1
Managing Diversity and the Opportunities
for Candidates Dependent on Work Visas in
Ireland
Dissertation submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of
MBA in Human Resources Management
At Dublin Business School
Ana Cecilia Feitosa Ribeiro
Student number: 10328426
MBA – Human Resources Management 2018
2
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
7
1.1. Background …………………………………………………………………………………………………………
7
1.2. Personal Interest
………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12
1.3. Research Interest
……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12
1.4. Research Question ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 13
2. Literature Review
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15
2.1. Literature Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………… 15
2.2. Managing Diversity
……………………………………………………………………………………………… 15
2.2.1 Definition of Diversity
…………………………………………………………………………………….. 15
2.2.2 Equality and Diversity
…………………………………………………………………………………….. 16
2.2.3 Advantages and disadvantages of Diversity Management……………………………………….. 17
2.2.4 The MNE and Diversity …………………………………………………………………………………… 19
2.3. International Human Resources Management
…………………………………………………………… 20
2.3.1 Talent management ………………………………………………………………………………………. 21
2.3.2 Global skills supply strategies
…………………………………………………………………………… 21
2.3.3 Global knowledge management strategies and management through global networks….. 23
2.4. Employment Permits in Ireland ……………………………………………………………………………… 23
2.4.1 Criteria for Eligibility ………………………………………………………………………………………. 23
2.4.2 Employer Criteria ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 24
2.4.3 Employee Criteria
………………………………………………………………………………………….. 24
2.4.4 The Process
…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 24
2.5 Literature Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………. 24
3. Methodology
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 26
3.1. Methodology Introduction
…………………………………………………………………………………….. 26
3.2. Research Philosophy …………………………………………………………………………………………… 27
3.3. Research Approach
…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 29
3.4. Research Strategy ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 30
3.5. Research Choice
………………………………………………………………………………………………… 31
3.6. Time Horizon ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 32
3.7. Data Collection …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 33
3.7.1 Secondary Data Collection
……………………………………………………………………………….. 33
3.7.2 Primary Qualitative Data Collection – Interview Design Process
……………………………….. 34
3.7.3 Data Analysis
……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 35
3.8.
Population and Sample – Selecting Respondents
…………………………………………………….. 36
3.9.
Ethical Issues …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 36
3.10.
Limitations to the Research
…………………………………………………………………………….. 37
4. Data analysis / Findings
…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 39
4.1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 39
4.2. Semi-structured interview
……………………………………………………………………………………. 39
4.3. Presentation of findings
………………………………………………………………………………………. 40
4.3.1 Possible reasons for the increase of immigration rate in Ireland
………………………………. 40
4.3.2 The acceptance of Non-Irish professionals from organisations in Ireland
…………………… 41
4.3.3 The lack of Irish skilled professionals ………………………………………………………………… 42
4.3.4 Sectors in Ireland that are being challenging to hire suitable candidates …………………… 42
4.3.5 The skills that are in shortage in Ireland ……………………………………………………………. 43
4.3.6 Solutions for filling the gap in shortage skills ………………………………………………………. 44
3
4.3.7 The typical profile of immigrants applying for jobs in Ireland
………………………………….. 45
4.3.8 Advantages of having a diverse workforce
………………………………………………………….. 45
4.3.9 Disadvantages of having a diverse workforce ……………………………………………………… 46
4.3.10 Challenges of setting up a diverse workforce …………………………………………………….. 47
4.3.11 Employment work visa …………………………………………………………………………………. 47
4.3.12 Future of the Irish labour market
……………………………………………………………………. 48
5. Discussion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 49
5.1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 49
5.2. Research Objectives:
………………………………………………………………………………………….. 49
6. Conclusion / Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………………… 58
6.1. Conclusion
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 58
6.2. Recommendations …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 60
7. Self-reflection …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 61
7.1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 61
7.2. Learning Styles
…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 61
7.2.1 The Researcher learning style
………………………………………………………………………….. 64
7.3. The MBA …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 64
7.4. The Dissertation Process …………………………………………………………………………………….. 66
7.5. Personal and Professional Development …………………………………………………………………. 67
Appendix 1 – Primary Research Material
…………………………………………………………………………… 77
Appendix 2 – Research Timeplan
…………………………………………………………………………………….. 79
List of Tables and Figures
Figure 1 Components of the annual population change. …………………………………………………………
8
Figure 2 Employment Permits issued and renewed in Ireland 2000 – 2016
………………………………….
9
Figure 3 Skills in demand
………………………………………………………………………………………………. 11
Figure 4 The research process ‘onion’
………………………………………………………………………………. 26
Figure 5 Forms of interview …………………………………………………………………………………………… 34
Figure 6 Learning Style Model
………………………………………………………………………………………… 62
Figure 7 Learning Style
…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 63
Figure 8 Gibb’s Reflective Cycle
………………………………………………………………………………………. 64
4
Declaration: I, _Ana Cecilia Feitosa Ribeiro_, declare that this research is my original work
and that it has never been presented to any institution or university for the award of Degree
or Diploma. In addition, I have referenced correctly all literature and sources used in this
work and this work is fully compliant with the Dublin Business School’s academic honest
policy.
