N600 : Healthy Human Resource Assessment Answers

You are an International Human Resource Management (HRM) Consultant. You have been given a contract to go into the organisation and it will be your responsibility to respond to the following three questions:

As an International Human Resource Management Consultant what are the issues? In this question you need to explain what the issues are in the case study.
How should Human Resource Management deal with the issues in the case? You need to explain how HRM should ensure the issues are not repeated, taking into consideration the international environment.
What is your plan to present to the organisation? You need to make a solid recommendation to the company and present them with an implementation plan to eliminate the issues.

1.2.  Scope

The scope of this study is premised and limited to challenges facing No name Aircraft Company that is based in Australia. The case study will also look into factors that have led to communication breakdown between the headquarters and the subsidiaries of the firm that are located at different nations such as Singapore and china. The criteria used to undertake the study were use of questionnaires and face-to-face interview in addition to observation to collect the data required for comparison. The study will also look at how training and development can influence the productivity of the stocks of competence and the overall performance of the organization.

2.0. Literature review

2.1. Culture of the organization

Organizational culture refers to the underlying beliefs, assumptions range of values and way of integration or interaction that tends to contribute to the organizational environment and atmosphere of work. The culture of the organization may also include the expectations that a firm may have on its stock of competence, experience that can be expressed in the image portrayed by the image of the human capital. The interaction within the organization and the outside world, the unwritten and written laws and customs, which have developed in the organization over a long period of time and are, considered acceptable in the firm (Chew & Debowski 2008, p.17)

The culture that has been develop within the organization will either enhance the performance of the firm or deteriorate its productivity. As in the case of No Name aircraft organization, poor communication breakdown between integrated team and across the teams and management creates un-conducive environment for business to prosper. Even though the senior management team defines the corporate culture of the firm, HR is poised to support them but it is also its duty to assess what can work for the organization  or not. A good corporate culture is that which utilizes the diversity of its human capita to create a competitive advantage. Better understanding in the organization especially among the subsidiaries and departments in the firm can be initiated through the involvement of teamwork that enhances the appreciation of other people’s culture (Baraldi & Cifalinò 2015, p.173)  

For an organization like No Name aircraft, which is operating across nations, culture is quite important since it integrates people from different backgrounds. The employees need to create rapport amongst them.

Veronica (2016) asserts that coordination and proper flow of information from one department to another and between the subsidiaries is a factor that leads to success of the firm. Poor communication is major issue affecting the firm because of lack of peer-to-peer communication. This has resulted to employees developing a defense mechanism through which they can communicate to each other. Proper communication channels have not been created to ensure that the subsidiaries pass information to each other well. There is both lateral and horizontal communication breakdown.

Marler and Baden-Fuller (2016) denote that HR should ensure that clear communication strategy is created. Informing all subsidiaries about the communication channel to be followed in case any clarification is to be made should always be done. The organization lacks clear set of practices that ought to be used by the stock of competence to enhance understanding. Poor coordination of information between the subsidiaries has resulted to the business experiencing poor quality product and processing of products not required (Dhamija 2013, p.3).

2.2. Diversity 

The absence of clear set of policies that should enhance understanding between the stocks of competence from various backgrounds is also a problem within No Name organization. Discrimination is a major problem of the organization (Buller and McEvoy 2016, p. 90). The company has not stated the code of conduct that should ensure that there is co-existence among the stock of competence who has been diversified. Working relations are strained because of intolerance from senior staff. Instead of turning diversity into a strategic competitive advantage, the HR of the organization has not taken into account the importance of how employees should perceive each other.

Baraldi and Cifalinò (2015) denotes that for effective achievement of diversity in the organization, the HR department should ensure that the stocks of competence are given opportunities to put into practice what they have learnt thus acting as a mode of feedback to the organization. Manages should act professionally by ensuring that they do not alienate the junior workers but should try to engage them in team work and decision making thus raising the level of corporation among the diversified employees leading to coordination and increased productivity of the firm.  The international environment calls for diversification of employees and this can only be achieved through offering training and development programs to the employees (Buller and McEvoy 2016, p.467).

2.4. Performance Management

There is absolute detachment of international performance from No Name Company. Despite the fact that the organization operates internationally, the firm does not consider the international performance appraisal. Even though the HR conducts the performance reviews in Australia, the organization does not take any step to review the performance of workers in the subsidiaries. The HR team has not laid any performance appraisal process for the expatriates thus the workers cannot be motivated to work hard and increase the productivity of the firm.

Poor market research for familiarize the firm with the current issues in the market arena to determine the economic factors that affect the targets of the business (Grant and Baden-Fuller, 2018, p.41). There is absolute absence of policies that regulate the appraisal of workers that has led to inconsistent performance among the workers and productivity. All this problems have risen because the organization did not take keen interest in the culture and local practices of the subsidiaries.

