Benefits and challenges for Malaysian hotels when employing foreign workers and interns

Purpose In Malaysia, globalization has increased the number of multinational hotel chains and independent five-star hotels employing foreign professionals, interns and labourers. This study aims to explore the benefits and challenges for hotels of the many foreigners working in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Malaysian hotel managers concerning employment of foreign workers. Findings The results indicate that the employment of foreign workers benefits customers, enlarges the hotel’s network of industry contacts and enhances the knowledge, professionalism and service culture of the hotel workforce. This study identified challenges for the foreign workers such as culture shocks and problems with learning the Malay language. Research limitations/implications This is an exploratory qualitative study conducted prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. The unemployment issue is worsened as COVID-19 spreads globally. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is among the first study to examine the positive and negative impacts of foreign workers employment in hotels in Malaysia. Practical implications The employment of foreign workers reduces the availability of jobs for locals. Recommendations are provided for locals to improve their employability and for hotels to better host international interns. Social implications This study highlights the need for balance between the benefits of foreign workers employment, and its challenges such as local unemployment. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is among the first in the international human resources management literature to provide a first-hand perspective of employment of expatriate managers, foreign labourers and interns in hotels in a Southeast Asian developing country.

Employee Engagement a Conundrum in Indian Information Technology Companies

Employee engagement is the level of employees psychological involvement towards the organization and its values. It is learnt that when an employee is engaged, the employee is aware of his responsibilities and how it impacts the organizations vision. Current study intends to study the level of employee engagement of select IT companies in India. Top 05 companies were chosen from Chennai and Bangalore on the basis of NASCOM report. Study looked into various factors and the prevailing strategies adopted by the companies that facilitated employee engagement. Variables like Organizational climate, leadership, Job satisfaction, Employee Commitment and Employee Engagement were studied. The sample data was obtained from five major IT organizations in Chennai and Bangalore region. Selected organizations mainly comprises of the Software Developer’s Team under the Self Managed Team base. From the PLS model done, the study suggest the companies that the manifest variables organizational climate, employee commitment, leadership style and job satisfaction has a good loading and contributes to employee engagement in an effective way and the companies need to concentrate on these variables to achieve employee engagement. Originality/value- This study provides insightful findings in understanding the role of organizational competencies like job satisfaction and employee commitment play in facilitating employee engagement. This study also shows the importance of the demographic variables with employee’s engagement. In spite of the limitations of the research, the study contributed to the international human resources management by exploring the South Indian IT company’s context. The theoretical framework proposes the relationship between employee engagement, job satisfaction and employee commitment. The study has found that job satisfaction and employee commitment is correlated with employee engagement and serves as the important indicator for engaging employees

Protocol: Is there agreement or disagreement between the absolute and relative impact indices obtained from the Web of Science and Scopus data?

<p class="Abstract">This protocol justifies the relevance of the research questions that will be posed in future research that will address whether there are differences between the classifications of scientific journals depending on the impact factor indicators that are used: WoS (JCR ), and Scopus (CiteScore and SJR) and, if any, to what may be due. At the same time, the process to be followed to capture and analyze the data that will allow us to respond to the stated objectives is described in detail. Finally, the results of a pilot analysis focused on the 21 top journals of International Human Resources Management according to Caligiuri (1999) are presented. In it, we can verify that the correlation between JCR and CiteScore is practically perfect and that the quartiles of Scopus represent in a much more appropriate way than those of JCR the classification of these 21 as top journals of the category. It is still pending to carry out the complete investigation to verify if these results are generalizable to the field of economic and business sciences in global or to other sub-areas of this field.</p><p class="Abstract">----------------------</p>[Protocolo: ¿existe acuerdo o desacuerdo entre los índices de impacto absolutos y relativos obtenidos a partir de los datos de Web of Science y Scopus?<p class="Abstract">En este protocolo se justifica la pertinencia y relevancia de las preguntas de investigación que se van a plantear en una investigación futura que tratará si existen diferencias entre las clasificaciones de las revistas científicas dependiendo de los indicadores de factor de impacto que se manejen: WoS (JCR) y Scopus (CiteScore y SJR) y, en caso de haberlas, a qué puede ser debido. Al mismo tiempo, se describe de manera detallada el proceso a seguir para capturar y analizar los datos que nos permitirán responder a los objetivos planteados. Finalmente, se presentan los resultados de un análisis piloto centrado en las 21 revistas principales de Gestión de Recursos Humanos según Caligiuri (1999). En él, podemos comprobar que la correlación entre JCR y CiteScore es prácticamente perfecta y que los cuartiles de Scopus representan de manera mucho más adecuada que los de JCR la clasificación de estas 21 como revistas principales de la categoría. Queda pendiente realizar la investigación completa para comprobar si estos resultados son generalizables al campo de ciencias económicas y empresariales en global o a otras sub-áreas de ése campo.</p><p class="Abstract"><strong>Palabras clave:</strong> Protocolo; Revistas de impacto; Análisis de citas; bibliometría.]</p>

Culture and Managers in a Globalised World

The dynamic nature of the management function in global business today and the realisation that what works effectively in one country may not be as efficient in another has led management scholars and practising managers in continuous efforts to enhance their understanding of this environment and its effects to managers. This chapter explores management across cultures. The discussion starts with the origin and definition of cross cultural management; then it is focused on the study of the International Human Resources Management (IHRM). The final part discusses the profile of the international managers and the competencies needed to cope with the multiple challenges they are faced with in overseas assignments.

Differences in Competency Management – Comparative Analysis between Polish, Spanish, and Austrian Business Practices

The main goal of the article is to present some differences in the practice of competency management, perceived as a part of human resources management, that were identified in the empirical research conducted in three countries, that is Poland, Spain, and Austria. Our research is placed within cross-cultural HRM and comparative HRM, that together with corporate-international HRM make three theoretical and research streams within international human resources management (IHRM). This is because on one side, the analysis of the research data covers comparison of competency management systems and practices both at the organizational and national level in different countries, but on the other side, we make an attempt to discuss the possible influence of national culture on identified differences.