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[email protected] Abstract The nature of management skills are culturally specific, a management technique or philosophy that is appropriate in one country is not necessarily appropriate in another. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are few studies that shed light on the relationship between national culture and strategic human resource management practices. Hence, this study aims to review the literature review that shows the relationship between national culture and strategic human resource management practices. More specifically, review of literature on the concepts of culture, national culture, organization culture and strategic human resource management will be presented. The discussion of the dimensions will be briefly discussed. Also, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions namely, Individualism/Collectivism; Power Distance; Masculinity/ Femininity; Uncertainty avoidance; Long versus Short- Term Orientation and critiques of Hofstede’s model will be discussed. Finally, the impact of national culture on human resource management practices will be presented. This study will provide valuable insights for management to recognize the impact of national culture and evaluate its impact on the organization. Keywords: Culture, National Culture, strategic human resource management, Human resource management, Jordan 1. INTRODUCTION The importance of human resource management to effective implementation of strategy has been recognized for some time (Alkalha et al., 2012; Alenezi et al., 2015). Thus, effective management of human resource management is spirited for the success of organizations (Almajali et al., 2016). Also, HRM practices that provide employees with skills, incentives, information, and decision making responsibility have been shown to be associated with improved business performance (Abdul Hamid, 1996). In the face of globalization, organizations struggle to find the balance between global and local markets in designing and implementing HRM practices, which is a critical issue for both multinational and domestic organizations (Masa’deh et al., 2015; AL-Syaidh et al., 2015). ISSN:2229- 6247 Safa Al-Sarayrah et al | International Journal of Business Management and Economic Research(IJBMER), Vol 7(4), 2016, 704-716 The Effect of Culture on Strategic Human Resource Management Practices: A Theoretical Perspective Safa Al-Sarayrah Faculty of Graduate Studies The University of Jordan Dr Ali Tarhini* Assistant professor Department of Information Systems College of Economics and Political Science Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman Dr Bader Yousef Obeidat Associate Professor Business Management Department The University of Jordan Amman, Jordan Dr Zahran Al-Salti Assistant Professor Department of Information Systems College of Economics and Political Science Sultan Qaboos University Muscat, Sultanate of Oman Tagreed Kattoua Lecturer Management Information Systems Al-Balqa Applied University www.ijbmer.com 704 HRM practices and policies that are adopted by companies in different countries with different national culture are not identical to one another (Abdul Hamid, 1996). A wealth of international HRM research confirms that the approaches to investigate the influence of culture on HRM practices vary according to the adopted context (Milikic, 2009; Al-Tamony et al., 2016). This variation differ from investigating SHRM practices within multinational companies, study the differences of HRM practices among countries, to single country studies aiming to draw conclusions with home-country implications (Milikic, 2009; Masa’deh et al., 2014). Moreover, among such practices, human resource management practices are likely to be most sensitive to culture diversity as they are designed by culture bearers (Shannak et al., 2012). Thus, the assumptions and values of the local designers are likely to be amplified by the expectations of the natives to create a culture product that may be highly meaningful and potentially effective for the home country but possibly meaningless, confusing, and ineffective for another country (Laurent, 1986). The study of culture provides captivating insights into the common elements and distinguishing variety of human experiences (Munley, 2011; Tarhini et al., 2015; Abbasiet al., 2015; Almajali et al., 2016). For example, women have advanced in management in the Middle East but have a career and development constraints due to strong gender roles in Islamic culture (Metcalfe, 2006). In Islamic cultures, organizations that have effective rewards are those that base on connections and logically consistent with those which Muslims believe to exist, and rewards should be based on employees inputs (Baligh, 1998). Since, Islam makes everyone responsible for his/her own behavior (Baligh, 1998). The nature of management skills are culturally specific, a management technique or philosophy that is appropriate in one national culture may not be appropriate in another (Hofstede, 1984a; Katebet al., 2014; Masa’deh et al., 2016). For this reason, there is a need among international managers to understand the culture systems among countries (Hofstede, 1984a). Further, people should be aware, they belonged to a culture and have a specific way of doing things, and they should be prepared (Trompenaars and Charles, 1997; Maqableh et al., 2014). