International Human Resource Management Essay

The practise of Human Resources is moving from the traditional forms of managing people to a more strategic form whereby the Human Resources function is closely linked with organisational performance and success. This strategic form of human resources has increased the need for the Human Resource professional to understand the linkages between Corporate Strategy, Human Resource Strategy and Employee Integration. Our firm has set out to Internationalise its operations by opening to different facilities One in China Assembling and Maintaining Aircraft Engines and the other in Europe fabricating turbine blades for Aircraft engines. We have shown in the case of China the key strategies required for Organisational success and we have identified that success in China is assured if the Firm can get its strategy of Recruitment and Retention right. We have also identified that expatriate managers which are core to the operations of the facility must have a fit with the Chinese environment and as Internationally mobile employees must have an indepth understanding of the cultural and societal norms of the Chinese people thus be enabled to  manage employees to achieve success. In locating our facility in China, we chose to locate it the Shanghai area as this area is key to the aviation industry of China and has an abundance of Key Skilled and Competent people even though these people are in short supply. We have articulated a strategy for ensuring commitment and loyalty from our staff. Our Europe facility is located in the UK. We have identified the UK as a suitable location because of the abundance of the required technical skills as well as the flexible and business friendly labour laws. Even though the cost of labour is higher than some Eastern European countries, we believe that this is overshadowed by the quality of the work we would get, access to the global markets as well as the stability of the UK which is essential to the aircraft industry as delays on orders leads to very losses for all concerned in the Industry. The UK’s tax structure for business is also less stringent than comparable European economies and Airbus Industries with its main factories in France is much closer to the UK than most Eastern European countries. The issues we identified with Human Resourcing in the UK is mostly in the area of ensuring Equal Opportunities and Union/Labour Relations. The UK has very strong Unions and the laws allow the formation of Unions for willing employees thus managing this strong Unions will be one key task for HR Managers in the UK facility. We have shown in the two facilities that HR is an integral part of the organisation structure as its strategic inputs are required to guide organisational direction, visions and strategy. AEROPLANE ENGINE ASSEMBLY AND MAINTENANCE FACILITY INTRODUCTION The Peoples Republic of China is a one party state with Power centralised in the Chinese Communist Party. Though a Communist state their have been significant capitalist models applied in the certain areas of National development mainly the Economic, Industrial and Financial sectors. This liberalization of certain sectors has led to substantial growth in the Chinese economy with average â€Å"Real GDP growth rates of 10% between 2001 and 2006† (Source: Global Insight, 2007). The â€Å"Open Door Policy† adopted by China in 1979 has brought about enormous growth in the industrial output as well as the economy as a whole. As the country moved away from its â€Å"iron rice bowl† system consisting of state-owned enterprises and â€Å"lifetime† workers, various types of employment contractual agreements have begun. The past two decades have witnessed the rapid growth of Chinese and foreign owned multinational enterprises which are set to play an increasingly important role in the future of the global economy. The opening up of the vast market has created many opportunities and, at the same time, many problems to foreign enterprises. Because of the unique political, economic and cultural environment in China, it is difficult for foreign joint ventures and wholly owned foreign subsidiaries to introduce their preferred approach in managing the employees and the organisation in China. This has highlighted a crucial issue for international companies to be aware of the cross-cultural implications in the conception, design and implementation of the various market entry strategies for the Chinese markets, especially when considering the Human Resources Management strategies since Corporate Strategy will in turn determine the Human Resource (HR) strategy to be deployed. China graduates about 1.5 million students from institutions of higher learning each year. This large pool of graduates are of varying quality and those with scientific and technical degrees are very much in demand thus there is a shortage of Skilled and graduate engineers in the Chinese market.  