International HRM

Raja Ramanathan
Head, Compensation and HR Operations
Bayer Canada
27-August-2009

Raja Ramanathan has over 25 years of experience in the Human
Resources Management in different industries and countries. Armed with a gold medal in Economics from the Madras University and a management education from IIM Ahmedabad, he worked in India, till 1984. He moved to the Middle East working with the Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait and the Arab Insurance Group setting
up and managing their International HR functions. He currently manages the international HR function for Bayer Canada. In addition to his job at Bayer, Raja teaches Human Resources Management at the Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Ontario. He has also co-authored a book, "The Itinerant Indian".

The web seminar conducted by Mr. Raja Ramanathan started off on an interesting and relevant note. Mr. Ramanathan mentioned that it was 5:30 a.m. in Toronto whereas it was 3:30 p.m. in India, and he was speaking to us from a place which was around 20,000 kilometres away - a classic example of how international teams are managed in a corporate organization.

The reasons given for firms going international were cost considerations, better technology and work practices, thereby exercising greater freedom to hire the best and incorporate new technologies. When a firm goes international, the main point it has to consider is how they would understand the culture of the place. This is very important since a wrong move or assumption on the part of the company could have a negative impact on the company.

Developing managers with international exposure and adaptability is also important because business approaches in two countries are generally very different. Firms should also consider how competent they are to start operating on a foreign soil. Compensation and employment laws in countries would also be different. Since compensation and cost considerations are two strong reasons why a firm might go international, the management should work out a way in which the employees would not bear the brunt of different compensation and employment systems.

International transfers are also seen frequently in corporate organizations. The main reasons for international transfers are: when the headquarters of a firm wants to exercise a greater degree of control by transferring someone of their choice, and when transfers are facilitated purely on the basis of technological reasons and needs.

The webinar gave a new perspective on international human resources management. For a firm to function smoothly on a foreign soil, it would require to unlearn and re-learn a few things. "In order to make a playfield level, you need to un-level the playfield first", was what Mr. Ramanathan said as the signing-off remark.