Culture's Impact on Human Resource Management

Date: Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Time:

Registration: 8:30 am

Seminar 9 am - 11 am

Whether your firm is a foreign-owned one operating in the U.S., an American company operating abroad, or any company with a multicultural workforce, cultural differences are going to have an impact on how your company manages its people.  One of the areas of management most affected by cultural differences in values, attitudes, and assumptions is human resource management. 

This seminar will examine three key dimensions of cultural difference -- direct vs. indirect communication style, preference for hierarchy vs. egalitarianism, and individual vs. group orientation.  After some discussion about how to look at cultural differences in the context of overall diversity, we will examine each of these three cultural differences and how they influence employee behavior.  We'll discuss the effects on human resource management practices, and how one might want to adjust approaches to be more effective in multicultural situations. 

Presenters:  Rochelle Kopp and Duncan Elder

Rochelle Kopp -- Executive Vice President, GlobalBridgeHR and Managing Principal, Japan Intercultural Consulting.  Rochelle is an authority on cross-cultural interactions in the workplace.  She has worked with many global companies on human resource issues, and has expertise in how to effectively manage and motivate diverse workforces.

Duncan Elder -- Vice President, GlobalBridgeHR.  Duncan's career has been focused on human resource management in cross-cultural situations.  He has broad experience in managing human resources functions at the U.S. operations of foreign-owned companies. He particularly specializes in the application of HR policies, programs, and systems in multi-cultural contexts.