MGMT3025 International Human Resource Management
The Complete Exam Bible · S2 2026MGMT3025 Overview
- 6 unit undergraduate course
- Semester 2, 2026
- In-person delivery
- 2-hour final exam
International Human Resource Management at the Australian National University is an undergraduate course, open to students who have completed at least 48 units including BUSI2025 or MGMT2030, about how multinational firms find, place, develop, pay and manage people across national borders.
- Assessed by Participation, three tasks and a final exam
- Hardest move Turning a case into a diagnosis
- How to prepare One framework page per teaching week
How MGMT3025 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Participation | 10% | Individual; quality of contribution to weekly tutorial discussion across the semester, marked by your tutor |
| Literature Review | 20% | Individual; 1,000 words on an IHRM topic from a Weeks 2 to 6 seminar; due Monday 21 September 2026 |
| Group Presentation (Video Presentation) | 20% | Groups analyse an IHRM case: up to five in the class summary, four or five in the task sheet, which sets a 10 to 15 minute video due 31 August 2026 |
| Expatriate Experience Report | 20% | Individual; semi-structured interview with a global worker such as an expatriate, 1,000 words; due Monday 12 October 2026 |
| Final Exam | 30% | Individual; a 2-hour exam held on campus during the examinations period |
All five weights come from the Semester 2, 2026 class summary and total 100%. The class summary calls the group task a live seminar presentation of up to 10 minutes in Weeks 7 to 12, while the Canvas task sheet sets a 10 to 15 minute video due on 31 August 2026; the weight is 20% in both, and the task sheet sets groups of four or five. The class summary caps both written tasks at 1,000 words, and the task sheets allow 1,000 words plus 10%, excluding references.
Current MGMT3025 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| 3 December 2026 | Final Exam results | Latest expected return date for the final exam in the class summary; the exam date itself is set on the ANU examination timetable |
Dates are as published in the Semester 2, 2026 class summary. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What MGMT3025 covers
Eleven chapters follow the teaching weeks from the strategic context of IHRM to comparative HRM, each with an original worked case.
IHRM and Its Strategic Context
Definitions, PCN, HCN and TCN, expatriates and inpatriates, internationalisation stages, complexity factors and strategic tensionsInternational HRM starts from the six activities every HR function performs, planning, staffing, performance management, training, pay and employee relations, and asks what happens to each one when the employer works in more than one country.
- The six HR activities and what changes when they cross borders
- Parent-country, host-country and third-country nationals
- Expatriate and inpatriate as directions of movement
- Internationalisation stages and rising IHRM involvement
- Six factors that make IHRM more complex than domestic HR
- Integration against local responsiveness and convergence against divergence
The Cultural and Institutional Context of IHRM
Culture models, cultural dimensions and HR practice, institutional forces and how context shapes people managementEvery HR policy a multinational exports lands in a different culture and a different set of institutions.
- Culture defined and its four building blocks
- Schein's layers: artefacts, values and underlying assumptions
- Hofstede, GLOBE, Trompenaars and Hall compared with their critiques
- Applying cultural dimensions to recruitment, training, appraisal and rewards
- How generational change and globalisation shift cultures
- Host-country, country-of-origin and reverse diffusion effects
The Organisational Context of IHRM
International strategies, structures, control mechanisms, cross-border mergers and the role of the HR functionWhere HR decisions are made depends on how the multinational is organised.
- Organisational structure versus organisational design
- Standardisation against localisation in HR policy
- The path from export department to global matrix
- International, multidomestic, global and transnational strategies
- Farndale's four IHRM structures and subsidiary dependence
- Networks, power and best practice for virtual teams
International Workforce Planning and Staffing
Assignment types, reasons for international assignments, expatriate roles and the causes and costs of expatriate failureBefore a multinational can choose who goes where, it has to plan how many people with which skills each location will need.
- The five-stage international workforce planning cycle
- Organisational, environmental and assignment factors in planning
- Cognitive flexibility, physical mobility and non-work disruption
- Global worker types and traditional versus short-term assignments
- Position filling, management development and organisation development
- Bears, bumble-bees and spiders as expatriate roles
International Recruitment, Selection and Wellbeing
Staffing approaches, selection criteria, family and dual career issues and duty of care for international staffThis chapter covers how a multinational decides who should staff its foreign operations and how it looks after them once they go.
- The EPRG staffing attitudes and how to tell them apart
- Gains and costs of ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric and regiocentric staffing
- Proactive versus ad hoc staffing philosophies
- Internal and external sources for international recruitment
- Six selection factors and four dimensions of expatriate success
- Informal and formal selection methods
International Performance Management
Multinational performance systems, subsidiary and expatriate appraisal, rater choice and rating errorsPerformance management in a multinational has to be relevant to each location and still comparable across the group, and this chapter shows why that is hard.
