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Introduction

Cyert (1990: 29) defines leadership as ‘the ability to get participants in an organisation to focus their attention on the problems that the leader considers significant’. The functions of leadership considered by Cyert (1990: 29) therefore align to organisational, interpersonal and decisional actions. In light of increased attention being directed towards the heightened levels of dynamism found in the global business environment, an emerging interest is being directed towards the need to explore how leadership relates to organisational actions and, importantly, change management (Teece, 2009; Beerel, 2009). Change is an on-going part of any firm’s strategy and is a strategy which has proven to be significantly related to a firm’s ability to perform and sustain competitive advantage (Kavanagh & Ashkanasy, 2006). The postmodern era thus demands that organisations are able to deal with change as a constant dynamic within the firm (Hayes, 2007; Teece, 2009). As such, attention is directed within this essay towards the influence of different types of leadership on promoting a change vision within the firm (Anderson & Anderson, 2010).

Change and leadership

Gill (2002) argues that change ‘requires effective leadership to be successfully introduced and sustained’ (p.307). Combining an understanding and translation of vision, values and strategy coupled with inspiration is argued by Gill (2002) to promote a more sustainable change approach within the firm. This essay introduces four leadership theories: authoritarian, democratic, transformational, and transactional, and discusses their approach in relation to change management. Stemming from this it is argued that there is a need to adopt a situational based approach to leadership to assume the flexibility and adaptability required to support change within the firm (Steers, Sanchez-Runde & Nardon, 2012).

Change and the role of autocratic leadership

Early studies of leadership including that of the theoretical development of Great Man Theory approached leadership from a trait perspective and argued that there were characteristics within a leader, which made them successful. This theoretical position thus supported the contention that leaders were born and not made (Hoffman, Woehr, Maldagen-Youngjohn & Lyons, 2011). One of the earliest approaches to leadership, Great Man theory paved the way for a study of the leader as a separate entity to those within the firm. Aligned to this, autocratic styles of leadership promoted a separation between the leader and his employees. Autocratic leaders are therefore leaders who impose a style, which is characterised by individual control over decisions within the firm. This type of leadership style results in little opportunity for input from employees, with the leader instead dictating decisions across the firm (Van Vugt, Jepson, Hart & De Cremer, 2004). Aligning this to the context of change management, this is a leadership style which has been shown empirically to hinder the progress of change within the firm (Bennis, 2000).

As seen in Kotter’s eight stage model of change, change can be approached in a prescriptive, diagnostic manner. Kotter (1996) argues that in order for change to be sustained within the firm there is a need to ensure high levels of employee involvement. This employee involvement is needed to overcome the deeply rooted structural inertia related to change processes as presented in the work of Hannan and Freeman (1984). Hannan and Freeman (1984) argue that change challenges the equilibrium within the firm, and thus there is a need to lead change in a way which lowers resistance through employee involvement. Autocratic leadership therefore offers no room for this involvement and is thus linked to higher levels of employee resistance and a lack of stability as part of the change programme (O’Toole, 1995). Denton (1996) argues that autocratic change goes against the simple rules of change by failing to appreciate the need to gain input from employees to sustain and in turn operationalize change.

Despite the negative associations between an autocratic style of leadership and change there are times when autocratic styles of change may be suitable. For example, reflecting upon the different types of change presented by Gersick (1991) autocratic styles of change may be appropriate for those firms having to make a dramatic, time pressurised change under a punctuated equilibrium approach. The quick decision making processes aligned to this form of leadership would speed up the change process and would enable one individual to take control of the change to ensure a consistent approach. It is however widely noted that whilst elements of autocratic leadership may be appropriate in terms of pressurised change, the overall style of autocratic leadership in its entirety fails to allow for change to foster and develop in an effective way across the firm (Burke, 2013).

Change and the role of democratic leadership

Moving towards a greater capacity to allow for employee involvement, democratic forms of leadership promote an open, collaborative form of leadership, which seek to facilitate conversations within the firm through the promotion of sharing ideas across all levels within the firm. Considered to be a leadership style, which supports flexibility within the firm, this type of leadership is positively aligned to change practices within the firm (Foels, Driskell, Mullen & Salas, 2000). Foels, Driskell, Mullen & Salas (2000) for example argue that democratic leadership has the potential to enhance the satisfaction of employees during change. It does so by supporting employee involvement, which Kotter (1996) argues facilitates a more sustainable approach to change by lowering damaging forms of employee resistance. Under democratic leadership styles, employees feel fostered and feel valued to share their opinions. This can in turn result in a greater development of change options with employees being able to directly influence the direction of change. This type of leadership is most successful when aligned to gradualist, evolutionary forms of change within the firm. Intentional, planned change can be supported by democratic conditions, which allow the time to involve all. This however is associated with challenges largely related to the time it can take to make a decision under this leadership style. Unlike autocratic forms of leadership where one person makes the decision, democratic leaders draw on as many perspectives as possible, which can slow down the rate of change. Sustainable under planned change, the democratic leadership style would be less suited to conditions of punctuated equilibrium change.

The changing vision of leadership

Whilst autocratic and democratic styles of leadership were considered to be viable leadership options in the 1980s/1990s, today’s business environment demands a more aspirational, visionary approach to leadership driven by dynamism and the rising power of employees. The transformational leadership style is a style, which epitomizes passion and inspires positive changes across the organisation. Both process and people driven, transformational leaders relate to the need to understand employees within the firm. Moving towards a more personalised form of leadership, this leadership style has been positively related to effective and sustainable approaches to change within the firm (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). Eisenbach, Watson & Pillai (1999) for example argue that transformational leadership is the most appropriate approach to change due to the passion and inspiration it promotes. This in turn supports the prescriptive model of Kotter (1996), which highlights the importance of creating and maintaining a momentum for change (Carter, Armenakis, Field & Mossholder, 2013).

In an empirical study by Carter, Armenakis, Field & Mossholder (2013) transformational leadership was shown to improve the quality of change and the relationship quality between leaders end employees. This was further supported by Paulsen, Callan, Ayoko & Saunders (2013) who argue that transformational leadership supports innovation during times of major change. Supported by findings from employees, Paulsen et al (2013) showed that employees were most influenced by transformational leaders and this in turn inspired a greater engagement with the change environment.

Change and the role of transformational leadership

Adopting a personal approach to change, transformational leadership has been praised for its ability to lower resistance to change. As widely noted across the change management literature, resistance to change can be a hinder to the effectiveness and sustainability of change (Hayes, 2007). Resistance can thus be debilitating for those firms who have to change to survive. Oreg & Berson (2011) thus show that under the umbrella of transformational leadership, employees are less likely to resist large-scale organisational change. Change values were positively related to the passion inspired by the transformational leader. This leadership style is therefore effective at eliciting change, which is inspirational. This approach may be appropriate during a large-scale change where there is a need to instil employee confidence and trust. Supported by the change management literature, transformational leadership supports many of the stages of the change process to ensure that any change is deeply rooted in the new culture of the firm. In particular, this type of leadership has been aligned to a continual, evolutionary process of change, which again is deemed to be best suited to this style.

Whilst transformational leadership is aligned to a number of core advantages, it is again in a similar vein to democratic leadership related to slower forms of decision-making compared to more autocratic styles of leadership. It is therefore important to create a culture within the firm where change is planned and incremental in nature. This is supported by the link between incremental change and the overall sustainability of change (Gersick, 1991).

Change and the role of transactional leadership

The final leadership style considered within this essay is that of transactional leadership. The transactional approach to leadership refers to a leadership style, which directs followers in the self-interests of the leader. Whilst transformational leadership has democratic foundations, transactional approaches motivate employees to perform by aligning rewards to the wider strategic goals of the firm. In the context of a change management programme, an employee would be rewarded for facilitating new changes within the firm but would be punished if they failed to operationalize the changes implemented. The exchanges between the leader and his followers are therefore exchanges based upon the achievement of wider organisational goals. Supported by the clear articulation of change goals, this is a leadership style, which is considered to achieve order in light of change (Bono, Hooper & Yoon, 2012).

As shown in the work of Zhu, Riggio, Avolio & Sosik (2011) when directly compared to transformational leadership, transactional leadership approaches were not as successful when leading change. However, both have the potential to enhance the employee’s motivation to change. The success of the transactional style of leadership is however dependent upon the type of people within the firm. This type of leadership works best when the clear aspects of change can be defined and translated into achievable goals. Aligned to goal setting theory, this is an approach which works well with those employees who are motivated by challenging environments. With a speedier change process than transformational leadership, transactional styles balance the motivation for change with the need to operationalize it in an efficient manner. This is therefore an approach, which is often coupled with transformational styles with academics arguing that a dual focus on both is the most sustainable solution (Zhu, Riggio, Avolio & Sosik, 2011).

Conclusion

In conclusion, this essay has detailed four individual approaches to leadership and has discussed the pros and cons of each style. Arguing that perhaps what is needed is a move towards more situational forms of leadership, this essay states that situational leadership offers an approach to change which aligns to the flexibility and adaptability required in the external business environment (Thompson & Glaso, 2015). Reflecting upon an emerging trend within the leadership literature, situational leadership refers to a combination of different styles dependent upon the situation. This therefore supports discussions within this essay where the pace of change dictates the suitability of different styles. In light of heightened dynamism, adaptability is key and thus adaptability is also key to the leadership style adopted. Perhaps therefore the most suitable leadership style to elicit change is one where emphasis is placed on having an appreciation of the most suitable style for the situation at hand. This is thus an approach, which requires leaders to have the skills to switch between different styles when appropriate.

References

Anderson, D., & Anderson, L. A. (2010). Beyond change management: How to achieve breakthrough results through conscious change leadership. John Wiley & Sons.

Avolio, B. J., & Yammarino, F. J. (Eds.). (2013). Transformational and Charismatic Leadership:: the Road Ahead (Vol. 5). Emerald Group Publishing.

Beerel, A (2009) Leadership and change management. London: SAGE publications.

Bennis, W. G. (2000). Managing the dream: Reflections on leadership and change. Da Capo Press.

Bono, J. E., Hooper, A. C., & Yoon, D. J. (2012). Impact of rater personality on transformational and transactional leadership ratings. The Leadership Quarterly, 23(1), 132-145.

Burke, W. W. (2013). Organization change: Theory and practice. London: Sage Publications.

Carter, M. Z., Armenakis, A. A., Feild, H. S., & Mossholder, K. W. (2013). Transformational leadership, relationship quality, and employee performance during continuous incremental organizational change. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(7), 942-958.

Cyert, R. M. (1990). Defining leadership and explicating the process. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 1(1), 29-38.

Denton, D. K. (1996). Four simple rules for leading change. Empowerment in organizations, 4(4), 5-9.

Eisenbach, R., Watson, K., & Pillai, R. (1999). Transformational leadership in the context of organizational change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 12(2), 80-89.

Foels, R., Driskell, J. E., Mullen, B., & Salas, E. (2000). The effects of democratic leadership on group member satisfaction an integration. Small Group Research, 31(6), 676-701.

Gersick, C. J. (1991). Revolutionary change theories: A multilevel exploration of the punctuated equilibrium paradigm. Academy of management review, 16(1), 10-36.

Gill, R. (2002). Change management–or change leadership?. Journal of change management, 3(4), 307-318.

Hannan, M. T., & Freeman, J. (1984). Structural inertia and organizational change. American sociological review, 149-164.

Hayes, J (2007) Theory and practice of change management. London: SAGE publications.

Hoffman, B. J., Woehr, D. J., Maldagenaˆ?Youngjohn, R., & Lyons, B. D. (2011). Great man or great myth? A quantitative review of the relationship between individual differences and leader effectiveness. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 84(2), 347-381.

Kavanagh, M. H., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2006). The impact of leadership and change management strategy on organizational culture and individual acceptance of change during a merger. British Journal of Management, 17(S1), S81-S103.

Kotter, J.P (1996) Leading change. Boston: Harvard University Press.

Oreg, S., & Berson, Y. (2011). Leadership and employees’ reactions to change: the role of leaders’personal attributes and transformational leadership style. Personnel Psychology, 64(3), 627-659.

O’Toole, J. (1995). Leading change (p. 148). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Paulsen, N., Callan, V. J., Ayoko, O., & Saunders, D. (2013). Transformational leadership and innovation in an R&D organization experiencing major change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 26(3), 595-610.

Steers, R. M., Sanchez-Runde, C., & Nardon, L. (2012). Leadership in a global context: New directions in research and theory development. Journal of World Business, 47(4), 479-482.

Teece, D.J (2009) Dynamic capabilities: organizing for innovation and growth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

hompson, G., & Glaso, L. (2015). Situational leadership theory: a test from three perspectives. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(5).

