Hiring_and_Managing_Employees

Hiring and Managing Employees #1) It was announced in January 2003 that the current managing director of the Indian subsidiary of Tel-Comm-Tek (TCT) would resign within a month. TCT immediately began searching for a replacement based upon the following preferences: desire to promote from within, selection from a mix of nationals, and an emphasis on international experience. A selection committee was chosen to nominate the new managing director for TCT India and the following six potential candidates were identified. The first candidate, Tom Wallace, is a 30-year veteran that has never worked abroad, only speaks English, and regularly has his performance rated as proficient. He currently is supervisor over a U.S.-based operation, similar in size to the one in India, but the position will soon be eliminated. Tom plans on retiring in roughly four and a half years. The second candidate, Brett Harrison, 40, has been with TCT for 15 years. Though he has never been assigned an international position with the company, his performance is rated highly and he will undoubtedly move into upper-level management within the next few years. He has some knowledge of India as he and his wife have frequently visited the area over the past 20 years. His wife is a mid-level executive with a multinational company that does not possess an operation within Indian. The third candidate, Atasi Das, 37, joined TCT 12 years ago after earning her MBA. Her performance is consistently rated as excellent and for two years she was second in command of a group half the size of the expanding Indian operation. Although she expressed her goal to be assigned international responsibilities upon joining TCT, she has never worked abroad. She currently is unmarried, speaks Hindi, and her parents are first-generation immigrants from India now living in the United States. The fourth candidate, Ravi Desai, 33, has an MBA from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management and currently works in the larger Asian operation as an assistant managing director. As a citizen of India, he has spent 10 years working in Southeast Asia with TCT and helps oversee activities for the Southeast Asian markets in Singapore, Malaysia, and China. Viewed by some in TCT as a likely candidate to eventually direct the Indian subsidiary, he is married with four young children, speaks both English and Hindi, and his wife is a native Indian. The fifth candidate, Jalan Bukit Seng, 38, is a citizen of Singapore, has worked in either Singapore or Malaysia his entire career, and is currently fluent in Singapore’s four languages, with an eagerness to learn others as needed. He is TCT’s managing director of Malaysian’s assembly operations and intermittently receives excellent reviews, with consistent positive rankings. Though he is unmarried, he remains close to his extended family living in both Singapore and Malaysia. The sixth candidate, Saumitra Chakraborty, 27, has held the position of assistant to the departing managing director in India since joining TCT. Though he lacks line experience, he excels in employee relations and consistently earns competent performance reviews. His connections with renowned Indian families and government officials have helped him contribute to the increased sales for the Indian subsidiary. He currently is unmarried and speaks English, Hindu, and Kannada, Bangalore’s local dialect. #2) TCT has shown they prefer candidates with international experience when discussing whom to promote to executive positions. Each of the six candidates for the position of managing director of TCT India brings their own skills and abilities to the job, but the challenges each would face make some better equipped to handle the position. With 30 years at TCT, Tom Wallace has plenty of experience with the company and the ability to handle many tasks thrown his way. However, he lacks the international experience TCT desires, having never worked abroad in all his time with the company. He is not as familiar with overseas operations as some of the other candidates, despite his length with the company. He speaks only English, which could hinder relations with workers and other Indian business leaders. Tom’s main drawback, however, is his age. He will retire in four-and-a-half years. It doesn’t serve TCT’s interests to put somebody in that position who will be retiring just as he gets started. Because his subordinates know he will be leaving soon, he might also face credibility problems. Brett Harrison is highly regarded by his superiors and is poised to take an upper-level management position. But he too, will face challenges with a move to India. He has a distinct lack of experience running an entire operation. Brett has never held an overseas position, nor has he been in charge of any departments. He does have experience traveling abroad and his family is familiar with India, but that doesn’t always translate to living in another country. Brett also faces family issues. His wife is an executive with a company that doesn’t have Indian operations, and his children are about to enter high school. He may have difficulty moving them across the world and the cultural shock may be too much for Brett and his family. Atasi Das is ready to assume international responsibilities and desires an expanded role with the company. Although she has a college degree in international affairs, TCT has yet to assign her those duties. She has worked a variety of positions at TCT, successfully moving between staff and line, but has little management experience having only been second in command. It may be too much to ask her to become the managing director and because she has long-range plans, she may not be stable enough for the position. She may always be looking ahead to her next move. Ravi Desai is a qualified candidate, but he too will experience challenges in the position if chosen. He is young, 33, and it may be tough for him to gain the respect of his fellow coworkers as he’s likely to be younger than many of his subordinates. He also may lack experience to become the managing director of an entire country’s operation. Although he has been