Human Resource Management in Developing Countries

285 Pages·2003·1.77 MB·English

Human Resource Management
in Developing Countries
Increasing globalisation and competitiveness have brought to the fore the
importance of effective human resource management for national and international
organisations. In recent years, there has been a remarkable development in HRM
throughout the world, however, the majority of research has focused on HRM in
advanced industrial societies. This book redresses the balance by providing a
thorough analysis of HRM in thirteen developing countries in Asia, Africa and
the Middle East.
Contributors examine the influence of core national factors on the determination
of HRM policies and practices in China, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Nepal,
Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.
These factors include:

• national culture
(cid:127) national institutes
(cid:127) business environment
(cid:127) industrial sector

A common framework is used by all authors throughout the work to analyse not
only the ‘context-specific’ HRM functions in these countries, but also the diverse
and unique configurations of national factors which impact on HRM in cross-
national settings.
This work will prove valuable for human resource management practitioners,
as well as scholars and students involved in teaching and researching HRM and
International Business.
Pawan S.Budhwar is Lecturer in OB and HRM at Cardiff Business School,
University of Wales. He received his PhD from Manchester Business School and
has published in the fields of international HRM, comparative management,
managerial cognition and research methods. Yaw A.Debrah is a Senior Lecturer
in Management at Cardiff Business School. He teaches courses in Human Resource
Management and Comparative Management at both undergraduate and graduate
levels. He has lived and worked in Africa, North America, Asia and Europe, and
has published numerous articles and book chapters.
Routledge Research in Employment Relations
Series editors: Rick Delbridge and Edmund Heery
Cardiff Business School
Aspects of the employment relationship are central to numerous courses at both undergraduate
and postgraduate level. Drawing from insights from industrial relations, human resource
management and industrial sociology, this series provides an alternative source of research-
based materials and texts, reviewing key developments in employment research.
Books published in this series are works of high academic merit, drawn from a wide range
of academic studies in the social sciences.
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4 Employee Ownership, Participation and Governance
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Human Resource
Management in
Developing Countries
Edited by
Pawan S.Budhwar
and Yaw A.Debrah
London and New York
First published 2001
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
b y Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

© 2001 Editorial selection and material, Pawan S.Budhwar and Yaw A.
Debrah; individual chapters, the authors

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Human resource management in developing countries/edited by Pawan
S.Budhwar and Yaw A.Debrah.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Personnel management—Developing countries. 2. Human capital—Developing
countries—Management. I. Budhwar, Pawan S. II. Debrah, Yaw A.

HF5549.2.D48 H859 2001
658.3´009172´4–dc21 00–051780

ISBN 0-203-46437-0 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-77261-X (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-22333-4 (Print Edition)
To Laxmi and Gaurav, who gave me the freedom to
complete this task.
To Dorothy, Denise, Lorraine and Derek with all my love
To those who are interested in international HRM
and its progress in developing countries.

Contents
List of figures ix
List of tables xi
List of contributors xiii
Foreword by Randall S.Schuler xv
Preface xvii
Acknowledgements xix
1 Introduction 1
PAWAN S.BUDHWAR AND YAW A.DEBRAH
PART I
Human resource management in Asia 17
2 Human resource management in the People’s Republic
of China 19
MALCOLM WARNER
3 Human resource management in South Korea 34
WON-WOO PARK
4 Human resource management in Taiwan 56
TUNG-CHUN HUANG
5 Human resource management in India 75
PAWAN S.BUDHWAR
6 Human resource management in Nepal 91
DEV RAJ ADHIKARI AND MICHAEL MULLER
vii
viii Contents
7 Human resource management in Pakistan 102
SHAISTA E.KHILJI
8 Human resource management in Iran 121
MONIR TAYEB
9 Human resource management in Saudi Arabia 135
KAMEL MELLAHI AND GEOFFREY T.WOOD
PART II
Human resource management in Africa 153
10 Human resource management in Algeria 155
MOHAMED BRANINE
11 Human resource management in Nigeria 174
FRANCA OVADJE AND AUGUSTINE ANKOMAH
12 Human resource management in Ghana 190
YAW A.DEBRAH
13 Human resource management in Kenya 209
KEN KAMOCHE
14 Human resource management in South Africa 222
GEOFFREY T.WOOD AND KAMEL MELLAHI
15 Conclusion: international competitive pressures and
the challenges for HRM in developing countries 238
YAW A.DEBRAH AND PAWAN S.BUDHWAR
Subject index 255
Name index 259
Figures
1.1 Factors determining cross-national HRM practices 6
9.1 Saudi male population: age and employment, 2000 137
10.1 The structure of self-management in Algeria 161
10.2 The structure of the SME at the unit/plant level in Algeria 163
13.1 A processual, strategic model of HRM in Africa 211

ix