Van Vugt, M., Jepson, S. F., Hart, C. M., & De Cremer, D. (2004). Autocratic leadership in social dilemmas: A threat to group stability. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(1), 1-13.

Zhu, W., Riggio, R. E., Avolio, B. J., & Sosik, J. J. (2011). The effect of leadership on follower moral identity: Does transformational/transactional style make a difference?. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 18(2), 150-163.

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The international business literature highlights the importance of global integration and the increasing interfaces, which exist between people, nations and cultures within the modern multi-national corporation (MNC). Managing a MNC requires a management of differences with local distinctiveness increasingly positioned as a point for competitive differentiation (Hartmann, Feisel and Schober, 2010). The pressure for global integration and local responsiveness as highlighted in the work of Rosenzweig (2006) requires MNCs to successfully balance both cultural and institutional variables. This report, draws on research in order to critically evaluate three cultural variables and three institutional variables which are positioned in this essay as having the power to influence managerial and employee behaviour within MNCs. Research into MNCs often positions them as being complex and multi-layered in nature (Scherer, Palazzo and Seidl, 2013). MNCs face growing challenges in managing the complexity of interactions and thus, this requires firms to understand dimensions of employee and managerial behaviour and both are influenced by cultural and institutional variables (Meyer, Mudambi and Narula, 2011). This essay begins with a consideration of cultural variables of importance to MNCs.

Culture is defined by Hofstede (1980, p. 12) as: ‘Not a characteristic of individuals; it encompasses a number of people who were conditioned by the same education and life experience. When we speak of the culture of a group, a tribe, a geographical region, a national minority, or a nation, culture refers to the collective mental programming that is different from that of other groups, tribes, regions, minorities or majorities, or nations’.

Broadly speaking, culture refers to the collective mental programming of individuals and this influences the way in which managers and employees behave within the firm. One cultural variable of importance is national culture and in particular as highlighted in the work of Hofstede (1980) five dimensions of culture should be considered: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity and short-long-term orientation. Managerial and employee behaviour within MNCs is inherently influenced by cultural dynamics with employees being a product of the culture they exist within. Two cultural elements in particular require consideration, power distance is a cultural dimension, which refers to ‘the extent that individuals accept differences between people as legitimate and expected’. If the population has a high power distance, then this reflects a focus on hierarchical power and differences in status. Employees from this culture would be accepting of different managerial groups and taking lead from those above them. This naturally influences employee behaviour with employees in a high power distance culture able to accept instruction from managers (Farh, Hackett and Liang, 2007). Farh, Hackett and Liang (2007) evidence this by arguing that power distance impacts upon levels of perceived organisational support and the outcome of employee relationships within the firm. Hofstede (1980) also highlighted the importance of individualism/collectivism and the need to understand the extent to which individuals focus on individual needs or the needs of the group. This is a cultural variable, which impacts upon behaviour within the firm. Further, an additional complexity lies in the international operations of the MNC and a firm will have to deal with different cultures. For example, India is viewed as a collectivist culture compared to the UK, which is more individualistic in nature. This will have natural implications on employee behaviour and the management of relationships within the firm.

A second cultural variable refers to cross cultural differences across employees within the MNC. It is important that MNCs are able to develop cross-cultural teams in a manner, which enhances the ability of the firm to integrate innovative thinking with the competitive orientation of the firm. Managers within MNCs have to be able to avoid cultural misunderstandings and adopt a level of cultural sensitivity. Haas and Cummings (2014) argue that due to the multi-layered nature of MNCs there is a need to focus upon person-based differences. The development of cross-cultural teams is often highlighted as being an important condition of competitive performance (Caligiuri and Lundby, 2015). Barner-Rasmussen et al (2013) position cultural skills as a resource, which maximizes organisational human capital. In order to maximize the effective positioning of human capital, managers have to be able to understand the role culture plays in creating an underlying, strong link amongst individuals (Schein, 2012).

A third cultural variable of consideration is the study of organisational culture (Schein, 2012). Organisational culture refers to the shared values and the inherent norms which exist within the firm (Schein, 2012). Pothukuchi et al (2002) argued that organisational culture could have a negative impact on international business and on the actions of MNCs. Considered to be a mechanism of differentiation; organisational culture is positioned as overseeing and supporting employee behaviour within the MNC. Due to the multi-layered nature of the MNC, Al-Husan, Al-Hussan and Perkins (2014) argue that there is a need to have multilevel human resource management systems in place in order to support different employee groups. This does however raise a challenge with regards to the promotion of consistency while at the same time differentiating on the basis of culture. This is a particular challenge for the MNC where a global, brand image is required amongst the dynamic determinants of employee behaviour within the firm. Sofka et al (2014) argue that for an effective organisational culture to result, MNCs have to be able to focus upon value creation.

Cultural variables are a soft consideration, which ultimately have the power to affect employee behaviour within MNCs. Difficulty lies in the intangible nature and the difficulty associated with the measurement of organisational culture (Baird, Hu and Reeve, 2011). Thus, while cultural variables notably are considered to impact upon MNCs and the wider realm of international business, it is difficult to precisely account for difference and this is largely tied up within the power of individuals within the firm. It is important however to utilize frameworks such as those provided by Hofstede (1980) to move towards a more detailed appreciation of culture (Hofstede, 2011).

Aligned to the multi-layered nature of the MNC, culture can also be viewed as having different layers (Steenkamp, 2001). National culture as reviewed in the work of Hofstede (1980: 2011) is one layer but it must be appreciated alongside other elements of culture including more microelements including organisational culture. The study of culture and its impact on international business requires a greater exploration of how different elements of culture interact.

Managerial and employee behaviour is also influenced by a number of institutional variables. This essay discusses three institutional variables in particular: political, religious and economic. Each institution affects firms differently dependent upon the country of operation. Morgan, Kristensen and Whitley (2001) argue that a multinational firm must be able to organize across institutional devices and this requires an understanding of different economic, political and religious considerations. While increased attention has been directed towards the value of standardized approaches, in reality, adaptation is considered to be the most effective way to deal with different dynamics in the external environment (Teece, 2009).

The political environment is widely considered to influence the environment within which MNCs operate. Luo (2004) highlights the importance of developing a platform built on co-operation between the MNC and the host government. An inclusive, integrated partnership is often positioned as being the most effective platform from which to build relationships. Present within a particular political institution, individuals will align to a particular political identity. A political institution such as the leadership of the Conservative government in the UK has the power to influence the way in which employees and managers behave. Largely, the influence on behaviour is fuelled by regulation and the design of policies and practices. Any new regulation implemented will have a natural effect on behaviour within the firm. Difficulties however arise when change is resisted within the firm and this can often arise through a collection of individuals promoting the status quo within the firm (Hayes, 2007). Offering a different viewpoint to that of Luo (2004), Heikkila, Brewster and Mattila (2014) argue that while largely political institutions affect the larger operation of the MNC, what is needed is a more micro exploration as to how political conflicts can influence employee behaviour. They, in particular, argue that political conflicts within a given country or amongst individuals within the firm can result in inherent challenges related to the overall effectiveness of human resource management within the firm. From a critical perspective, the work of Heikkila, Brewster and Mattila (2014) highlights the importance of both a macro and micro exploration of the political institution. Too often the political institution is viewed as having a higher-level influence on the firm.

A consideration of religion is needed within any MNC. An internalized look at an individual is needed in order to understand and then manage individuals at work (Hollway, 1991). An analysis of employee behaviour promotes an understanding of individuals and, importantly what makes up that individual. Lund Dean, Fornaciari and McGee (2003) explore the influence of religion on employee behaviour and argue that religion plays a core role in influencing employee behaviour and should therefore be given more consideration than it currently is across the academic community. More specifically, McGhee and Grant (2008) explore the link between religion and work and argue that individual’s behaviours interpret their own individual actions through a religious lens. Increasingly, attention has been directed towards the links, which exist between the religious orientation of an individual and their ethical behaviour in the workplace. Playing an important role in the global economy, increased attention is directed towards the brand image of MNCs and their responsibility to the wider community. Religion as an institution thus becomes important to consider how this influences the way in which individuals interpret decisions and perhaps behave in an ethical manner due to their religious affiliations. Another consideration related to religion refers to the prominence of diversity and, in particular the levels of diversity MNCs have to deal with. The modern day MNC must be able to manage this diversity and use it to their advantage by promoting difference across the firm within cross-cultural teams.

A final institutional variable considered is the role of the economic institution in influencing employee and managerial behaviour. The economic institution captures all institutions that are a player in the economy. This includes everything from competitors, consumers to those providing financial services. Focusing upon one specific economic institution, this essay argues that it is important to focus upon manufacturers and how this particular economic institution influences employee and managerial behaviour. In a global market, which is often positioned as being highly, dynamic and adaptable, there is a need for firms to understand how the actions of manufacturers will influence the behaviour of individuals within the firm. For example, any changes in manufacturing resulting in a change of process within the firm would have a natural influence on employee behaviour and importantly the way in which managers approach change within the firm (Hayes, 2007). Managers need to be closely aligned to manufacturers they are working with and use this to guide an integrated approach to behaviour. Within the economic setting, any economic institution has the power to influence the objectives and future of the firm. A focus on the sustainable future of the firm is required to ensure that if changes in the market exist for example changes to demand and supply, managers must be able to adapt in a timely manner. Economic institutions are thus often positioned as driving flexible and adaptable decision making from managers (Liu, 2009).

In conclusion, research into MNCs suggests that they are complex and multi-layered in nature. The role and prominence of MNCs requires attention to be directed towards the individuals, which make up the actions of the firm. As discussed in the essay a number of cultural and institutional variables can be identified as having an influence on the way in which employees and managers behave. A running theme throughout the discussion is the importance of balancing micro level considerations with a higher-level understanding of macro phenomenon. This therefore promotes the need to conduct research at multiple levels within the firm most notably starting with individual employees.

Reference List

AL-Husan, F. B., AL-Hussan, F. B., & Perkins, S. J. (2014). Multilevel HRM systems and intermediating variables in MNCs: longitudinal case study research in Middle Eastern settings. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(2), 234-251.

Baird, K., Jia Hu, K., & Reeve, R. (2011). The relationships between organisational culture, total quality management practices and operational performance. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 31(7), 789-814.

Barner-Rasmussen, W., Ehrnrooth, M., Koveshnikov, A., & Makela, K. (2014). Cultural and language skills as resources for boundary spanning within the MNC. Journal of International Business Studies, 45(7), 886-905.

Caligiuri, P., & Lundby, K. (2015). Developing Cross-Cultural Competencies Through Global Teams. In Leading Global Teams (pp. 123-139). Springer New York.

Farh, J. L., Hackett, R. D., & Liang, J. (2007). Individual-level cultural values as moderators of perceived organisational support-employee outcome relationships in China: Comparing the effects of power distance and traditionality. Academy of Management Journal, 50(3), 715-729.

Haas, M. R., & Cummings, J. N. (2014). Barriers to knowledge seeking within MNC teams: Which differences matter most [quest]. Journal of International Business Studies, 46(1), 36-62.

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Hayes, J (2007) Theory and practice of change management. London: SAGE publications.

Heikkila, J. P., Brewster, C., & Mattila, J. (2014). Micro-Political Conflicts and Institutional Issues During e-HRM Implementation in MNCs: A Vendor’s View. In Human Resource Management and Technological Challenges (pp. 1-21). Springer International Publishing.

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Lund Dean, K., Fornaciari, C. J., & McGee, J. J. (2003). Research in spirituality, religion, and work: Walking the line between relevance and legitimacy. Journal of organisational change management, 16(4), 378-395.

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Meyer, K. E., Mudambi, R., & Narula, R. (2011). Multinational enterprises and local contexts: the opportunities and challenges of multiple embeddedness. Journal of Management Studies, 48(2), 235-252.

Morgan, G., Kristensen, P. H., & Whitley, R. (2001). The multinational firm: organizing across institutional and national divides. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Introduction

The increasing level of competition in the business environment has made people management an important area to be observed by organisations and is considered to be essential for their survival (Panda, Pradhan and Mishra, 2014). This, in effect, gives rise to the need of devising motivational tools for employees (Salmela-Aro and Nurmi, 2004) as they are regarded as the most valuable asset for organisations (Shaharuddin, 2013). Since employees belonging to different groups are influenced by different motivational factors, managers face the challenge of developing separate motivational tools for each group which suit their requirements (Ozlen, 2014). The motivation level of graduate trainees in influenced by the ease of integration (Harvey and Mason, 1996), opportunity to exercise the skills learnt (Regan, 2010) and the degree of importance of the work assigned to them (Davies and Hertig, 2008), while that of single parents is influenced by the convenience (Crawford, 2009) and financial independence (Wel and Knijn, 2007) they get, the opportunity to socialize (Peacey, 2009) and pursue higher education (Gingerbread, 2012). Older workers are instead motivated by factors such as job and physical security (Kanfer and Ackermann, 2004), interesting and creative work, and a sense of accomplishment (Lord, 2004). The HR department is thus entrusted with the responsibility to devise motivational tools for all employees, which will then lead to higher productivity and outputs.