Signed: Ana Cecilia Feitosa Ribeiro
Date: 21/05/2018
5
Acknowledgements
Through the path of this work I had the support of some important people, people
that were always presented in my life and people that just crossed my way during this
project.
I would like to thank my supervisor, and my lecturers that immensely influenced and guided
me on my topic choices and on the writing process, constantly giving feedbacks during this
master’s dissertation.
Also, I would like to express my gratitude to my boyfriend that also was doing his master
with me, and consequently worked beside me every single time of this journey. Without his
support, encouragement, love and understanding, this final stage of the master degree
would have been much harder.
I would like to thank to my cousin, who is daily with me, listening to my complaints and has
always encourage me to never give up on this project. Not forgetting about my friends that
are present in my life and completely understood why I missed so many important days and
meetings with them during this master; in special Bianca and Fernando to have helped me
with tips and encouragement to keep doing the course.
Above all, I would like to thank my family, in special my mother, my father and my brother
to have also encourage me to take on this MBA, if it wasn’t their support, financially and
psychological speaking, this stage of my life wouldn’t have become reality.
I also recognise that this work would not have been possible without the voluntary
contribution of the respondents; their information was of a big value to this work.
6
Abstract
Knowing that there are a lot of immigrants coming to Ireland, and even starting their
professional career in the Irish industries, this research main objective is to really
understand the actual Irish labour market, and how it has attracted immigrants to Ireland.
More specifically, this study sought to understand how immigrants have contributed for the
organisations in Ireland to overcome the shortage of skills, linked to the benefits that having
a multicultural work environment helps to improve the production and the overall
organisation performance. With so many theories about managing diversity, the study was
based on pre-existent information to guide the collection of primary data. First of all the
population chosen was HR professionals that are currently working in Ireland to participate
in a semi-structured interview. The study then found that indeed some sectors are being
more challenged during the search for suitable candidates that possess specific skills. IT,
nursing, food and drink, pharmacy and finance were they main sectors brought by the
respondents, as the most challenging ones. And besides, training and constantly developing
the staff they already have, hiring from overseas is another strategy to overcome the lack of
talented professionals. However, what it came that was new for this project, is that some
organisations in Ireland are no longer recruiting staff by their nationality or age, or any other
discriminatory profile, but instead they value more the skills that the candidate can bring to
collaborate with projects. Obviously, for being an immigrant, a process of work visa
application has to be gone through, but that hasn’t been a big concern for the professionals
that have an experience with it.
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1. Introduction
1.1.
Background
Recent studies have proven that diversity in the workplace is an important issue to
be approached and discussed in the work environment. And it is assumed that a diverse and
inclusive work environment has more variety of ideas and creation, hence perform better
on the financial results (McKibbon, H., 2016).
A diverse and inclusive work environment helps to develop innovation. With values and
experiences from different backgrounds, diversity is seeing as an advantage source of
creation and innovation among organisations that adopted a diverse workforce. Moreover,
talented people from different culture provoke more challenges in the work environment,
which it can lead to a more dynamic brainstorm of ideas, increasing the organisation’s
performance and productivity (Groysberg, B. and Connolly, K., 2013; McKibbon, H., 2016).
Companies are crossing boundaries to grow internationally. Being willing to, efficiently,
attend to their client’s needs, an organisation with diversity in language, culture, and gender
would be able to communicate better with the customer and to understand and devolve
what is requested from them (Conboye, J., 2013). More and more organisations are seeking
to build a diverse workplace, to perform better in between their global competitors,
producing innovation and retaining the best talents (McKibbon, H., 2016).
It is known that employees with experiences internationally can bring valuable advantages
to multinational companies. The millennial generation is more enthusiastic about working
abroad in order to enhance their experiences and to acquire new skills. But anywhere
around the world, if you are out of your continent zone, and want to gain professional
experience, you might need to apply for a work visa permit. Work visas applications can be a
concern for many of those immigrants that are trying to have an opportunity in the
international work environment, due to high costs in investments for hiring immigrants
(PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2008).
In this document, we will be focusing on the inclusion of non-EU immigrants and candidates
in the Irish business environment. Be recovering from the recession period and facing a
shortage in skilled professionals, Ireland is looking for alternatives to attract and retain good
candidates, and one of them is in hiring foreign workers (McMahon, C., 2018).
With the attraction of immigrants to fill the job positions gaps, challenges can also be faced
with the acceptance of them from Irish citizens. Irish-born people were considered to have
the worst attitudes to immigration and immigrants, compared to other European states
(Halpin, H. 2018). The attitudes towards immigrants in Ireland were considered to be
negative during the hard times of economy, especially with someone from a different race
or ethnic group (Halpin, H. 2018).
8
Challenges in having a diverse work environment can also be arising from this perspective of
having a mix of ethnicities and race (MacDonald, L., 2018). Moreover, organisations in
Ireland that have a heterogeneous teamwork would have to come with strategies to engage
every employee in the organisation’s values (Weeks, A., 2017).
Study of Employment Permits and critical skills in Ireland
Figure 1 Components of the annual population change.
