The Human Resources Challenge of Huawei —- Cultural clashIntroductionBackgroundof HuaweiIn 1987, Ren Zhengfei, then 44 years old, founded a telecom equipment-trading firm in Shenzhen, China, with startup capital of CNY 21,000. By the end of 2014, Huawei had 170,000 employees in more than 170 countries and regions, serving more than one-third of the world’s population, and leading the world in international patent applications. Over 30 years, it has grown to become the largest telecom company in the world. As well as that, it has operations and representative offices in more than 100 countries and serves over 1 billion users worldwide. Huawei’s success boils down to two fundamental elements: the changing technology environment and the creativity of its people, so we can realize that employees play a very important role in Huawei and the human resources management is very crucial to HuaweiHumanresources challenges of HuaweiAccording to Fang Lee Cooke (TheInternational Journal of Human Resource Management, 2012, p.1845), there areseveral challenge to HRM in host countries and management responses of Huawei. First,because salaries are based on performance levels, inexperienced local new hiresmay have lower wages. Second, unlike local employment laws, as foreigncompanies, they need to comply more strictly with these laws than China. Third,how to strike a balance between employee development and cost-effectiveemployee disbursement is sometimes a dilemma because HCN employees needtraining and development opportunities and then leave more famous Westernmultinationals. Fourth, multiculturalism and diversity management is anotherissue. Huawei may be one of the few Chinese companies that actively adopt theconcept of multiculturalism and diversity management. Fifth, the lack ofapproval from local employees and their employers and the lack of acceptance ofthe corporate culture of Chinese enterprises are a double challenge to theissue of retention.Thekey challengeCultural clash is one of the key human resourcesaspects that affected Huawei. Huawei as a multinational company, the objectiveexistence of the company’s internal cultural differences, is bound to causecultural conflicts in the enterprise. As the process of global integrationaccelerates and the flow of human resources in multinational enterprises likeHuawei continues to accelerate, this cultural friction will increase day by dayand gradually begin to manifest itself in the internal management and externaloperation of transnational corporations, resulting in the loss of marketopportunities for transnational corporations and the inefficiency of theorganizational structure and make the implementation of the global strategy introuble. Therefore, this essay will attempt to demonstrate how the Huawei cansolve this problem and develop better for its brighter future using humanresources management practices.MaindiscussionsHuawei’sproblem of human resources While Huawei successfully achieved itstrans-national development, Huawei also encountered many challenges in itshuman resources management. The transnational management practice of Huaweishows that one of the important factors that affect transnational management isthat various cultural conflicts arise from the differences in value orientationand behavior among people from different cultural backgrounds. How to realizethe absorption and integration of culture has become a problem that Huaweiconstantly solves in transnational management.Howto solve the cultural conflict of human resource management in HuaweiWith the continuous expansion anddevelopment of overseas affiliates of Huawei, Huawei conducts cross-cultural humanresources management mainly through the following tactics:Localization strategyLocalization strategy which means theconcept of global adaptation is the business trying to integrate into thetarget market, and strive to become a target market strategy adopted. Theessence of “localization” is the process of multinationalcorporations integrating production, marketing, management and personnel intothe economy of the host country in an all-round way. Generally, they conduct aseries of surveys to understand the actual local economy, culture and customs. AtHuawei’s overseas offices, everyone strives to create an atmosphere in whicheveryone, regardless of nationality and race, is a Huawei employee. BothChinese and foreign cultures constantly collide and merge with each other.Under the influence of Huawei’s culture, Huawei is gradually presenting itsdiversified and international characteristics. With the gradual implementationof “localization” business strategy, the ratio of Chinese and foreignemployees in overseas institutions of Huawei continuously changes.Culturally compatible strategyCulturally compatible strategy is also themost important thing which need to understand the differences between differentcultural concepts. Therefore, Huawei needs to integrate cultural differencesinto the overall marketing strategy to ensure that the realization of businessgoals will always be a major issue. For instance, Huawei’s employees inUzbekistan’s offices regularly attend local weddings, travel to cities onholidays, watch ballets and learn about local culture and customs. Whenever anemployee is on his birthday, everyone congratulates on sending a giftcollectively.Cross-cultural training strategyHuawei implements cross-cultural trainingstrategy. As international enterprises become the most important interculturalorganizations in the world, the source of human resources is increasinglyshowing an international trend among a considerable number of enterprises. Moreand more people of different colors become