Employment Practices of Multinationals in Organizational Context
Report by Dana B. Minbaeva, CBS & Steen E. Navrbjerg, FAOS
Growing globalisation is a challenge for managers as well as employees in MNCs. The analysis of their behaviour 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 organise and manage their employees. Furthermore, a general understanding of how employment practices are influenced by the organisational forms developed by international firms as they struggle to respond to the imperatives of globalisation is lacking. Knowledge of how employment practices vary according to key variables, such as organisational 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 organisational 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' organisation and management in Denmark. First, the strategies, structures and control mechanisms characterising 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 analysed and described in separate chapters:
- Performance management and reward systems,
- Training, development and organisational learning,
- Employee involvement and communication, and
- Employee representation and consultation.
Methodologically, 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)