According to Garg (2017), HR management can ensure successful training and development programs for its stocks of competence through the recognition that training is part of everything done by the organization. The HR should ensure that employees realize that learning is a continuous process and not just an event. Implementation of new policies that can be utilized by all workers as a tool for training for the human capital should be considered (Khezli 2017, p. 324). To avoid low productivity of the firm, the Human resource ought to try to support the expectations of training through provision of training resources, which can be demonstrated by including the amount required for training in the annual budget. This is because the inclusion of projects into the budget signifies the priorities set by the company (Naz, Aftab, and Awais 2016, p.704)

Good HR practices that should be adopted by the firm when it comes to development include the encouragement of learning at all standards and levels in addition to creating of policies on employee training and development (Buller and McEvoy 2016, p.467). This signifies the value affiliated to learning by the organization. The policies should often focus on how often the stocks of competence are required to engage in training. It should also include the kind of development programs that should be undertaken by workers not forgetting to include the strategy to be followed to reimburse the employees who were out for training sessions (Buller and McEvoy 2016, p.467).

2.5. Training and development programs

 According to Garg (2017), the organization lacks strategic management for development and training program. Training is something that should be vital to any organization that wishes to achieve its objectives and compete favorably in the global business arena.  Training should be a factor that presents opportunity for the stocks of competence in the organization to increase their skills. A clear look at No Name aircraft industry shows that the management team finds training and development to be an expensive program to handle. The organization does not offer enough training hours to the expatriates who are needed to leave for subsidiaries in china, Vietnam and Singapore.

The HR of the organization has not created clear guidelines and training sessions that can be supervised apart from the online platform where requires the stocks of competence are expected to subscribe and it assume that each employee has  been served. The firm has not taken into consideration the fact that every worker in the organization has different needs when they accept to go and work in another nation. In addition to this, the HR has not taken keen interest in creating platform where they get feedback of whether the employees who were being trained have gained the required skill. The effectiveness of the expatriates cannot be evaluated.  

Even though there are traces of training in the organization, the development program does not address the weakness and improve the satisfaction and motivation of workers. Employees don’t feel valued thus there is inconsistency in productivity as research show that workers tend to process goods that are fur away from anything good.  It has also come out clearly from the study that the firm does not offer training that may help the expatriates to integrate into the new surroundings. In real sense, the biggest problem that has led to underperformance of the company is the absence of proper training and development in the organization (Grant et al. 2018, p.47).

The HR at No Name Company has not taken into consideration to set aside management of development programs that will ensure the identification and recruitment of potential managers who will take over in the future. In fact, the stocks of competence are not aware of such development programs within the organization. Career development programs are scarcely utilized. The relationship between senior managers and the junior employees is bad. The junior workers are not given training programs and further study opportunities to develop their knowledge to meet the needs of the organization. The management is full of personal affections to the extent that they fear to be sidelined for promotion thus they deny the junior staff opportunities for further studies. One of the major side effects caused by the absence of unprofessionalism is that other companies with strong and influential HR management (Garg 2017, p.22) have poached quite a huge number of the stocks of competence with whom the organization had put in the list of promotion. The HR management team should try all the means possible to fill the gap of training its human capital and try to find a way of evaluating the competence of the workers after performance. The HR can ensure employees see the importance of training through creating a learning environment in the organization (Khezli 2017, p. 324).

3.0. Conclusion:

The success of any organization depends on the set of beliefs and values passed down by the management team with the aid of HR department. As seen in the case study above, poor performance and decreased motivation of employees is majorly caused by the management team. Failure to implement healthy HR practices such as performance appraisal, proper training programs that influence the moral of workers to increase productivity also lead to leads to malfunctioning of the firm. In addition to this, poor corporate culture that leads to communication breakdown and lack of coordination between subsidiaries and the headquarters.

For No Name Company to ensure that it becomes successful, the human resource management department has to consider proper training and development of workers. Offering proper training and development opportunities to your human capital is part of good management practice and strategic plan for risk management.  According to a report by Accelerating Strategy (2017), such organizations like No Name need to adopt some strategies to enable them witness success and quality production thus creating a conducive environment is critical. The environment provided by the organization to facilitate development and learning of the employees needs to be a function of the Company’s culture. Kim, Su, and Wright (2018), say that this implies the values, set of beliefs and practices which tend to reflect the objectives, goals and missions of the firm. It is the duty of the HR in line with the management team to view training as a positive method of developing and improving the performance of the firm.

4.0. Statement of Recommendations

For there to be success in No Name Aircraft Company, the firm should consider offering quality training and development opportunities to its stock of competence. Quality training and development should be offered when workers have accepted to go and work out as expatriates.

Plan for achieving the recommendation

The HR department needs to provide quality time and follow up to see into it that the training was successful. This can be done through creating a forum where the stocks of competence are evaluated through testing their level of skill acquisition. Setting standards that each human capital should reach before going out to China or Singapore as an expert is what facilitates success. This involves training the workers on the culture of the foreign country and familiarizing them with the alien practices of the country they are to go.

