Human Resource Management Issues at Flextronics - Case Study Example

Human Resource Management at Flextronics Name: Unit: Course: Professor: Introduction Flextronics is a leading provider in Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) and operates in thirty countries on three continents. It was founded in 1969 with its headquarters situated In Singapore. Its total workforce is about 162,000 employees and its manufacturing capacity has the majority in regions like China, Brazil, Mexico, Hungary, Malaysia, Poland, Ukraine and India. Flextronics deals in consumer digital devices, computing devices, infrastructure, medical devices, automotive and industrial activities. Flextronics has got its major Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers who include Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Sony-Ericsson. Microsoft supplies products like X-box to Flextronics, Hewlett supplies products such as storage devices and ink-jet printers while Sony-Ericsson on the other hand supplies cellular phones and offers support to customer end-to-end supply chain requirements. As a Human Resource Management (HRM) consultant, this report entails the issues experienced at Flextronics, how Human Resource Management at Flextronics should deal with such issues and recommendations on how Flextronics should eliminate such issues in case they may occur in future. Issues experienced by HRM at Flextronics Firstly, there is an issue of insufficiently experienced personnel. Flextronics has got a pool of available personnel and candidates who are ready to be recruited in various posts but the problem is that amongst the available staff or those who are to be recruited, it is not easy to get the correct blend of skills and personality. During recruitment at Flextronics, the operation is not only done by the internal Human Resource department or even through the assistance of a third party but instead it is managed centrally and efficiently. In case of a dozen of applications, the details of each applicant is recorded, reviewed and compared with others only that there are no applicants who are recorded to have met the required skills. The company is then forced to hire applicants who are close to meeting the required skills rather than hiring personnel who have actually met the required skills. Secondly, the company experiences high fluctuation. Flextronics experiences high fluctuation because of its tendency of replacing staff which is extremely costly. Most individuals left the company and changed the industry while others left the company and ended up joining a competitor and this activity increased fluctuation in Flextronics. Some individuals quit their jobs because of poor pay, others felt they were being mistreated by the management and others due to various reasons which were not yet accounted for. It is important to examine why certain individuals quit their jobs in the company so that the mistakes can be rectified and fluctuation be avoided. Most HR activities aims at retaining existing talents in the company and so employees should be considered as an asset of the company because they provide skills and have got experience most of which are obtained as a result of working in the company for a certain period (Zenger, 2015pp8). According to the study conducted at Flextronics, there were various reasons which led to high fluctuation in the company in reference to individuals quitting from the company. An example is lack of good management from the company. An employee relationship with his or her supervisor is the basic factor of determining employee loyalty in the company. Bad managers do not communicate regularly or appreciate the effort exerted by the employees in their work which increases chances of quitting by the employees (Wood, 2006pg268). Another example is the high workloads exerted on employees. Some employees are not able to handle too high workloads in the company and only prefer manageable workloads. When an individual is given a high workload that encourages stress, he or she becomes irritated and develops the urge to quit the job. Thirdly, there is difference in communication and learning styles in the company. This issue is mainly evident in participants who come from regions like Austria and Hungary. Austrians appear to be more concerned and direct in reference to formal and distant behavior than Hungarians. Flextronics operates in many regions and every region has its way of communicating to the clients. Although the style of communication may vary, all regions try to convey the same information. The regions face the issue of communication barrier which makes them not to be able to understand each other even if the information conveyed is the same. The management uses autocratic management style. This style enables the manager to make all decisions and passes them to the employees who are expected to oblige with no questions asked (Weiss, 1999pg13). This style has made most employees to work in unfavorable conditions because they believe that their ideas and opinions are not considered by the management of the company. Fourthly, there is the issue of productivity. Factories within Flextronics vary greatly when it comes to service orientation, production processes and quality standards. Most of these factories within Flextronics have got poor productivity hence making the company to look weak in terms of productivity. Most of these factories fail in productivity because they only focus on a specific system of production instead of exploring the underlying behavior. There has been an increase in customer complaints about the reliability of Flextronics and this is because the company does not have broad goals that may propel productivity. Most factories are too rigid and realistic with the production processes hence do not experience much output as compared to other factories within the same company and this causes poor stability in the company. The company is not consistent in its workload due to lack of set productivity goals. The company does not have proper inventory to track the company’s schedule and operations. As a result the management piles workloads to employees