Employment Practices of Multinationals in Organizational Context
Report by Dana B. Minbaeva, CBS & Steen E. Navrbjerg, FAOS
Growing globalization is a challenge for managers as well as employees in MNCs. The analysis of their behavior is critical for our understanding of the dynamics of management, business and Industrial Relations in Denmark.
Despite this increase in the prevalence of MNCs in the Danish economy, there is no definitive picture of the ways in which MNCs in Denmark organize and manage their employees. Furthermore, a general understanding of how employment practices are influenced by the organizational forms developed by international firms as they struggle to respond to the imperatives of globalization is lacking. Knowledge of how employment practices vary according to key variables, such as organizational structure, nationality of ownership, sector and size, is patchy at best. Our understanding of the patterns of transnational diffusion of employment practice among MNCs with different organizational characteristics is also limited.
This report presents the key findings of this large-scale survey of the employment practices carried out in Denmark in both Danish- and foreign-owned MNCs. We examine four central aspects of the MNCs' organization and management in Denmark. First, the strategies, structures and control mechanisms characterizing the companies are presented with the purpose of creating a "profile of MNCs" operating in Denmark. Second, we consider the role of the HR function and its structure within MNCs, including the relationship between Danish-based operations and management at international headquarters. Third, the survey focuses on four substantive areas of employment practices, each of which are analyzed and described in separate chapters:
- Performance management and reward systems,
- Training, development and organizational learning,
- Employee involvement and communication, and
- Employee representation and consultation.
Methodogically, the report is based on a survey of 89 foreign owned and 31 Danish owned MNC's, corresponding to 29 respectively 27 per cent of the population.
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Download the supplementary report - Appendix I and II (pdf)