colleagues. The employees fromdifferent countries and nations have different cultural backgrounds. Employees’values, needs, attitudes and behaviors are quite different. Such culturaldifferences within the enterprise inevitably lead to cultural conflicts. At thesame time, due to cultural differences, the human resources managementconcepts, human resources management systems and methods of different countriesvary. As a result, the human resources management concepts and managementmethods among the managers in the enterprises also continuously impact andcollide. In the daily operation of enterprises and foreign exchanges, ifemployees are lack of the knowledge and skills of intercultural communication,the differences between cultures will create misunderstandings and unnecessaryfriction, which will affect the work efficiency and reduce the competitivenessof enterprises. Therefore, the cultural difference is also an obstacle thatmust be overcome in the internationalization and transnational management ofhuman resources. Huawei employees will receive relevant training in thetraining department before leaving the country, such as the local cultures andrelated products. Daily training also includes seminars, language training,books, websites, discussion and simulation exercises and more. These trainingsenhance the adaptability of employees with different cultural backgrounds andpromote communication and understanding among people of different culturalbackgrounds. Through continuous cross-cultural training, cross-culturalawareness has gradually developed among employees and learned to regardcultural differences as differences without distinction between good and bad,helping employees to be good at standing with people of different culturalbackgrounds considering each other’s point of view, cross-cultural conflictsare greatly reduced.Common values management.A reason why a company can become a goodcompany, a very important reason is that it has successfully created a kind ofcore values ??and mission to enable all employees heartfelt identity, as thecore values ??of the enterprise culture once being all staff sincerely agree orshare, it will affect people’s thinking and behavior patterns. HuangWeiwei(dedication – the Huawei Philosophy of Human Resources Management) claims that Huaweidoesn’t like to make too much money. And the profits are not its motive – growthis. This aspect of the enterprise culture is what drives its HRM policies andapproaches. In addition to regulating and managing overseas institutions underHuawei’s business conditions, Huawei’s corporate culture restricts everyemployee’s behavior in an invisible ideology. Even away from overseas, themilitarized management style from Huawei headquarters is still not diminished.Huawei believes that only those who persist in fighting unjustly for thecollective can form a united community. Therefore, Huawei advocatesdesire-driven, decent means, so that the formation of a group of vigorous, goodmanagement style. Huawei believes that unity and cooperation, collectivestruggle is the soul of Huawei. No one in Huawei has the privilege, andeveryone shares the common aspiration and hardship, equality for all. Anyindividual interest must serve the collective interests and integrateindividual efforts into the enterprise. Huawei integrated this common value,the entire enterprise burst out of the incredible combat effectiveness. So wecould realize that in human resources management, only understanding culturaldifferences and respecting multi-culture can improve the ability ofcross-cultural management.Suggestionsfor Huawei Cross-cultural Human Resources ManagementUnder the multi-cultural background, thecore of human resource management lies in how to integrate the scattered andisolated functions, responsibilities and activities in human resourcemanagement. By coordinating the operation of human beings and creating thecompetitive advantage of enterprises. In order to give play to this advantageof enterprises, Huawei can consider the following aspects in implementingcross-cultural human resources management: Firstly, Huawei should strengthen cross-culturalselection and training. Cross-cultural selection and training can enhancepeople’s responsiveness and adaptability to different cultural traditions,promote communication and understanding among people of different culturalbackgrounds, mitigate cultural conflicts and enhance teamwork and corporatecohesion. The specific measure is that Huawei should try to select those whohave the skills and qualities of a global manager. They should love the newculture, have the adventurous spirit, have strong interpersonal skills and workhard with people from different cultures to understand their opinions andattitudes. Such a global manager can adapt to the requirements of culturalintegration and they also have to attend a series of trainings about the language,culture and personal occupation of so as to better adapt to the future work. Huaweishould also adopt some new cross-cultural training methods, such as setting upintercultural communication programs, setting up “global serviceprojects” and setting up business institutes. Secondly, based on the common understandingof culture, Huawei should establish the strong corporate culture according tothe requirements of the external environment and the strategic development ofthe company. It helps Huawei not only to reduce cultural conflicts, so thateach employee can put their thoughts and behavior with the company’s businessoperations and objectives together, but also to make the subsidiary and theparent company closer. At the same time, it can establish a good reputation inthe