The role and Importance of Motivation at Work

The concept of motivation at work is not new and has been studied by many researchers; Kreitner and Cassidy (2011) provide the simplest definition according to which, motivation can be defined as the psychological process which drives the purpose and direction of one’s behaviour. Of all the responsibilities of a manager, employee motivation is perhaps the most complexed one (Cong and Van, 2013). The reason behind this is the continuous change in the factors which motivate workforce (Podmoroff, 2005). Many factors underpin employee motivation at different hierarchical levels, among which pay is the common motivator which works for all age groups (Linz, 2004). In the highly competitive job markets, devising motivational strategies for employees has become a part of employer branding for organisations, through which they intend to be the employer of choice for job seekers and work towards retaining the existing employees (Jain and Bhatt, 2015).

Motivating Recently Appointed Graduate Trainees
Work-related Characteristics of Graduate Trainees

Considering the kind of learning and experiences they have had while pursuing their degree, fresh graduates tend to develop leadership skills, whereby they gain the capability of meeting deadlines and producing good quality work with little supervision (Coleman and Glover, 2010). This leads them to an expectation of being empowered at their workplace to do their work on their own, either individually or in groups with in-depth guidance, but little supervision (Wiata, 2006). There are different viewpoints about the work attributes of graduate trainees; while some researchers talk about their enthusiasm to perform their best in their first job (Hogarth et al., 2007), there are others who state that performing a full-time job role in a professional environment may prove to be stressful for a recent graduate, resulting in lower levels of productivity (Jusoh, Simun and Chong, 2011).

Factors Influencing Motivation

A critical factor influencing the motivational level of graduate trainees is the speed at which they are integrated into the organisation and are given the chance to effectively contribute towards achieving their career goals (Harvey and Mason, 1996). Another important aspect is the opportunity which graduates get to exercise the skills they have learnt throughout their degree (Regan, 2010); if they are provided with work that is irrelevant to their career aspirations, they may be demotivated since the beginning. Because of their enthusiasm and willingness to perform their best at work, the importance of the work given to them greatly influences their motivation to continue working (Davies and Hertig, 2008). Therefore, if they feel that the work in which they are putting too effort is not very important, their commitment to work may fall.

Recommended Motivational Tools

Managers supervising graduate trainees must ensure that they inform the graduates well about the objectives and value of the work assigned to them, so they have a higher sense of responsibility in completing it, and will also feel valued (Clarke et al., 2015). The HR procedures must include a comprehensive orientation session for all graduate trainees, whereby they would feel welcomed to the company and would also get a chance to know about the broader goals of the organisation as a whole and their relative departments (Williams, 2010). This session should also include an overview of their rotations in different departments during the traineeship program and its purpose (Wiata, 2006); when they are informed that they are hired to be the future leaders of the organisation, they will feel motivated to reach that position from their first day at work. Messmer (2011) suggests that during the first three months, the HR department can take the initiative to assign mentors for all graduate trainees, who can be approached whenever the trainees have concerns regarding understanding organisational culture or deal with other related issues; this would make them feel valued and cared for, and would help them adapt to the organisational work environment quickly.

Motivating Full-Time Working Single Parents
Work-Related Characteristics of Single Parents

In the literature, there are hardly any contradictory views about the reasons behind employment undertaken by single parents; most researchers agree that the main underlying reason is the financial support they want to provide to their children (Gingerbread, 2012). Single mothers, especially are not only faced with a difficulty in managing the job along with looking after children, but also struggle in obtaining employment; this happens because of the cultural stereotype that women can either be good mothers, or good employees, but cannot be both at the same time (Miller, 2012). Hoggart et al. (2006) further support this view through their theory, which explains the work orientations of single parents; according to that, single parents are more interested in their child-care focused role when their children are too young, whereas they are more inclined to be interested in career progression when their children grow older. This may also impart that single parents may be good workers as they experience the art of prioritising things in their personal life, and Reeleder et al. (2006) identified that setting priorities has become one of the greatest challenges being faced by managers in the competitive business environment.

Factors Influencing Motivation

Perhaps the most important thing that influences the work motivation of single parents is convenience (Crawford, 2009). Other job aspirations may include getting personal benefits, such as more opportunity to socialise as opposed to staying isolated (Peacey, 2009). Pertaining specifically to single mothers, Wel and Knijn (2007) pointed out that their motivation is also derived from their financial independence. Peacey (2009) explains that the huge number of responsibilities makes single parents lose their passion for work, which can be brought back if a part of their responsibilities is shared. Since the wage rate and promotion prospects are higher with better educational qualifications, Single parents also aspire to receive higher education but cannot do so because of their personal and professional commitments (Gingerbread, 2012). Creating such an opportunity for these workers may boost up their motivational level to a great extent.

Recommended Motivational Tools

In order to ensure that single parents working full-time are motivated at work, the HR department needs to devise policies which help them in their work-life balance (Harkness and Skipp, 2013). Sims et al. (2010) suggest the introduction of a financial support system that will work well to motivate single parents, which may include benefits schemes such as in-work credit and emergency discretion fund. On the basis of these policies, employees will be relieved from the stress they would have due to their financial problems, and would be able to contribute better in terms of job performance. Since single parents are mostly anxious about a childcare center which is affordable and accessible, organisations should offer this service within their premises (Gingerbread, 2012) along with separate breastfeeding rooms (Kosmala-Anderson and Wallace, 2006), which would in turn make the employees feel motivated, thus resulting in higher productivity. Managers should also make it a point to place them in work teams with people having similar interests as them. Because of the two-fold responsibility of single parents, an ideal strategy would be to provide them with flexibility in choosing their work hours as per their convenience (Gingerbread, 2012). The training personnel in HR department may also identify the training needs required for specific staff and may suggest to grant them some time off and send them for company-sponsored training sessions (Summers and Ford, 2012); this will help to boost up the confidence and motivation of single parents, and their new skills will also prove to be beneficial for the organisation.

Motivating Older Workers
Work-Related Characteristics of Older Workers

Understanding older workers who have passed the state retirement age is a difficult task and an even complex task is to motivate them, as there are contradictory opinions about their job characteristics. Some researchers found a negative relationship between age and job performance, stating that older employees are less productive and do not show any motivation to learn new skills (Park and Gutchess, 2000). On the other hand, another research suggests that older workers are characterised by positives work traits, which include reliability, devotion and cooperation (Gonyea, 2013).

Factors Influencing Motivation

The research conducted by Sinclair et al. (2005) depicts that strong organisational commitment among employees helps them deal well with difficult situations at work, and that older workers with higher levels of commitment towards the organisation perform better than or equal to young employees. Kanfer and Ackermann (2004) found that older workers are greatly motivated if they have a job security along with physical security, as they would not like to be financially dependent on anyone at an old age. Furthermore, older workers remain active and motivated to work as long as they enjoy their work, are satisfied with the usage of skills for performing the tasks, feel accomplished by performing their job, and get a chance of involving into creative work (Lord, 2004).

Recommended Motivational Tools

With the increasing age of employees, work becomes boring for them, which mostly includes routine tasks; in such a situation, the best motivational tool is involving them in the work that interests them (Leberecht, 2015). The HR should introduce a discrimination-free policy, whereby older workers are given an equal opportunity for training and development which will help them enhance their competencies and learn new skills (Iun and Huang, 2007). Another way to increase their motivation could be to improve their prospects for promotion (Bal, Kooij and Rousseau, 2015). If older workers are not healthy enough to perform all their job roles on their own, their expertise and skills may be used by the organisation to gain optimum benefit, whereby they can be asked to train junior employees (Iun and Huang, 2007). This will make them feel valued and will boost up their morale, and will also be helpful for the organisation as younger workers would then be able to share their workload (Kooij et al., 2008). Even within the same age group, some old workers may be seeking to fulfil the needs in the first two levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1943), while others may be looking forward to have their higher level needs fulfilled (Shea and Haasen, 2006). In that case, respect is one thing which will motivate older workers belonging to either of these groups (Bal, Kooij and Rousseau, 2015). Even if these workers are not at the highest level of hierarchy in their department, they must be treated with due respect pertinent to their age, which will motivate them to a great extent. Several studies portray the health issues older workers may face due to which they are discriminated against (Jones, et al., 2011), however little research has been done to devise a solution to this problem. The easiest of all could be to introduce specialised health insurance programs for older workers which covers the general health problems they may face (Tishman, Looy and Bruyere, 2012).

Conclusion

Motivating employees has become challenging since the time the expectations and needs to employees have started changing. Just like other functions in the organisations, this function also needs to undergo continuous improvement, as what motivates one group of employees, may not be a strong motivator for another group. Among graduate trainees, the intrinsic motivation can brought by a thorough orientation session and assigning mentors, which will facilitate their ease of integration into the organisation. Single parents may be very well committed to the organisation if they are provided adequate financial support, flexibility in working hours and childcare facilities at work, whereas the motivation level of older workers may be improved by increasing their prospects for promotion and training, and giving them an opportunity to mentor others to make them feel valued. An organisation may not be able to go far if its workforce is not motivated; managers should therefore use such tools as a means of retaining their valued employees.

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Introduction

This essay focuses on the role of human resources (HR) in achieving environmental sustainability. It starts by very briefly explaining what environmental sustainability is, and why it is so important for individuals and organisations to contribute to achieving goals and targets related to sustainability. It next briefly explains what is meant by HR. Next it considers the ways in which HR managers are likely to be involved in supporting their organisations to reach sustainability targets. A focus on one organisation then allows some ideas to be developed that can form the basis of recommendations for improvement of environmental sustainability key to HR.

Environmental sustainability is a component of the sustainable development concept. This concept is described as development “that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987:43). Essentially, it argues that to sustain life – both human and animal – the provision of clean water and air, and energy obtained from renewable resources are vital (Sutton, 2004).

Human Resource departments might not seem the natural home of a focus on environmental sustainability, as often the burden of responsibility in an organisation is placed on an operations manager. However, there is definitely a role to play for human resources. In researching this issue, care must be taken to include terms that encompass the HR function – these can include Human Resource Management (HRM), Employment Services (ES), Human Capital, Personnel and others (Abusafia, 2012).

HR Management Support for the Drive Towards Environmental Sustainability

There is a range of HR activities that directly contribute to the environmental sustainability of an organisation. These often revolve around the development of ‘green’ jobs – and the infrastructure, training, personal development planning, performance management, communication, attitude monitoring and other aspects that go along with the creation of new posts, or new components of existing posts (Jackson, 2012). Liebowitz (2010) argues that the role of HR is more fundamental and deep seated than developing processes – he suggests that the HR department has a very significant role to play in the creation of a company’s sustainability culture, as it is professionally trained to change the attitudes and behaviours of employees, from senior executives to the most junior of staff (Liebowitz, 2010). Liebowitz also argues that HR managers are far removed from the old traditional personnel manager. Today, HR staff are likely to know much more about the business, and they use a human capital management approach to underpin the development of staff to achieve environmental objectives (Lebowitz, 2010). Wilkins (2014) identifies the skill to motivate and encourage employees to become engaged with sustainability programmes within an organisation as key to their success (Wilkins, 2014). In fact, Wilkins argues that to achieve success, three key components are necessary – communication, education and motivation. Communication includes good environmental practice for employees (reducing energy use), and highlighting individual and organisational environmental achievements (Wilkins, 2014). Education can be used to provide employees with practical information about integrating environmental objectives into their daily work, for example, engaging in recycling activities; this can also improve productivity as all staff are working towards a common purpose (Wilkins, 2014). Motivation in the form of an environmentally focussed rewards programme can ensure that employees remain committed, and can actually help retention of valuable staff (Wilkins, 2014).

Cohen et al (2012) suggest that one influencing factor on the role HR plays in supporting environmental sustainability, will be the motivations behind the organisation’s move towards more sustainable operations and strategies. They argue that the route taken may make the HR contribution easier or more difficult. They identify a values-based route, a strategic route and a defensive route. The first is associated mostly with the personal principles of the founders of small businesses – some of which may have become much larger (Cohen et al, 2012). The second is those businesses that identify opportunities in redesigning products or services to expand into markets where environmental characteristics are valued (Cohen et al, 2012). Lastly, the defensive route occurs when companies come under pressure to change their approach, perhaps because of a pollution incident (Cohen et al, 2012). It is clear that each of these routes will have a different impact on the work of the HR manager: where the business chooses to commit to environmental objectives, there is likely to be a positive culture, whilst companies forced into accepting change in environmental attitudes are likely to generate at least some resistance (Harmon et al, 2010).

