Human Resources Management Practices in a Cross Cultural Environment : Bank of China

Abstract: Aim: With the tendency of globalization, the field of the human resource management (HRM) in multinational companies (MNC) becomes a heated topic. Being interested in this field, we choose Bank of China (BOC) to investigate what factors influence the process of transfer and adaptation of HRM practices for a Chinese bank in a cross cultural environment. Method: This work has been adopted qualitative method as the primary data by interviewed six respondents of managers and employees from BOC in China and Sweden by means of the face-to-face interview, e-mail, Skype and the online instant messaging software (QQ). Extant literature, books and online resources are the secondary data. Result & Conclusions: The result reveals that when transferring and adapting the HRM practices in a foreign country, MNCs are influenced by national and company level factors. At the national level, national culture and laws and regulations in the targeted country are the primary aspects while corporate culture of the targeted company and the strategic goals of the branches are the main factors at the company level. Suggestions for future research: This study only focuses on four main factors affecting the process of transfer and adaption of HRM process, which may not contain all factors. Besides, it is based on a case study with qualitative data, thus the research areas can be expanded to a broader domain and the research methods can be used in both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Last but not least, staffing performance can be a very interesting field to be investigated. Contribution of the thesis: We contribute with a model based on four factors to identify the process of transfer and adaptation of HRM practices in a MNC. We also make a unique contribution to empirical study of the process of HRM practices of a Chinese bank entering to Sweden. Finally, this model can be utilized as a tool of other MNCs when implementing HRM practices from the home country to the host country.