international market and enhance the transnational corporations’ ability ofcultural change.Thirdly, Huawei should enhance cross-culturalcommunication. In order to ensure the effective implementation of effectivecommunication in cross-cultural enterprises, Huawei must establish a culture ofmutual understanding and mutual respect between management, management andemployees as well as between the company and the outside. In addition, Huawei mustactively establish a variety of formal and informal, effective and invisiblecross-cultural communication organizations and channels, so that every employeein the enterprise have more opportunities to express their opinions. Somesuccessful companies often organize seminars, classes and language trainingwithin the enterprise and enhance the role of managers by effectively promotingcommunication with people, teams and organizations through the use of mediasuch as books, bulletin boards, websites, videos and television. As a resultHuawei could improve business efficiency and maximize the effectiveness ofcross-cultural human resources management. Fourthly, Huawei should enhance thelocalization of employees. As local managers have a deep understanding of localculture, they are easily accepted by employees and at the same time provide apromotion channel for local employees. Therefore, they have strong incentives.Local employees are familiar with the local customs, market dynamics andgovernment regulations, hiring local employees will undoubtedly facilitatecross-cultural enterprises in the local market development and gain a firmfoothold. In the development of intercultural human resources, most largemultinational corporations have proposed the strategy of employees’localization and continuously raised the proportion of senior and middle-levelmanagers in the country. The management concept of “local affairs managedby local people” is being gradually realized. To some extent, theimplementation of this concept can make cross-cultural enterprises eliminatecultural friction, develop their own adaptability to local culture, and itsunique foreign culture affect the host country’s cultural environment, showinga company’s great tolerance to multiculturalism , So Huawei could attract moreoutstanding employees and enhance their competitiveness. Through the abovemeasures, the effectiveness of cross-cultural human resources management atHuawei will be greatly enhanced so that enterprises can implement effective andstrategic personnel planning in a multicultural environment.ConclusionsWith the continuous expansion anddevelopment of Huawei’s overseas subsidiaries, Huawei, as the leading telecomsolution provider in the world, has faced the challenge which is culturalconflicts in the implementation of human resources management. In order tosolve the conflicts caused by cultural differences, Huawei implementcross-cultural human resources management, mainly through the implementation oflocalization strategies, cultural compatibility strategies, cross-culturaltraining and common values management strategies. Huawei mainly implements localizationstrategy when implementing cross-cultural human resources management, includingstaff localization, localization management, R & D localization andlocalization of partners. There are more than 100 countries around the worldapplying their products. International markets have become the main source ofHuawei’s sales. In all countries and regions, Huawei has set up hundreds ofbranches and dozens of research institutes. More than half of its employees arelocal employees, and more and more local employees have become local technicalbackbone. Huawei has established training centers around the world, whichgreatly enhance Huawei’s ability to provide high-quality training in theseregions. While maintaining sound management, Huawei persists in its localizedoperation globally and has made great contributions to its countries andregions. As well as that, Huawei has established branches in more than 100countries around the world, investing locally, setting up sales and serviceoffices, research and development centers, training centers, technical supportcenters and factories, and hiring local staff. This not only deepens Huawei’sunderstanding of the local market, but also raises the local employment rate,enhances the technical level of local engineers and promotes the development ofthe local economy. In addition, Huawei regards employee training as the mostbasic level of cross-cultural management. Cross-cultural training foremployees, including training on basic knowledge of culture, training oncultural conflicts, and training on cultural adaptability, has been conducted.In terms of value management, Huawei’s corporate culture affects every employeeas an invisible ideology. Huawei creates the unique “wolf” corporateculture and it requires employees to develop the habit of learning, to have agood learning ability and a unique sense of innovation and awareness.In summary, cross-cultural human resources managementhas an important impact on the survival and development of Huawei and alsoplays an important role in the productivity of Huawei. A successful humanresources management will bring a value-added effect of 1 + 1> 2 to the enterprise,otherwise, it will have a negative impact and hinder the development of theenterprise. ReferencesFang Lee Cooke The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2012, p.1845Huang Weiwei Dedication — the Huawei Philosophy of Human Resources ManagementHuawei Thestartup that became the largest telecom company in the world Get Help With Your EssayIf you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!Find out more