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are few studies that shed light on the relationship between national culture and strategic human resource management practices. Hence, this study aims to review the literature review that shows the relationship between national culture and strategic human resource management practices. More specifically, review of literature on the concepts of culture, national culture, organization culture and strategic human resource management will be presented. The discussion of the dimensions will be briefly discussed. Also, Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture Hofstede’s’ cultural dimensions namely, Individualism/Collectivism; Power Distance; Masculinity/ Femininity; Uncertainty avoidance; Long versus Short-Term Orientation and critiques of Hofstede’s model will be discussed. Finally, the impact of national culture on human resource management practices will be presented. This study will provide valuable insights for management to recognize the impact of national culture and evaluate its impact on the organization. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Culture Culture is the collective programming of the mind that differentiates individuals of one group from another (Hofstede, 1984b). While, Trompenaars and Charles (1997) defined it as a series of rules and methods that a society has developed to deal with the recurring problems it faces. In another study, it was defined by Cooper and Denner (1998) as core societal values, contexts, caste, capital, and set of universally adaptive tools, intergroup relations. Not so far from this definition, House et al., (2001), viewed it as values, beliefs, identities, and explanations of significant events that outcome from mutual experiences of people. Accordingly, the concept of culture includes institutions and the collective representations and forms the collective behavior (Kassidou et al., 2010). Culture is often difficult to change, because it is not only exists in the minds of the people but, because it has become crystallized in the institutions of these people (their family structures, educational structures, work organizations) (Hofstede, 1980). In his study (1993) Hofstede explained culture as a construct which means that it can be understand from verbal statements and other behaviors. Therefore, the features and practices that differentiate cultures from each other, are predictive of the mangers characteristics and behaviors, also organizations practices (Hajir et al., 2015; Obeidat et al., 2016). Likewise, culture can shape organizational processes, but processes also act to create and modify culture (Tarhini et al., 2016). Thus, the diverse cultures should be viewed as opportunities for business, as resource, capital and ‘set of tools’ (Ludviga, 2009). The nature of management skills are culturally specific, a management technique or philosophy that is appropriate in one national culture is not necessarily appropriate in another (Hofstede, 1984a). For this reason, there is a need among international managers to understand the culture systems among countries (Hofstede, 1984a). Moreover, people should be aware, they belonged to a culture and have a specific way of doing things, and they should be prepared (Trompenaars and Charles, 1997). The study of culture provides captivating insights into the common elements and distinguishing variety of human experiences (Munley, 2011). For example, cultural values (e. g. freedom, prosperity, security) are the Safa Al-Sarayrah et al | International Journal of Business Management and Economic Research(IJBMER), Vol 7(4), 2016, 704-716 www.ijbmer.com 705 bases for the specific norms that told people what is appropriate in various situations (Schwartz, 1999). Whereas, women have advanced in management in the Middle East but have a career and development constraints due to strong gender roles in Islamic culture (Metcalfe, 2006). In Islamic cultures, organizations that have effective rewards are those that base on connections and logically consistent with those which Muslims believe to exist, and rewards should be based on employees inputs (Baligh, 1998). Since, Islam makes everyone responsible for his/her own behavior (Baligh, 1998). In this section, the culture has been defined and different concepts have been presented. Since, the culture shapes organizations processes; it means that there is another type of culture which is related to organizations. Thus, the next section will discuss the organization culture and differentiate it from national culture term. 2.2 National Culture and Organization Culture National culture and organization culture are different terms (Hofstede, 1993). Moreover, cultures within organizations will differ to some extent within one nation, also differ more from one nation to another (Oudenhoven, 2001; Tarhini et al., 2016). Furthermore, it refers to the values, beliefs and practices that are shared by most members of an organization (Oudenhoven, 2001). Furthermore, Robbins and judge (2011, p. 554) defined organizational culture as “a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organizations from other organizations”. In other words, “Culture is the social glue that helps hold the organization together by providing appropriate standards for what employees should say and do. Finally, it is a sense-making and control mechanism that guides and shapes employees’ attitudes and behavior” (Robbins and judge, 2011, p. 557). Moreover, national cultures distinguish members of one nation from another, and organization cultures differentiate the employees of one organization from another (Oudenhoven, 2001). Ming Lau and Yue Ngo (1996) found that, the company with different country origins adopts different organizational cultures and policies to run their operations, even within the same country. In another study, Wu (2008) concluded that,