MSc IB/ MA Mgt of HR Assignment criteria and essay guidelines 2017 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT MODULE HRMG5059 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Marks will be awarded on the basis of: • demonstrating an understanding of the subject matter • using a range of sources from the recommended reading and the wider literature, showing awareness and understanding of theoretical issues • showing a critical approach to the literature (rather than simply presenting others’ arguments) • constructing a logically sound and clear argument, answering the specific question asked in a focused way • presenting the work to an appropriate standard, i.e. title and section headings, proper labelling of tables and figures (if included), correct and full referencing with proper use of the Harvard referencing style, correct spelling and use of punctuation, straightforward and clear writing style. GUIDANCE FOR SPECIFIC QUESTIONS - – length 3,000 words (Essay) QUESTION 1 To what extent do Indian institutional and cultural factors influence MNCs’ transfer of HR practices? Justify your answer with relevant literature and examples. • The question invites you to assess the nature of Indian institutions and subsequently identify and discuss some cultural factors that could have an impact on MNCs in trying to implement HR practices in that country. Using examples from one or more HR practices, the assignment is expected to examine the concept of international transfer of practices within MNCs, and assess the nature and extent of transfer in the Indian host context. • The question is set in the broader debate on how MNCs balance the pressure to develop globally standardised policies while being locally responsive. It is anticipated that your analysis will also encompass the national culture, a range of issues such as labour reforms, the role of informal economy and what it entails for nature of work, organisation and social security for labour. • The assignment requires a clear identification of characteristic elements of the Indian cultural and institutional context and an indication of the way in which these specific features limit or shape the transfer of HR/employment practices by MNCs. Does the cultural and institutional distance between MNCs from developed countries and India mean that the transfer of HR practices is limited? Are some practices more or less likely than others to be transferred to the Indian context? Do transferred practices operate in the same way as in their parent company, or do they have to be ‘adapted’ to the Indian context? You need to consider these questions using empirical evidence from studies of MNCs in India. Recommended Reading • Agarwala, R. (2006), ‘From work to welfare: a new class movement in India’, Critical Asian Studies, 38:4, 419-444 • Agarwala, R. (2008) Reshaping the social contract: emerging relations between the state and informal labour in India, Theory and Society, 37: 375-408 • Bhattacherjee, D and Ackers, P. (2010) ‘Introduction: employment relations in India- old narratives and new perspectives’, Industrial Relations Journal, 41/2: 104-121 • Hammer, A (2014) ‘Emerging economies: Employment relations in China and India’, in Beardwell, J. and Thompson, A. Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Approach, 7th ed, Pearson • Hammer, A. (2010) Trade unions in a constrained environment: workers’ voices from a NIZ in India, Industrial Relations Journal, 41:2, 168-183: good for constraints, especially unions • Harriss-White, B. (2003) ‘Inequality at work in the informal economy: key issues and illustrations, International Labour Review, 142, 4: 459–69 • James, A. and Vira, B. (2010) ‘Unionising the new spaces of the economy? Alternative labour organizing in India’s IT enabled services- BPO industry’, Geoforum, 41: 364-376 • K.R. Shyam Sundar (2010) Emerging Trends in Employment Relations in India, Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 45:4, 585-595: good for understanding main issues • Kuruvilla, S. and Erickson, C.L. (2002) ‘Change and transformation in Asian industrial relations’, Industrial Relations, 41 (2): 171-227 or Kuruvilla, S., Das, S., Hyunji, K. and Kwon, S. (2002) ‘Trade union growth and decline in Asia’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 40 (3): 431-461 • Lerche, J (2012) Labour Regulations and Labour Standards in India: Decent Work? Global Labour Journal, 3 (1): 1-15 • Mezzadri, A. (2008) ‘The rise of neo-liberal globalisation and the ‘new old’ social regulation of labour: a case of Delhi garment sector’, The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol. 51, No. 4, (available at http://core.kmi.open.ac.uk/download/pdf/2789377.pdf • Nath, V (2011) Aesthetic and emotional labour through stigma: national identity management and racial abuse in offshored Indian call centres, Work, employment and society, 25(4) 709–725 • Phillips, N (2011) ‘Informality, Global Production Networks and the Dynamics of “Adverse Incorporation”’, Global Networks 11/3: 380-97. • Witt, M. A. and Redding, G. (2013) ‘Asian business systems: institutional comparison, clusters and implications for varieties of capitalism and business systems theory’, Socio-Economic Review, 11/2: 265-300