9
Source: Central Statistics Office. Available at:
http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/pme/populationandmigrationestimatesapril2017/
The
Republic
of
Ireland
has
become
a
good
destination
for
immigrants
(workpermit.com/Ireland-immigration). According to the table above, the number of
immigrants in Ireland has doubled since 2010, from about 40 thousand immigrant to 80
thousand until 2017 (cso.ie, 2017). The increase in the number of immigrants in Ireland can
be explained by the actual strong economy and the Irish Immigration system that easies the
visa application for highly skilled immigrants.
European members do not require a visa to enter the country. However, if the immigrant
comes from outside of Europe, it is required a visa to visit, work, or study in Ireland. The
Irish immigration system has the purpose of easing the access of migrants with good skills
and expertise needed by the Irish economy to get a visa (workpermit.com/Ireland-
immigration).
The Irish work visas available for immigrants to apply are specified as General Employment
Permit, Critical Skills Employment Permit, Irish Start-up Entrepreneur Program Visa, and
Dependent/Partner/Spouse Employment Permit (workpermit.com/Ireland-immigration).
Figure 2 Employment Permits issued and renewed in Ireland 2000 – 2016
Source: Department of Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation. Available at: http://emn.ie/index.jsp?p=128&n=138
Critically analysing the table above, the huge decrease in the number of non-EU working in
Ireland, fell in 41% during 2009 due to the recession in the country, what made the
Government decide to restrict the number of work permit visa. (Smyth, 2010)
10
The main idea here is to show that the Irish economy is recovering from the recession
period, and financial incentives are being offered to multinational companies to start their
business in Ireland. The government then is starting again to issue employment permits to
fill the gap of professional skills. In 2016, the number of non-EU work permit beat a record
since the recession period, expecting to exceed 9,000 applicants work visas, while in 2015
this figure was in 7,353 (Waldron and Ali, 2016).
Comparing both periods, 2009 and 2016, we can see some changes in the single market that
employed most non-EU national. In 2009 and 2010 the biggest single employer of non-EU
nationals was the Health Service Executive (applied for 524 employment permits), and the
Service Industries (applied for 2,970 work permits) (Smyth, 2010). In 2016 the biggest single
employer of non-EU nationals was the IT sector and language-oriented positions (Waldron
and Ali, 2016).
Organisations in the IT, Financial, language-oriented and Engineering sectors, are the main
areas looking for skilled international people to fill the gaps in the workforce. As an example
of these organisations, the top five users of the Irish work permit for non-EU workers are
HSE (479), Google (125), Intel (103), Infosys (94) and Accenture (66) (Waldron and Ali, 2016).
Some recent articles reviews are bringing that Irish employee is not happy with the pay
packages and are leaving their jobs to join a different industry. The result is seeing on
employers struggling to find skills to fill the job vacancies (Woods, K., 2017). The list of skills
most demanding in the Irish labour market was brought in one of Hays reports for 2018, see
table below:
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Figure 3 Skills in demand
Source: Hays Ireland Salary & Recruiting Trends 2018 – Skills in demand. Available at:
https://www.hays.ie/cs/groups/hays_common/@ie/@content/documents/webassets/hays_2140996.pdf
According to the report released by Hays Ireland, looking at the Salary and Recruiting Trends
for 2018, it is expected from employers to face challenges in recruiting suitable candidates,
mainly because of the shortage of skills. To fill this gap of skilled professionals, 68% of the
organisations interviewed are planning to recruit permanent staff over the next 12 months,
from which 29% of them will be recruiting workers from overseas, or even offering
permanent contract instead of temporary positions, and also training the staff they
currently have. Some of the current sectors that are facing this challenge are Accountancy
and Finance, Support Services, IT & Digital Technology, Marketing, Life Sciences and
Construction & Property (Hays, 2017). However, the most recent news has shown a big
shortage of chefs in the Irish restaurants, and they are currently hiring skilled chefs from
Italy, Croatia, and France, and are fighting to the State to relax more working visas for those
who aren’t European (Paul, M., 2018)
Since the beginning of 2017, because of the Brexit current conditions, Britain no longer
being part of the European economy and political agreements, more than 15 institutions, in
special from the finance sector, are bringing their operations and technology functions to
Ireland; furthermore job opportunities are expected to arrive at the beginning of 2018
(Hays, 2017). Hence there will be more demand for jobs, but the candidate shortage will still
present (Hays, 2017).
12
Even though there’s a shortage of critical skills, across Ireland and Eurozone countries the
rate of unemployed EEA nationals is considerably high. For that reason, the Irish
government prioritizes Irish and European citizens in the first instance to fill job positions. As
a second option, employment permits are eased for organisations and sectors that are best
positioned to develop Ireland’s economy (dbei.gov.ie/Employment-Permit-Policy)
1.2.
Personal Interest
Living in the actual Irish economy, and seeing the prospects and opportunities in developing
a professional career in the business environment, this topic was chosen in order to deeply
understand, and to get involved with the present work life availability for non-EU skilled
workers. Moreover, it will enhance my knowledge in the Human Resources industry, helping
to understand the most recent trends and needs of Irish organisations in recruiting and
retaining a diverse workforce.
