Case Study Report
In the current scenario, the trend of globalization is increasing, however it is identified that managing the globalized environment is not an easy task(Muogbo, 2013). Moreover, due to increase in the level ofcompetition,it has become essential to give focus on various parameters.
To understand the issues related to international market environment, this study has taken place in which the case of‘No Name’ aircraft has taken. The reason behind selecting this case study is that this case is focused towards various perspectives, which need to be concentrate while dealing in the international market.
This report focuses towards culture, diversity management,international performance management and training & development. Giving concern to all these four parameters remain supportive for a firm to get success in the diverse market as these parameters remain supportive to improve the employee performance as well as the quality of the operations(Reiche, Mendenhall, & Stahl, 2016).
According to this case, ‘No Name’ aircraft build and sell aircraft to 50 countries at the global platform. This organization operates out of Australia and also has three subsidiaries in China, Singapore and Vietnam.
There are numerous parts of the aircraft which are produced by China and Vietnam branch as well as most of the design engineering takes place out of Singapore and aircraft assembling takes place in Singapore and Australia.
Adam O’Meara is the CEO of ‘No Name’ aircraft and he is highly concerned about the organisational profits. Moreover, he has knowledge that there is a need of maximising the shareholders’ return on investment to increase their interest, otherwise this firm international company may be at risk and, of course, this means his job could well be on the line.
He’s worried that a company takeover is imminent. O’Meara realises he needs to maximise shareholders’ return on investment and obtain a high share price or this company may be at risk which can create the situation of risk not only on organization but also on employees as well as on him. So, he has hired an international human resource management consultant to help him in resolving the issues.
From the case study, it is analysed that ‘No Name’ aircraft is facing various issues due to which the organizational performance of the firm is showing decreased trend. Although, this caseis focused towards four major issues, i.e. culture, diversity management, International performance management and training and development.
Culture
According to this case, it is analysed that the home country team were not performing well and the reason behind it was communication breakdown. It is analysed that there was communicationgap between the team, management and integrated team.
Moreover, the employees are showing reluctant behaviour towards change, which is creating adverse situation as it is essential for the firm to change the organizational process according to the contemporary market need (Alvesson, &Sveningsson, 2015).
Additionally, employees have shown the sticky behaviour with the mantra of ‘near enough is good enough’. Due to the working culture of ineffective leadership and inadequate communication, ‘No Name’ was facing the decreased sale and quality issues.
The different tasks of aircraft are performed at different subsidiaries and ineffective communication in the subsidiaries is directly impacting the firm performance.
Aircraft industry needs todo small to large modifications even after delivery, but due to ineffective working culture government as well as non-government customers were facing the issues of poor quality and were complaining and lots of stakeholders have sent letters to the CEO and warned him that if the firm will not improve the quality within the time span of six months, then they will withhold partial payments.
At the same time, it was analysed that there were only three supervisors who have to manage around 50 teams and there is not any integration in the teams. Moreoverinstead of showing supportive behaviour one team creates difficulty for other teams to accomplish the job which was adversely affecting the quality of the aircraft (Hogan, &Coote, 2014).
These cultural issues have created the situation of challenge for the CEO and he found that Australian line managers are responsible for communication between headquarters and subsidiaries and China, Singapore and Vietnam have lots of issues and they seek clarification on numerous points as ineffective communication are creating the issue of receiving inadequate instructions.
Diversity Management
‘No Name’ deals in global platform, but it is identified that in the context of diversity management, there is a simple policy of the firm that everyone in the organisation should be respected whether they have diversity on the basis of age, ethnicity, gender, race, ethnicity, physical abilities, sex, religious beliefs, values etc.(Vidal, et al., 2013).
At ‘No Name’, there are various issues due to diversity, as the ‘No Name’ headquarters, team members were showing the intolerance behaviour at the workplace with the diverse employees.
Senior staff members were showing intolerant behaviour with trainees who increase the stressful working relationships between superior and subordinates. Moreover, in China, ‘No Name’ does not prefer to recruit disabled people even when they are more skilled and knowledgeable as compared to other candidates.