This has led to intense competition amongst firms trying to secure these persons employment loyalties. Potential employees, having more choice in the labour markets need to be assured of the value of working for the various firms and thus Compensation and Benefit models need to be well structured. As a Wholly Owned Foreign subsidiary in the Chinese market Our Aero Engine Assembly and Maintenance firm will encounter significant challenges as a Greenfield start up within the Chinese markets and our Human Resource Strategy will be key to competitive advantage. To achieve this objective of basing our Competitive advantage on our Human Resources, there is a need for us to answer the following questions: What are the key employment issues likely to be encountered in the Chinese market? Based on the identified employment issues, what key principles of HR strategy would we suggest? What strategy are we going to deploy to manage our key skills within the firm? What other HR related issues should be considered within the Chinese market? EMPLOYMENT ISSUES IN CHINA The principle statute that governs employment and labour issues in China is the 1994 Labour Law. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security occasionally promulgates rules and regulations that supplement the law. Apart from National legislation, foreign enterprises in China are subject to Labour regulations of the area in which they operate. In June 2007, China’s parliament passed a new labour contract law requiring employers to, among other things; provide written employment contracts to their workers. To be implemented on January 1 2008, the law will require employment contracts to stipulate minimum wage and safety regulations. They  must also be drawn up within a month of starting work. The new ruling will apply to both domestic and foreign firms, except for foreign representative offices in China. These new labour laws though good for the Chinese worker do not necessarily guarantee success for a Foreign Investment Entreprise (FIE) in China. There were roughly 460,000 approved foreign companies in China at the end of 2003 (Zhou, Lu and Jiang, 2005). Many of these 460,000 firms discovered that human resources management is different in China (Zhu and Dowling, Summer 2000). CENTRAL GOVERNMENT INFLUENCE Some reasons adduced for the difference in HRM practise in China are though the country has significantly embraced market led business practises, central planning still exists in certain areas i.e. a government run mandatory personnel file system, a single labour union for the whole country and restrictions on city migration (Dessler, 2006). CULTURAL ISSUES Secondly the issue of culture and cross cultural sensitivities are critical to success of an FIE in China. Many HR practices commonly used in western countries being introduced through the operation of foreign invested enterprise in China, do not take cognizance of the cultural and social backgrounds in China. These cultural norms include: Preserving â€Å"Face† in Public (Chen in 1995 refers to face as a combination of dignity, self respect and prestige, one’s social standing and position as perceived by others). Another norm is the concept of guanxi. This concept is defined as â€Å"relationships that imply a continued exchange of favours which need not be founded on friendship† (Chen, 1995). The concept of time for the western manager is sequential, in short supply and strictly limits the amount of time he can afford to give to others while Chinese culturally view time as synchronic, in abundant supply and subordinate to person relationships (Trompenaars, 1993, Chapter 9). The above norms as regards Chinese culture have been ascribed to â€Å"Confucian work dynamism† as studied by Bond and his colleagues (Brewster et al, 2007). The Confucian work dynamism basically shows that countries with high Confucian work dynamism are generally long term oriented with a focus on the future, thrift and persistence. There is evidence that these cultural issues are gradually being better managed in the workplace with the adoption of training and career development programmes, and a closer linkage between personnel strategy and business strategy. EXPATRIATE STAFF MANAGEMENT The issues associated with expatriate staffing include inadequate selection methods and the lack of attention to cultural adaptability of the expatriate staff and family. Research has shown that a number of FIEs in the Chinese markets send out expatriate managers without any prior cross cultural training. The other issues encountered include the management of repatriation after the overseas assignment with issues ranging from limited continuity in International assignments, and difficulties of adjusting to more specialized and less autonomous positions at home, lack of career prospects and under valuation of the International experience. Management succession in the case of sudden expatriate manager departure and balancing the local and expatriate staff at Chinese FIEs can also be a problem. Finding local managers with strong managerial skills in the areas such as  problem solving, decision making and management of human resources could also be difficult as more foreign multinationals seek local management after expanding into China (Gamble, 2000; Melvin and Sylvester, 1997). RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION The market for skilled and graduate engineers in the Chinese market is tight resulting in rapid wage increases and high turnover rates. Poaching of employees is a common thread. Nepotism and over hiring