Choosing a transnational, multinational, supranational, or international (e.g. nongovernmental) organisation as the research organisation. Consideration of
international HRM and/or MNC strategy, practice and context in the literature
review and analysis.
2. Focusing on an explicitly cross-national boundary/ pan-national, pan-cultural topic
e.g.:
– international HRM and approaches to cultural differences;
– global talent management;
– managing international assignees;
– managing expatriates’ performance;
– designing or evaluating an international organisation’s diversity and crosscultural policy;
– coaching in inter-cultural and international teams;
– HRM strategies and practices for cross-border mergers and acquisitions.
3. Focusing on an implicitly international, cross-cultural topic e.g.:
– managing heritage diversity;
– HR leadership style preferences and effectiveness, including national culture
tendencies;
– uncertainty avoidance and power distance in change management.
4. Stating an international and/or cross-cultural aspect in the aim (the research
organisation and countries involved should be made explicit in the final version),
e.g.:
– to critically evaluate how far US HRM strategies can be transferred to a
Chinese organisation…
– to critically evaluate the consistency of, and sensitivity to, national cultural
norms in HR policy implementation in different international locations in an
MNC…..;
– to critically evaluate the use of Western HR consultants for developing X, an
African SME…;
– to critically evaluate Org X’s approach to managing its subsidiaries in Nigeria…
– to critically evaluate the effectiveness of PCN managers in Org Y’s Indian
subsidiaries…
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…. in order to make recommendations for…..[as appropriate].
5. Stating an international and/or cross-cultural aspect in the objectives, e.g.:
– to critically analyse the impact of culture on preferences for management style /
employee voice mechanisms in India and Germany;
– to compare domestic and international managers’ perceptions of the principal
factors influencing effective team working….;
– to compare and contrast the nature and levels of employee engagement across
sites within an MNC….;
– to critically analyse the influence of the main stakeholders in international
employee relations;
– to compare and contrast the perspectives of HCN employees with that of PCN
managers on the experience of appraisals…
6. Including a comparison and critique of international secondary sources and their
theoretical perspectives in the literature review chapter/s, e.g. UK, American,
European, Australian, African, Asian.
7. Commenting on various national locations, international trends and findings of
empirical studies in the literature review.
8. Situating the empirical research location other than in the UK or the researcher’s
country of domicile and/or culture, analysing the topic area and data using cultural
models and/or environmental analysis as appropriate.
9. Critically discussing the influences of international stakeholders, e.g. ILO, OECD, EU
etc.
10. In addition to the above options, demonstrating personal learning of, and insights
into, national perspective/s, cultural awareness and sensitivity in the reflection
chapter, discussing the researcher’s positionality.