- Performance management compared with performance appraisal
- Developmental and evaluative purposes of global performance management
- Exportative, adaptive and integrative system strategies
- Six constraints on multinational performance management
- Five determinants of expatriate performance and the assignment types
- Hard, soft and contextual appraisal criteria
International Training, Development and Careers
Pre-departure and cross-cultural training, international careers and the repatriation processThis chapter follows an international assignment from preparation to return.
- Training compared with development in an international firm
- Seven imperatives and the key questions for global training
- Method, rigour and duration of cross-cultural training
- Expected interaction and cultural novelty as drivers of training depth
- Eight components of pre-departure training and organisational support
- Global leadership competencies and the global mindset
Global Talent Management
Talent definitions, pivotal positions, talent pools, mobility and global leadership developmentGlobal talent management is presented in Week 8 as a subset of IHRM that grew out of a worldwide war for talent, demand for global leaders, workforce diversity, mobility and migration, the knowledge economy, digitalisation and diverging demographics between countries.
- Definitions of talent and the forces behind global talent management
- Innate, acquired and inborn plus acquired views of talent
- Exclusive, inclusive and hybrid approaches
- Attraction, development and retention practices across the talent lifecycle
- Universal and contingent views of talent management outcomes
- Indicators for retention, development and succession
International Compensation and Taxation
Pay objectives, package components, going rate, balance sheet and local plus approaches, and tax equalisationPaying people who move between countries is one of the most technical parts of international HRM, and this chapter follows the Week 9 lecture from purpose to method.
- Pay as a control device and the four objectives of policy
- Questions that decide an assignment package
- Base salary, premiums and the main allowances
- Going rate, balance sheet and local plus compared
- The four balance sheet categories and their adjustments
- Global benefits policies and pension transportability
International Employment Law and Employee Relations
Employment relations actors, trade unions across countries, labour standards and regulating multinational employersMultinationals employ people under several legal systems at once, and this chapter follows the Week 10 lecture from law to labour relations.
- Local law, international labour standards and extraterritorial home-country law
- Codes of conduct and corporate social responsibility in employment
- The aims of employee relations and what shapes a multinational's approach
- Union density across countries and the Ghent system
- How unions constrain multinational strategy and what they fear
- Barriers to bargaining across borders and international union responses
Comparative International HRM
Convergence and divergence, comparative survey evidence and HRM across national business systemsComparative HRM asks why the way people are managed differs between countries and whether those differences are shrinking.
- The convergence perspective and the divergence perspective
- Policies converging more than practices, between and within regions
- Regionalisation: consistent group systems with local autonomy
- State, unions and work values across five world regions
- The CRANET survey design and its trend data
- Offshoring locations and HR problems in India and China
It is built on the textbook by Dowling, Festing and Engle, with additional readings in the later weeks. The first block sets the context: what IHRM adds to domestic HR, how firm strategy drives HR strategy, how national culture and institutions shape practice, and how international structure and control decide where HR decisions are made.
The middle block works through the functions as they apply abroad: workforce planning and international assignments, the causes and costs of expatriate failure, recruitment and selection with attention to families and wellbeing, performance management across subsidiaries, training and repatriation, and global talent management.
The final block turns to pay and tax for international assignees, employment law and employee relations in different countries, and comparative HRM, where survey evidence tests whether practice is converging.
Seminars attach a case or a guest speaker to most weeks, including an aggrieved expatriate, a computer hardware maker spanning the globe, a hotel acquisition, forced ranking at a global conglomerate, repatriation and a managing director appointment in India. Assessment combines tutorial participation, a literature review, a group presentation, an expatriate interview report and a 2-hour final exam worth 30%.
This guide gives one chapter per teaching week, each with an original worked case, the frameworks the lectures use, and practice questions shaped like the tutorial quizzes and seminar case questions.
Worked example · free
Which lines of a balance sheet package can a cost-cutting firm trim?
- +1State the purpose: the method starts from her home-country package and aims to keep her home living standard abroad, plus an inducement to go.
- +1Goods and services: this line covers a real difference in what daily spending costs in Riyadh, so cutting it lowers her standard of living and contradicts the method.
- +1Housing: the allowance bridges the gap between a notional home housing cost and the actual host rent, so it is protected for the same reason.
- +1Income taxes and reserve: if the firm uses tax equalisation, by far the most common policy, it withholds her tax obligation and pays the host taxes; the reserve keeps pension and savings at the home rate. Both lines protect the return home.
- +1Premiums: the foreign service inducement, typically 5 to 40% of base pay or a lump sum, is added to persuade her to go, while a hardship premium compensates for a challenging location. Review the inducement first, and keep any hardship premium the location justifies.