With the information gathered through journal articles, books, and interviews with
professionals in Irish organisations, will help me to develop specific skills that are relevant to
fill the gap of shortage found in some Irish industries.
This dissertation will be an opportunity for the researcher to build a professional network
portfolio.
1.3.
Research Interest
The current Irish business environment is facing the challenges in hiring skilled professionals
from Ireland to fill their job vacancies, in some industries and sectors. From the other side,
immigrants are entering the market to fulfil these positions. The author tries to deeply
understand the relationship that both organisations and immigrants have in order to ease
the shortage of skilled professionals.
So far, there is no academic research published with the same content. This document
though will be focusing on multinationals based in Ireland. And with the help of Human
Resources professionals working in Ireland, the research question will be answered
following their point of view, and linked to literature reviews will bring new concepts for the
author and for the reader.
Additionally, this study will clarify concepts that bridge the knowledge gap in managing
diversity and immigration influences in the Irish labour market.
13
1.4.
Research Question
How important is to constitute a diverse workforce of skilled
immigrants for Irish organizations?
The Irish work environment as a response to the economic recovery after the recession is
receiving more MNEs and is welcoming more immigrants. Moreover, work environments
are becoming more diverse and organisations are feeling the need to attract skilled
immigrants to enhance their workforce competencies and to increase their competitive
advantages in the business market.
On the other hand, most recently, a shortage of skilled Irish workers are being faced by the
organisations due to salary and benefits disadvantages. Hence, professionals are leaving
their jobs and moving to a better one. The gap then is found on skills among organisations,
and recruiting immigrants are one option of filling the shortage of skills (Hays, 2017).
Conboye, J. (2013) brings in his analysis that people that have international work
experience, speaking more than one language would be more confident in relating well with
stakeholders, thereafter they would engage more easily in an organisation out of their
comfort zone.
1.5.
Research objectives
Research objectives clear the researcher sense of how to achieve the project, its purpose
and direction (Saunders et al., 2012). And, according to Maylor and Blackmon (2005), the
research objectives should follow the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic
and Timely) test.
The research objectives of this project are:
–
To give the reader a better understanding on the growth of the immigration rate
in Ireland and how these immigrants have been attracted by the Irish
government and by organisations that operate in Ireland to fill the gap of the
current shortage of skills in the labour market.
–
To collect non-numerical insights from Human Resources professionals about the
current shortage of skills and how talent immigrants can contribute to overcome
this issue in the Irish labour market
14
–
To bring practical and relevant information to the reader about how to better
manage the diverse cultural environment, its advantages and disadvantages.
–
To picture the future of the Irish labour market
–
To develop the reader’s knowledge of the influence that the Irish government
and the immigration system has on decisions of organisations in Ireland in hiring
non-EU workers.
–
To have first contact with Human Resources professionals in order to give the
author deep insights of knowledge and influence on her career.
1.6.
Research design
A qualitative research method was chosen by the author of this project due to the nature of
the research. It was felt that an inductive study would bring concepts and a deep
understanding of the topic approached. A semi-structured interview done with Human
Resources professionals working in Ireland brought non-numerical information for the
study. The author will make the use of them to interpret the meaning created by each
interview and to build the final conclusion.
Furthermore, this type of approach allows the questions to be altered during the interview,
making possible that new issues and additional information that weren’t previously
mentioned, be added to the context in order to generate relevant data.
Research limitations may arise during the collection of primary data, such as the lack of
information collected from the interviews. This situation would force the researcher to look
for complementary information from extra participants.
1.7.
Organisation of the dissertation
This study was divided into 7 chapters. The first chapter brings background analysis of the
topic in study, the problematic situation that is going to be investigated and its objectives.
The second chapter is the literature review, in which will present existent theories of the
topic that is being studied and will be the base for the development of concepts, guiding the
primary data collection. The third chapter will explain the methodology concepts and which
ones were employed by the author to gather secondary and primary data. Chapter four will
analyse the key findings obtained from the interviews. Chapter five will be the
interpretation of the research findings linked to literature reviews. Chapter six will be the
conclusion of the findings and a general review of the research that was conducted. And
finally, the chapter seven will bring the self-reflection from the overall dissertation
experience.
15
2. Literature Review
2.1. Literature Introduction
The literature review will be concerned about topics that influence on the primary research
analysis. Most concerning about literature that comes with topics related to managing
diversity, its benefits, and how the Human Resources and International Human Resources
Management deal with cultural differences.
As it was shown in the first part of this document, the Irish economy is growing fast after the
recession, and multinationals are being incentivised by the government to come to Ireland.
However, there is a shortage of skilled professionals and organisations are filling their job
positions with immigrants, Europeans, and non-EU.
Literature shows from a theoretical perspective the importance that multinationals should
be giving to people that possess a difference in their skills, being language, culture, ideas,
age, and gender. Moreover, if it’s valuable to invest in those people, and even how to better
manage them, to develop, engage and retain the talented ones.
However, the Irish immigration law imposes some criteria to non-EU that would be applying
for a job. And as it was mentioned in the Introduction part, this is a concern for most
organisations, as it requires high investment in this labour market.
