Examining human resource management in post-soviet Kazakhstan

In post-Soviet Eastern Europe, the former communist nations have increasingly internationalized through inward foreign direct investment initially from Western European and North American multinationals and more recently, from other transition economy multinationals. This paper specially explores human resource management (HRM) practices in foreign-owned subsidiaries in Kazakhstan to examine the development of HRM in Kazakhstan and the extent to which practices and policies are reflective of their countries of origin, older-style Soviet and post-Soviet practices, or an emerging Kazakhstan. The discussion is based on the findings of research which utilized a questionnaire-based survey, supplemented with secondary data and informal interviews with HR managers. The paper concludes with suggesting that the HRM and employee relations practices utilized in these subsidiaries in Kazakhstan are a hybrid of old style Soviet practices and Western-based approaches (both US and European), and provides some implications for theory and managerial practice