can be a problem where there is a heavy influence of _guanxi_ and arranging for the transfer of staff from one firm to another maybe difficult due to the influence of the state and the need for staff to gain approval from former work units. The poaching of an employee could lead to liability for economic loss payable to the former employers of the FIEs new recruit. EMPLOYEE RETENTION The retention of well trained local staff has been a big challenge for FIEs in China due to the tight labour supply against overwhelming demand. To address the situation of retention most foreign owned firms in China have taken advantage of the labour laws in setting Compensation and benefits that are very competitive and also providing the other career building services into labour contracts e.g. over attachments, thus making themselves more attractive than the competition. OUR HUMAN RESOURCES STRATEGY IN CHINA Our firm is an aero engine assembly and maintenance in Shanghai, China. This firm is a Wholly owned Foreign subsidiary or Foreign Investment Enterprise (FIE). This strategy of market entry is as a result of a need to keep complete control over the entire Aero Engine Assembly and Maintenance process by applying World class Business and Quality Management tools. The firm has entered into partnership with Key Chinese Aero Engine parts suppliers for certain parts. These partners are recognised world wide for the quality of their products and have been supplying other aero engine  firms globally. We have recognised as fundamental to our success in China the need to employ and integrate the highest quality of staff including Home Country Nationals, Home Country Expatriates and Foreign Expatriates. Home Country Nationals are Chinese nationals based in China and recruited in China, Home Country Expatriates are Chinese Nationals who we have recruited overseas and have worked in our company with the end goal being they would be a spearhead in our move into the Chinese market while Foreign Expatriates are Nationals of other countries using their skills in China to optimise business potentials and ensure quality. Our aim is to deploy an all engaging Human Resource Strategy and our strategy is to develop the firm as a Learning Organisation. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION Recruitment and Selection in our Chinese operations is going to be conducted on a localised basis with the local HR Managers being responsible for the Process of recruiting staff at the graduate level and middle management level for Home Country Nationals. The selections and recruitment of Expatriates either Home Country or Foreign would be conducted by the Head Office and the same applies for the Recruitment and Selection of senior management and executive Management staff. Where the senior or executive management staff is Chinese the local HR Managers would have an input into the process as they would have been involved in the process from the onset. Our recruitment process would differ according to the type of staff we are seeking to recruit. We would divide this process into three parts mainly Graduate Engineers and Skilled Technicians Middle Management Senior and Executive Management Expatriate Staff GRADUATE AND SKILLED TECHNICIANS The process for recruitment and selecting graduate engineers and skilled technicians would be carried out with a low cost model in mind. This is as a result of the expected high number of applications. In ensuring that we recruit the best Graduate Engineers, we would be seeking to develop relationships with Universities thereby targeting these engineers as they are leaving the Colleges and thus moulding them from the start to fit with our organisation style and culture. We would also use the mass media to reach out for applications mainly newspapers and the internet. We would deploy a web based filter system, so even though we have placed adverts in newspapers we still expect that all applications will be filled out online. The application forms would all be in Chinese but we expect any prospective applicant to be ready to learn English. Our selection process is going to be based on Testing and Interviews, we would not encourage the use of psychometric tests as we cannot assure of the validity in this environment (Chow, 2004) MIDDLE MANAGEMENT The recruiting of staff at this level would be carried out by placing adverts in newspapers, head hunting and poaching. The shortage of skilled labour in China has made employees highly mobile and thus headhunting and poaching are socially acceptable means of recruiting. Though poaching is allowed, an employer can be sued for economic damages by the former employer if the employee’s termination was not properly done. In other to ensure our indemnity any prospective employee that has been poached needs to provide evidence that his past employer has released him without any liabilities. Selection for Graduate Engineers, Skilled Technicians and Middle Management staff would be conducted via interviews. These interviews would be structured interview, job oriented questions with pre determined answers that tuned around the prospective job descriptions. These interviews will be conducted by a panel which ensures that an all round assessment is