Ignoring the talent pool only due to disability, was creating the negative working environment within the organization as well as decreasing the competitive advantage of the firm in the industry (Kulik, 2014).
Recruitment discrimination was creating the fear in the mind of the CEO as he is aware about the negative impact of discrimination within the organization as well as the legal action which government can take due to unethical practices of the firm.
Not only this, but also there was not any clear set of practices for human resources which was creating the situation of discrimination. Superiors do not prefer to share their knowledge and skills with the subordinates. It was impacting the organizational performance as well as individual performance (Choi, & Rainey, 2014).
International performance management
In the context of international performance management of ‘No Name’, it is analysed that this aircraft firm there are lacking for international performance appraisals.
This lacking efficiency is directly impacting the performance of the organization at international subsidiaries and headquarters (Zhang, et al., 2014). Although there is a performance review takes place by Australia HR team but in the perspective of subsidiaries, there is not any performance reviews taken place and also it is found that there is not any formal performance appraisal process for expatriates.
At the same time, it is analysed that there is huge work pressure on the Australian employees as there is high cost involved which has increased the expectation level too.
Moreover, the decisions taken by the headquarters directly affect each the subsidiaries and due to high working pressure, they do not become able to take right decisions which is affecting the implementation of decisions and creating conflicting performance outcomes at the subsidiaries (Nakos, et al., 2014).
Training and development
From the case study, it is analysed that at ‘No Name’, there is limited expatriate training which is only conducted for half a day. This training is provided to the employees who leave Australia to work in China, Singapore or Vietnam.
The reason behind this limited training is that the Australian HR has an assumption that every person are same as they have same needs when they get agreed to work to another country.
Moreover, there is not any feedback procedure for the expatriate, due to which they even not become able to comment on the shortfalls of training process(Tahir, et al., 2014).
Expatriates have to face big challenge of integration in the new country environment as there is huge difference in culture, values and many other parameters from one country to another.
On the other hand, there is not systematic workforce planning and management development programs which also directly impacting the employees as well as organizational performance.
At ‘No Name’ there is quite unhealthy relation between the senior management and juniors as seniors do not show the behaviour of developing the junior employees as they have a fear of getting side-lined in the context of promotion.
Due to this reason, there is adverse working situation in the organization which is creating hurdle towards the professional and organizational development (Gray, et al., 2013). It is also increasing the employee turnover rate and employees were hired by other companies, which was creating hurdle towards the organizational success.
Culture
According to the views of Zyphur, et al. (2016), the culture of communication gap and incorporative atmosphere between the teams create the negative impact towards the organizational performance as well as towards the development of the employees.
In this kind of culture, instead of focusing towards quality, company goal and customer satisfaction, employees give concern towards creating the issues and hurdles for the team members. Ineffective lateral and horizontal communication culture creates the negative working environment.
In support of this, Naranjo-Valencia, et al. (2016) stated that cooperating behaviour within the organization, team and team members, eliminate the employees’ complaining behaviour while supports to increase positive and healthy atmosphere where there is healthy competition.
At the same time, according to the views of O’Reilly III,et al. (2014), diffusion of innovation theory remains supportive to communicate the change within the organization while utilizing different channels of communication.
However, in the contrary, Muogbo (2013) opined that utilization of Kotter’s eight step model remains supportive to show better performance as it helps to develop intrinsic force for accepting the change.
On the other hand, Alvesson, &Sveningsson (2015) determined that utilization of effective leadership style according to the situation need remains supportive to lead the team in the right direction while developing trust in the mind of the followers, which supports to motivate the employees to work in a team while accepting the change.
It supports to increase the active participation of the employees while creating positive working environment.
Diversity management
In the views of Richard, et al. (2013), diversity supports the employees to learn the skills and knowledge of diverse culture which remain supportive for personal development as well as for improving the organizational performance.
In like manner, Ashikali, &Groeneveld (2015) stated that in most of the cases, disable employees show better performance than the normal people as it is identified that they take less absenteeism and show less turnover rate.