What the above discussion shows is that there is motivation for HR managers and departments to become involved in supporting a move towards environmental sustainability in their organisation. There are a number of HR tools that can be used to embed such sustainability objectives into an organisation. There are four main areas where such tools may be deployed: employee attraction and selection; employee training, development and compensation; creating a sustainable organisational climate; and, management support and communication (Cohen et al, 2012). Having a good environmental profile has been found to attract high quality employees (Government of Canada, n.d.), and to retain these employees for longer than average retention periods (Ernst & Young, 2013), and the HR department can therefore use a commitment to environmental sustainability in their job advertising, ensuring that they have an edge over their competitors (Ernst & Young, 2013). To maintain and energise staff to commit to environmental processes, i.e. to motivate employees (Human Resource Excellence, 2012) it is necessary to provide targeted training, for example, in life cycle analysis to reduce inefficiency and waste, and to include formal evaluations of such commitment i.e. targets to be achieved in job plans (Manufacturing Skills Australia, 2015). Changing an organisation’s culture is often the most challenging, but also the most necessary approach. While there may be commitment at the senior management level, this is likely to decline the further down the organisational hierarchy you go (Petrini and Pozzebon, 2010). This is especially true in traditional industries, such as construction, where male dominated heavy labour has little cultural awareness of environmental issues (Built Environment Sustainability Training, 2014). Management support through communication that relates to employees lives can indicate an overall organisational commitment to environmental sustainability, and can encourage people to integrate environmental principles throughout their daily lives (Fleischer, 2009). HR can assist in all of these areas through training, communication, incentivisation, PDP and other such tools. The following section provides some recommendations for such actions in one organisation.

Recommendations for Improving Environmental Sustainability Through HR

The organisation chosen for the case study is a construction company, McGregor Construction, which is located in the Scottish Highlands. This company was formed in 1977, but has previous history going back 132 years (McGregor Construction n.d.). Annual turnover is around ?9.5 million, and the company covers the construction spectrum, including building projects for hospitals, sports stadiums, shopping centres, council housing, and private housing (McGregor Construction, n.d.). Work includes both new build and repairs to existing properties, some of these being very old and architecturally important. It has 68 employees, many of whom have been with the company for a long time (Endole, 2015). .

The employee profile is important in that it is largely male (80%), and largely older age groups, with 63% in the 40 – 56 years age bracket, and 7% in the 57 – 70, 5% in the 70+, while 15% is in the 25 – 39 years and 10% in the 18 – 24 bracket. Many of the older employees are highly skilled, not only in modern building techniques but in traditional craft based skills building techniques.

The company has come under increasing pressure to develop a strategic and operational approach to environmental management. This pressure has arisen partly from the industry itself, as the construction sector has made substantial efforts to integrate sustainability objectives into the activities and functions of the industry (European Commission, 2012). It has also arisen from pressure through the supply chain – as McGregor is a supplier of services to a number of large customers, who have a commitment to greening their supply chains. Finally, the company is aware that they are not as efficient as they could be in managing their energy use and waste, and are seeking to improve these aspects to save money. The five main environmental objectives the company has identified are: to reduce waste throughout the company by 40% in the next year, to reduce fuel use and on site energy used combined by 40% in the next year, to increase the use of recycled materials by 10%, and to support community environmental objectives, and to reduce on site noise pollution, again all in the next financial year.

There are a number of recommendations that can be made to support the HR manager – who is assisted by one member of staff for administrative purposes – in achieving these objectives. Using the four main areas of HR related improvement identified by Cohen et al (2012), a range of specific actions may be taken.

First, employee attraction and selection. One HR tool is to integrate the selection of new employees with the long term environmental strategy of the company – so for all future employees it is recommended that an environmental component is built into job plans or descriptions. Specifically, waste management and energy use reduction should be a target tasked for all new employees. This should be followed up by the inclusion of environmental stewardship questions as part of the interview process; candidates could even be asked to give a very short presentation on the importance of environmental management in the construction industry. By using these tools, it not only signals to prospective employees that the company is seriously committed to environmental improvement, and that if they are employed they will be expected to contribute. It may also attract individuals who might otherwise have ignored a small company in favour of finding a large one with an established sustainability strategy.

Second, employee training, development and compensation. Here HR can have a substantial input. Environmental training programmes can be devised and be mandatory for all staff (CIPD, 2015), with specific focus for some staff on certain issues. For example, for people labouring or working actually in building processes, a focus on the handling of materials and reduction of waste would be a sensible inclusion. Training for all staff on energy conservation i.e. switching off machinery, lights and so on when not required, would be an easy initial approach. Training programmes should be aligned with the company’s environmental objectives, so that the training can directly feed into the achievement of the objectives. Compensation is a useful approach, and can be operationalised by HR in a number of ways. For example, Intel uses an Environmental Excellence award programme, which incentivises environmental behaviour through peer review of nominations for environmental innovation (Patton, 2013). One outcome was the reduction of energy consumption of chillers, boiler plants and vacuum pumps that in just one factory is estimated to save $38 million (Patton, 2013). On a much smaller scale, such a programme could be supported and instigated in McGregor’s – with innovations in material recycling, energy use reduction, fuel saving, building technologies and techniques and carbon reduction as expected outcomes.

Third is the creation of a sustainable organisational climate. Here HR can contribute by using sustainability oriented entry, performance and exit practices (Verburg and Den Hartog, 2006), as long as senior management recognises the importance of integrating HR into the overall company sustainability strategy (Putter, 2010). In achieving a sustainability oriented climate, HR can be especially useful in supporting the work of line managers in recruiting more employees, managing their environmental performance, and ensuring that when they leave they do so with substantial environmental awareness, and respect for what the company have done. Indeed, if HR integrates environmental issues across the whole company through workforce planning then this directly feeds into the organisational climate (Petrini and Pozzebon, 2010)

The final area of recommendations is for management support and communication. It is vital that the company directors and senior managers demonstrate absolute commitment to environmental sustainability – and they should lead by example. An employee of the month scheme could be instituted – with public recognition of an individual’s environmental achievements being a well recognised effective approach (Silverman, 2004). Employees seeing that senior managers are rewarding such behaviours are likely to engage with further activities when they are introduced by HR through the tools previously described.

Conclusions

It is clear the HR has a substantial role to play in the integration of environmental sustainability in any organisation – and has an increasing range of tools and systems that can be used to achieve this.

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Introduction

The world has become more globalised and more competitive than ever before, and as more firms begin to operate in the international marketplace there is an extensive search for different elements of competitive advantage (Beck, 2011). A major component of gaining an advantage over competitors could be in terms of human resource management and especially in international human resource management. The quality of management seems to be more critical in international, than domestic human resource management too, making it even more vital that firms are effective in this area (Monks et al., 2001). Human resource management “refers to those activities undertaken by an organisation to effectively utilise its human resources” (Dowling et al., 2008: 3). These activities include those such as staffing, performance management, compensation, training and development and human resource planning. Indeed, human resource management is key for any organisation. Ozbilgin et al., (2014) assert that human resource management is a function which encompasses the methods of compensating, appraising, training and selecting employees within an organisation, as well as complying with health and safety, labour and equal employment laws. International human resource management can be seen as the worldwide management of these human resources (Brewster and Suutari, 2005). Schular and Tarique (2007:717) claim that the field of international human resource management is concerned with “understanding, researching, applying and revising all human resource activities in internal and external contexts as they impact the processes of managing human resources”.

This essay will look at human resource management, and see what is similar and what is different when human resource management goes international. This is important due to the fact that there are many challenges in managing overseas activities for companies, and this is why the third section of this essay will be addressing the issue of best practice in international human resource management. Finally, the conclusion will draw these sections together to look at how the challenging aspect of international human resource management.

The similarities between domestic and international human resource management

This first section of the essay will look at the similarities between domestic and international human resource management. Human resource management is similar in both the domestic and international marketplaces as they have similar basic functions in businesses as mentioned within the introduction. All human resource functions have the key aim of to effectively utilising the human capital which is present within the organisation. Aswathappa (2008) asserts that human resource functions are basically the same whether they extend to several countries, or if they are specific to one single country. Regardless of the countries human resource managers are in, the HR manager still needs to plan the human resources, train and develop people, compensate them, hire the correct employees in the correct number, as well as maintain and motivate the workers in the company, and this still stands true whether or not this is in a domestic or global setting (Aswathappa, 2008).

As well as this, the environmental forces which impact upon the functioning of a human resource department are the same, depending on if the business is global or domestic (Aswathappa, 2008). These all include political, cultural, economic and legal external constraints, and they can influence the way that human resource functions “are carried out both in domestic as well as in global businesses” (Aswathappa, 2008: 67). It can be seen that a human resource function in a business has one overriding objective, which is ensuring the effectiveness of an organisation through interventions such as multiskil developments, team building, motivation, performance management and talent retention. Regardless of if the company is a multinational one operating in ten different nations, or a domestic business these activities are still present and are the key tasks and requirements of the human resource function, and as such still require effective management by human resource professionals. (Aswathappa, 2008).

The differences between domestic and international human resource management

After looking at the similarities, the differences between these forms of human resource management will now be looked at. International human resource management can be seen as being characterised by more “heterogeneous functions, greater involvement in employers personal life, different emphasis on managing training, and more external influences” (Alhafaji, 1995: 90). International HRM managers are needed to be even more diligent due to the fact there is usually greater dissatisfaction in a multinational environment than a domestic one (Alhafaji, 1995). Dowling et al., (2008) assert that they find the complexity of operating in different countries and having employees from a range of different national categories is one of the key variables in differentiating international human resource management from domestic human resource management. These result in six factors which contribute to this complexity; more HR activities, the need for a broader perspective, more involvement in employees personal lives, changes in the emphasis as employees consist of more expatriates who mix with locals, the exposure to risk and an increased range of external influences (Dowling et al., 2008). More human resource activities are needed in order to operate within an international environment, such as international tax, relocation and orientation as well as having more services for expatriates as well as language translation services (Dowling et al., 2008). These are all services which would not be necessary within the domestic market. There is also a need for a broader perspective as those HR managers who work in a domestic environment will normally administer human resource programmes for one national group of employees, these are all covered by one compensation policy and also taxed by the same national government (Dowling et al., 2008).

In terms of risk, there are also more human and financial consequences of failing within the international marketplace, as opposed to in the domestic market. Expatriate failure and the underperformance of employees on international assignments, for example, are very costly to international corporations. The cost of such employees is often three times as high as if they were to be working within their domestic market (Dowling et al., 2008). Keeley (2001) also asserts that there are difficulties in integrating host country national managers into the process of their subsidiaries that are abroad. In more recent times, major multinationals must now take into consideration the political risk as well as terrorism and the spending which is needed on protection against terrorism, in light of the 9/11 attacks in New York (Dowling et al., 2008). In International human resource management there are also more external factors, such as the types of government, the state of different economies and different generally accepted practices of doing business in the various companies where a multinational corporation may operate within (Dowling et al., 2008). International human resource management also has more involvement in the personal life of its employees. For example, it is necessary for human resources to understand every aspect of compensation packages provided in the foreign assignment, and the department would need to know the readiness of employee’s family to relocate, as well as supporting the family in adjusting to life in a foreign country (Dowling et al., 2008).

Harris et al., (2004) assert that another key difference is the cultural differences that are needed to be managed in international human resource management. With the increasing internationalisation of employment, employees in the same organisations now possess many different values and attitudes towards both work and their personal lives. There are many stereotypes inherent within these different cultures, such as Americans being work obsessed and the Japanese being overly polite (Harris et al., 2004). These national stereotypes show that different nationalities work in different ways, and it is therefore necessary that an international human resource manager has an awareness of these cultural differences, and that this can affect many different human resource functions such as recruitment and selection, as well as performance appraisal (Harris et al., 2004). Therefore, there needs to be care taken by international human resource managements on deciding whether to standardise the processes in human resource departments around the world, or choose to localise them dependent on the area even though this initial setup may be more costly and complex, but could be more effective in the long run.