overseeing activities for the Southeast Asian Market, there are many other expectations as a managing director. He may be better served as a managing director of a smaller operation before jumping into India. Another concern for Ravi is his wife’s inability to speak English. The position often requires the managing director and his wife to attend several business functions and meetings, and Ravi’s wife would be unable to fully participate. Jalan Bukit Seng is qualified to be the managing director of India, but he might not be a perfect match for the position. He has never worked outside of Singapore or Malaysia in his entire life. He is very close with his extended family, and a move to India could leave him homesick. Though he speaks four languages and already runs TCT’s assembly operation in Malaysia, he may be more suited for the role he’s currently in. Saumitra Chakraborty could face too many challenges to become an effective managing director right now. He is just 27 years old and has only been an assistant to the departing managing director. His performance reviews earn only ratings of competent, suggesting he is not quite motivated to handle the stresses of the jobs. He has no line experience and may not be familiar with the entire operation. He could find himself quickly overwhelmed. He has good business connections in India, but can he earn business outside of those connections' Those will only take him so far. He may quickly lose respect within the company and operations could suffer. #3) Through the process of human resources planning, TCT may anticipate ways to minimize challenges facing each candidate. Human resources planning includes looking at the individual candidates’ specific job skills, language skills, past job experiences, education, and background, and determining how these factors fit in with the company’s future human resources needs. TCT has already recruited a qualified pool of applicants and now needs to consider what resources the selected manager should be provided to be successful. The eventual manager’s success depends largely on his or her ability to bridge cultural differences and to adapt to living in a new culture. For candidates who are unfamiliar with the culture of India, TCT should provide cultural training to prepare the future manager for his or her international assignment. Environmental briefings, the most basic cultural training, provide fundamental information on places to live, health care options, forms of transportation, etc. Cultural orientation expands upon the environmental briefing, educating the manager about legal, political, social, and economic information. A deeper level of cultural training includes cultural assimilation and sensitivity training. Cultural assimilation relates to customs, values, manners, and attitudes. Sensitivity training involves developing an understanding of the things that evoke feelings and emotions. This level of training is more interactive, allowing the manager to respond subjectively to different situations. The most intense form of cultural training includes language training and field experience. The manager takes classes to learn skills beyond rudimentary phrases and visits the culture informally to take time to observe what happens on a day-to-day basis. The depth of cultural training varies between candidates, as some may not need to be entirely literate in the culture of India. Extensive cultural training is expensive and time-consuming. It depends on what the future manager needs to be able to adapt effectively. Because Tom Wallace is an experienced manager with only four years until retirement, he may not need to be entirely literate in foreign language and culture. Provided proper support within the India branch, Tom could probably be successful with a very basic understanding of India’s culture, customs, and language. Tom is familiar with other international branches of TCT and therefore already possesses awareness about the importance of adapting to other cultures. On the other hand, a manager like Jalan Bukit Seng will need extensive cultural training because he has never lived in a foreign culture, is not accustomed to conducting business in foreign countries, and does not speak Hindi. Furthermore, Jalan is only 38 and has much of his career ahead to use these skills should TCT invest the time and money into educating him. It is equally important to ensure family members moving with the future manager are able to adapt to another culture, as the inability to adjust to can lead to an expatriate’s failure. An expatriate manager and his or her family members may experience culture shock. “Culture shock is the psychological process that affects people living abroad that is characterized by homesickness, irritability, confusion, aggravation, and depression. The inability of family to adapt to a new culture is the most common reason for the failure of expatriate managers” (Wild, Wild, & Han, 2000). Brett Harrison faces the biggest challenge in this regard. If Brett’s family is unable to adapt to the new environment, there is a good chance he will be forced to return prematurely to the United States. TCT needs to implement job-search assistance to Brett’s wife to help her find an appropriate position in the area. Brett will need assistance to decide how his children will continue their education, and the entire family needs extensive training in the Hindi language. The family has been to India before, so hopefully they have a basic understanding of customs and the general social environment. For those candidates who face the barrier of a younger age and less experience, TCT will need to provide a support network. TCT either needs to make sure the green manager has the necessary backing or to prepare the individual to move into the management position in the near future. Atasi Das is already equipped with general knowledge about the world, global economy, and information about the conditions in India. However, TCT will have to provide executive support due to her lack of management experience. TCT should consider staffing positions that work closely with Atasi with experienced people who can support her from