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We explore the effects of three organizational variables (country of origin of the multinational company (MNC), the timing of entry into the European Union and the mode of establishment of the MNC subsidiary unit) on the human resource management (HRM) practices being pursued by subsidiaries of large MNCs operating in selected countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Former Soviet Union. Furthermore, we examine whether the degree of autonomy afforded to the subsidiary over its preferred HR recipes is related to overall local unit performance.

We profile the HRM practices of 379 foreign owned subsidiaries located in Bulgaria, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. Using descriptive statistics, we present the general characteristics of the sample and we then use bivariate statistical analysis to test our hypotheses relating to the impact of different organizational factors on the HR practice mix implemented in the MNC subsidiaries covered in our survey.

We find a significant correlation between the annual training budget, the importance of knowledge flow from headquarters (HQs) 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.

Our research calls attention to the issue of balancing the efficiencies of standardization with the local preferences and traditions of customization which results in more successful MNC control and ultimately higher levels of performance. It also calls attention to the challenges in pursuing research of this nature over time in the CEE region, especially given the dynamic nature of the MNC mix in each of the countries.

Our findings serve to reduce the information gap on foreign-owned companies in CEE and the Former Soviet Union.

Despite some 30 years of transition, there remains a paucity of empirical research on the HR practices of MNCs across a number of countries in the CEE region. For a decade and a half, the CEEIRT group[1] has been systematically gathering empirical evidence. The combination of the breadth (10 countries) and depth (numerous items related to MNC subsidiary relationships with corporate HQs and patterns of HR practices and roles) characterizing the ongoing research effort of the CEEIRT collaboration serves as a mechanism for augmenting the empirical base on HRM in the region.

This paper aims to present the impact of several likely trajectories of development for global industries, namely, re-shoring, regionalization, diversification and replication, recently identified by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, on the evolution of the corporate parenting styles (CPSs) of multinational corporations (MNCs).

This viewpoint presents a novel view of CPSs as a set of relationships between the corporate centers of MNCs and their subsidiaries, including domestic ones, identifies the most likely connections between anticipated trajectories of development in global industries and the evolution of CPSs of MNCs and outlines directions for further research.

The anticipated trajectories of the development of global industries may result in changes in prevailing CPSs and lead to the proliferation of previously less common parenting styles. Although many of the anticipated changes in CPSs may be pursued by corporate headquarters (CHQs), a combination of powerful subsidiaries putting bottom-up pressure on CHQs and powerful owners capable of imposing requirements on top management teams and generating top-down pressure may affect the CPSs used by corporations.

The authors connect possible trajectories of development for global industries with the evolution of CPSs of MNCs.

Borrowing from earlier contributions in the cross‐cultural management and international human resource management literatures, firstly we conceptualise expatriate adjustment as a multifaceted construct encompassing work, general, interaction and overall adjustment and then we examine the impact of work‐role characteristics in the form of role novelty, role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload on these different domains of adjustment. With respect to adjustment, while our data, drawn from a postal survey of US and Canadian expatriates on assignment in Ireland, show some variations in work, general, interaction and overall adjustment, the composite measure of overall adjustment reveals that, on the whole, respondents are well adjusted to working and living in Ireland. Turning to the impact of work‐role characteristics on adjustment domains, role novelty is positively correlated with work adjustment. Both role ambiguity and role conflict are negatively correlated with work adjustment. Multiple regression results reveal that, combined, role novelty, role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload account for 31.1 per cent of the variance in work adjustment, 13.4 per cent of the variance in general adjustment, 17.2 per cent in the case of interaction adjustment and 17.5 per cent of the variance in overall adjustment.

The purpose of the paper is to introduce the special issue that brings together six papers exploring aspects of person‐organization fit.

This overarching paper contextualizes the theme and introduces the selected papers.

The findings in this paper vary according to the core theme of each of the six contributions.

