A CONTINGENCY MATRIX APPROACH TO IHRM

The global economy is a reality. The challenge facing international hu man resource management (IHRM) is not whether to use widely recognized HR concepts and techniques but rather how to effectively adapt and fi t them across cultures. The purpose of this article is to suggest and demonstrate a contingency matrix approach to IHRM. After first explain ing what is meant by the contingency matrix approach, the remainder of the article uses a sampling of the HR research literature from Japan, Germany, Mexico, and China to show how a contingency matrix could be used for effective IHRM. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.