Scholars and scientists list a large number of variations between countries and point towards a 'wide diversity in philosophies of people management' (Price, 1997: 122; Kaufman, 2016). When comparing one country with another, certain tasks that need to be completed within a line of work are given different priorities and are completed in a different way (Price, 1997). An example of this is the EU voting for a decree stating that its Member States should introduce legislation to decrease the number of working hours for employees. Every country then had to set a chosen number of hours, and it was apparent that the number of working hours thought suitable was different between different countries: the UK believed that 48 hours was reasonable, whereas France decided 35 hours was enough (Stredwick, 2005).

Questions

1 Why is it important to consider a country's sociocultural context when designing HRM?

2 What factors affect the number of working hours per week in a country?