Combined the papers explore new avenues of enquiry in the person‐organization (P‐O) fit domain and showcase international theoretical and empirical work on the P‐O fit construct.

The purpose of this brief paper is to introduce the papers in this special issue of Journal of Managerial Psychology, focused on “Complexities and challenges in the work‐family interface”.

The paper first introduces the theme of the special issue, and a brief outline of each paper contained in it is given.

There is concern that progress in the work‐family research area has been somewhat restricted and may have failed to take sufficient account of the complexity of work‐family issues.

The literature on the work‐family interface is complex, and theory in the field is uncertain and under‐developed. The papers in this special issue should further understanding of the challenges and complexities underscoring the work‐family interface.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue which brings together six papers exploring aspects of intercultural competence in the international business arena.

This overarching paper contextualizes the theme and introduces the selected papers which offer both theoretical and empirical insights.

The findings in this paper vary according to the core theme of each of the six contributions.

The papers in the special issue call attention to competences required for operating in the intercultural arena and offer a potential platform for developmental interventions.

The paper highlights how, combined, the papers explore new avenues of enquiry in the intercultural competence domain and showcase cross national theoretical and empirical work.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue, which brings together five papers exploring the changing anatomy of HRM at organisational level. Design/methodology/approach – This overarching paper briefly contextualises the theme and introduces the five selected empirical papers. Findings – The findings in this paper vary according to the core theme of each of the five contributions. The first paper highlights whether the mix of distributed HR activities between the HR department and internal/external agents may be understood to be less a product of contextual influences and more a matter of corporate choice. The second paper establishes that role dissonance is a very real issue for middle managers with HR responsibilities. The third paper unearths the complexities and challenges involved in changing existing HRM procedures and practices in a post‐merger scenario. The fourth paper provides an understanding of the management of human resource supply chains and outlines five, empirically derived, generic models of HR outsourcing. The final paper finds that human resource IT diffusion and take‐up is primarily fuelled by interpersonal communication and network interactions among potential adopters. Originality/value – Combined, the papers offer insights on the changing anatomy of the HRM function against the backdrop of a dynamic contemporary organisational landscape and showcase cross‐national research on the theme.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a selection of papers within the issue that discuss the work‐family interface.

The themes of the papers in the issue are outlined

The papers address the following: conflict, facilitation and individual coping styles across the work and family domains; generational differences in work‐family conflict and work‐family synergy for Generation X, baby boomers and matures; the development and transmission of work‐related attitudes; a cross cultural comparison of female managers attitudes, experiences and career choices; the impact of individual and organisational characteristics on work‐family conflict and career outcomes, and the variation of work life integration experiences of mid‐career professional women.

The paper introduces the special issue which provides a varied mix of theoretical approaches and multi‐level perspectives to scope out and explain the links between work and family life.

Drawing upon survey data, we assess the current state of management development in Ireland and we identify policy, practice and structural contingencies that help to explain variations in the volume of management development activity undertaken at organizational level. The data show that the level of management development, as measured by the number of days per annum, has increased in recent years with 70 percent of managers in our sample now receiving between one and five days training per year. The mean number of days per annum in Ireland now stands at 4.5. With respect to those factors that appear to affect the level of management development activity, preliminary analysis points to the importance of policy and practice variables over structural ones. Materially, in the human resource domain, our data suggest that organizations with actual policies on personnel/human resource strategy and on management development have higher levels of management development activity and, given the recent tightening in the labor market, many were promulgating their use of developmental interventions as an aid to recruitment/retention. The existence of formal career plans and succession plans, the relative emphasis on the analysis of human resource development needs and the filling of senior and middle management posts via the internal labor market all emerged as predictors of higher levels of management development. Organizations using international experience schemes also ran a significantly higher number of days of management development interventions. In the structural characteristics domain, the data indicate that management development in indigenous companies is at similar levels to internationally owned enterprises in our sample. Here structural explanations such as total employment, sector and unionization did not emerge as being statistically significant.