Best practice in international human resource management

The need to develop best practice within international human resource management is becoming increasingly important, as more and more enterprises turn international and expand worldwide to tap into growing markets (Geringer et al., 2002). Stiles and Trevor (2006) attempt to identify the ways in which multinational organisations should manage their people in companies which are diverse in terms of the culture and geography that they encompass. This is because expanding internationally requires the attention of the company to have both global standards, as well as local market sensitivity, and this was seen as one of the marks of best practice within international human resource management (Stiles and Trevor, 2006). They move on to say that across all the organisations studied it was important to have rigorous and selection procedures, as well as training and development across all levels of the company, and developmental appraisal as well as performance linked pay (Stiles and Trevor, 2006). Other best practices included having flexible job design, team working as well as two way communications within the company. Values based employment practices were seen as important, and these enabled having a successful cultural fit of employees within the company, which increased commitment and retention in the organisation (Stiles and Trevor, 2006). Overall, it can be seen that when trying to achieve best practice within international human resource management, that it is important for organisations to focus on local knowledge, but with also ensuring there is a centralised “HQ-centric view of the world” in these departments too (Stiles and Trevor, 2006).

However, Stiles and Trevor (2006) conclude by saying that it is not enough for organisations to simply adopt best practice, or to attempt to develop innovative solutions in isolation. Instead, the formulation and execution of these needs to be aligned with business needs at all levels, both on a corporate level and locally. These also need to be not only integrated with other human resource practices but with all the various human, social and organisational elements in the organisation that effectiveness is dependent on. This can be seen as the responsibility of the leadership within the company, as leadership capability “is central to the effective management of human capital” (Stiles and Trevor, 2006: 52). As well as this, Marchington and Grugulis (2000) assert that searching for a best practice is problematic. This is because, according to their studies there are times when asserted best practices appear contradictory messages. This is due to the fact that human resource practices are not universally applicable. They move on to state that “in presenting the argument for the adoption of best practice HRM, the nature of the employment relationship itself is over simplified and distorted” (Marchington and Grugulis, 2000: 1121). Therefore it could be argued that there is no generic, one size fits all best practice of international human resources that can be applied to every multinational organisation. Instead, organisations need to consider how each process would impact and effect their specific company and its needs.

Conclusion

Human resource practitioners and researchers are becoming concerned with the shift towards more globalised businesses, and the impact that this has on international human resource management (Kiessling and Harvey, 2005). This is becoming even more of a pressing issue as multinational enterprises themselves have realised that human resource management can play an extremely important role in gaining and retaining a competitive advantage (Schuler and Jackson, 2005). It has been seen in this essay that there are a number of differences between international and domestic human resource management. These are differences which are large enough to have a sizeable and quantifiable impact upon an organisation if they are not taken into account. The main differences identified are the fact that there are a wide range of problems such as international taxation and dealing with expatriates and an assortment of different cultures in international companies that domestic human resource managers would not need to deal with. However, similarities still exist, and the main function of the human resource department, to effectively create organisational effectiveness through effective management of employees in the company, remains the same regardless of how many countries the company may operate in. It was also seen that there is no best practice in regards of international human resource management, due to the fact that companies are not the same in how they operate and the employees in them. Therefore, organisations need to consider how different policies and procedures would impact their employees before implementing them.

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Introduction

This paper provides a critical discussion of the different models of change management with a focus on the models proposed by Kurt Lewin (1958), John Kotter (1995) and the McKinsey 7S model (1982) developed by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman.

Understanding Change

Given the wide diversity in the nature and type of change experienced by individuals and organisations, no single definition of change exists. However, there is a general consensus that change is a constant feature of organisational life (Bamford and Daniel, 2005), and that it is constantly increasing in terms of its frequency, magnitude and unpredictability (Burnes, 2009). Jones (2007) defined organisational change as the way in which organisations move from one state to another to increase their effectiveness, and Greenan (2003) stated that it involves a re-distribution of power, information and skills. Similarly, Saif et al (2013) assert that effective change management is essential for organisational development and ultimately survival, and yet studies have shown that around 60% of change initiatives fail (CIPD, 2015)

Signi¬?cant work has been done to characterise the nature of change, the forces that drive it and the processes through which it can be achieved, and this has resulted in a number of models and theories that claim to capture change (Saif et al, 2013).

All approaches, however, are dependent to some extent on the wider strategic and environmental context in which an organisation operates. According to Pettigrew et al (1992) this context is the ‘why and when’ of change and takes account of the external context such as the current political, economic and social environment, and also the internal contextual factors such as organisational culture, structure and capabilities.

Lewin’s 3 Step Change Model

One of the most widely recognised of these change models was provided by Kurt Lewin (1958) who became the pioneer of planned change with the introduction of his “three-step change model” in the 1950s.

The steps in this model include: ‘unfreezing’- where the current equilibrium is destabilised to allow any old behaviours to be discarded and the desired new behaviours to be adopted; ‘moving’ – where individuals are supported to move from less acceptable to more acceptable behaviours through different change initiatives; and ‘re-freezing’ – where the new behaviours become embedded in every-day practice to allow stability at a new equilibrium as shown in Figure 1:

Figure 1 Lewin’s 3-Step Change Model

Source: Carpenter, Bauer and Erdogen, 2009

According to Cameron and Green (2009), Lewin’s model provides a useful tool for those considering organisational change, particularly when used in conjunction with his force field analysis technique which provides a focus for management teams to debate the resisting and driving forces for change. They claim that through using this model, a team can quickly move on to identifying the next steps in the change process.

However, Lewin’s model has attracted major criticism in that it assumes that organisations operate within a stable environment, it is a ‘top-down’ approach, and fails to give consideration to issues around organisational power and politics (Burnes, 2004). In addition, its linear approach has been found to be too inflexible in certain scenarios such as in times of instability and uncertainty in the external and internal environment (Bamford and Forrester, 2003). In addition, it has been claimed that such a model is only relevant to incremental and isolated change projects which therefore makes it unable to tackle transformational change (Dawson, 1994).

Kotter’s 8 Step Model

Lewin’s model has been adapted and re-created in many different forms (McWhinney, 1992). In particular, the work of John Kotter (1995) can easily be mapped against Lewin’s model (Higgs and Rowand, 2005), but instead provides a more practical eight-step approach to change management (Todnem By, 2005).

Kotter initially developed his change model by observing for-profit businesses, but it is claimed that it has applicability to public and third sector organisations also (Nitta et al, 2009).

Kotter’s model was based upon his observations of the main mistakes made in organisations which were seeking to transform themselves and he proposed eight key steps to success (see Figure 2):

Figure 2 Kotter’s 8 Step Model

Source: Adapted from: Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2009

Within Kotter’s model, the different steps are:

Step 1: Increase Urgency: according to Bond (2007) this first step is important in generating the ‘activation energy’ to start the process of change. External pressures can help to achieve this sense of urgency such as legislative forces or threat of new competition. Kotter (1998) claimed that failure to adequately complete this step is one of the most frequent causes of failure overall.
Step 2: Build the Guiding Team: with the sufficient power and influence to lead the change (Appelbaum et al, 2012).
Step 3: Get the Right Vision: that clearly articulates what the change is, why it is needed and how it will be achieved.
Step 4: Communicate Buy In: by telling all key stakeholders in a range of different ways the what, why and how of the change, so that they understand and support the change initiative.
Step 5: Empower Action: by facilitating individuals to support the change. Successful change usually requires sufficient resources to support and ’empower’ the process (Fernandez and Rainey, 2006).
Step 6: Create Short Term Wins: and giving recognition for the work done. Short-term wins provide visible evidence that the change is worth it and justified. Acknowledging these successes builds morale and momentum whilst also gaining crucial buy-in (Gupta, 2011).
Step 7: Don’t Let Up: consolidate the gains achieved and create further momentum by developing people as change agents (Appelbaum et al, 2012).
Step 8: Make it Stick: and anchor the change within the culture of the organisation. According to Fernandez and Rainey (2006), for change to be enduring, members of the organisation must incorporate the new practices into their daily routine.

Kotter’s model is generally considered to provide a practical and logical approach to managing change, and has been found to have a high level of appeal amongst managers with it still being used extensively today (Cameron and Green, 2009). However, despite this it has been criticised for a number of reasons. One of the key criticisms is that there is a lack of ‘follow through’ and that it ‘peaks too early’ (Cameron and Green, 2004). Other critics suggest that this approach is based on an often unfounded assumption that individuals will resist change (Kelman, 2005), and that where resistance does occur, there is insufficient explanation of the reasons why (King and Anderson, 2002). In addition, Sidorko (2008) argues that Kotter makes no concessions to the fact that his model is ordered sequentially and that all steps must be followed. He claims that from his study of organisational change and the use of the model, there is often a need to build multiple guiding coalitions on multiple occasions which is something that Kotter fails to acknowledge.

Both Lewin’s and Kotter’s models focus specifically on planned change and it is this factor that is the target of most criticism. It is claimed that their models are inadequate in a range of circumstances, particularly where the given change is just one of a multiplicity of changes happening within the organisation (Carnall, 2007).

Similarly, other critics argue that change cannot be viewed as a linear sequence which can be applied to processes that are in reality ‘messy and untidy’ (Buchanan and Storey, 1997).

McKinsey 7S

The McKinsey 7S Model was developed in the early 1980s by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman. It is differentiated from other change theories as instead of proposing steps that must be taken in a particular order, the framework looks at the separate elements and how well they work and interact with each other). The 7S in the model describes the seven variables, termed ‘levers’ which form the framework (Peters and Waterman, 1982), as shown in Figure 3:

Figure 3 The McKinsey 7S Model

Source: Jurevicius, 2013

In Figure 3, it can be seen that the seven ‘S’ variables include:

Strategy: which is the plan that is formulated to sustain competitive advantage
Structure: which is the way the organisation is structured and its reporting mechanisms
Systems: are the daily activities employees undertake to get the job done
Shared Values: are the organisation’s core values that are demonstrated in the corporate culture
Style: refers to the leadership style adopted
Staff: are the employees
Skills: the skills and competencies of the individual employees.

‘Shared Values’ are located in the centre of the model, to highlight that these are central to the development of all the other critical components, and the seven interdependent factors which are categorised as either ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ elements. The hard elements are easier to identify and can be directly influenced including strategy, structure and systems. The soft elements are much less tangible and are more influenced by organisational culture.

One of the benefits of the model is that is can be used to understand how the different organisational elements are interconnected and so how a change in one area can impact on the others. To be effective, an organisation must have a high degree of internal alignment amongst all of the seven Ss – each must be consistent with and reinforce the others (Saif et al, 2013). In addition, according to Rasiel and Friga (2002), the benefits of the McKinsey 7S model include the fact that it provides a diagnostic tool for managers to identify areas that are ineffective and combines the rational and hard elements of organisations alongside the softer, more emotional elements.

Criticisms of the McKinsey 7S model, however, claim that it does not offer any guidance on how to proceed once any areas of non-alignment have been identified (Grant, 2008). In addition, Bhatti (2011) argues that the model fails to take account of the importance of resources. Without additional resources such as finance,

information, technology, and the time, any change initiative cannot be effectively implemented (Higgins, 2005).

Discussion

According to Sidorko (2008) all of these change models have a role to play in supporting organisational change, but advises that they must be implemented cautiously and complemented with effective leadership. He claims that without such leadership, the models are merely a strict prescription for change that may not fit the organisation’s needs and which may result in more harm than good.

He claims that instead of applying such change models prescriptively, they should instead be used selectively and adaptively to accommodate the culture and environment of the organisation. This view is supported by Graetz and Smith (2010) who claim that in practice, it may be useful to account for contextual variables and adapt chosen change models accordingly.

MacBryde et al (2014) claim that change models such as those examined in this paper, are too abstract for practical application, and are generalised to the extent where they are at risk of missing the actual detail of what is happening. A further criticism of change management models in general, is that there is a lack of evaluation built into the process and yet critics claim that such evaluation is key to successful and sustainable change (Moran and Brightman, 2000).

Conclusion

In conclusion, this paper has provided a critical discussion of some of the most commonly cited change management models. It is evident that all three have been considered to have some practical benefit in terms of aiding the process of change in organisations and our understanding of it, and across all three models, it is clear that there is a high level of commonality amongst them.

However they have all been subjected to criticism due to their abstract nature. It has been argued that they oversimplify the process of change, lack evaluation, and do not take sufficient account of the often turbulent business context and environment in which organisational change occurs. In addition, it is clear that no matter how robust the change model, it will be ineffectual unless complemented by effective leadership.

It has been proposed that given this, change models such as those provided by Lewin, Kotter and the McKinsey 7S, should be used as a guide rather than a panacea, and applied flexibly to best match the culture and environment of the organisation and the nature of the change itself.

