Raymond Miles introduced the term ‘human resources' in 1965 after the evidence that human beings and human relations were changing in the company's environment. Human resources is considered as an ‘umbrella' gathering several different approaches rather than a single theory. All these approaches have in common the idea that human resources management ‘recognizes the vital role that human resources play in organization' (Schuler, 1987). Indeed, ‘human resources management is a modern term for what has traditionally been referred o as personnel administration or personnel management' (Byars and Rue, 1987).
In order to understand the importance of human resources management and to see how it is influenced by cultures and nations, we are going to compare two situations in two really different countries such as France and China. The cultural gap between those two countries is wide, and the way how people are managed as a factor of production differs depending on the social culture of each of these countries.
[...] Section Convergences and divergences of the two models France and China are, as we shown, two different countries that have their own culture and their own HRM systems. The French one can be considered as a best-fit model (soft HRM) and the Chinese one as a hybrid model (towards soft HRM). Between those two models, it exists divergences and convergences, and of course, the French model influences the Chinese one and vice versa. But first of all, the major divergence resides in the fact that France is a developed country and China is still considered as a developing country with a annual growth rate close to 9%. [...]
[...] In addition, a period of formation is obligatory for every employee, and a French worker can terminate or charge his employer if he cannot take this time properly to increase his skills . Concerning the recruitment processes, the two systems are really different but tend to converge. In deed, the mobility in the labour market is high in France (Louise Blondin, 2002). People can move several times from a company to another, the only skills, experience and motivation are retained in the recruitment process and a person can go to and leave a company whenever she wants (Pichault, 1993). [...]
[...] In deed, the Chinese culture is ‘collectivistic' (Earley, 1989), where ‘chinese individuals tend to identify themselves as a part of a specific group, team, or unit, and important distinction is made between ‘insiders' and ‘outsiders' (Bond, 1996), in comparison with France where individualism is much more important. The person itself is more considered as a core value in France even if this entity has to be considered in an holistic approach where the individual is a part of whole; which implies that the French HRM model and strategies are individually-oriented. [...]
[...] Even if Chinese model is converging to the West European one, an hybridization phenomenon of the both models could define more accurately the changes that are occurring in Chinese and French HRM policies and management practices. An increasing development of globalization accompanied with a cultural evolution will probably lead to the creation of a Chinese model that will maybe influence in return the ‘West European model' or at least compete with it. Appendixes Hofstede analysis comparing China and France Source: Powerpoint presentation, Thomas Sabatier Hull Hofstede diagrams Source: HYPERLINK "http://www.geert-hofstede.com/" http://www.geert- hofstede.com/ Source: HYPERLINK "http://www.geert-hofstede.com/" http://www.geert- hofstede.com/ Source: HYPERLINK "http://www.geert-hofstede.com/" http://www.geert- hofstede.com/ Source: HYPERLINK "http://www.geert-hofstede.com/" http://www.geert- hofstede.com/ References Beardwell, J. [...]
[...] Byars, L.L., Rue, L.W Human resource management, 7th Edition, New York, Mc Graw Hill Irwin Child, J., A foreign perspective on the management of people in China. International Journal of Human Resource Management : 93-107. Ding, D.Z., Warner, M., Re-inventing' China's industrial relations at enterprise level: An empirical field-study in four major cities. In: Industrial Relations Journal 243-260. Economist, China's Economy - They Couldn't Keep It Down, Economist June 1:17-20. Gao, G., Ting-Toomey, S., & Gudykunst, W. B., Chinese communication processes. [...]
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