2.2. Managing Diversity
2.2.1 Definition of Diversity
Diversity is not only considered differences in between gender or ethnicity, it broadens to
differences in function, nationality, language, ability, religion, lifestyle, or tenure. It is
defined as the differences in formats, types, ideas and properties (Savic, D., 2017). And
those differences can influence on the employee’s attitudes and behaviour in the workplace
environment (Kossek, E. and Lobel, S., 1996).
Employers and scholars define diversity as the differences in gender, physical and
psychological conditions, and behavioural attitudes that can be found in most of the large
organisations (Jackson, S.E. and Joshi, A., 2011). To ensure a good work environment, in
which every employee feels equally treated, and in which the best talents from the
workforce are engaged in the organisation, it is extremely important for employers to know
how to manage diversity. This management must be combined with new management
practices, such as specific training, in order to keep improving the organization’s
performances (Jackson, S.E. and Joshi, A., 2011).
16
The challenges faced by a diverse environment are related to stereotyping, bias,
generalizations, beliefs, and resistance to change (Greenberg, J., 2004; Savic, D., 2017).
However, there are some Human Resource approaches for managing diversity, such as
diversity enlargement, which introduces the new employees and their importance as
different ethnic and cultural backgrounds in an existent organisation (Kossek et al., 1995);
diversity sensitivity, aims to train the individual members to deal with the stereotypes
differences, existence and different cultural behaviours (Ferdman, 1989); and cultural audit,
that tries to collect and analyse data in regards of how the multicultural work place is
running, and what are the barriers that influence on the employee performance (Morrison
et al. 1993).
Jackson and Joshi (2011) points out that exists a few types of diversity that constitute a work
team; they are: relations-oriented diversity, task performance diversity, readily detected
diversity and underlying diversity.
–
Relations-orientated diversity as the different characteristics of each person that
influences the interpersonal relationship, but there are no implications on the
performance of tasks. E.g.: age, gender, and personal behaviours.
–
Task performance diversity concerns more about the different attributes of each
individual that could affect the teamwork. Those different attributes would be
represented by different professional titles, cognitive abilities, and organisational
tenure.
–
Readily detected diversity is the different attributes that can be easily identified
among a team; such as gender, age, nationality.
–
Underlying diversity is the differences in the attributes that can only be recognised
when having an interaction with the group, and they would be the different
personality behaviour, skills, and attitudes.
However, if the diverse work group is well managed by the HR team and leaders, the groups
can contribute to a more creative process; enhance problem-solving, workgroup
cohesiveness, and thereby influence on the good results of the financial bottom line
(Kochan et al., 2003). Otherwise, diversity can reduce communication and cooperation, and
increase conflicts in the work environment (Gebert et al., 2017).
2.2.2 Equality and Diversity
With a diverse work environment, external factors such as legal, social and economic
context, may effect on the managerial attitudes towards the equal treatment of each
individual. Some countries though, are progressing on the legislation in regards to equal
opportunity (Ali, F., 2013). The legal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and the
17
requirements of the Affirmative Actions (AA) are one of the commitments, in which diversity
management follows to achieve competitive advantage (Shen, et al., 2009).
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) delivers the prohibition of discrimination in between
employees. The dimension in which equality might be measured is specifically related to
cultural or contextual differences (societal, individual, organisational, etc.). Equality theory
is divided into 4 different types: creation, opportunity, treatment, and results, and they
should be measured separately (Kossek, E. and Lobel, S., 1996). To provide equal
opportunity, people have to be treated individually, in a way that they are fairly recognised
by their needs aligned to the business needs and objectives (Beazley, A. & Miller, J., 2017).
However, to support the management of diversity, Affirmative Action is concerned about
the creation of a more inclusive work environment. And it relies on the minority
represented groups, such as woman and racial/ethnic groups to increase their work
influence and to be treated equally in the workforce (Gotsis, G. and Kortezi, Z., 2015).
Shen et al. (2009) also bring on their research that the individuals that belong to the
dominant group, tend to be better rewarded, to have higher job satisfaction, they get more
autonomy and have more access to adequate resources. However, the minority group,
within the same organization, in respect of all of those benefits and good satisfaction cited
before, can be lower if they don’t have access to equal opportunities and rewards.
2.2.3 Advantages and disadvantages of Diversity Management
There are some advantages and disadvantages that are related with having a diverse work
environment. Despite that, management decisions must be coherent and accessible to
every employee, with the intention of contributing to a unique process among the
teamwork. If the group is well managed, the diversity workforce’s advantages can be
capitalized and the disadvantages minimized; which could contribute for a better
performance of the organisation (Jauhari, H. and Singh, S., 2013).
Advantages
Organisations with a diverse workforce can efficiently compete with smaller business for
having a different workgroup. Having many culture, languages and skill differences allows
the organisation to compete overseas, to understand and relate to MNEs across
international boundaries (Kossek, E. and Lobel, S., 1996).
Gordon and McCann (2005), bring that business benefits from diversity in the geography of
creativity and entrepreneurship, that they bring a variety of skills, ideas and culture to build
a new combination of knowledge and highly compete in the external environment, without
discriminating costumers that request new products.