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Introduction

Both Germany and the UK are members of the European Union (EU) and participate in harmonised European legislation, including employment law, as well as a common capitalist market economy. However, despite these commonalities, there remain significant differences in the national business systems of the two countries, particularly with reference to the employment relationship and industrial relations (Brewster and Mayrhofer, 2012). This can be appreciated by looking at the two countries, first Germany, and then at the UK, in order to compare and contrast the two systems.

Germany

The German model of capitalism is different from that in the UK, it is referred to as a social form of capitalism, or ‘sessile marthektwirtscharft’ (Edye and Lintner, 1996). The history and corporate culture with in Germany, and the development of the industrial structure, has been highly diverging, which has converged to create an industrial framework which is relatively tight, with close ties between the different stakeholders (Silvia, 2013). The relationship between the state, companies, and their various stakeholders, reflects the German approach towards capitalism, in which the systems should be regulated in a manner to produce socially acceptable outcomes (Edye and Lintner, 1996). The result has been a system where there is a high level of value placed on consensus, with the institutions that were created to embody the social values becoming self reinforcing mechanisms that have continued to propagate the same social values (Silvia, 2013; Edye and Lintner, 1996). This system can be seen in the way that the relationship between the firm and its various internal and external stakeholders has been manage.

The country has historically had consensus built into the way in which governance takes place, with two tier board systems utilised by large organisation (Dimsdale, 1994). The two tier system consists first of a supervisory board, referred to as an aufsichtsrat and then a management board, referred to as a vorstand (Dimsdale, 1994). Although practices have been in place since 1884, the current co-determination is the system now in place was originally determined at the end of the Second World War, and initially found in the West German coal and steel industries (Silvia, 2013). The Cooperative Management Law which was introduced in 1951, along with the workers committee law of 1952, was amended in 1976 and 1972 respectively, when the framework was extended, and applied to all firms in Germany that had more than 2000 employees (Silvia, 2013). The regulations require that just below half of the supervisory board members for each company worker representatives (Silvia, 2013). The members of the supervisory board are elected by the trade unions and the shareholders, and the chairman always has a casting vote, and is always a representative of the shareholders (Silvia, 2013).

The management board is elected by the supervisory board, with the management board given the responsibility for the day-to-day running of the firm (Silvia, 2013). It is a requirement that there is at least one representative of the employees on the management board (Silvia, 2013).

Employees on the boards, and a significant level in the supervisory board, results in a strong voice for the employees, and supports the German view of capitalism. In research by Dickmann (2003), a comparison as it was found that the different structure, impacted heavily on employee and management attitudes, and resulted in some significant differences when compared to the rest of Europe, and other international markets. Germany, it was found had a high level of bias towards long-term outcomes (Silvia, 2013). This is supported with Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, where there is a high level of long-term orientation, given a score of 83, which is seen as indicating that it is a very pragmatic company, with a strong view of working for future benefits, rather than the adoption of short termism, that is present within many European, including UK, cultures (The Hofstede centre, 2015). This is seen in the planning horizon used by the supervisory boards, which is approximately twice as long as the planning horizon used by compatible companies in the UK (Silvia, 2013). This long-term approach is also seen in other areas of the employment relationship, such as the way in which employees tend to stay with employers for longer periods of time, and companies seek to provide more long-term benefits in order to retain employees (Silvia, 2013). It is also shared by stakeholders, where shareholders may be more willing to wait for long-term results to pay dividends in terms of the investment value, and creditors may also take a long-term approach in aiding businesses that face difficulties (Silvia, 2013).

In addition, the social concerns and voice also facilitate a higher level of cooperation. Therefore, the relationship between the unions and the employers tends to have a high level of cooperation when compared to other countries (Silvia, 2013). A good example of this may be seen when BMW, a German company, acquired Rover, a UK company. The company BMW made many long-term promises regarding the security of jobs in the UK, but failed to understand the differences in the culture, and suffered as a result of the lower level of cooperation, and higher level of conflict that was present in the relationship between unions and management in the UK operations (IPA, 2003). The problems resulted in the failure of Rover, with the company only BMW only retaining the mini Cooper group. This demonstrates not only the differences between the two systems, but the way in which they may clash.

For this reason, a number of German companies have found it difficult to operate internationally without adapting their systems to facilitate a more liberal Anglo-Saxon model of operation (Brewster and Mayrhofer, 2012; Schmitt, 2003). Interestingly, it has been found that despite the high level of inward foreign direct investment into Germany by companies that have a less rigid approach to business, that the strong institutional culture in Germany appears to be remaining intact (McDonald, Tuselman, and Heise, 2003), rather than moving to a point of convergence where there is a hybrid result. Notably, even when German multinationals move outside of their own country, although they adapt to the more liberal approaches, the aspects of the perspective of the social relationship of remains in place, with employees frequently having a greater voice than is legally mandated (Gumbrell-McCormick, and Hyman, 2006). In addition, it has not been unusual historically for bankers whole places on the boards, to promote a long-term relationship between the lenders and the businesses, as well as have an influence on the way business is undertaken. However, this has been one area that has changed in recent years, due to the aspect of conflicts of interest associated with lenders dealing with many firms (Silvia, 2013). This created the potential for accusations of insider dealing, and concerns of conflicting interests, especially during times of credit crisis.

The UK

The UK operates under the Anglo-American model of capitalism, where external influences are generally resisted, whether they are from union influences, or from other stakeholders such as lenders or creditors (Hutton, 1996). The priorities within the UK system differ greatly, with a high level of individualism, and a lower level of institutional involvement in the day-to-day running of organisations.

An examination of the Anglo-American model demonstrates that the view of collectivism and employers is very different. For example, in the UK, the basis of employment law is founded on the assumption of the master and servant relationship (Lockton,2008). The foundation of the relationship is based on compliance, and while there is employment law to ensure fair treatment of employees, the approach tends to be one that is reactive rather than proactive.

The Hofstede centre, which gives indications of the cultural dimensions for different countries, demonstrates a significant difference in the UK compared to Germany. For example, while long-term orientation in Germany gains a score of 83, in the UK it only gains a score of 51 (The Hofstede centre, 2015). This is also supported by the dimension of indulgence, which tends to be low in countries where there is a willingness to say for the future, and consider others, with a score of 44 Germany, but 69 for the UK is (The Hofstede Centre, 2015).

The approach towards the employment relationship and industrial relations in Germany was often characterised by the use of collective agreements, as seen with the proactive role of unions, and a high level of employee representation on boards (Hutton, 1996). This is not seen in the UK. Individualism is much higher, with far fewer collective agreements in place compared to Germany, and more contracts negotiated on an individual basis (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010). This is also seen in the cultural dimensions school for individualism, which is 67 is seen as relatively high for Germany, but is even higher in the UK, with a score of 89 (The Hofstede Centre, 2015).

The approach is reflective of a greater level of short-term thinking, with a greater emphasis placed by management on short-term results of the firms, and needs to meet stakeholder needs. As seen above with Silvia (2013), the planning horizon of Germans firm supervisory boards have been found to be approximately twice as long as UK boards. A short termist approach is likely to be influential not only of employment relations, but overall strategic approaches, and the way in which investments, including in employees, are perceived by management. This also impact on the way in which collectivism is perceived within UK businesses.

Different models of collectivism have been proposed by Edye and Lintner, (1996) where it was recognised that relationships between unions and types of cooperation or cooperative practices could manifest in different ways. Whereas the German model appears to have a high level of alignment, the relationship between the unions and employers in the UK has a higher level of conflict (Buchanan and Huczyniski, 2010). The conflict in nature of this relationship may be seen in the 1970s, when there were many strikes under the Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher, with Margaret Thatcher seeking to break the power of the unions. There was a general perception by many employers that unions had too much power, and were exercising it at the cost of business, economic progress, and profits (Edye and Lintner, 1996). Since the 1970s there has been a significant move away from any form of collectivism in the UK, with union membership continually dwindling, and while unions still have a role to play, their ability to exercise influence has declined significantly (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010). Notably, unlike Germany, it is very unusual to find any union members on boards of British firms. The only exceptions are organisations such as Nissan, who have bought Japanese practices into the UK workplace, and have included employees on their board as a way of seeking to improve employment relations, and develop a higher level of cooperation in the workplace. However, overall, the model of cooperation tends to be viewed with a degree of suspicion, due to the long-term history of conflict and perception of non-aligned interests between employers and employees, and the fermentation of cooperative practices is only emerged in terms of requirement as a result of the implementation of EU law and the requirement for workers councils for certain employees.

Conclusion

There are significant differences between the German and the Anglo-American business systems, the former embodying long-term approaches with a high level of social concern, resulting in significant institutional-ism that become self reinforcing in Germany. By comparison, the UK has a more liberal economy, with a greater emphasis on short-term results, and a higher level of importance placed on individualism. Importantly, UK companies have fewer compliance requirements in the context of employee voices in the workplace environment, and notably many of the existing legislative practices which are required to comply with EU law, have resulted from a requirement for harmonisation and implemented through the concept of subsidiarity. Both systems reflect the historical background of employment relationships within the country, and the way in which employees, have, or have not, be able to influence the employment relationship, and workplace practices.

References

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The Hofstede Centre (2015), from http://geert-hofstede.com/germany.html

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Unless you believe in predeterminism, nothing is inevitable in history. However, some things have a higher probability of happening than others, and this is what this study addresses. It looks at possibilities other than the outcome which occurred and explores why these scenarios did not prevail. It then looks at the actual unfolding of events and the deeper history which led to the Cold War emerging between 1945 and 1947/48. It analyses the factors which inclined the world towards ideological polarisation and evaluates what was the most significant.

Several outcomes other than an armed, hostile stand-off could have emerged at the end of World War II. There might have been a hot war, with the vast armies of the Soviet Union pitched against the equally powerful armed might of the Western Allies. Alternatively, there could have been electoral successes and popular uprisings by communist and other radical left-wing movements across Western Europe leading to the coming to power of regimes less willing to take a hostile stance towards the USSR. Thirdly, elections in Eastern Europe might have resulted in Soviet influence stopping at her own borders and hence no Iron Curtain “stretching from Stettin to Trieste” (Thomas, 1988, 703). Finally, a more cooperative, consensual and less suspicious approach to diplomacy would possibly have achieved a mutually acceptable rapprochement.

Apart from some hot-headed, dyed-in-the-wool anti-communists, such as General George Patton, there was little desire to start up another war against erstwhile allies. For the politicians of the democracies, initiating a new war would have been political suicide. For Stalin, there was little to be gained since he was in control of sufficient east European territory to create a series of buffer states to protect the Soviet Union (Leffler, 1986). Additionally, the USA had developed and demonstrated the use of the atomic bomb, something which the Russians had not yet mastered. Equally significantly, despite Churchill’s extreme wariness about Soviet post-war intentions in Europe, President Roosevelt was less concerned with ideas of Russian expansionism and he was by far the senior Western partner. He was willing to treat with Stalin, seeing the winning of the war as much more important than manoeuvring for later anti-communist geostrategic advantage (Offner, 1999). Despite his death a month before victory in Europe, his cooperative legacy prevailed long enough to make a shooting war with the USSR a non-starter (van Alstein, 2009).

The prospect of a much more left-leaning political Europe was a genuine possibility. In Britain, the Labour Party won an overwhelming victory in the 1945 election, while in Italy there was a very real possibility of the Communist Party at the least being a participant in Italy’s first post-war government. Determined that Italy must remain in the Western camp, President Truman authorised the covert transfer of vast amounts of cash to the anti-communist Christian Democrat Party which proved significant in overcoming the initial broad support for the anti-fascist parties of the left (Mistry, 2014). Even more decisive was the decision to finance and arm the right-wing government in Greece during the civil war which began in 1946. Truman’s support came at a crucial moment when it looked like communist forces might prevail. Significantly Stalin chose not to back the insurgents, honouring the agreements reached at Moscow in 1944 and the Yalta Conference of 1945 over spheres of influence in Europe. Similar US aid was extended to Turkey to prevent her entering into any agreement with Russia over defence and access to the Mediterranean. Had things turned out differently in those countries, it might well have strengthened the already powerful communist movements in France and Belgium (Gaddis, 2005; Edwards, 1989).

The scenario of elections in the eastern European nations occupied by Soviet forces at the end of the war producing non-communist governments was not impossible, although neither was it likely. Western historians have largely seen the Russians imposing puppet communist governments upon unwilling populaces, but in each country there were strong indigenous communist movements (Theoharis, 1976; Joll, 1973). Once in power, however, each regime refused to submit itself for re-election. This was not wholly because of Russian force of arms, but also because these regimes knew that their hold upon power depended on remaining within the Soviet bloc and thus they acquiesced in becoming client states. For Stalin they provided a buffer against what he still saw as a threat from the West to their very existence (Starobin, 1969). After experiencing foreign intervention in the 1917-22 civil war, international ostracism in the subsequent interwar years, and a brutal, genocidal invasion by Germany, it is not altogether surprising that Stalin was somewhat wary.

