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Case studies-IHRM

Case study 1 (Marks=10)


Read the paragraph/s carefully and answer the questions that
follow:
Before arriving in Tokyo seven months ago, Fred Bailey had just
successfully finished a major project with his team when he went
to lunch with the managing partner, Dave Steiner, of the main
office in Boston. The meeting was about a huge promotion and
career move that would take Freds career with Kline to the next
level if completed successfully; he would become a partner in the
firm. Half a year into his assignment, Fred knew he could not go
back on the offer as it would be the death of his career with Kline.
However, his wife, Jenny, made it clear that she hated being in
Japan. She strongly believed that Fred and the company had
oversold the country and how well they would be taken care of,
and didnt like the fact that Fred was never home due to 80+ hour
work weeks. After just six months, Jenny had given Fred an
ultimatum: either they return home together or she would go
home alone. This was a tough decision as Fred had to decide what
was more important, his family or his career.

With offices in nine countries worldwide, Kline & Associates is a


rather large multinational consulting firm. With the opening of a
new location in Tokyo, Fred Bailey found himself assigned to a
three-year assignment as the director of Kline & Associates Tokyo
office. It was just six months ago when Fred arrived in Japan with
his wife and two children excited about the assignment. Now he is
confused as to how things turned around so abruptly. He is
debating whether he should return home or persuade his wife to
stay and finish out the assignment.

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Fred and Jenny started dating only a week after they met during
their senior year in college and eventually got married. Jenny was
born into a well to do family in Connecticut and majored in fashion
merchandising as she had an interest and talent for fashion. Fred,
the oldest of six children, came from a not so wealthy family and
was the first to go to college. Although they struggled financially
to put him through school, Fred was determined to take
advantage of his opportunity and make his parents proud. Before
and after the couple got married, they expressed their feelings
about careers and family. Freds goals were to get his masters of
business administration degree after a few years of work. Jenny
wanted to be a buyer for a major store and have her own shop.
They both wanted children and thought it would be best to start a
family once Fred graduated from college. Everything was going as
planned until Fred got the offer to go to Japan. Upon his
completion at Harvard, Fred joined Kline and was put on the San
Francisco team. After four years of successful projects at Kline,
the managing partner at Kline, Dave
Steiner, offered him a big promotion that came with a career
opportunity to be partner if he triumphs in a three-year overseas
assignment as director of the new Tokyo office. That office had a
strategic importance for the company because it served major US
clients operations in Japan. George Woodward, the previous
assignee only lasted a year and then was transferred to the UK
office because of his mixed reputation. Since he left the position
suddenly, Fred was rushed to accept the assignment, convince his
wife, and be ready to move in a matter of three weeks.

Q1: What is the key role of the International HR manager/


global manager from Kline & Associates required to be
played when the assignment in Japan was offered to Fred?

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As the International HR manager/global manager from Kline &


Associates, here are the roles which should Fred play when the
assignment in Japan was offered to Fred;

Culture
As an International HR, he has to do the recruitment for that new
office at the Japan. So, the first thing is that he should know about
the culture of the Japan, behavior of the Japanese, belief, values,
etc. So, he can easily recruit which can suitable for the company.
For example, When people talk in America, they are usually
quite direct and to the point. Often stating their opinion on a
given
subject
quite
brazenly.
But
thats
generally impolite in Japan. Here, rather than directly stating an
opinionespecially a conflicting onea persons feelings are
usually expressed more indirectly.
United States is a low context culture, which means that the
environment of the interaction (i.e. how the interaction occurs) is
of little consequence; the focus instead is on the issue discussed.
Japan, on the other hand, is a high context culture.
The United States is a highly individual-oriented culture. People
are expected to make their own decisions, and those decisions
are expected to be in the best interest of the individual and
his/her close family. Japan, however, is a community oriented
culture. In it, community or group interests take precedence over
the rights of individuals. Peoples loyalty in Japan lays more with
the group than with an individual.

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Providing Training
As an International Human resource manager maintain a
productive environment by ensuring that employees have the
skills and knowledge to accomplish job tasks. He should make
arrangements for training courses that enable employees to get
the proper credentials for performing their functions as per the
company requirements.

Relationship Building
As an International HR manager, he should do the relationship
with its employees which is important when professional decision
take. The United States considers business to be impersonal. In
fact, people often use a phrase that clearly expresses that
sentiment, its not personal; its business. Business is often
conducted without concern for personal feelings or preferences of
those involved. In Japan, however, business success is a function
of the degree to which interpersonal relationships are developed.
In other words, peoples comfort during the business dealings is
important to the success of the business.
So, the his approach should be the impersonal for International
HR practice.

Engagement activity
As an International HR, he should do some employees
engagement activity so American and Japanese employees work
together.

Environment of the Office

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As International HR, he should create the friendly and respective


office culture which combine both culture values and belief so
employees feel like their home country.