before the completion of the previous workloads and therefore the objectives and goals of production are not met. The study showed that productivity is low because of poor practices employed by different factories within the company. Poor quality standards that has resulted to poor quality care for employees is also a reason for low productivity by different sections of the company (Synerion, 2016pp4). Lastly, there is the issue of cultural idiosyncrasies. This issue was intensified when certificates were to be handed out on successful completion of training. The awarding of certificates led to different reactions especially from participants who were from Western European countries. They considered certificates as an appraisal with an aim of being ‘boxed in’. The Eastern European countries on the other hand saw certificates as a way of appreciating one’s achievements. Flex University worked with certificates after employee training but there was a great difficulty especially for employees from different countries to embrace the certificate programs. Training is a basic aspect for an employee to develop and for personal education in achieving the best a particular workforce. Certain roles require training and certification even if the training is in-house. When an employee records course attendance in a HR system, it gives room for assessment of skills obtained and regulatory compliance. Lack of proper education has promoted ignorance amongst some employees of Flextronics enabling them not to embrace the handing of certificates after training. Some employees have developed an attitude that when the progress of learning is controlled, it shows an interest in a person’s development. This type of thinking has made employees from Western European countries to have narrow thinking even in the production process. How Human Resource Management should handle the above issues in the Case Firstly, the issue of insufficiently experienced personnel. HR should conduct a massive recruitment in order to obtain more experienced personnel in the company. An HR software platform should be created to enable storage of CV’s, applications and contact details for proper comparison and analysis (Sheehan, 2013pp22). As new roles are anticipated in the coming period, applications can easily be stored for months and years in the platform depending on the policies of Flextronics Company. When this idea is implemented, there will be easy selection during future recruitment which will reduce cost and time spent in the recruitment process. The Human Resource department should maintain and retain the existing talent in the company. Employee retention balances company incentives, remuneration and culture hence the HR department should allocate the right combination of the three to every employee with an aim of satisfying the employee. This idea would boost employee retention and as a result, employee skills and experience will be retained by the company to keep up the levels of productivity. Secondly, the issue of high fluctuation. High fluctuation occurs because the company is losing its staff and replacing with others more than often. This problem is as a result of poor manager-employee relationship, poor working environment and lack of enough resources from the company. The HR department should ensure that the management has got a good work relationship with the employees. Good managers are those who interact with employees and they are most likely to retain their employees and this is because employees feel comfortable and secure when they are recognized by the management. HR should also ensure that workloads given to employees are manageable and not too high. Employees who are overloaded with work become stressed and end up quitting the job to go and look for a more manageable job where they are not exploited and when a number of employees quit, fluctuation increases in the company. The HR should also encourage employment of outsourced employees in the company because they are able to provide a meaningful way of augmenting Flextronics company’s workforce abilities and skills and save the company from hiring new permanent staff. This idea is relevant mainly to projects that require the knowledge of a specialist but are unlikely to be a routine requirements of the company. However, employment of outsourced employees may present challenges when they try to meet internal requirements and standards of the company hence it is essential to keep employment details of the outsourced individuals similar to the details of permanent employees (Rodriguez et al. 2006pg740). HR should help the company in investigating how dedicated is the use of the payroll system and if it correlates positively with the account system and the HR software. Thirdly, the difference in communication and learning styles. The HR should encourage proper and common communication channel in all regions especially in Hungary and Austria. Equal learning styles should be instilled in all regions and in all factories within the company. The HR department should be able to establish an interface between the company and the staff and therefore acts as an area of consultation when it comes to employment issues, work related queries and work disputes. A dedicated HR system should be put in place to store employment data and make the data easy to access and retrieve (Sheehan, 2013pg356). This idea is able to reduce the time taken to seek for clarification in any aspect which is work related, it reduces time for answering every query presented to the HR department and in any case a more advanced system is instilled in the company, it will promote self-service style of accessing data. The HR department should encourage management to be permissive and in so doing, employees should be included in the decision making team. No matter the working style employed by the management, a good management should be in a position to create a conducive environment for employees to complete projects that are assigned to them. Fourthly, productivity is another issue which the HR department should be able to handle. HR should be able to determine if in any case low productivity is