Moreover, they show more hard work and focused attitude towards the achievement of the organizational goal. On the other hand, Kulik (2014) recommended that according to the government regulations, it is essential for the firm to offer particular percentage of quota to the disabled personalities as an ethical performance of the firm.
Vidal, et al. (2013) stated that according to government civil rights act 1964, discrimination on the basis of disability is unjustifiable within the organization as there should be equal respect for diversity. Moreover, it also supports to create positive image of the firm in the market which enables to develop competitive advantage in the industry.
International performance management
Van Dooren, et al. (2015) stated that to motivate the employees perform better and to boost them to show active participation, it is essential to offer appraisals time to time. In support of this, Nakos, et al. (2014) determined that Maslow’s need theory of motivation remain supportive to motivate the employees on the basis of giving consideration to their individual need.
At the same time, Herzberg’s need theory supports to understand that there are two factors, hygiene and satisfiers, which support to encourage the employees. (Dellinger, et al., 2013). Applying the theory according to the situational need, remain supportive to improve the organizational performance.
Training and development
Sung, & Choi (2014) opined that training and development is one of the essential tasks of HR function. It not only supports to make the employees friendly with the working process but also supports to increase their knowledge and skills to perform in an adequate manner to achieve the organizational goal.
At the same time, Ford (2014) stated that different people have different in assumptions, values, views, and many other parameters due to which there training need also varies.
So, the training program should be designed while focusing towards the training need instead of taking all the employees at same level. According to the training theory, there is a need of involving social, psychological and safety parameters in the training.
Culture
- According to this case study, utilization of transactional leadership theory will remain supportive as it uses rewards and punishments strategy which is essential to be considered to eliminate the reluctant behaviour of the employees towards change. Application of this leadership theory will support to lead the employees to perform adequately while promotingthe compliance on the basis of supervision, organization and management.
- Moreover, O’Meara needs to focus towards the utilization ofKotter’s eight step model to develop positive working environment while creating intrinsic force for change.
- There is a huge need of developing interpersonal communication skills to create effective relationship within the organization. So, instead of creating hurdle, employees become able to help each other to learn and grow together while focusing towards company growth.
- Firm needs to develop the change, which remain supportive to improve the quality of the products as it is the major issue which is faced by the firm and creating issue towards its survival.
Diversity Management
- In the context of ‘No Name’, it is recommended that there is a need of increasing the understanding regarding the positive aspects of diversity while making the strict rules and regulations for valuing the diversity.
- There is a need of involving the practices which allow appreciating the people of diverse cultures which will remain assistive to develop organisational harmony. Managing diversity within the organization will support ‘No Name’ to increase the chances of success while creating long-term sustainability in the industry.
International performance management
- There is not adequate performance management system as well as no clear measures at the firm, so it is essential to improve the HR practices while focusing towards better performance measures. Firm should focus towards designing a framework of sending the managers to the subsidiaries time to time, so that they can ensure the consistency and the working practices. It will also support to do adequate performance appraisals at the subsidiaries too while focusing towards the culture and local practices.
- There is a need of utilizing Maslow’s and Herzberg’s need theory to effective performance management as it will support to create positive working environment within the organization while developing the feeling of belongingness in the employees. It will support to create intrinsic force in the employees to perform in the direction of organizational goal as it will support them to get appraisal which will remain supportive for the organizational development as well as their personal development.
Training and development
- In ‘No Name’, there is a need of developing effective training and development plan so that before leaving the country and going to work at subsidiaries, employees get well-versed about the working process of the new country and get easily fit with the new working atmosphere.
- Moreover, there is a need of designing feedback policies for expatriate so that they can share their views which will remain supportive to make the training process more effective.
Above report remained highly assistive to understand the issues which are faced by the firms in the global market. It has supported to conclude that to survive in the industry, it is essential for the firm to give consideration towards the human resource as it is the intellectual property of the firm.
There is a need of improving the organizational process according to the contemporary environment need while increasing the employee satisfaction. Improving the working culture, diversity management, international performance management and training and development remain supportive for the firm to improve the organizational performanceand to get success in the industry
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