- +1Conclude: trim or restructure the inducement, keep the living-standard lines, and note that the course pairs local plus with self-initiated or permanent local moves rather than a posting with a guaranteed return.
Key terms
- International human resource management
- The planning, staffing, development, pay and relations work of HR when an organisation employs people in more than one country, together with comparison of HR practice between nations.
- Parent-country national
- An employee who holds the nationality of the country where the multinational has its headquarters and works in one of its foreign subsidiaries.
- Host-country national
- A local employee of a foreign-owned subsidiary who works in their own country.
- Third-country national
- An employee whose nationality is neither that of the headquarters nor that of the subsidiary where they work.
- Expatriate
- A person posted to work and live temporarily in another country, typically sent out by head office.
- Inpatriate
- A subsidiary employee transferred into head-office operations in the parent country, the reverse of an outbound posting.
- Local responsiveness
- The degree to which a subsidiary adapts its practices to the conditions of its own country rather than following group policy.
- Convergence
- A tendency or choice for HR practice to become the same across countries, for example by applying parent-company policy everywhere.
- Expatriate failure
- In its narrow sense the early return of an assignee; broader views add poor performance or adjustment and quitting soon after coming home.
- Balance sheet approach
- An expatriate pay method that keeps the home-country standard of living and adds allowances and an incentive premium to cover host-country costs.
- Going rate approach
- An expatriate pay method that links pay to the host-country market, using surveys of local or expatriate pay as the benchmark.
- Tax equalisation
- A tax policy in which the multinational withholds the assignee's tax obligation and pays all host-country taxes itself.
- Repatriation
- The process of bringing an international assignee back to the home country and reintegrating them into the organisation.
MGMT3025 FAQ
How is International Human Resource Management at ANU assessed in Semester 2, 2026?
The class summary lists five tasks. Tutorial participation is worth 10%, the literature review 20%, the group presentation 20%, the expatriate experience report 20% and the final exam 30%, a total of 100%. The literature review was due on 21 September and the report on 12 October 2026, and both are individual.
For the group task, individual marks can be adjusted to reflect each member's contribution as recorded on a signed contribution form.
What is known about the final exam?
The class summary describes it as an individual 2-hour exam held during the examinations period and worth 30% of the course. The opening lecture adds that it is held on campus and that the date is set by the Examinations Centre. Further details are promised on Canvas and in lectures at least two weeks before the exam period, and the timetable appears on the ANU exams website.
Was the group presentation a video or a live seminar presentation?
The two official documents differ. The Canvas task sheet and opening lecture describe a 10 to 15 minute video uploaded with slides, a one-page summary and a contribution form by 31 August 2026. The class summary describes a live seminar presentation of up to 10 minutes in Weeks 7 to 12 followed by questions.
The weight is 20% in both, and groups are up to five in the class summary but four or five in the task sheet, so check the instructions on Canvas.
What is the difference between a PCN, an HCN and a TCN?
The three labels describe nationality relative to headquarters and subsidiary. A parent-country national holds the head-office nationality and works abroad, a host-country national is a local hire of the foreign owner, working at home, and a third-country national holds neither nationality.
Expatriate and inpatriate are separate labels for the direction of a move, so one person can carry one of each, such as a TCN who later transfers to head office.
Why do expatriate assignments fail and what does failure cost?
Week 4 defines failure narrowly as early return but warns that this misses underperformance and quitting after repatriation. Commonly cited causes include partner dissatisfaction and family concerns, inability to adapt and a job that does not meet expectations.
Costs are direct, such as airfares, relocation and salary, indirect, such as lost market share and strained host-government relations, and personal, such as loss of confidence and career setbacks.
How does the balance sheet approach to expatriate pay work?
The Week 9 lecture describes it as the most common system in multinational firms. Pay starts from the home-country package, then adjustments cover extra spending in the host country across goods and services, housing, income taxes and a reserve for savings and pensions, and an expatriate or hardship premium makes the move attractive. It preserves the home living standard but is costly and complex to run.
What is the difference between convergence and divergence in IHRM?
Convergence means HR practice becoming alike across countries, whether because a multinational applies parent-company policy everywhere or because global pressures push firms toward common methods. Divergence means practice staying different because national culture and institutions such as labour law and unions shape it.
The course uses this pair in Week 1 to frame strategy and again in Week 11 to read comparative survey evidence.
Questions students ask in each MGMT3025 chapter
- What makes international HRM more complex than domestic HRM?
