Management summary research study „Multinationals and the evolving contours of their human management practices in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union“
The study explores the effects of three organizational variables (country of origin of the multinational company, the timing of entry into the European Union and the mode of establishment of the subsidiary unit) on the human resource management practices being pursued by subsidiaries of large multinationals operating in selected countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Furthermore, the study examines whether the degree of autonomy afforded to the subsidiary over its preferred HR recipes is related to overall local unit performance. The study profiles the HRM practices of 379 foreign owned subsidiaries. The study finds a significant correlation between the annual training budget, the importance of knowledge flow from headquarters to the subsidiary and the perceived criticality of training and development and whether the subsidiary is a greenfield site or an acquisition. A correlation was also found between the national timing of EU membership (older members, newer and then candidate countries and non-EU members) and three HR practice variables: the use of expatriates, external service providers and employee relations practices. The findings serve to reduce the information gap on foreign-owned companies in CEE and the Former Soviet Union.
Target groups of stakeholders: leaders of multinational companies, human resource managers
Citation: Poór, J., Engle, A.D., Kovács, I.É., Morley, M.J., Kerekes, K., Slavic, A., Berber, N., Juhász, T., Zaharie, M., Legnerova, K., Dvorakova, Z., Stor, M., Suchodolski, A., Buzády, Z. and Abdrazakova, A. (2020), “Multinationals and the evolving contours of their human management practices in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union”, Employee Relations, Vol. 42 No. 3, pp. 582-608.