within the branch. Atasi’s experiences with both Western and Eastern cultures will make it easier for her to form effective cross-cultural teams who can work closely with her on a day-to-day basis. Furthermore, TCT should provide contacts from other international branches as a support network for Atasi. Ravi Desai also needs a support network comprised of other international branch managers because he is young and will need backing to help him gain the respect of his fellow coworkers and experienced workers he manages. Saumitra Chakraborty is still relatively inexperienced, but TCT may want to consider him for an international management position as his career progresses. Saumitra could bring his knowledge to the branch as well as learn new competencies from other managers. Perhaps TCT should hire Saumitra to assist the new manager in India to train him for the position in the future or to prepare him for a managerial position in another branch. TCT should invest in training the employees who show potential, and working in the India branch would allow him to continue learning about India and to improve his international skills. This would support his career development process, as learning from experience is highly effective. #4) Companies provide compensation packages as a means of rewarding individuals who work for them. One advantage companies receive as a result of providing competitive compensation packages is they become more attractive to the most qualified employees. However, determining what compensation package to offer a given individual can be difficult as it relies on many different factors. Additionally, introducing an international component to the situation can add even more factors to consider. When designing compensation packages for expatriates, some circumstances to consider are cost of living differences between home and host countries, relocation expenses, and the state of the country in which the expatriate will reside. Cost of living differences encompass numerous every day expenses such as cost of groceries, healthcare, housing, schooling, etc. Relocation expenses can include the cost of moving an individual and his or her family in addition to providing private schooling for an individual’s children who may not know the language of the host country. Some companies offer “hardship pay” when asked to move to a country with a very low standard of living. The basic idea of providing compensation to expatriates is to compensate the employee at least what they are making in the home country, even if the cost of living is lower in the host country. Most companies also typically offer bonuses to employees who accept overseas positions. This provides good incentive for associates to take positions abroad and demonstrates the company recognizes adjustments the expatriate will need to make. Additionally, offering good bonuses and compensation for expatriate positions attracts exceptional individuals to these often-times challenging positions. An employer should also pay careful attention to legal issues when determining a compensation package for an individual. Compensation should never be based on one’s age, race, gender, family status, or any other discriminatory characteristics. Candidates for a given position have recourse against discrimination reflected in wages due to the passage of several anti-discriminatory labor and wage laws since WWI. Employers should be aware of this sort of legislation when offering compensation packages. At an individual level, employees applying for internal positions with their current companies can expect to be assessed by their demonstrated skills and past performance. If a position calls for specific skills, it is acceptable to offer better compensation packages to employees specialized in the desired skills and/or with desired experience. Many companies also have a performance review system in which each employee is reviewed periodically and given feedback on his/her performance. This is an advisable practice because it provides employers with a measurable means of offering compensation increases and bonuses. Thus, a historical record is maintained of the employee’s performance throughout their period of employment and it can be used for reference in the future. For the specific TCT scenario, a few of the candidates for the managing director position stand out amongst the others. TCT desires a candidate with international experience, and while it’s not explicitly stated, due to the nature of the position, someone with managing director experience would be highly beneficial. For these reasons Ravi Desai, Jalan Bukit Seng, and Atasi Das all seem to be the best candidates for the position and might, therefore, be offered better compensation packages than the other candidates. Ravi is a good candidate because he already has international experience and has been an assistant managing director for many years, so he is already familiar with the type of position for which he is applying. Jalan Bukit Seng consistently receives positive and excellent reviews, and also already has experience as a managing director. And finally, Atasi Das consistently receives excellent reviews, and though she has no formal international experience, she has international ties and has demonstrated flexibility in her roles with the company thus far. It would be advantageous for TCT to offer the expatriate position to one of these aforementioned candidates and because they are exceptional candidates, they should be rewarded as such with a competitive wage and appropriate bonuses. #5) Most companies, regardless of their size or what business they are in, have a need for hiring and managing employees. To help guarantee their employees are being productive, companies can utilize the staffing process of human resource management (HRM). This process requires company executives to “be effective in recruiting, selecting, training, developing, evaluating, and compensating employees and in forming good relationships with them” (Wild et al., 2000). Seemingly simple by definition, this process increases in complexity when viewed across national borders and staffing internationally. When