Maximising Human Intelligence Deployment in Asian Business

The human resource management (HRM) function in multinational firms is being forced to develop in order to be able to fulfil the need to effectively manage an ever leaner and more divergent global work-force. This book examines the HRM functions of multinational firms who are engaged within Asia, and Asian firms who are venturing outside of their national boundaries through foreign direct investment flows and merger and acquisition activity across their immediate borders. Using a model called The Sixth Generation, the editors show how HRM functions must progress beyond their current role in order to help their firms to effectively operate with 'outsiders'. This capability has been missing from the traditional Confucian models upon which business in the Asian region has been based. Contributions show how HRM teams can help firms to elaborate their perceptions of the organizational systems in which they find themselves embedded. By making explicit knowledge which firms have traditionally found to be tacit and difficult to enunciate, human resource management departments can share valuable knowledge throughout multinational organizations. The authors examine the interlinking of human intelligence with the strategic management of the firm and outline development strategies that may be employed in joint venture HRM functions based on psychosocial theories. The book concludes by considering the 'us and them' syndrome and shows how, through the development of cultural literacy, we may ameliorate difficulties which arise through misperceptions by us of the others. This book will help HRM managers and CEOs of multinational firms in their quest for a better way to deploy their staff and shows how human intelligence deployment may be the way to improve long-term profitability of their firms if considered as part of a global human resources strategy.