18
It also allows the individual to contribute to the organisation to achieve their goals with
their own potential skills, independently of group identities (Kossek, E. and Lobel, S., 1996).
Furthermore, pieces of literature bring that as a benefit, from having a diverse workforce it
enhances innovation and creation on outcomes and process (Kirton, G. and Greene, A.,
2016). McGuirk and Jordan (2012) add that a business can’t only depend on internal
capabilities, but also has to explore external sources of knowledge to be able to innovate.
It is important to note that the employee can also be benefited from working in a diverse
work environment. People also want to work for a company with good employment
practices, which values their skills. To be competitive, organisations need their employees
engaged in their objectives and give their best contribution to a future performance.
Employers are valuing the benefits of diversity and inclusion in recruiting and retaining their
best talents, and also motivating them to respect their colleagues without any
discrimination (Beazley, A. & Miller, J., 2017). On the other side, employees also have the
opportunity to grow personally and intellectually, as they are exposed to new cultures,
ideas, and perspectives (Lawton, D. & Aquino, C., 2016).
Disadvantages
Diversity also has its negative impact on the organisational function, delivering some
challenges to the management of the organisation’s performance. The main challenges
related to diversity is training and keeping the environment fairly recognised by employees.
However, costs of training are very high, and that can influence on the financial results of
the organisation. Mandatory training is important to engage each member of the
organisation, being customers, employees, managers, into their diverse culture (Mayhew,
R.). Yet, if the training is imposed by the organisation, some employees can reject it,
thinking that being forced to accept diversity is more important than their exposure and
experiences, and undermines any other training that could enhance their skills (Mayhew,
R.).
It can also be hard to segregate ethnic communities within the organisation. Diversity can
make communication harder in between the individuals; hence it would avoid a common
argument on a specific situation, and misinterpretation of meanings (Mazour, B., 2010;
Emma, L., 2018). That can also lead to a conflict and create work disadvantages for the
minority (Mazour, B., 2010). Furthermore, for trying to solve the problems arising from
diversity conflicts, such as the ones previously cited, and also negative attitudes or
harassment, managers would have to spend a considerable amount of their time on these
issues (MacDonald, L., 2018).
Absenteeism and higher turnover are considerable issues found in a multi-cultural problem
(Mazour, B., 2010). According to Ongori and Agolla (2007), women have a higher percentage
of an absentee rate than males; and that an individual that feels categorized out of the
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intern group, would easily leave the organisation. The costs that a company can take if not
managing well the absenteeism and the turnover rate, can be aggressive to the financial
results.
2.2.4 The MNE and Diversity
Populations in different countries are starting to gain a mix of nations, hence, increase the
diversity of the culture (Wentling, R. & Palma-Rivas, N., 2000). Moreover, the market in the
world is becoming more integrated thanks to the globalization. As Multinational Enterprises
(MNEs) are getting more common around the world, it is expected from the organisations to
accept the demographic differences and to engage them into their workforce. That needs to
be done in order to standardize the cross-border implementations to keep the business
competitive in the market (Jauhari, H. and Singh, S., 2013).
Even though there are benefits by having a diverse workforce, some companies still don’t
know in what way to achieve their objectives by enhancing diversity, and they just follow
what the labour market is offering them as a diverse workforce. If so, organisations should
be aware of how to increase diversity and better manage their diversity strategies to fit
them into the organisational values, quality level, and current production, without losing
benefits of having a homogenous organisation (Thomas, 1990).
Multinationals enterprises (MNEs) are whiling to operate in multiple countries and that
requires a better managerial of a diverse workforce. Thus, MNEs should evaluate the labour
and the dynamism of production to consider the priority level that should be assigned to
workforce diversity incentives (Kossek, E. and Lobel, S., 1996).
The labour market refers to the supply and demand for labour, in which employees provide
the supply and employers the demand (investopedia.com). The labour market forces are
related to the impact that the economy, politic, and demographic forces can cause on the
costs and availability of workers in a certain country (Katz, H. et al., 2015). MNEs labour
market diversification concerns the continuous capacity of a firm to manage a global
workforce. If an MNE is based in nations, with a high level of domestic diversity, it should be
more aware of the need of accommodating competing employee stakeholders. However, if
there is a low domestic diversity, host operations that possess a high level of diversity may
develop these competencies (Kossek, E. and Lobel, S., 1996).
On the other hand, not referring to the labour sources, but to the product that the MNE
produces as an influencer for creating a heterogeneous work team, the product market
forces are related to the ability that MNEs have in altering their product or services as they
have customers around the world, to compete in the world business environment (Jong, G.,
and Houten, J., 2013). Chaiy et al (2014), brings that a new product market entry is normally
explained by the firm’s profit-seeking motivation, or even to compete with an existent or
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new market. Some further analyses bring that production-related efficiency would positively
contribute for the diversification of the international companies’ products, exploring other
sources that are unavailable in their domestic country, and contributing for creating a
competitive advantage in international markets (Jong, G., and Houten, J., 2013). However,
for expanding internationally the portfolio of products, the company would have to identify
what are the customer needs, the purchasing power, skill levels, cultural expectations, legal
rights and language requirements from the country that they are doing the business with.