performed. SENIOR AND EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT The recruitment of this class of persons would be carried out with the assistance of an executive management recruitment agency though we expect to have difficulty in finding such agencies (Chang, 2004). We also plan to head hunt and seek the opinion of other businesses within the Chinese markets. The process of identifying, Interviewing and selection would involve the Head Office from start to contract signing. Interviews for these positions would be conducted at the head office, this is to ensure that key members of staff at the head office have the opportunity to evaluate the potential staff. EXPATRIATE STAFF The recruitment of expatriate staff would be the sole responsibility of the head office while the local HR Managers would be responsible for managing the expatriates when they are in country. The head office must ensure that the clear objectives are set for Expatriate staffs and that these persons have been selected to fit the job and the culture. The success of this class of staff will ultimately lead to organisational success as they would drive the process of instilling, Corporate culture and values, Quality Management targets and process and they would also facilitate Knowledge Transfer in the work place. It is intrinsic to success that these persons understand the values and fundamentals of local cultures as highlighted above in the section under employment issues. A thorough culture immersion programme and pre-departure visits may also be ideal. The local HR Managers must also develop programmes geared at ensuring  cultural and in country integration for expatriates both foreign and Home Country (because a national who has not lived in country for a number of years would most certainly need some form of integration back into the society). It would also be expedient for the home office HR Managers when recruiting married expatriate staff to consider the fit of the spouse to the new environment as poor spousal fit has been attributed to some expatriate failures. All offers made after selection must be written in clearly constructed contracts stating the Job description and responsibilities, remuneration, working conditions, conditions of termination and liabilities for breach of contract. Agreed clauses based on benefits structure include: terms of probation, training, confidentiality, holiday days and paid leave (www.hr.com). All labour contracts must be in Chinese and copies kept in both Chinese and English. The local HR managers must also ensure that personnel files have been received from the labour bureau before any prospective employee signs a labour contract. It has be noticed that this process could delay employment (China Staff, 2003) so it is expedient to start making the request immediately the employment process starts. RETENTION STRATEGY TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT Training in China is more focused on improving current performance deficiencies than on career development. The absence of career development plans plus a heavy emphasis on material incentives have contributed to the problems of high turnover and disloyalty observed in many enterprises, including foreign invested enterprise (Tomlinson, 1997). We consider training and development an integral part of our retention  strategy. As a study carried out showed that even in state owned enterprise â€Å"the level of ambition and commitment to learning and self improvement among the young employees was quite remarkable† (Lewis, 2003). The HR department intends to use ongoing training, well mapped out and articulated career development plans, and out placement services as a tool for employee loyalty and retention. All graduate engineers employed would have the opportunity to undergo a 24 month out placement in our UK based Aero Engine plant. This out placement is contingent on the employee returning to China after the outplacement period. The outplacement period also gives the employee the opportunity to attend several career developing programmes instituted between the firm and certain engineering universities in our own internal continuing education programmes. This use of outplacement is not limited to Graduate engineers alone as Middle Management and Senior Management staff would also undergo outplacement albeit to a much shorter duration and to meet certain function specific requirements. The use of in house sessions and on the job training would also be encouraged and all expatriates have a Performance related objective of ensuring Knowledge Transfer in the work place. COMPENSATION, BENEFITS AND REWARDS The compensation strategy of the firm would be based on a combination of salaries and wages, Performance based remuneration for collective efforts and individual performance bonuses. The salaries and wages would be determined by level and grade within any specific levels these salaries and wages would be constantly reviewed to be competitive with what obtains in the Engineering Industry but these reviews would also be tied to organisational performance. Workgroups meeting certain set targets would be eligible to collective  bonuses and staff performing excellently in the Graduate and Middle management would