in Netherland from 2012 to 2013. There is a great margin compared to Belgium, which had zero.

Further research shows that industries in Belgium have not accepted social reforms or created a favorable environment to facilitate cooperative exchange (Gregg and Wadsworth 2010). As such, employees are not motivated to increase productivity, which in turn affect the level of competitiveness in the country. Renwick, Redman, and Maguire (2013) noted that interconnection between organization promotes long-term relationship and greater internal development of employees. In other words, employees learn new practices and behavior from other agencies, which is essential in improving productivity and unity. Lack of cooperative exchange practices leads to low productivity and GDP.

Competitive innovation enables economies to gain competitiveness in the international market. That is, economies adopt practices that promote innovation in the labor force. For example, China gained a global attention after investing heavily on technology such high speed rail, nuclear power, and supercomputing. Tewarie and Escalante (2016) assert that major economies such as China and US approach innovation in a holistic sense including new ways of doing things and new technology. The economies enshrine the learning of these technologies by ensuring employees engage in research and development. Also, the government gives benefits such as medical allowances to motivate them.In other words, HR managers perceive new strategies to compete and gain a competitive advantage in the international market.For example, Arizona University collaborated with the China government to develop standard lithium-ion batteries (Fu et al., 2016). The technology would reduce pollution and store a high level of energy.

Competitive HRM laws placed by major economies such as the US enhance international competitiveness. The laws governing the implementation and practices of the HRM relate to work relations and recruitment. For instance, the Fair Work Act 2009 as implemented by the Australian government requires the government institutions to observe the rights of the employee, the remuneration, and work environment (Australian Government 2017). The employees have the right to form unions at workplaces. The fact is that associations help the workers to have high collective bargaining power, which is essential in improving confidence at the workplace. For example, The Fair Work Act 2009 division 4 requires the employers to observe the terms of employment and allow workers to bargain for better terms of employment (Australian Government, 2017). The section is essential in promoting a good relationship between the employer and employee. The relationship enables Australia to gain a competitive advantage since if employer observes the regulations, employees concentrate on the work. In fact, the productivity of employees increases due to a favorable working environment.Buchanan and Oliver (2016) assert that the Fair Work Act 2009 allows the employers (Government) to adopt practices such as team-building to improve work relation in the departments. Also, the managers understand to enable employees to join in the development of policies.

Equal Pay Act of 1963 provides a competitive edge for the economies. The act stipulates that employees should receive equal compensation regardless of sex or gender (Buchanan and Oliver, 2016). Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) established the minimum pay and employment standards affecting employees. For example, in 2009, the FLSA entitled employees to a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour in the US. The payment helped the employees to become competitive hence produced a high volume of work. The high output ensured that the US government increased its GDP by 4% from 2008 (Buchanan and Oliver, 2016). Compared to major economies such as China, US realized higher economic growth due to the implementation of Equal Pay Act of 1963. Soon, China followed the suite whereby the government pays women and women depending on the work output. The Equal Pay Act 1963 assisted the government managers to adopt practices such as equality to enhance competitiveness. That is, administrators ensure that employ’s compensation aligns with work.

Competitive collaborative-based training and personal career development practices stimulate long-term employment contracts and retention capacity. When a country invests in its human resource and social capital, it encourages development. Sung and Choi (2014) allude that socialization processes encourage newcomers in the government institutions and companies to recognize the importance of social interaction. Training techniques and practices such as mentoring and e-learning enable an employee to establish the social network and social exchange. In the process, employees can receive critical skills and knowledge required to drive the economy forward. For example, United States Department of Labor (2016) reports that they improve their workers’ competitiveness through collaborative-based training strategies such as enhanced transition jobs demonstration, federal bonding program, and innovation and opportunity network program. The programs not only improve the creation of new ideas and behavior but also enable the workers to finish work in time.

Comprehensive HRP embedded on the organization culture and structures improvetraining, which focuses on integrating employees and relationship building. As such, employees from different departments ensure the organization achieves its objective as required. In fact, the departments can measure the achievement of short-term goals, which is necessary for estimating long-term goal achievement. Collaborative training emphasizes on social fit and blending the technical competence of a country’s employees (Ulrich 2013). That is, through training, employees can share a common perspective and language to accomplish the work. However, if the HRP are poorly implemented, employees feel unappreciated and recognized. Thus, they consider job opportunities in other countries such as Netherlands. Also, the country might experience skilled labor due to lack of training. As such, they experience slow competition and growth.

Competitive practices such as equal rights to employees exercised in a country or industries help in the creation of interdependencies among employees. Arguably, teamwork allows employees to become familiar with the problems and needs, which stimulate them in exchanging ideas. Renwick, Redman and Maguire (2013) poised that interpersonal exposure to interdependencies open up the avenue through which employees exchange their view and research on how to achieve long-term goals. Also, employees discuss the global approaches required to achieve competitive advantage. Renwick, Redman and Maguire (2013) further provide that interdependencies assist in reciprocal workflow, social support, and feedback from others. In other words, well-structured HRP such as the establishment of a social network in the industries promote positive employment outcome.

More specifically, Mello (2014, p.144) found that interconnectivity within the industry helps in promoting network centrality, friendship ties, and ”interpersonal behavior”. Thus, workers share skills required to address problems experienced in the global market. In case, there is a lack of interdependencies between government departments, it’s hard to achieve long-term development such as infrastructure development. For example, despite the UK government announcement of £5 billion to boost housebuilding industry, it is hard to find the right employees (Haughton and Allmendinger 2008). That is, the government could not find skilled workers due to lack of HRP implementation in the past. Therefore, UK experienced competitiveness in 2015 despite the input of strategies such as offset labor cost of bricklayers.

