Mohammed Shafiq Hanif

100134260
Global talent management
6HR502
Word count 1962

Unclear in what he wanted

Lectures had no relevance, didnt use any of his lecture slides for assignment
Most of the time he went off on a tangent describing his own experiences and
didnt finish going through the slides,

1. Analyse and evaluate the ways organisations have responded to the

need for changes in the way they work in todays global environments

He didnt say do this,

2. Evaluate the demands on changes in managing people in global

business environments

This assignment will address two key issues affecting a global organisation; these
are corruption and its impact on global dialogue and managing instability in relation
to acquiring future talent. Corruption and instability can go hand in hand and this is
especially prevalent within poorer countries where the corruption has influenced the
governing systems design to protect the vulnerable. www.transparency.org gives an
example within Palestine, the equivalent of 800 million US dollars was lost due to tax
evasion. This funding could have been used to create stability by improving
infrastructure such as water supply, electricity supply and roads which also could
have had the affect of encouraging investment, boosting the economy and improving
living standards. Unlike the UK the governments in developing countries generally do
not help to directly raise living standards or even provide free housing or financial
support for the vulnerable, this in addition to corruption leads to an unstable
workforce who work to eat and are exploited on a regular basis by anyone who has
some resemblance of power or authority. This can be seen in Morocco with is
regulation to improve living standards by moving poverty stricken people to better
areas with access to basic services, this was then pounced upon by corrupt civil
service workers illegally charging up to 880 dollars for land and residential right. To
put this into perspective, this is a third of the yearly income within Morocco and those
who didnt pay were left homeless. 880 dollars of disposable income taken away per
family means organisation might not provide essential product and services let alone
commodities or consumer goods. (www.transparancy.org)
Global organisations have to be aware of these issues as they directly affect their
profit margins, for better or for worse. This might include having to pay bribes that
cost money or buying products or services from exploited workforces at cheaper
prices. Also with an increasingly aware consumer base, bad business practice will
have a negative effect on any organisation.

Impact or control of corruption and its affect on global dialogue

Corruption
The Oxford dictionary defines corruption as dishonest or fraudulent conduct by
those in power and the act of making someone or something morally depraved
(Oxford Dictionaries, 2014). These two definitions adequately describe corruption but
not its affect on global dialogue. The World Bank estimates 0.5% of the world GDP is
lost due to corruption. Corruption extends beyond this and is prevalent in every
society in one form or another (World Bank, 2013).
Asiedu (2004) mentions the affect of corruption; she states that it can affect firms in
many ways such as affecting its performance, impedes operational growth, raising
operational cost and creating uncertainty which deters investors. The other negative
affects corruption can have on a business are, loss of funds through embezzlement,
loss of trust with customers, closure of the organisation, legal action taken against
organisation and increases barriers to entry for national and foreign organisations.

Davoodi (1998) gives an example some of these affects, with the Tangentopoli
(bribe city) scandal that took place in Italy within the 1990s. Italys whole governing
system was corrupted it is estimated that they had the affect of putting an estimated
5% cost on every business transaction in 1992. This created high barriers to entry
and a hostile business environment where people lives were taken for granted, the
affects of this scandal are still being felt today. The highlights were the major loses
Italy faced with its public works through bribery, after the corruption was weeded out;
the budgets for public construction fell dramatically. For example an airports budget
was reduced by 59%, and more specifically the cost of a kilometre of subway track
fell by 57%, this was because of a reduction in the costs of construction. Barnes
(2013) gives the estimates cost of corruption within Europe to be 210 billion Euros
which amounts to 1% of European annual GDP.
Bribery
Bribery is often defined as offering money or a favour, to gain a favourable position
or advantage. This is done outside of government regulation for the business code of
conduct. The World Bank estimates that 1 trillion US dollars is lost to private to public
sector bribery. (World Bank, 2013). As mentioned above a lot of money is lost within
individual countries due to this act.
The affects bribery can have on global dialogue are that it lets organised crime
flourish, creates unfair advantages within economies and creates an anti-competition
environment. It is also a big reason for the slow growth of economic development,
undermines legislation and public confidence which reduces foreign direct
investment (Anti corruption, 2000). The more sinister side of bribery can be seen
with the collapse of Dhaka Rana Plaza within Bangladesh which led to the deaths of
1,127 hard working people and injured many more. The owner of the plaza used
bribery to get building permission for an extension done on the factory to improve
productivity but more importantly it was all written up as genuine and no one took
any notice (Barnes, 2013).
There are also positive aspects that bribery could entail for a business and within
some economies it can seen as a necessary act, Halliburton bribed a senior Nigerian
official with 180 million US dollars to secure a liquefied natural gas contract work 6
billion US dollars but even though the case has been through the courts no one has
been convicted or fines within Nigeria. This brings into light the problems with getting
involved with bribery, this is the foreign bribery laws, Halliburton is based within the
United States of America and were fined based on USAs foreign corrupt practice act
1977. This might show that bribery is ok in Nigeria but not in the USA (USA Premium
Times, 2012). Further to this Houston (2007) mentions two aspects of corruption,
economically restrictive and expansive. He states that within more stable nations
corruption has a restrictive affect but within nations with weak governance it is
expansionary as it outweighs the restrictive affects. He says this is due to corruption
being used to work around bad, missing or misguided laws.