be compensated via promotions and awards while senior management and executive management staff both Home Country Nationals and Expatriates would be eligible to promotions and individual performance bonuses as set out in their contracts of employment. We have to be careful in Compensation structure because of Chinas cultural and traditional values of collectivist approach to work but at the same time we need to reward those who are contributing to organisational performance. Benefits would be determined by the contractual agreements and the stated benefits for individual positions. To foster more employee loyalties we would tie certain benefits to length of stay with the firm e.g. Leave days increase the longer you are in our employ, our contribution to social security on behalf of employee increases above that required by government increases the longer you are with the firm but this would be tied to employee performance, and we will introduce end of year profit sharing formulas for all staff which we believe is key to fostering employee commitment and loyalty. STRATEGY FOR MANAGING KEY SKILLS In developing a strategy for managing our organisations key skills we would need a model that considers how the human resources function will manage the key skills of the firms employees and at the same time create value for the stakeholders of the organisation. The Balance Scorecard model of strategic management developed by Kaplan and Norton can be adapted for this purpose. Figure 1. overleaf shows a model Human Resources Strategy Map for an organisation it has been developed based on the concept of the Balance Scorecard and does well to link all the processes from which value is added. We hope to use a similar model in managing the Key skills of our employees and one very key thing about this model it recognises that culture is an essential ingredient in ensuring organisational success. Figure 1. Human Resources Strategy Map (Source: www.hr.civilservice.gov.uk) OTHER HUMAN RESOURCES ISSUES IN CHINA UNION AND LABOUR RELATIONS Threatened by the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), the notably anti-union Wal-Mart recently agreed to let its Chinese workers unionize if they asked (MMR, 2004). The above statement shows that though the unions in China are normally passive, there is a growing movement in China and its beginning to make itself felt in the Business environment. The ACFTU is the only Union permitted to operate in China but this Union has about 906,000 affiliates, with 123 million members. About 40% of the two million private companies have trade unions, representing about 67% of private sector employees. Of the approximately 460,000 foreign companies in China, 20% have trade unions (Hewitt, Nov. 2004). The trade union law of China as amended stipulates amongst other things, that employees form Unions on a voluntary basis but those unions â€Å"should be established† in enterprises with more than 25 employees. The above law has been met with some confusion e.g. must firms with 25 or more employees have a union, or only if employees request one (Hewitt, Nov. 2004). This law also does not stipulate whether it’s the unions, employees or employers that are responsible for setting up this union. It has also been noticed that after years of non adversarial relationships between unions and managements, unions in China are growing more aggressive e.g. the ACFTU has also threatened to blacklist any firms refusing to allow  its workers unionize and has also been active in identifying multinationals as non compliant and ensuring wages are agreed and paid (Hewitt, Nov. 2004). UK AERO PARTS FABRICATION PLANT INTRODUCTION In the 1980’s there was a vigorous and academic debate about the nature of the American models of HRM and their relevance to UK situation. The US value system which is not truly reflected in the UK, and is certainly not reflected in continental Europe. There were a number of similarities in 1980’s between the UK and the US. Despite its cultural distance from many European countries, the nature of HRM in the UK is significantly different from the rest of Europe. As a member of European Union and a significant target for Foreign Direct Investment practisers in the UK are undergoing as much change as are those in continental Europe. As a wholly-owned large fabrication plant based in the Filton, United Kingdom, we would be producing core components (turbine blades) for a broad range of aero and related engines. In order to gain a competitive advantage over our competitors, it is very important for us to develop and encounter key human resource issues and strategies. After a long series of researches, United Kingdom was an easy choice as the ideal location to set up our plant due to the various reasons. Firstly, in the United Kingdom, the government laws relating to setting up a new plant are quite flexible, compared to most other countries in the European Union. Also, the infrastructure, as in, the technology, communication and transport systems are highly developed. Thus setting up a new plant would be easier and faster as compared to other under-developed countries. Secondly, the trade unions in the United Kingdom are not as strong as they are in a few other European