MNE holds a competitive advantage when building a multicultural work environment to
succeed in the international market (Kossek, E. and Lobel, S., 1996). But seeing the
conditions of having a labour market and product market forces as a competitive advantage,
it is worth to consider them as a vital component of competitiveness.
However, some challenges are faced with external and internal environment conflicts. That
can lead to disagreements within the same MNE or work-related attitudes across countries
(Kossek, E. and Lobel, S., 1996). And so, a more rigorous strategy should be developed to
better manage the diverse workforce (Jackson, S.E. and Joshi, A., 2011).
Further analyses bring that one of the objections in MNEs having a diverse workforce is the
impediment of cohesiveness, which is what makes the group vulnerable to share common
ideas. Moreover, some theories bring that heterogeneous groups experience more conflict,
higher turnover, less social integration and failure in communication, than homogeneous
counterparts (Jackson, S.E. and Joshi A., 2011). But if they are well managed, it can lead to
innovative and creative problem-solving and decision-making, because of the number of
different ideas and alternatives that can be generated to better critique a case (Bassett-
Jones, N. 2005).
2.3. International Human Resources Management
Human Resource is a key important role for Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) to manage
costs and benefits of the people who work for the organisations. When organisations cross
boundaries, the International Human Resources Management then, are the ones
responsible to manage people from different nations. Organisations that do business
internationally, cannot only consider the political, legal and cultural aspects of the country
they are inserted but also what makes the cost-effective management practices (Brewster,
C. et al., 2011). In other words, organisations have to manage differently their employees,
depending on the context they are inserted in.
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2.3.1 Talent management
Talent is considered to be an individual that brings an additional and different skill to
organisational performance (Weeks, A., 2017). However, each company can describe
differently what talent means for them, relying on which employee qualities match with the
organisation’s needs (Ayim, M., 2017).
Talent management is the system in which organisations utilize to attract, identify, develop,
engage and retain the talented employee that fulfils the business critical roles (Weeks, A.,
2017). Scullion and Starkey (2000; p.1065) mention that there is a “growing recognition that
the success of international business depends most importantly on the quality of top
executive talent and how effectively these critical resources are managed and developed”.
In contrast, Creelman (2004) says that talent management is not only a set of topic but is
also seeing as perspectives or a mind-set; the talent management perspective agrees with
the talented individual playing a central role for the success of the company, in a sense of
how the firm’s issues are seen from the perspective of how it would influence their critical
talent and the roles that talent people would play to solve this issues.
The study done by Hays Recruitment (2017), adds that even though the prediction for
businesses to improve for this current years is positive, employers will still have to deal with
the shortage of talent people. The lack of skills has already negatively impacted on the
production of the business. And to overcome the prevalent skills shortage, organisations will
have to review their workforce strategies, looking at short and long period people
investment.
The main idea of hiring, retaining and developing a talented professional is to successfully
compete in the commerce, to have a higher level of innovation, to improve the employee
engagement and commitment, to reduce external expenditures on resources and reduce
the turnover of skilled staff. And these global talented people have to have a relationship
with the IHRM strategies in order to always develop the global business (Brewster, C. et al.,
2011).
2.3.2 Global skills supply strategies
Skills are being considered the main important asset of a firm, especially for multinationals
entering the international market. Therefore, new strategies should be implemented by the
international human resources, in order to retain and manage talented people (Chang, H.,
and Chang, L., 2015).
Global talent management involves the organisation activities to attract, select, develop,
and to retain skilled professionals in the most strategic roles (Scullion et al., 2010).The
strategic roles are being considered as the ones that promote the achievement of the
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organisational strategic goals on a global scale. However, global talent management should
consider the differences in between every business, the global strategic priorities of each,
and the differences across boundaries contexts for how talent management should be
specifically operated in the country the organisation is in (Scullion et al., 2010).
International Human Resource Management aims to identify the available options of global
skilled employees and fit them into their organisation to evolve international business
strategies (Brewster, C. et al., 2011). Schuler et al (2011), mentions that the Human
Resources use specific policies and practices to better manage the challenges faced by
organisations to deal with global talent. When these policies and procedures are directly
related to location and relocation of management, planning and forecasting, staffing,
training and developing, and evaluating if the firm’s needs are met with the talent skills, not
forgetting about the concerns evolving the whole workforce and regulations.
To globally search and attract talented professionals, Chambers et al (1998) and
Piansoongern et al (2008) bring in their research that it is important to create awareness for
global talent management and the benefits of having talented employees from overseas. He
also mentions that the Human Resources have to adopt strategies for recruitment; to
attract and retain talent by refining and creating employee value, and giving equal career
opportunity for both new and current talents. And finally, it is important to continuously
evaluate the development of the new talent to create competitive advantage and enhance
the company’s performance.
As it was brought on the first chapter of this document, Ireland is lacking skilled
professionals, and alternatively, organisations are looking for foreigners to fill this gap of
potential candidates. And as an example of global skills supply strategy, the Irish
government is recognising the critical skills that are important for the Irish economic growth
and is delivering some work permit to immigrants as a strategy to supply the local labour
market (dbei.gov.ie/Critical-Skills-Employment-Permit, 2017). Another strategy to address
skills shortage is hiring temporary and contract staffs and also highly investing in training
(Hays, 2017).
