The Current HR policies - Assignment Example

The discriminatory HR policies caused conflict between the two groups, eventually reducing the productivity, whereas favorable policies that encouraged friendly interactions between the local workers and the expatriates, such as buddy systems, greatly enhanced the relationship between the two groups and provided the expatriates with the necessary emotional support in a new country. The reading also reveals that unequal treatment of different groups of workers caused discord, and this feeling of inequality is dependent more on cultural factors and role in decision making rather than differences in pay packages.

Research limitations/implications: The reading, however, does not go in detail about the effects of the interactions within the local employees on the expatriates who will work along with them. Practical Implications: The reading implicated that many cross-cultural differences that are usually ignored while making policies have a significant effect on expatriate-local relationships such as cultural conflicts between two different groups that speak the same language. The reading strongly suggests that significant attention should be paid to the local staff while dealing with expatriates and that the opinions of the local staff are ignored by most of the current HR policies.

The reading also points out the importance of considering the social and people skills of the candidates while selecting employees for offshore missions.Value to Reader: The main objective of the reading is to note the need for updating the current expatriate policies. Nowadays, most of the local workforce for the western companies have the same skill levels as the expatriates and any measure of them being treated unequally by the management will have a negative impact on the motivation of the staff and hence the productivity of the company.

The local staff needs to be treated more as an asset as they are more knowledgeable regarding the culture of their home country and possess contacts that could help the parent companies. Additionally, local employees need to be prepared for the incoming expatriates as favorable interactions, between the locals and the expatriates, help the expatriates adjust to the newer environment and contribute to an overall increase in the productivity of the operation.Problem identification: The main difference between the assumptions of Mr.

Bernard and of N’diaye and Diop was their different expectations from the African workforce. While Mr. Bernard held the typical expatriate view that Africans will not work more than what is required from them, whereas N’diaye and Diop had faith in the capacity of the workers to meet the target by working overtime for extra pay. The rewards of overtime worked completely differently in Senegal. While in western environment workers went overtime for personal reasons, the entire workforce was able to work overtime as a group by the motivation of N’diaye who acted as the leader figure.

Key alternatives: Alternatively, Mr. Bernard could have heard the account and negotiated with N’diaye in the presence of Diop so that they could reach a consensus that would still leave more power to management and yet would have allowed some power to the workers. While this new system could have cost the management some authority over the workers, it still enabled the workers to meet and surpass the target set by the company which was something considered impossible while acting according to the previous system.

Analysis: The previous rewards system used by the French and Italian expatriate management also failed to motivate the workers, probably because it was not proposed by their representatives and they did not have any opinion in this matter. Decision Mr. Bernard is also angry that Diop paid for two extra hours for an hour’s work, whereas he fails to take notice of the reached targets and the increase in the motivation of the workers. Ideally, the managing director should notice those figures.

N’diaye as an unofficial representative, negotiated the overtime work to meet the target for double overtime pay, allowing each individual worker to receive their reward as a part of the large group.Action plan: If I were the managing director, I would have a conference with Mr. Bernard and Diop and allow Diop to explain his measures to Mr. Bernard. While I would be concerned by the loss of authority, the fact that the unit met the comparatively higher target would not be ignored. I would further have them meet with N’diaye to come up with a solution that will allow the management some authority and yet keep the employees motivated.

I would also take in the suggestions of N’diaye and Diop while coming up with a rewards system I would essentially devise a system that would reward the workers for their final product and job rather than the time taken for the job to be done.