It has been argued by numerous revisionist historians that, in the immediate post-war years, Stalin was seeking rapprochement with the West (Zubok & Pleshakov, 1996; Roberts, 1994; Starobin, 1969). This seems persuasive since the Soviet Union was in desperate need of a period of retrenchment after the terrible depredations of the life-or-death struggle against Nazi invasion which it had just endured. There was a shield-wall of buffer states in place, Stalin was both unwilling and unable to expand any further, no attempt was made to incorporate Finland or Austria into the communist orbit despite having ample opportunity to do so, both the Western Allies and the USSR had demobilised the great bulk of their armed forces by 1948, and the West had been given free rein to impose its preferred political set-up in Italy, Greece and Turkey (Hobsbawm, 1994). Why then did there not emerge a period of international tensionless coexistence?

There seems to be two principal reasons for this: the presidency of Harry Truman, and Western (especially American) ideological intransigence. Truman was a truculent, belligerent individual who had little experience of foreign affairs when he became president upon Roosevelt’s death. He had a very black-and-white, us-and-them view of the world, and despite his lack of knowledge of political belief-systems beyond the USA, was viscerally anti-communist (Costigliola, 2010). Alan Offner described him as “a parochial nationalist who lacked the leadership to move America away from conflict and towards detente” (1999, 150), seeing his aggressive posturing towards the USSR as a major factor causing Stalin to adopt more hard-line, domineering policies in the Russian zone of influence in eastern Europe.

It was during his speech announcing US aid to Turkey and Greece that Truman first enunciated his Policy of Containment towards the Soviet Union.

[T]otalitarian regimes imposed upon free peoples, by direct or indirect aggression, undermine the foundations of international peace and hence the security of the United States… It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures. (Edwards, 1989, 131)

Truman was setting up the USA as the world’s policeman, and in the process was creating the basis of American policy towards the USSR for the next forty years. The Soviet Union was to be treated as an implacable foe, as the ideological antithesis of what America believed it stood for, and as a state intent on undermining democracy and Western civilisation (Roberts, 1991). As such it was an existential threat which must be opposed and contained everywhere and at all times. Some historians have argued that “Containment” was the wrong term for American/Western aims during the Cold War – the goal was in fact “the collapse and destruction of the Soviet state and system and its displacement by liberal democratic institutions, whatever the rhetoric about co-existence.” (Kimball, 2001, 352) Truman began this policy, marking a distinct break with the consensual approach of his predecessor (Costigliola, 2010).

Obsessive anti-communism so permeated successive high-level American thinking that almost all foreign policy was seen in terms of defeating the Russians and their evil doctrines. Joseph Siracusa described the USA developing “an increasingly rigid ideological view of the world – anti-communist, anti-socialist, anti-leftist – that came to rival that of communism.” (Siracusa, 2001, 154) The roots of this preoccupation can be traced to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, not so much the events or even the consequences for Russia, but rather the self-proclaimed global mission of fomenting world insurrection against the established order, the propertied classes and liberal capitalism. However, during the interwar years, the USSR was not viewed as a dangerously powerful state, and when Stalin promulgated the policy of “socialism in one country” there was even less reason to be proactively hostile. Ideological animosity was still intense, but action was confined to trade embargoes and a refusal to recognise the Soviet Union. It was only in 1933 that Roosevelt extended recognition when the threat of fascism appeared much greater than that of communism (Roberts, 1991).

As well as the personality and worldview of Truman, events between 1945 and 1948 progressively and cumulatively increased the polarisation and ratcheted up hostility. Among these were the abandonment by Britain and the USA of their commitment to making the Germans pay substantial reparations, something which had been agreed at Yalta and was seen as important and necessary by Russia which had suffered far worse infrastructural and economic damage than the Western Allies. Choosing the option of rehabilitation over repression (Thomas, 1988), the British and Americans merged their occupations areas into the Bizone, then created the Trizone by adding the French sector, introducing a single currency for the whole area. This established a framework for an integrated administrative economic area in the Western sectors, a development advanced greatly in 1947 by the Marshall Plan (Lewkowicz, 2008). The Marshall Plan was not the simple gesture of a generous United States unselfishly seeking to help a debilitated Europe recover. The aim was to create an Open-Door policy within a free-trade Europe where the USA could freely sell its surplus production and invest its huge capital reserves. Money which was offered as aid came with strings attached. What could be bought and from whom was carefully prescribed, the greater part being American-made goods, while the supra-national decision-making body administering the Plan was dominated by the Americans (Roberts, 1994).

The Russians, initially welcoming the Plan, quickly recognised its underlying economic and political disadvantages. They saw it creating a design for Europe which would work to the benefit of the USA within an ideologically unacceptable framework, and declined to participate. The creation of the Trizone and its further binding together with Marshall Aid was only one step away from the implementation of political integration. Following the Berlin Blockade, this duly happened in May 1949 with the declaration of the Federal Republic of Germany. Five months later the German Democratic Republic was established (Lewkowicz, 2008; Roberts, 1994).

The crystallisation of a bipolar Europe was mirrored in the Far East. As part of a deal struck with Stalin, the Americans were given free rein to restructure both Japan and the Philippines which they turned into compliant pro-American, pro-capitalist states. Korea was divided between the two blocs, while Vietnam was prevented from unifying as one nation under Ho Chi Minh and his nationalist-communist liberation movement by the Americans. Against all the anti-imperial promises of Roosevelt, Truman encouraged the French to return as colonial masters in the South rather than let the country be united under a left-wing regime (Theoharis, 1976; Herring, 1986). Effectively, the USA was engaging in an economic, ideological and military-backed expansionist policy while accusing the USSR of that self-same activity.

Post-war international relations were always going to tend towards the development of two rival camps, but that is not sufficient to explain the intense hostility which emerged. In early 1945, cooperation was still the dominant paradigm among the Allies, not just to defeat the Axis, but for reasons of future security and peace. Ideological differences were seen more as domestic matters than major shapers of international relations. Soviet expansionism and her claim to zones of influence were regarded largely as conventional Russian nationalist ambitions, and were matched by the Western Allies’ own zones of influence. However, coinciding with the advent of Truman, suspicions and misreadings of the other side’s intentions emerged. Fearing the worst, both began acting upon their misconceived views of the other and started behaving in ways that confirmed their opponents preconceptions, creating self-fulfilling prophecies about what the other would do (van Alstein, 2009).

It is not surprising that Stalin acted out of paranoia and suspicion as his domestic record in the late 1920s and 1930s testifies, but Truman was his ideological counterpart in his misreading of Russian intentions and his doggedly anti-communist certainty. William Fulbright summed up the emerging ideological mind-set which would dominate US foreign-policy thinking for four decades and which was the most important factor in creating the reality of the Cold War:

Like medieval theologians we had a philosophy that explained everything to us in advance, and everything that did not fit could be readily identified as a fraud or a lie or an illusion… The perniciousness of the anti-Communist ideology arises not from any patent falsehood but from its distortion and simplification of reality, from its universalization and its elevation to the status of a revealed truth. (Fulbright, 1972, 43)

It was not inevitability which led to the Cold War, but inflexibility.

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1. Brief history on trade union

The history of the trade union can be seen to have begun in the Industrial Revolution, where the rise of factories and the deskilling of labour led to workers seeking security through collective bargaining agreements. However, these early efforts at unionisation were generally deemed to be illegal, and punished by imprisonment or ‘transportation’ to the colonies, such as in the case of the Tolpuddle Martyrs (Webb and Webb, 1976, p. 23). However, in the nineteenth century many of the laws that prevented the formation of unions were repealed. As a result, trade unions grew rapidly, supported by the passage of further laws such as the 1906 Trade Disputes Act, which protected employees from being sued for going on strike, provided their strike was carried out by a trade union and met certain rules (Beckett, 2001, p. 22). Indeed, as of the present day, trade unions are the only accepted vehicle through which industrial action can occur.

Role of trade union in the UK

In spite of their important role in industrial action, this is not actually only an aspect of the trade union’s major role, which is to engage in collective bargaining on behalf of its member. This is important in unskilled and semi skilled working environments, where individual employees might be unaware of market rates of pay, and thus not be able to bargain effectively. Ultimately, this has led to a degree of institutional separation between day to day working practices and the negotiation of wages (Employee Relations, 1990, p. 15). However it is important to also realise that another role of the trade union is to negotiate these working practices, including the length of shifts, holidays, sick pay and other practices. Finally, the trade union also plays a role in supporting its members if they feel they have been unfairly dismissed, or discriminated against. Here, the union employs legal experts who have knowledge of employment laws, and thus can ensure that employees are treated fairly, such as in the case of Roberts v West Coast Trains Ltd [2004] (BAILII, 2010).

Practical (action & relationship)

The main practical actions that trade unions can take fall into two categories. The first is large scale practical actions by all members, including strikes and other coordinated industrial action. It should be noted that these actions are only triggered by a properly conducted ballot of union members, and hence can occur when the union members disagree with any action taken by management. For example, in 2009 the trade union Unite launched industrial action to prevent Total Oil Company using mainly overseas contractor at its Lindsey Oil Refinery, in spite of the Acas tribunal ruling that this use of contractors was not illegal (Gill, 2009, p. 29). As such, it can be argued that trade unions not only act when the written contract between managers and employees has been broken, but also when the psychological contract has been broken. The other main practical actions that trade unions take are for individual employees, including the legal assistance mentioned above, but also the provision of services such as unemployment benefits, sick pay and even additional pension provision.

Rights reference of trade union

Trade unions give employees several important rights that they would not otherwise possess as individuals. First and foremost amongst these is the effective right to strike. Whilst no individual or trade union has the right to strike in the UK, striking is also not a criminal offence, it is a civil one (Goswami, 2007, p. 8). As such, if an individual chooses to strike, they would become liable for the losses sustained by their employer due to their strike action. However, if a trade union holds a properly conducted ballot, then their members are protected from liability for these actions, effectively giving them the right to strike. The other main right trade unions have is the right to collectively bargain on behalf of their members, thus negotiating a pay settlement for all members that can then be agreed on in a vote of the members. Trade unions may also have the right to legally represent their members in any dispute with the employer, although this will often depend on the structure and laws of the union.

Example of industrial disputes

One recent dispute that is of interest is the case of British Airways and the trade union Unite. In this case, Unite called for strike action in response to the cost cutting program instituted by British Airways. This case is of interest due to its relation to the psychological contract. The psychological contract holds that employees will help the company make a profit, and in return managers will respect the employees and provide good working conditions (Gill, 2009, p. 29). However, in the case of BA, the company was making massive losses. This indicates that Unite was not interested in the company’s financial problems, and was instead more focused on maintaining its relevance, and the social contract it can be seen to hold with its members. Specifically, the social contract implies that employees will support the union when it calls for strike action, in exchange for receiving the support of the union in other areas (Peyrat-Guillard, 2008, p. 479). A similar example can be seen in the recent dispute between the Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and London Underground. In this case, the union called for a strike claiming that cuts would compromise passenger safety, even though they would not result in any salary cuts or compulsory redundancies (BBC News, 2010).

Relevance and importance of trade union

The relevance and importance of trade unions depends strongly on which analytical perspective is employed. A labour process theory perspective indicates that trade unions play a vital role in defending workers’ rights in the face of the relentless growth of global capitalism and neo liberalist economics (Braverman, 1974, p. 8). This argument holds that as the owners of capital and their agents, the managers, obtain more control over the working process through mechanisation, so workers will be more vulnerable to exploitation. As such, trade unions need to ensure that their efforts to defend their workers match the efforts of managers looking to undermine them. According to this viewpoint, the RMT’s actions in the recent Underground strike were fully justified, as if they failed to act the managers would succeed in removing 800 employees, thus increasing management’s ability to exploit the remaining workers. In contrast, a post structuralist view of the issue indicates that the strike is more likely to be a product of the union attempting to maintain its own power, partly by opposing anything that might allow power to shift towards managers in the future, and partly by maintaining its relevance in the eyes of employees (Foucault, 2003, p. 6). The post structuralist view thus holds that unions are not particularly relevant or important in a modern capitalist society, and are in fact acting more to maintain their own power than to actually perform their role in society.