However, Beechler and Woodward (2009) mention that it hasn’t been easy for organisations
to find the right talent at the right time and place. They say that the technology
development is influencing on the level of complexity and specific jobs in organisations.
Moreover, work is becoming more rational and less transactional; meaning that employees
are looking for having more benefits from the organisation than long-term survival. Hence,
employers will need to restructure their organisation, policies and procedures to attract,
develop and retain talented employees.
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2.3.3 Global knowledge management strategies and management through global
networks
As a competitive advantage among organisations, it is important to integrate the intellectual
sources to the firm’s needs (Grant M., 1996). Therefore, the IHRM team is concerned about
the development of the business skills and in engaging the leadership teams to the business
functions. For the IHRM, it is relevant to develop the intellectual integration through
knowledge bases (Brewster, C. et al., 2011).
Knowledge is built on an individual experience and expertise. This knowledge is created and
exchanged within an organisational context, linked to the external social environment.
Moreover, as companies become more international, the development of mechanisms and
practices to facilitate the knowledge sharing and the development of mind-sets across
diverse cultural countries are being very important for the organisation’s performance
(Swart, J. and Kinnie, N., 2013; Mabey, C. and Zhao, S., 2017).
Networks are advancing the communication in the global business (Parkhe et al., 2006).
IHRM has always communicated between their teams by face-to-face talk, facilitating
knowledge sharing. However, global networking now plays an important role in improving
the quality of the IHRM interventions and on the HRM professional careers (Sparrow, P. and
Brewster, C., 2006).
Having expatriates and learning from them is one of the forms of global knowledge
management (Sparrow P., 2006). When it comes to an international context, the diverse
workforce and foreign transfer can positively contribute to exchange non-codified
knowledge, because they share a common set of beliefs and values (Mabey, C. and Zhao, S.,
2017).
2.4. Employment Permits in Ireland
During periods of economic prosperity, the opportunities for eligible occupation arise to
help the economy to expand, thus, a shortage of labour market and skills needs are also
influenced. When the economy is declining, it occur the opposite demand. However,
independently of the economic period, the needs to meet certain skills requirements still in
place, and employment permits for non-EEA nationals are issued if the candidate can
demonstrate their expertise to benefit the country (dbei.gov.ie/Employment-Permit-Policy).
As the main concern on this document is the inclusion of non-EU in the Irish market to
combine a diverse workforce, there are some criteria to be eligible to work in an Irish
organisation. And they are:
2.4.1 Criteria for Eligibility
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“An employment permit is a permission for a person who is not a national of Switzerland or
an EEA state to be employed in Ireland” (dbei.gov.ie)
The General Employment Permit is related to a job offer from an Irish organisation
registered with the Revenue Commissioners with the extension of some other entities, if
applicable, and it has to be trading in the State (dbei.gov.ie, 2017).
2.4.2 Employer Criteria
It aims to ensure that the employer is honest and follows the legislation to the employee’s
rights (dbei.gov.ie, 2017).
2.4.3 Employee Criteria
A minimum of annual remuneration of €30,000 is expected to be presented as criteria. The
employment category has to be on the list of legible employment for employment permits
and that the employee possesses the required skills, experiences and qualifications for the
job (dbei.gov.ie, 2017).
2.4.4 The Process
There’s an application form available online on the Employment Permits Online System with
a user guide for guiding the applicant to fill the forms and conclude the application process.
The process is divided into three stages: application received, processing stage and review
(dbei.gov.ie, 2017).
As it is seen from the above criteria for a non-EU immigrant to work in Ireland is costly and
takes time to go through the whole process of visa requirement, gives a drawback for
organisations to continue with the process, or even to consider the decision of hiring an
expatriate to be part of their diverse environment. Mayrhofer and Brewster (1996) bring as
one of the disadvantages of having an ethnocentric staffing is the selection procedures
prone to errors, high cost, and government restriction.
2.5. Literature Conclusion
Organisations that are crossing boundaries to reach international business and diversity are
operating in a high-commitment context, experimenting the idea of having a diverse
workforce that can add to the company more creativity, innovation and competitive
25
advantage. The IHRM approach supports the creation and maintenance of an internal labour
market and a high-level skills base.
However, due to the challenges in managing diversity, some organisations are not
committed to adopting new HRM approaches to create a diverse workforce, and rather
continue with a homogenous and less conflict work environment.
But because there is a need of talented and innovative professionals, organisations, MNEs in
special, are whiling to adopt and invest in the international labour market, with the idea of
having a competitive advantage in the business world, to increase their performance
management and to innovate on their products.
As it was mentioned on the previous chapter, Irish organisations are already whiling to
invest in foreign skilled professionals. Even though there are evidences of the main reason
of recruiting overseas professionals is to fill the gap of skills shortages, it’s not known how
important is to have this diverse skills set in organisations in Ireland, and how employers
and employees are reacting to a diverse work environment.
