The different roles chart the progression of the HR profession over time. In this paper
we focus on the question: what roles can be identified for the current day HR department in
the context of increasing globalisation of the corporate domain? Very often the boundaries of
organisations are not limited anymore to the domestic setting. Crossing borders has become
normal, which gives rise to the issue of HRM in multinational settings and how the HR
function and related roles manifest themselves at the various plant, country, regional and
corporate levels. How issues of coordination, shared learning (both top-down and bottom-up)
and standardisation versus leeway for adapting to the local context (customization) become
critical in this context.