multinational corporations (MNCs) hire an employee from one country to work and live in another country, they must be considerate of the expatriate’s interests as well as their own, both professionally and personally. To be successful internationally, a company’s strategies need to be aligned with their HRM policies. The staffing policies developed play a key role in supporting an organization’s defined culture. There are three main approaches to staffing of international business operations: ethnocentric, polycentric, and geocentric. First, the Ethnocentric Staffing approach fills key management positions in an international business with individuals from the home country. Second, Polycentric Staffing recruits host country individuals to manage the subsidiaries in their own country, while home country employees fill key positions at headquarters. Finally, the Geocentric Staffing method disregards nationality by picking the candidate most qualified for the position. Though these three policies are most common, companies will often combine different facets of each to form their own unique approach. Hiring for an international position can be a daunting challenge for any company and isn’t as simple as selecting one of the previously mentioned staffing policies. Many variables, both professionally and personally, are taken into consideration depending on the company’s current strategies. Professionally, a company should take into account many items. First, does the company want to have full control over business operations abroad' Do the top executives believe they need to protect the interests of the home office by preventing loss of control' Is it important to the company the subsidiary recreates its local operations in the image of the home-office' Next, costs should be evaluated. Relocations can be extremely expensive from the home nation to the host, and often times it is more economical to hire a native of the location. Concern should also be placed on how the company wants to be perceived by outside sources, their image. By placing home country individuals into international subsidiaries, the company risks sending a negative foreign image message, especially if the expatriate failed to integrate themselves into the local culture and relate to local lower-level employees. Being familiar with the local business environment is another area of interest. Hiring a host country individual could aid the company in quickly understanding the local market and avoiding cultural barriers. Additionally, global managers, those with experience in both home and host countries, command a higher salary than those with less experience, including bonus and tax incentives. Labor-management issues should not be ignored. Competitive advantage can be gained when there are positive relations between an organization’s workers and management. Finally, local laws should be evaluated when determining staffing policies. Most countries make an effort to prevent expatriates from entering their workforce, and India is no exception. According to India’s immigration laws, foreigners are required to adhere to strict regulations or risk being evicted from the host country. An example includes requiring foreigners to register for work if their stay exceeds 180 days, but not if the foreigner breaks the ‘stay’ into periods less than 180 days each. Besides professional concerns, companies should also consider personal interests when hiring for international positions. Adaptation of an expatriate into the local culture is very important. The expatriate must adapt to the new ways of life, be able to bridge cultural differences, possess cultural sensitivity, and successfully reverse culture shock. Finding a global manager who posses these qualities and is able to effortlessly adjust in any business environment is difficult. Multinational companies should also be aware of the different training and development strategies needed for international business. They need to be able to identify the skills and knowledge their employees currently posses and those needed to be successful internationally. By recognizing who lacks certain necessary skills a company can focus their efforts on training and begin to develop global managers. The items briefly discussed should all be taken into account when deciding which staffing policy to implement within a company. The chosen policy, or combination of policies, should reinforce the strategies of the organization to be successful. By examining the concerns above, a company can be better prepared to make global staffing decisions. #1 Cont.) Although each candidate would face challenges in the position of managing director of the Indian subsidiary of TCT, Ravi Desai would make the smoothest and most effective transition into the role. First, Ravi is familiar with the position of managing director based on his experience as assistant managing director in a larger Asian operation. Also, his understanding of production and sales will aid him well. As a citizen of India, coupled with holding his MBA from a prestigious Indian university, Ravi is familiar with both traditional and business customs in India, as well as India’s geography, politics, and outlooks. Ravi speaks both English and Hindi, the two main languages necessary to conduct business in India. Next, Ravi’s wife is native Indian so she is familiar with India’s geography and customs. Ravi and Mrs. Desai may prefer to have their four children back in their native India. Ravi’s family should make a smooth transition. Finally, Ravi is younger at age 33. If he is successful in the position of managing director, he may be setting himself up for a long, successful career with TCT. References Banai, M., & Sama, L. M. (2000). Ethical Dilemmas in MNCs' International Staffing Policies: A Conceptual Framework. Journal of Business Ethics, 25, 221-235. Bureau of Immigration, India. (2008) Instructions For Foreigners Coming To India. Retrieved March 14, 2008 from http://www.immigrationindia.nic.in/instructions_foreigners.htm Wild, J. J., Wild, K. L., Han, J. C.Y. (2000). International Business The Challenges of Globalization (4th ed.). New Jersery: Pearson Prentice Hall.