- The Week 1 lecture names six factors: more HR functions and activities, a need for broader expertise, more involvement in employees' personal lives, a wider mix of expatriate and local staff, more risk exposure, and more external influences such as labour law and government regulation. Each factor adds concrete tasks, from visas and relocation to evacuation planning. Chapter 01 · IHRM and Its Strategic Context
- What are the three layers in Schein's model of culture?
- Artefacts are visible structures, symbols and processes. Values are partly conscious and describe the beliefs a group professes. Underlying assumptions are unconscious convictions that nobody questions. The lecture adds that influence flows more strongly from assumptions upward than from artefacts downward, so changing a visible policy seldom changes the deeper belief beneath it. Chapter 02 · The Cultural and Institutional Context of IHRM
- What is the difference between standardisation and localisation?
- Standardisation applies policies designed at headquarters in every location, which supports control, integration and economies of scale. Localisation adapts policies to each country's laws, culture and markets, which supports responsiveness. In HR terms the choice shows up in centralised or decentralised decisions, common or country-specific KPIs, a global pay framework or local market rates, and standard or localised training. Chapter 03 · The Organisational Context of IHRM
- Why is global workforce planning so difficult?
- Plans depend on organisational factors such as strategy and stage of internationalisation, environmental factors such as host labour markets and laws, and assignment factors such as role type and length. Labour market data vary in quality between countries, while demographics, emigration of skilled people, visas and lead times constrain supply, and turnover and uncertain growth keep shifting demand. Chapter 04 · International Workforce Planning and Staffing
- How do the four EPRG staffing attitudes differ?
- They differ in who fills a subsidiary's key roles. Ethnocentric firms appoint parent-country nationals, polycentric firms let host-country nationals run local units, geocentric firms choose the best candidate anywhere, and regiocentric firms do the same but only within a region such as Europe or Asia-Pacific. Firms can also mix attitudes across regions. Chapter 05 · International Recruitment, Selection and Wellbeing
- What is the difference between performance management and performance appraisal?
- Performance management is the continuing process through which a multinational evaluates and improves results at the individual, subsidiary and corporate level against goals set in advance. Appraisal is one part of it: judging a single employee's behaviour and outcomes over a review period, then discussing them in a formal review. Chapter 06 · International Performance Management
- How much cross-cultural training does an assignee need?
- The lecture uses Mendenhall, Dunbar and Oddou's three dimensions of method, rigour and duration. Duration and rigour are set against the expected degree of interaction with host nationals and the cultural novelty of the location. A similar culture with little interaction needs the shortest and least rigorous training; a novel culture with heavy interaction needs the most. Chapter 07 · International Training, Development and Careers
- What is the difference between exclusive and inclusive talent management?
- The exclusive approach treats a small group as talent, chosen for key skills, high performance, high potential or a pivotal role, and assumes talent is fixed. The inclusive approach sees most employees as contributing to value creation and assumes talent grows through training. A hybrid approach, the lecture notes, combines the two, so a firm can use elements of each. Chapter 08 · Global Talent Management
- What are the three main approaches to expatriate pay?
- The lecture compares the going rate, which ties pay to host-country market surveys; the balance sheet, which builds up from the home package to keep the home living standard; and local plus, which pays host salary with a few expatriate benefits. It links them respectively to long-term geocentric moves, traditional ethnocentric postings and self-initiated or permanent relocations. Chapter 09 · International Compensation and Taxation
- Which bodies of law does an international HR manager have to satisfy?
- Three at once, according to the Week 10 lecture. Each host country has its own employment law and regulation; international labour standards, centred on the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, set a global floor; and some home-country statutes travel with the firm, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act the lecture names. Chapter 10 · International Employment Law and Employee Relations
- Are HRM practices around the world becoming more similar?
- Partly. The Week 11 lecture reads the evidence as mixed: a shift to a more performance-driven HR function seems to be spreading across regions and countries, while issues such as the influence of labour unions are moving apart. It adds that written policies may converge more than everyday practices, and that divergence can occur within a region as well as between regions. Chapter 11 · Comparative International HRM
How to study for the exam
Revise by framework rather than by slide. For each week build one page with the core model, two or three definitions you can write from memory, the seminar case attached to that week and one example of your own. Then practise the two kinds of question the course uses in class. Tutorial quizzes test precise recognition: which cultural dimension, which staffing approach, which pay method, which assignment type.
Seminar cases test application: diagnose the IHRM problem in the facts, name the framework that explains it, and recommend a policy with its trade-off. When you practise a case question, write the diagnosis in one sentence before you write anything else, because most weak answers describe the case without saying what went wrong.
Link chapters as you go: selection errors cause expatriate failure, poor repatriation wastes the training investment, and pay design depends on the staffing approach. Once the exam format is announced on Canvas, rehearse full answers to that format under timed conditions.
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