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Hr Challenges Facing American Companies in Europe

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Submitted By Motik70
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Europe is one of America's main business and political partners. America has made a huge financial investment in Europe, going back to World War II. However although many American companies have trading partners in Europe, they need to understand that there are major political and social differences when it comes to doing business in Europe. Human Resources managers, who usually are the ones who end up smoothing over ruffled feathers, should prepare themselves to deal with a new field of HR problems. This paper will discuss some of the HR challenges American companies doing business in Europe and how they can overcome them. A different political and Economic landscape Although Europe, and Britain in particular, is America's closest political and economic partners, many Americans have not ventured abroad. HR managers will need to understand that they will probably have to give American executives a short crash course on Europe's political and social landscape. While Europe is about the sized of America, it is made up of several individual countries, each with it's own language and culture. Although many parts of the European union have a common currency (the Euro) and constitution, the different nation states still retain their own individuality. Most Americans executives will probably find it easier adjusting to work life in Britain, with it's common language. HR managers should note that the southern European countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal, have a more Latin culture, which some female executives might find sexist. American women travellers to these countries have complained about the aggressive sexual advances from men, actions which would be considered sexual harassment in American. HR managers will have to talk to both the European workers and the American executives about acceptable behavior. This point is reinforced by an article

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