Building Team Spirit


As an International HR, he must to ensure that diverse teams
work well together. For that he should introduce some teambuilding workshops, promoting acceptance of cultural diversity
and motivating employees to achieve strategic goals which help
their company build strong teams. He can create awareness
about how teams can function effectively across borders to
maintain company profitability.

Conclusion
Overall, a global project manager must have the capacity to
negotiate, communicate, control, assist, plan, and make decisions
in a foreign country. For this reason before risking out on any
project, Fred as a global project manager should have done a
complete cross-cultural training that prepared him to handle the
challenges involved with global projects and also prepared his
family to those challenges. More importantly, human resources
should be aware of the existing challenges. A new strategy should
have been implemented including thorough training and
preparation for the assignment to result in a successful journey. At
the very least, Fred should have been oriented on the major
differences between the cultures, so that he can understand what
he is facing.

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Q2: Highlight the major reasons for the expatriate failure


in the assignment.

Here are some major reasons for the expatriate failure;

Family Stress
Freds wife hated the Japan country for living. So, the one of the
reason behind the expatriate was the family stress from the Jenny.

Cultural Inflexibility
There are so many difference between American and Japanese
culture which affect the work of HR manager as global.

Emotional Immaturity
Sometime some manager are immature to handle the high
emotional feelings of employees which is the one of the main
reason for the expatriate failure of Fred as IHRM.

Responsibility Overload
Now this is the common reason which everyone know.
Responsibility is high as an IHRM. So, same happened with the
Fred. He couldnt handle the so much responsibility.

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Case Study 2: (Marks=10)


Read the paragraph/s carefully and answer the questions that
follow:

Volvo is one of the worlds largest producers of trucks, buses and


construction equipment, holding a leading position in the business
areas of marine and industrial power systems and aircraft engine
components (Volvo, 2002). Since 1999, the Volvo Group focuses
exclusively on transport equipment for commercial use. Founded
in 1927, Volvo today has almost 72,000 employees, production in
25 countries, and operations in more than 185 countries. The
Volvo Group headquarters are located in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The Volvo Groups total sales amounted to SEK 181 billion in
2001. Trucks are by far the largest business area with 67 per cent
of total net sales during the first nine months of 2002.

The Volvo Group currently has 530 expatriates employed in


approximately 55 countries spread among all parts of the world.
Of these expatriates, approximately 100 are employed by Renault
Trucks, and about 15 by Mack Trucks. The most common
expatiate host country is the United States in which about 100
expatriates are on assignment. However, China and France are
expanding as host countries. The typical expatriate is a married
man in his 40s with two children. Of all 530 expatriates, only five
or six are women. Expatriates are often one of two types: the
professionals sent out to teach local organizations their expertise
before being repatriated into the home organization; or
individuals pursuing an international career. The latter are useful
for the organization since they have often been abroad on
different international assignments for 10 to 15 years, and can
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take on a new international assignment on short notice. The Volvo


Group has five types of expatriate categories defined: short-term
expatriates, with assignments up to six months; expatriates;
commuters, traveling back and forth; local placements, hired
according to local conditions; and international assignees,
expatriates without time limited assignments. The international
assignees are offered the same conditions in terms of
compensation and support, with the difference that they are not
offered an employment guarantee within the home organization
upon return since they are not expected to return to any home
organization. The expatriate assignments have an initial e
organization contract length of two years, but are often prolonged
with an additional period of time. The average expatriate
assignment has duration of three to four years. The respondent
at Volvo began working with international personnel issues at
Volvo in 1977 when Volvo started sending expatriates to Belgium.
When Volvo started its factory in Brazil in the late 70s, 30 to 40
expatriates needed to be sent.

The department dealing with the expatriate management grew


until it got divided into the different business units at Volvo in the
1980s.

Q1: Highlight the challenges faced by the Volvo Management in


their staffing choices for Expatriate assignments. What would be
the strategies Volvo can employ for Strategies for breaking the
expatriate glass ceiling particularly for female expatriates?

Staffing philosophies with regard to expatriates varies


tremendously throughout the world and between individual
multinational corporations.
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Volvo Management faced following problems in staffing;


One factor that helps to differentiate expatriate staffing
policy requirements is the level of cultural distance between
the target market and the multinational corporation's home
country.
Second is that individuals chosen for expatriate assignments
must be highly skilled in their jobs. This is a minimum
requirement. Multinational corporations faced with the
numerous challenges of staffing operations abroad cannot
afford to select candidates who are not fully qualified and
proficient.
Third is the nature of the employee.
Forth is the culture of the country where they want to send
the employees. It is the most common challenge faced by
any management in staffing.
Here are some basic challenges:o Have a basic knowledge of world events and politics.
o Have stability in family relationships.
o Have exposed themselves to other cultures.
o Have a sense of humor and maturity.
o Are capable of self-evaluation.
o Are honest, ethical and tolerant.
o Have a sense of curiosity.

Q2: If Volvo devised an expatriate policy, what should be the


criterion for its ROI indicators for calculating international
assignments i.e. country specific or focused on an overall
perspective?

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