obtained through poor working practices or through lack of resources. As an easy determinant, HR should carry out a study called Time and Motion (T&M) which defines who does what and how it is done (Blackman, 2017pp18). This study can easily identify potential gains and create way for future leading investments which will be able to improve investments. The management and the HR team should use the HR software platform to analyze and store the T&M data. The stored data can then be retained to produce or provide historical background for future studies. Most researchers say that productivity does not start after training but instead it starts with the right employee for the job (Huselid, 1995pg661). An unmotivated employee remains unmotivated despite the working environment and the basic salary. A star employee on the other hand is motivated and produces great work all the time despite the working conditions. These are the type of employees required by Flextronics Company for great productivity and this is the work of the HR department. The HR does not only recruit and interview candidates for a particular job position but they have the responsibility of determining the best candidate who can be differentiated from a list of best candidates. The candidate selected should be motivated and highly productive because such skills will increase productivity in the company. HR department should aid in creation of incentive programs because they understand every business category in the company and these programs can generate huge impacts and promote productivity for Flextronics. Incentive programs may help the company to meet and exceed its productivity goals and this is because it provides a clear goal to employees and may sometime offer a reward to employees for achieving company goals. HR should also encourage flexible schedules and in so doing, the department should build a schedule that is beneficial to both the employer and the employee. Lastly, the issue of cultural idiosyncrasies. Training and certification is very important to employees because there are certain roles that demand certain qualifications. It is not only new workers who are supposed to undergo training but managers of Flextronics should also be encouraged by HR to undergo training and development for workplace safety, satisfaction and productivity. During the training exercise, the skills that managers will be subjected to are manager communication, employee recognition and employee motivation (Heibutzki, 2017pp5). Managers are very busy and might not get time to go for training and therefore, they can train online using TrainingToday online platform. The HR department and the management of Flextronics should employ standards in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA declared several standards and these standards had one aim which required employers to train employees concerning the safety aspects of their jobs. Some standards of OSHA give employers the responsibility of regulating certain company duties to employees who are competent and qualified because they have had special training. OSHA has a belief that employee training is a basic requirement for employers because it acts as employee’s protective measure from injuries and illness (Blackman, 2017pp28). The HR department should therefore adopt the OSHA standards and encourage employees to undergo training and certification because it may improve productivity in the company. Conclusion and Recommendations Firstly, I would recommend that Flextronics Company to employ more experienced personnel. This idea would be achieved through massive recruitment of not only potential candidates, but the HR department should select the best and extraordinary candidate from the already best candidates selected. Secondly, I would recommend the HR department to help in managing fluctuation. This idea is possible when manager-employee relationship is improved, employee working conditions are improved and enough resources are allocated to the company. In conclusion, the HR department is entitled to relevant data in ensuring faster resolution of the issues discussed above. References Blackman, A. (2017). Why most Productivity Fail and how to overcome it. Pp.1-38. Retrieved on 28th Jan, 2017 from https://www.business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/why-most-productivity-tips-fail-cms-27854 Heibutzki, R. (2017). What does a High Turnover Rate Say About Management? Pp.1-7. Retrieved on 28th Jan, 2017 from https://www.oureverydaylife.com/high-turnover-rate-say-management-13696.html Huselid, M. (1995). The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Financial Performance, Academy of Management journal, 289(3), pp.635-673 Rodriguez, P., Siegel, D., Hillman, A. and Eden, L. (2006). Three lenses on the multinational enterprise: politics, corruption, and corporate social responsibility, Journal of International Business Studies, 37(6): pp.733–746 Secchi, D. (2007). Utilitarian, managerial and relational theories of corporate Social responsibility, International Journal of Management Reviews, 9(4), pp.347–373. Sheehan, J. (2013). Top Ten Issues for HR Teams & How to Fix Them. Pp.1-32. Retrieved on 28th Jan, 2017 from https://www.hrzone.com/community/blogs/jamessheehan/top-10-issues-for-hr-teams-how-to-fix-them/ Synerion, T. (2016). How Your HR Department Can Help Improve Productivity. Pp.1-8. Retrieved on 28th Jan, 2017 from https://www.blogs.synerion.com/how-your-hr-department-can-help-improve-productivity/ Weiss, D. (1999). High impact HR: Transforming HR for competitive advantage. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp.12-46 Wood, G. (2006). International human resource management in T. Redman and A. Wilkinson (ed), Contemporary Human Resource Management: Text and Cases. London: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 12(2), pp. 263–277 Zenger, J. (2015). Four Reasons Organizations Fail To Fully Utilize Employees. Pp.1-13. Retrieved on 28th Jan, 2017 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackzenger/2015/10/14/the-shrinking-effectiveness-crisis-4-reasons-organizations-fail-to-utilize-employee/#3de7d377cd41 Read More