Comparative analysis of two HR systems

Thèmes abordés

RH, HRM, Singapore, Singapour, Ressources Humaines, HR systems, Analysis, Analyse, comparaison, french, français, singaporean

Résumé du document

Nowadays, each country has its own management style and possesses a culture which influences its decisions and business strategies. Moreover, organizations have to face a business environment that keeps getting more and more complex, where firms need to reply quickly and efficiently to changes in order to survive.

Indeed, the actual international context and the recent globalisation have a strong impact on the natures and the differences of HRM systems and practices in different countries.

In order to understand the importance of human resource management in today's modern economy, and to figure out how this latter can be influenced by national cultures, we are going to compare HRM systems and practices of two countries: France and Singapore.

In 1819, a British lieutenant governor named Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles arrived in the small island of Singapore and established a free trade port. Singapore grew in population and prosperity, and in 1824 came under the control of the British. Singapore's independence occurred in 1963, and new elections took place.

By the 1970s, after being largely dependent on Malaysia in terms of natural and also non-natural resources, the city-country became a world leader in shipping, air transport and oil refining, and has managed to maintain a good economic prosperity so far.
Singapore is now a parliamentary Republic, based on a Westminster system. The Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, and his father, former Prime Minister, managed to develop Singapore into one of the safest, cleanest and most economically prosperous countries in Asia.

However, Singapore is well known for its strict rules, and many people believe that the country's prosperity has been achieved at the expense of individual freedoms.

Moreover, it is important to notice that there is only one major party in Singapore. Indeed, S. R. Nathan was declared president in 1999 without even an election as he was the only eligible candidate. In 2004, his party, the People's Action Party (PAP), won 82 out of 84 seats in the parliamentary elections.

Extraits

[...] French employees are also entitled to at least 2.5 working days of paid holiday per full month worked. This is much more than in Singapore Working hours Singaporeans are well known to be hard workers. This is particularly the case when the actual Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong set in 2004 a 5-day, 44- hours workweek. Moreover, in 2007, the average workweek was more than 46 hours. Overtime in Singapore is paid at 150% of the hourly rate, and the maximum overtime is set at 72 hours per month. [...]

[...] 449-468 Brewster C., (2007), ‘Comparative HRM: European views and perspectives', International Journal of Human Resource Management pp. 769-787 Brunstein I., (1992), ‘Human Resource Management in France', Employee Relations p Cerdin, J-L. & Peretti, J-M. (2001), Trends and Emerging Values in Human Resource Management in France, International Journal of Manpower, Vol.22, Issue pp. 216-225 Chew, I. (2005), The effects of culture and HRM practices on firm performance Empirical evidence from Singapore, International Journal of Manpower, Vol No pp. 560-581 Choo, H. [...]

[...] The IBM studies revealed that women's values differ less among societies than men's values; men's values from one country to another contain a dimension from very assertive and competitive and maximally different from women's values on the one side, to modest and caring and similar to women's values on the other. The assertive pole has been called 'masculine' and the modest, caring pole 'feminine'. The women in feminine countries have the same modest, caring values as the men; in the masculine countries they are somewhat assertive and competitive, but not as much as the men, so that these countries show a gap between men's values and women's values. Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) deals with a society's tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity; it ultimately refers to man's search for Truth. [...]

[...] In France, there is an important vertical hierarchy where the Cartesian way of thinking has a strong impact. Generally, the top manager will be the only one to take a final decision, even if he will generally work with all levels of the business organisation Labour unions and social climate Most of the Singaporean workers in industrial plants and offices are part of a trade-union. There are about 500,000 trade-union memberships and the NTUC (National Trades Union Congress) has currently 60 trade unions. [...]

[...] (2007), Incentive Pay Systems and The Management Of Human Resources in France and Great Britain, CEP Discussion Paper 796, May 2007 Mayrhofer W., Muller-Camen M., Ledolter J., Strunk G. and Erten C., (2004), ‘Devolving responsibilities for human resources to line management? An empirical study about convergence in Europe', Journal for East European Management Studies pp. 123-146 Morley M., (2004), ‘Contemporary debates in European human resource management: Context and content', Human Resource Management Review pp. 353-364 Pudelko M., (2005), ‘Cross-national learning from best practice and convergence-divergence debate in HRM', International Journal of Human Resource Management pp. [...]