Union countries (For example, Germany). So, it is easier to deal and negotiate with trade unions. Thirdly, there is easy availability of skilled labour. With the European Union working for close integration between countries, it is also easy to  acquire labour and staff from all over the European Union. Fourthly, language is not going to be a barrier in United Kingdom, as English is widely spoken all over the country. Cost of production is obviously, one of the most important issues when considering setting up a new unit. We believe that cost is going to be an issue in the United Kingdom, but the corporate strategy model we have implemented is a low cost model because we do not have a large requirement for skilled labour, expatriate staff and senior level executives. We would employ more fresh graduate engineers and managers. This is due to the fact that our assembly and maintenance plant is based in Shanghai, China, where we require more skilled labour and senior executives. As the level of education in the United Kingdom is extremely sound, it would be easier for us to employ fresh and talented graduate engineers and managers, thus reducing cost. We would now like to elaborate on the key employment issues in the UK and discuss the strategy we have adopted to combat the various human resource issues we would be facing. KEY EMPLOYMENT ISSUES IN THE U.K. The trends in the UK human resource management (HRM) are shaped by its cost-driven and competitiveness-enhancing nature. The development and implementation of HR policies is crucial to obtaining and retaining a high performing workforce. The policies need to reflect the strategic objectives of organizations together with recognizing the impact of wider demographic, sociological and technological trends and consider the medium and longer-term implications of these. The intro of new labour government since 1997 there has been signs of more protective values towards employees. However, it is the influence of EU membership that has become a greater source of initiatives aimed at employee welfare and involvement. This scene must be placed in context, with an ageing population and an uneven distribution of employment, to gain some understanding of the challenges facing HRM in the UK. The drive for leaner organizations has led to increased use of labour flexibility, downsizing and outsourcing, whilst rewards have become more performance related and benchmarking is seen as a tool for HRM  practitioners. Such trends have received strong government support. The workforce requirements need to be considered strategically and help deliver national priorities as set out in local delivery or business plans. It is essential that there is a clear ‘line of sight’ between HR practices and the delivery of high quality services. Of central importance is creating the ‘right’ culture and developing ‘customer’ focused values. This section outlines the thinking behind these goals and explains the various strategies that are helping to achieve them. KEY HRM ISSUES RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS: The Company ‘s greatest assets are the staff force hence the right recruitment and induction processes are vital in ensuring that the new employee becomes effective in the shortest time. The success of the Company depends on having the precise number of staff, with the precise skills and abilities. The best Human resource practice which can be adopted by and aero engine unit: Defining the job process of each individual skill required to ensure it meets our business desires. If a member of staff is leaving the company analysis over a short period of time if there is a real need to replace the role, if required will do it immediately or compensate within the current work force. Before recruiting company draws up a job description and the candidates are judged based on whether he/she will possess the key skills to meet key tasks. This process helps opportunities to outline the key tasks and responsibilities. The process of recruitment involves key steps: Advertising using the right medium to attract the right person. Using recruitment agency, describing them the job profile of the vacancy to  match the requirement with the apt candidate. Internet can serve as good tool for recruitment. Fresh talent recruitments (graduates). Campaigns, road shows, job fairs, etc†¦.. LEGISLATION Company’s responsibility to ensure current legislation is covered when applying any employment process and failure to do so could mean that the organization is breaking the law. The law prohibits for company to take into account a person’s gender, marriage, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin or disability in employment decisions. Taking these legislations into consideration, company adopts an important strategy when developing a job description and person specification that it must be undertaken thoroughly and objectively as the first step to ensure compliance with legislation Key areas, if legislation to be considered is: Disability Discrimination Act 1995 Sex Discrimination Act 1975 & 1986 Race Relations Act 1976 Working Time Regulations 1998 HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK: The health and safety at work is majorly concerned in