The Challenge of Cultural Competence

allow the employees to organize and form unions. The governments need to permit the labor with the right to bargain in good faith on working conditions. The union movement is under stress because of the globalization and the transfer of manufacturing industries to developing countries. However, with the privatization movement, union movement is diminishing in its influence in western countries. In the developed world, privatization and outsourcing are mechanisms used to break the power of the labor unions. Free trade agreements have also caused diminished influence of their position. The unions tried to prevent the free trade agreements without success. As a result, they have to organize to prevent the export of manufacturing industries. However, the effect of the free trade agreements for the public sector union movement is minimal in comparison with its effects on the private sector. The labor union in developing countries is not organized and powerful. The majority of the countries dominated by powerful groups suppress the rights to unionize. Business interests now dominate the powerful groups. The labor leaders are threatened by persecution and major punishments. Moreover, in the developing countries, the people desperately need employment and are vulnerable to the threat of the loss of jobs if they join unions. Still, in many developing countries, there are more opportunities for unions in the public sector. Kearney and Hays (1994) suggested participative decision-making in improving labor–management relations. Many governments consider the labor–management relation to be a non-zero-sum game rather than a zero-sum game. In both developed and developing countries, many public sector jobs are unionized. In the United States, union activities are more prevalent at state and local levels than they are at the federal level. In most developing countries, unionization is limited to public school teachers. Allowing public servants to form unions and bargain over wage and working conditions is therefore one of the major future challenges for HRM.

stRategic Planning anD Human ResouRce management Strategic planning has become a top priority for human resources managers in the public sector. Strategic planning, with its emphasis on environmental analysis, is crucial in a globalized world, which has become interdependent. The definition of strategic human resource management, according to Johnson and Scholes (1993, p. 10), is “the direction and scope of an organization over the longer term, which ideally matches its resources to its

changing environment, and, in particular, to its markets, customers and clients to meet stakeholders’ expectations.” Another widely used definition of strategic human resource management has been provided by Ellers and Lazenby (2007, p. 1), who assert that it is “the process whereby all the organizational functions and resources are integrated and coordinated to implement formulated strategies in order to achieve the long-term objectives of the organization and therefore gain a competitive advantage through adding value for the stakeholder.” Competitive advantage, in this context refers to the edge that an organization has over another, particularly what makes one firm better than the other or why some companies out-perform their competitors. Boxall and Purcell (2011, p. 44) define Strategic Management “as a process of strategy making, of forming and reforming its strategy over a period of time.” It is supported by David (2003, p. 5) who refers to strategic management as “the art and science of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that enable an organization to achieve its objectives.” To a large extent, this definition implies that strategic management focuses on integrating the core functions to achieve organizational success (Braun 2013). Strategic management, as a process, consists of the following three stages: strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation.

In a fast-moving and challenging environment, there are challenges to strategic management. One of the major tasks is to carry on strategic management to come up with action plans. Meier et al. (2007) remarked that strategy is the actions that the senior managers take in response to the constraints and opportunities that they face. The opportunity for gaining more financial and political support is dependent on the soundness of the strategic planning (Meier et al. 2007). Strategic planning requires a thorough evaluation of the opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses relating to human resources. Globalization has created both opportunities and threats. A successful public sector manager needs to take advantage of the opportunities and prepare to face the threats by taking appropriate actions. The developed world can use cost—benefit analysis in assessing the opportunities of globalization. On the other hand, the developing countries can seek the opportunities created by globalization.

tHe cHallenge of cultuRal comPetence The most serious implication of globalization is the understanding of global culture. Modern governments have to interact with different international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Trade