Size and components (hierarchy) of the trade union

Trade unions range in size from smaller specialist unions such as the British Orthoptic Society Trade Union, with a membership of just over a thousand (TUC, 2010), to the massive International Trade Union Confederation, which is a federation of 301 affiliated trade unions, with a total membership of 176 million workers (ITUC, 2010). There are also smaller unions each representing individual workplaces. In general, the structure of most unions will be set up to allow them to operate as an artificial legal entity. This helps them to carry out negotiations on behalf of its members, as well as ensuring that it can represent its members in the event of any individual disputes. Unions are also mandated by local laws to have a democratic structure and elected leadership in order to ensure that any strike action they take is legal. This is an important aspect of a trade union, as workers themselves do not have an implicit right to strike, they only have protection from legal action if a strike is organised by a union in a properly conducted ballot of members (Goswami, 2007, p. 8).

Conclusion

In conclusion, trade unions still tend to play an important role in protecting workers and helping them enforce their legal rights, particularly in cases when these rights may be uncertain or under debate. Unions will also be able to support employees when they feel that the psychological contract between workers and managers is being breached, and can help workers to renegotiate this contract if necessary. Unfortunately, a post structuralist view of the trade unions indicates that the unions tend to be more responsive to their own social contract with the workers, than to the actual needs and demands of the workplace itself. This can lead to unions behaving in overly militant ways, particularly when they feel their own power and relevance is being threatened.

References

1. BAILII (2010) British and Irish Legal Information Institute. http://www.bailii.org/ Accessed 9th September 2010. 2. BBC News (2010) London Underground strike causes severe disruption. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11209522 Accessed 9th September 2010. 3. Beckett, F. (2001) Bring back the right to strike. New Statesman; Vol. 130, Issue 4528, p. 22. 4. Braverman, H. (1974) Labor and Monopoly Capital. New York, Free Press 5. Employee Relations (1990) Institutional Separation. Employee Relations; Vol. 12, Issue 5, p. 15-17. 6. Foucault, M. (2003) Society Must be Defended. New York: Picador. 7. Gill, C. (2009) How Unions Impact on the State of the Psychological Contract to Facilitate the adoption of New Work Practices (NWP). New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations; Vol. 34, Issue 2, p. 29-43. 8. Goswami, N. (2007) UK Govt declares in ECJ that strike actions be curtailed. Lawyer; Vol. 21, Issue 2, p. 8. 9. Peyrat-Guillard, D. (2008) Union Discourse and Perceived Violation of Contract: A Social Contract-Based Approach. Industrial Relations; Vol. 63, Issue 3, p. 479-501 10. TUC (2010) Britain’s unions. Trades Union Congress. http://www.tuc.org.uk/tuc/unions_main.cfm Accessed 9th September 2010. 11. Webb, S. and Webb, B. (1976) History of Trade Unionism. New York: AMS Press.

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What was the significance of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) for the relations between States? To what extent is Modern diplomacy Renaissance diplomacy in disguise?

The conflicts known as the Thirty Years’ War fundamentally altered the balance of power in Europe. Indeed, it could certainly be argued that modern diplomacy is ‘Renaissance diplomacy in disguise’, largely as a result of this. The conflict forced into being allegiances and alliances that can still be seen today and which in part shaped subsequent conflicts within European nation states.

Initially, the Thirty Years’ War was a religious conflict, though resulting from a ‘complex sequence of events’ , but it quickly escalated into a more comprehensive power struggle in the Holy Roman Empire:The Thirty Years’ War may be viewed from two aspects–a European and a German one. In respect of the first, it was the last of the great religious wars, closing the epoch of Reformation and Counter-Reformation, proving to the Catholic Powers of Europe that their ideal unity was no longer attainable and teaching mankind, by the rudest possible process, the hard lesson of toleration. In respect of the second, it had a somewhat similar effect. Germany was a Europe in miniature; her nominal unity under the Hapsburgs was a parallel to the Catholic ideal unity of Europe under the Pope and the Emperor. This unity was blasted forever by the muskets of the opposing armies. But worse than this; when the war began Germany was a rich country, as the countries of Europe then went. She was really full of cities, which, though their main threads of commerce were fast snapping, might yet fairly be called very flourishing. When the war ended she was a desert.

The decimation is extremely significant since it gives an insight into why the proactive, even aggressive, aspect to German territorial diplomacy in modern terms can be seen to be historically traceable and Renaissance diplomacy allied to it in embryo. In addition, it can be seen that the conflict itself was an integral part of the way in which countries were perceived and in how they perceived themselves, for example

‘Renaissance Denmark’ was expanding and wished to gain control with Sweden over ports on the Baltic which were in German hands. This period of aggression facilitated individual concerns such as this, both within and outside of the Empire, as well as exposing entrenched grievances and Church power over lands which they were reluctant to give up even after changing religion: ‘Everything depended on bringing the doubtful ecclesiastical principalities into the hands of men whose power and whose orthodoxy should alike be undoubted’ . Thus, it can be seen that the Thirty Years’ War is not easy to define in terms of the precise nature of its cause. Like most conflicts, its outbreak was due to reasons many and various and its progression and aftermath reflected this state of fragmented relations. In many ways, the Thirty Years’ War was as much evidence of the failure of Renaissance diplomacy as anything else:

That particular moment in history, the dozen years between the Twelve Years Truce of 1609 and the fatal spreading of the Thirty Years’ War, offered Spanish diplomats a unique opportunity. Between 1598 and 1609 some sort of peace was patched up, first with France, then with England, and finally with the rebellious provinces of the Netherlands so that, although many problems were left unsolved, there was again something like a community of nations in which diplomats had room to manoeuvre. At the same time, though Spanish power was little more than a husk, Spanish prestige was scarcely diminished.

The significance of the Thirty Years’ War for the relations between States, therefore, is to a great extent connected with both contemporary and modern diplomacy, with the current diplomatic relations and practices amongst states very much an echo of Renaissance diplomacy ‘in disguise’. The ‘patched up’ peace referred to above had an inherent inevitability of failure because it did not take into account the way in which individual imperatives would not only conflict with but also capitalise on the years of conflict:

In 1618, over half a century of festering religious, dynastic, and strategic tensions erupted into civil war in the Holy Roman Empire, subsequently engulfing the entire European continent in thirty years of exhausting and utterly devastating warfare. Wars are seldom simple affairs, but the Thirty Years’ War was even more complex than most, prompting endless scholarly debates about its causes and the motives of the major protagonists.

Thus, it can readily be seen that as with the Danish desire to wrest Baltic control from the Germans the long held ambitions of individual states were given the capacity to develop under the umbrella of the conflicts of the Thirty Years’ War. Clearly, the tensions which continue to exist within Europe and the way in which modern diplomacy operates can be seen to be rooted in the same entrenched desires. Indeed, even the ending of the protracted conflict in the terms of the Peace of Westphalia, has strong resonance for contemporary commentators on the way a diplomatic resolution at one point can evolve into further conflict, as the terms of the Treaty of Versailles are frequently seen as the root of the First World War:

The product of seven years of diplomatic wrangling and protracted negotiation, the Peace of Westphalia is generally seen as a crucial watershed in the transition from a heteronomous system of rule to a system of territorial sovereign states. […] This representation of the Westphalian settlement has attained almost canonical status in the discourse of international relations, but it should not be overdrawn. Significant as they were, the Treaties of Munster and Osnabruck were but one step in the territorialization of sovereign authority.[…] the Treaties of Westphalia played a crucial role in defining the scope of territorial rule. That is, they defined and codified an historically contingent range of substantive areas over which princes and monarchs could legitimately exercise political authority. The geographical extension of these political rights, however, was left ill-defined, with the reach of dynastic ties and ancient feudal rights defying the clear territorial demarcation of sovereignty.

The relations between states which the Thirty Years’ War established were entrenched within territorial sovereignty and this was to have extreme repercussions over succeeding centuries of diplomacy. From this point onwards, in fact, sovereignty would be a major issue in all diplomatic negotiations and remains so. Indeed, it might be argued that the Peace of Westphalia was as significant for what it failed to achieve as for what it accomplished, since it established political authority but could not take into account the extent of historical and dynastic connections or the influence of feudal rights, as stated above. Therefore, the creation or affirmation of sovereign states at the culmination of the Thirty Years’ War attempted to impose or redefine territorial rights which in many cases went against historical claims:

In medieval Europe political authority was decentralized and nonexclusive; a multitude of actors held rights to rule, and the content and jurisdictional purview of these rights varied temporally, spatially, and substantively, often overlapping in complex and contradictory ways. Originally, such rights were held en fief, bestowed by a superior lord in return for aid and counsel. In the late medieval period, however, the possession of feudal rights hardened; the idea that they were bestowed from above and maintained by conditional bonds of mutual obligation receded into the background, and feudal rights came to be seen as patrimony, as rightful inheritance.

The Peace of Westphalia, in creating sovereign states, altered the essential dynamic of relations between states. The new treaty, ending the Thirty Years’ War did not take account of these rights, replacing them with a new system of sovereign rule created, it is often said by faulty law and Machiavellian diplomacy: Hinsley argues that the Treaties of Westphalia “came to be looked upon as the public law of Europe” but that law is questionable in its effectiveness, validity and viability, both contemporaneously and in its effects in the present day. The significance of the Thirty Years’ War for the relations between States, therefore, is closely allied to the assessment of to what extent Westphalia was effective, or indeed lawful:

It is clear from the texts of the treaties, and from accounts of the negotiations, that the settlement’s legality did not derive from the existence of formal ‘contractual’ agreements between the princes and monarchs of Europe, or at least not primarily. The treaties were written and duly signed accords, but the bases of their legal sanctity lay elsewhere.

The diplomacy which brought about this somewhat equivocal ‘peace’, therefore, needs to be examined in greater detail.

Renaissance diplomacy relied heavily upon the desire by those with power to expand and protect that power. The territorial claims which emerged and developed during the course of the Thirty Years’ War had little to do with the original religious conflicts between Protestants and Catholics which began the war in the Holy Roman Empire and everything to do with the Renaissance diplomacy which was rooted in the desire to maintain and expand power. Rulers, of feudal origin, had mostly seized the power they possessed, could not rely on the loyalty of their subjects and needed to sustain their wealth by territorial alliances and self-serving allegiances. Morality had little, if anything, to do with Renaissance diplomacy and everything to do with what could be gained by power hungry individuals, including the ‘princes of the Church’, who even when they changed their religion were reluctant to sacrifice the control they had. After the creation of sovereign states by the Peace of Westphalia, these feudal lords were often compelled to comply with laws that were imposed upon them, parts of which can still be seen in significant aspects of contemporary diplomacy, for example permanent ambassadors with rights of impunity and foreign offices. Both of these were designed, and still are, to ensure that the power of a sovereign state was established and upheld in territories beyond their own. In this case, it can be clearly seen that modern diplomacy is indeed Renaissance diplomacy in disguise. Further, the territory of an embassy was established as being a foothold of the sovereign state it represented even though established in a foreign land. All of these aspects of Renaissance diplomacy remain fundamental to modern diplomacy and to the relationship between states. The European Union has affected this in abstract but has struggled to enforce its challenges in practice, with sovereignty a passionately debated issue in most treaties. Therefore, although it is important to remember that, ‘the peace treaties [of Westphalia] do not specifically include much evidence for the claim that Westphalia is the crucial turning-point in the emergence of sovereignty [and] there is no mention of the word “sovereignty” , essentially, the diplomacy which produced the treaty at the end of the Thirty Years’ War is still in place and even though ‘with the birth of the Modern Age […] the diplomatic institution underwent a profound transformation’ its connection with Renaissance diplomacy is still evident.

In conclusion, it must be stated that after the Thirty Years’ War, the power of individual feudal laws and lords was irrevocably diminished and there was more incentive for sovereign nation states to form mutually and generically beneficial alliances. However, as is clear from wars between such states trough the centuries, it could not achieve lasting peace, though its importance in developing relations between nation states and establishing diplomatic procedure is profoundly important:

Westphalia is not a literal moment of political transformation but, rather, the symbol of that change. Westphalia symbolized putting one of the final and most decisive nails in the coffin of the medieval claim that all European states were subject to the spiritual leadership of the pope and the political leadership of the Holy Roman Emperor. After Westphalia that was a hollow claim. As one historian puts it: ‘this extraordinary compromise saved the theory of religious unity for each state while destroying it for the Empire.’ A modern society of sovereign states had been created out of the political debris of a ruined medieval Christian empire.

Nevertheless, there is a school of thought that reduces the importance of Westphalia, stating particularly that: ‘the rise of the sovereign state was over three centuries old by the time of Westphalia’ . Notwithstanding, the profound effect that the Thirty Years’ War had on the development of the recognition of the sovereign state is difficult to overestimate and certainly, there is strong evidence of Renaissance diplomacy today.

Bibliography:

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