These two aspects of corruption can have a positive or negative impact on global
dialogue, depending on how many contacts and money the global organisation has.
Within the developing world, it seems to favour corruption. And with big organisation
so willing to take part in exploitation, to gain and keep hold of their market shares it
might affect developing economies, industries and new entrants negatively. This is all
based on if the corruption in practice is restrictive or expansive (Houston, 2007).

Managing instability and acquiring future talent

Jalles (2011) identifies control of corruption as a major factor influencing the
relationship of external dept and economic growth. In his study he has identified that
developing countries with lower levels of corruption use and manager their debt
better. This is a problem when acquiring future talent as poorly managed dept means
higher taxes on wages which in turn means fewer jobs, as it reduces demand for
labour. Corruption encourages economic and political instability and there have been
much research into this phenomenon, they also lead to another problem, which is
the recruitment and retention of talent when an organisation is within an unstable
environment. The Oxford Dictionaries (2014) defines instability as a state of being
unstable or the lack of stability, economic and political instability is very important to
an organisation as it is a major factor for investment, economic projects and affects
employment, there are various aspects that contribute to instability but only some of
these will be discussed below in relation to acquiring future talent.
Recessions
A recession can bring about many instability factors such as low consumer / investor
confidence, higher taxes, labour unrest and unemployment. Davis (2010) describes
the impacts of recession on a large business, it states that the organisation will
respond to falling sales, revenues and profits by cutting employment, freezing the
hiring process, curbing research and development and they will stop buying new
equipment. These are the factors that keep a business competitive and also these
actions have a negative impact on other businesses that are involved with them.
A major concern for organisations within a recession is talent retention, Viaman
(2008) states knowledge, expertise and is lost when an employee is made redundant
and the cost to replace one employee is too high. Organisations need to learn to
retain key employees to retain their competitive advantage.
There are also some positive aspects for acquiring future talent, recessions cause
unemployment which increases the labour pool and reduces the cost of labour. The
organisations goal at that point should be to engage and retain talent to increase
their competitive advantage; this could be done in many ways such as increasing its
reputation as an employer, maintaining a robust pipeline of talent and increasing it
dialogue with its potential employees.
Exploitation of unstable countries
The Oxford Dictionaries (2014) describes exploitation as the act of treating
someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work and the action of making use or

benefitting from resources. This is common place within todays global businesses,
whether it is cheaper labour or low prices for natural resources and goods. Global
organisations are taking advantage of unstable governance for cheaper resources,
especially talant.
One of the perspectives on exploitation is a common one that takes place to this very
day and will continue to do so. In the majority of cases this exploitation is within the
laws of the foreign / poorer country that the multinational company is operating in.
The issue is the ethics of paying fewer wages in a foreign country when compared to
their own.
Another side of exploitation is the one most seen within the garment industry and is
highlighted by the www.theguardian.com, big brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma
and many other that include Next and Marks and Spencer are still breaking
regulations when it comes to working conditions and employee contracts. Basically
anything that improves productivity and reduces costs is fair game for these foreign
organisations.
These two sides of exploitation affect acquiring future talent positively, they spend
less money and reduce their expenses, and this can also be seen within the UK and
out sourcing to India. These methods will only be beneficial until the cost of wages
increases, and exploitation will only become a problem when the foreign countries
improve their laws or when international laws are made and enforced to protect
people within less developed countries. www.globalissues.org describes the main
concern for developing nations, it is one of the global organisations simply packing
up and moving to another less developed country to continue getting cheaper labour.
In conclusion the issues that were addressed within this assignment have a major
impact global dialogue and acquiring future talent, for better or worse. It has shown
the impact of corruption on global dialogue and the worries instability creates for
acquiring future talent. Corruption is an external macro factor that affects global
business in some developing countries and as mentioned before its all about how
much money or contacts the organisation has. Instability has more of a positive
affect generally for organisations as long as they retain the key talent. Both points
can be seen as positive or negative, it is dependent on how a global organisation
manages and handles the situation.
Feely (2013) mentions language as being the ultimate barrier to a multinational
business, and with more businesses going global to increase their competitive
advantage the factor acquiring future talent within the developing world will become
an even bigger issue. The language barrier can also be seen as not understanding
the language of business within a different country, this can be used positively as a
source of competitive advantage if the organisation adjusts it strategy appropriately.

References
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