Competitive labor standards enable a country or industry to establish explicit rewards. For example, competitive remuneration is a mean of recognizing the efforts of an employee. Developed economies such as the US evaluate the wage bill yearly to ensure that the remuneration matches with the economic growth. For example, based on the US Census Bureau Report on Income and Poverty, the medium household income was approximate $51, 939 in 2013 (Fu et al. 2016). However, the compensation might differ depending on the role. The total pay range for Police Officer in the US is $30,757 and $81,485. On the other hand, the Police Officer is paid between $26,000 and$80,000 in China (Fu et al. 2016). The compensation in these economies almost looks similar. Mello (2014) asserts that HRP that encourage equitable compensation or reward assists in promoting goal-oriented cooperation. Thus, employees focus on the long-term goals of the country as well as become innovative.

A competitive reward system enhances productivity and encourage competency of employees (Sung and Choi, 2014). For example, a competitive remuneration in US helps them to attract talented employees across the world. The average wage for civil servants in the US is $14,000 annually while China is $6,468 (Fu et al., 2016). The large gap between the countries forces experts from China to search for jobs in US. Therefore, countries should ensure that theirfirms pay according to the output of an employee.

Ulrich (2013) adds that it is important also to establish performance feedback before deciding on the reward system to adopt. Performance feedback is adequate since the work output is reflected on the organization’s performance. Performancefeedback makes it easy to pay an employee depending on his/her efforts. However, if the government assumes that departments perform well due to shared tasks and goals, it would take long term to achieve long-term goals.

Employee skills in a country are the major factor in policy making in the UK. Adequate skills in a country are means of achieving higher levels of productivity, employment, and prosperity. From the traditional perspective, UK relied on promoting the supply of skills through public-funded investment (Haughton and Allmendinger 2008). However, the method did not work as a root to productivity and competitiveness since it did not match the international standards. Since then, the country experienced the lack of adequate skills employees. Ford(2016) provides that despite the high demandforhousing in the UK, there was the shortage of skilled workers to work in the real estate to meet the demand. The authors recommended that UK government should invest in talents and competencies required to meet the future challenges(Haughton and Allmendinger 2008). The situation justifies that adequate skills in the economy improve productivity and competitiveness.

The rapid changes experienced in the global environment sends a message to the countries that they require world class skills laborers. Economies such as the UK have been working on their labor market to structure theirworkforce to rebalance the economy.Chadwick and Raver (2015) emphasize that if a country needs to realize long-term prosperity and growth, the department of labor should improve its workforce. That is, improving the laborers means that people should undergo training to gain the required skills necessary to handle specific jobs. Countries require qualified engineers, technicians, agronomists, doctors, and scientists to ensure sustainable growth.

The UK is investing more in skills to support its value chain and build its presence in the market (Bosworth 2014). The UK government realized that the future development lies in the development of human capacity. On the other hand, developed countries such as the US have dominated the market since they provide highly skilled labor. In fact, the US experienced a high level of development compared to other nations across the globe. The fact that developed economies are investing in improving employees skills, they are experiencing high profitability and productivity.Therefore, countries focusing on attaining and maintaining high skilled workers experience high competitiveness and achievement of long-term goals. On the other hand, countries with limited skilled labors import them from other nations since they cannot achieve competition required in the global market.

The skills required by developed countries such as the US and the UK include technological expertise. There is clear evidence that products and processes are becoming sophisticated, which requires workers to have high technical skills. Based on the UK Commission’s Employer Skill Survey 2013, it reveals that UK would increase labor skills in technology by 26% (Arrfelt et al., 2015). That is, the government is interested inincreasing the number of students joining tertiary institutions to gain the required skills to facilitate production in industries. In fact, the government ensured that employees with technological skills acquire more learning in other countries such as Israel. Arrfelt et al. (2015) noted that countries such as Belgium, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand are overtaking the UK since the government invests more on human capital. For example, the economies are providing the scholarship to students who perform well in sciences to specialize areas such as engineering and technology.

Although other countries are overtaking the UK, the government has decided to improve the skills among adults. The government decided to engage in the process since the larger part of working employees are above 45 years. Thus, the UK has gained the competitive advantage in the global market since it undertook the initiative.On the other hand, economies such as Finland fail to obtain global competitiveness due to high populations are at the intermediary level.

The younger workforce has innovative skills necessary to achieve long-term goals of an economy. That is, young people develop processes and products, which the country requires meeting economic growth and needs of individuals. For example, apart from younger people acquiring skills through the education system, they research knowledge on the Internet to improve skills required to improve or develop capital goods, improve technological processes, and make work easier. Therefore, economies such as the UK and the US are investing in young people since they have the potential of living the dreams of the countries.

In conclusion, HRP determines the level of competitiveness since it affects the employee’s morale. The best HRP to boost competitiveness include collaborative-based recruitments and selection, innovation, laws, and remuneration. Also, skills, which countries require, include technical knowledge, engineering, and scientific. The skills are necessary for addressing the complexity brought by the effect of globalization. More research is required to determine the way of maintaining best HRP in developing economies.

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Appendix 1: Employee’s Productivity

Source: Gregg and Wadsworth (2010)