U.K. Each and every company needs to adopt the health and safety. The company which fails to will be fined a huge amount. At manufacturing unit it is regularly monitored and nearly recruited employed are briefed with health and safety. The employee who fails to follow the procedure will be dismissed from work  according to the health and safety regulation law. TRADE UNIONS A trade union is an organized group of employers or labours. Its main goal is to protect and advance the interests of its employee .A union often negotiates agreements with employers on pay and conditions. It may also provide legal and financial advice, sickness benefits and education facilities to its members. If a union is recognized by an employer, it can negotiate with the employer over terms and conditions known as ‘collective bargaining’. For it to work, unions and employers need to agree on how the arrangement is to operate. For example, they might make agreements providing for the deduction of union subscriptions from employers wages, which is to represent workers in negotiations and how often meetings will take place. Both these agreements on procedure and agreements between employers and unions changes the terms applying to workers are called ‘collective agreements’. EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS AND CONDITIONS: A contract of employment is an agreement between an employer and an employee. Type of Contracts: Fixed-term contract: Fixed-term workers have the same minimum rights as permanent workers. There are special regulations which protect fixed-term employees. The fixed-term employees are issued contract for certain period of time. Additional staff recruited for six months during a peak period A specialist employee taken on for the duration of a project. Someone employed to cover during another employee’s maternity leave/absence. The fixed-term employees have the right as the permanent staff: The same pay and conditions as permanent workers. The same or equivalent benefits package as permanent workers The right to be informed about permanent employment opportunities in the organization Part-time: Working part time can be a good way of balancing the work and personal commitments. Part-time, workers will be having the same right and be treated fairly in comparison to full-time colleagues. OUR HUMAN RESOURCES STRATEGY IN UK RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION: Recruitment is the process of generating a pool of candidates from which to select the appropriate person to fill a job vacancy. Vacancies may also be created when additional or new work has to be undertaken or significant changes occur in technology, procedures, or circumstances. Recruitment and selection are the processes by which organizations solicit, contact and engender interest in potential new appointees to vacant positions in the organization, and then in some way establish their suitability for appointment. The traditional or normal view regarding recruitment and selection is to assert that it is perhaps the most basic of personnel activities- if we get the wrong people in the organization, there will be problems. The problems that we might face are high labour turnover, absenteeism, disciplinary problem, disputes and low productivity. Therefore, having the right people in the organization is very crucial. A key feature of our recruitment and selection strategy would be to follow the traditional approach of interviews, application forms and references and at times, more sophisticated techniques like psychometric tests and assessment centres. Internal candidates may be sort by searching the records, asking managers or supervisors for recommendations, or internal advertisement on notice boards and in-house journals. Besides, we would also be selecting candidates with the help of recruitment agencies and consultancies, advertisements in newspapers, Internet recruitment will also play a major part in our recruitment strategy, for example, vacancy pages on our company website, providing vacancies on commercial job websites, websites of educational institutions, etc. We would also be recruiting fresh talented graduates directly from universities in UK. This is very important to us as we would require a large number of fresh graduates for our plant. Recruiting fresh graduates directly from un iversities would save us both time and money. GRADUATE ENGINEERS AND SKILLED TECHNICIANS: As mentioned above our main focus would be to recruit fresh graduates directly from universities in UK and Europe. As our plant in UK would only be a fabrication plant and does not involve assembly or maintenance, there would not be a very high requirement of skilled technicians. We would use recruitment agencies, advertisements, and references to recruit our skilled technicians from UK and Europe. MIDDLE MANAGEMENT There is a considerable requirement of middle managers for our concern and thus internet recruitment, word of mouth, application forms and interviews will be used for recruiting such managers. SENIOR AND EXECUTIVE MANAGERS The need for senior and executive managers in our UK fabrication plant is limited and so we would only be following the process of applications and one-on-one interviews to assess senior managers.