Creating awareness program where all the stocks of competence from all the subsidiaries are allowed to interact with the aim of making them appreciate diversity in the company. This can be achieved through creating cultural days and sports days where workers can interact freely and exchange ideas. In doing so, the HR department will be enhancing communication among the stocks of competence which helps to curb the communication breakdown that the company has been experiencing.

 It should also put in mind the regulation of international market arena. Workers ought to be exposed to diverse knowledge so that they can turn their diversity into a competitive advantage. The HR department should deploy ground research experts to do research on the market arena then setting up training programs where workers The Company should ensure that there is effective communication plan within the organization headquarters and its subsidiaries that can be achieved through exposing the stocks of competence to training on good communication. The firm should also find a way of integrating the various subsidiaries through teamwork to ensure proper flow and coordination of instruction and communication.

 With the aim of increasing the motivation of workers and productivity of the firm, it is necessary for the firm to consider implementing regular review of the performance appraisal of each worker in all the subsidiaries. This will facilitate every worker to set target that leads to the achievement of the organization’s objectives. Performance appraisal is an activity that should be integrated within the corporate culture. The HR department through regular appraisal review and coming can achieve this up with rewards and incentives where workers are rewarded for their efforts in the firm. This should not only be done in the headquarters but in all the subsidiaries with strictly chosen personals by the management team.

References: 

Accelerating Strategy: Aligning HR and Marketing’ (2017) People & Strategy, 40(4), pp. 44–47. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=125665059&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 20 October 2018).

Baraldi, S. and Cifalinò, A. (2015) ‘Delivering training strategies: the balanced scorecard at work’, International Journal of Training & Development, 19(3), pp. 179–198. doi: 10.1111/ijtd.12055.

Beeck, S., Wynen, J. and Hondeghem, A. (2018) ‘Explaining Effective HRM Implementation: A Middle Versus First-Line Management Perspective’, Public Personnel Management, 47(2), pp. 144–174. doi: 10.1177/0091026018760931.

Buller, P. F. and McEvoy, G. M. (2016) ‘A Model for Implementing a Sustainability Strategy through HRM Practices’, Business & Society Review (00453609), 121(4), pp. 465–495. doi: 10.1111/basr.12099.

Chew, J. and Debowski, S. (2018) ‘Developing an Effective Repatriation Strategy for MNC: A Model and Tools for International Human Resource Management’, Journal of Comparative International Management, 11(2), pp. 3–21. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=44109854&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 20 October 2018).

Dhamija, P. (2013) ‘Human resource management?: an effective mechanism for long term sustainability’, Clarion: International Multidisciplinary Journal, 2(1), pp. 74–80. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=84706594&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 20 October 2018)

Garg, N. (2017) ‘Workplace Spirituality- An Effective HRM Strategy for Indian Insurance Industry’, Journal of the Insurance Institute of India, 5(2), pp. 3–22. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=131099259&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 20 October 2018)

Grant, R. M. and Baden-Fuller, C. (2018) ‘How to Develop Strategic Management Competency: Reconsidering the Learning Goals and Knowledge Requirements of the Core Strategy Course’, Academy of Management Learning & Education, 17(3), pp. 322–338. doi: 10.5465/amle.2017.0126.

Khezli, M. . (2017) ‘Review training, rehabilitation and its role in the development of human resource management’, Indian Journal of Positive Psychology, 8(4), pp. 539–541. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=127208559&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 20 October 2018).

Kim, S., Su, Z. and Wright, P. M. (2018) ‘The “HR–line?connecting HRM system” and its effects on employee turnover’, Human Resource Management, 57(5), pp. 1219–1231. doi: 10.1002/hrm.21905.

Li, Y.  (2018) ‘From Employee-Experienced High-Involvement Work System to Innovation: An Emergence-Based Human Resource Management Framework’, Academy of Management Journal, 61(5), pp. 2000–2019. doi: 10.5465/amj.2015.1101.

Lin, C. (2016) ‘From Customer-Oriented Strategy to Organizational Financial Performance: The Role of Human Resource Management and Customer-Linking Capability’, British Journal of Management, 27(1), pp. 21–37. doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.12142.

Marler, J. H. and Parry, E. (2016) ‘Human resource management, strategic involvement and e-HRM technology’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(19), pp. 2233–2253. doi: 10.1080/09585192.2015.1091980.

Naz, F., Aftab, J. and Awais, M. (2016) ‘Impact of Human Resource Management Practices (HRM) on Performance of SMEs in Multan, Pakistan’, International Journal of Management, Accounting & Economics, 3(11), pp. 699–708. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=120395249&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 20 October 2018).

Beeck, S., Wynen, J. and Hondeghem, A. (2018) ‘Explaining Effective HRM Implementation: A Middle Versus First-Line Management Perspective’, Public Personnel Management, 47(2), pp. 144–174. doi: 10.1177/0091026018760931.