The Floundering Expatriate - Assignment Example

Case Study: The Case of the Floundering Expatriate Name: ID number: Course: Instructor: Institution: Date: Part 1 Asses the mistakes Donaldson has made Despite having put up an outstanding and exemplary performance in Detroit, Bert Donaldson has failed to establish himself in Europe as one of the top performers in management fronts. In the same regard, he has ended up making numerous mistakes that are now threatening to grumble down his career. A number of mistakes he has made emanate from failure to understand hence fit into the European organizational structure. Donaldson also lacks a trusted and readily available person to whom he can turn to for advice and direction in this new environment. He has depicted some sort of failure in personal adjustment into a new society with different culture from what he was used to. The initial mistake Donaldson has made is that he has failed to realize the culture of his new placement location, the European culture. He still makes decisions basing on the Detroit culture and not as per the Argos Europe way of doing things. Different multinational companies have various constituent businesses in various geographical locations. In fact, one reason for such geographical diversity is to harness and exploit business opportunities as a result of cultural diversity. This therefore directly implies that no constituent businesses within different geographical locations, especially on the international fronts, will ever have the same culture. Any employer shifting from one culture to another should therefore understand that the initial implication of such a change is movement into a different culture. (Baruch, 2001). Any slight action of carrying the norms, managerial approaches, organizational behavior or any other such aspect of the old culture into the new culture will always raise upheavals and discomfort amongst members of a the said new culture. While Donaldson was brought in to streamline and spearhead team cohesion, he has subsequently failed to establish himself as a team player by forcing down his new managerial approaches onto people. This is characterized by the general atmosphere of rebellion at his place of work. Rebellion is the worst reception that can be accorded to any new entrant in an organization, it portrays initial failure. New managers often come along with personal approaches to management. However, such techniques ought to be slowly introduced in the organization while watching and reading the reactions of the subjects. During this period, they need to consult widely and associate more with old members with an aim of learning from them. It is often encouraged for such new managers to adopt a collective management strategy so as to have most organization members on board. (Schneider,2001). Collective problem solving approach often requires consideration of diverse views and opinions in decision making unlike the case with Donaldson where he solicits for opinion but ignores the same and makes his own personal decisions. People may rebel new approaches and strategies not because they are bad in essence but due to the way they are introduced and fostered. The final mistake that Donaldson has done is the dragging of his personal and domestic problems into his career life and practice. It is evident that the assistant chief executive officer of Argos diesel Europe is deeply concerned with the dip in the academic performance of his daughter. It is obvious that each individual has got a private life to live besides the professional life. Sometimes personal issues might to overwhelming to the extent that the employee becomes stressed. While some companies provide onsite counseling services, other might not necessarily have such provisions. However, large multinational companies such as Argos Europe have ethics personnel who often offer advice and recommendations in such cases. (Schuler and Jackson, 2007),). In instances where the mental strength of the employee is too weak, it is recommended to take an off or leave from duty and attend to the domestic matters at hand Why have the mistakes occurred? The mistakes as made by Donaldson can be wholly summarized as a result of organizational culture differences hence clash between the American society and the European counterparts. Donaldson began his career in America and had in fact established and implemented and American system of management when he worked as a professor of American studies in Cairo-Egypt. Most new employees in new cultural settings will commit mistakes as a result of insufficient knowledge about the society and cultural practices as well. One common mistake with global hiring policies is that the new management often ends up relying so much on the employee’s earlier performance and forgets the fact that they are shifting the same person into a new and completely different culture and society that necessitates comprehensive induction training before allowing him take up his duties. (Perkins, Shortland & Perkins ,2006) Donaldson also made mistakes due to the organizational policy of Argos Europe. Each employee works on his own and there is little emphasis on the need to cohesively work together as a team. When introducing new employees in an existing system, even though the new employee might be having the right qualities and attributes to effectively execute duties as required of him, cohesion must be added onto such capabilities to guarantee maximum output. (Budhwar and Debrah, 2001). Team spirit and cohesive work force therefore becomes key components for the overall success of such new members in the organization. Another possible explanation to Donaldson’s mistakes can be asserted to the egocentric nature of his senior, Waterhouse. As a senior manager, and conversant with the current culture, such individuals ought to provide guidance and direction to new entrants. It however becomes virtually hard for such new entrants to enter and fit into the new cultural and organizational jig-saw in instances where old conversant members opt to remain egocentric and enjoy from the flaws of new employees. (Snell & Bohlander ,2013). This is usually magnified in poor policy implementation especially when there is no rapport and established mutual working relationship amongst the senior management. A quick glance at most organization structure reveals that most managerial duties are interlinked. A manager, serving in an assistant capacity, has ability and skill to serve in full position. In the case that the senior managers opt to work distantly from their assistant, like the case between Donaldson and Waterhouse, delegation becomes problematic. In the same regard, should one of the managers leave due to one reason or another, it might be cumbersome to take over his reigns. Whose responsibility are they? According to (Clark, Gospel and Montgomery, 2009), the responsibility of inducting and subsequently introducing a new member into an established and existing organizational structure lies squarely in the doctrine of the human resource department. Large multi-nationals corporations to the size of Argos usually have global staffing policies that govern and direct the procedure for hiring employees from different cultures and countries. More often , such organizations seek to either outsource skills or import expatriate from host countries especially in cases where it might be difficult to train a specific skill or get the required similar skill on the local front. What are the implications of not satisfactorily dealing with Donaldson’s problem? Failure to exhaustively address Donaldson’s flaws and mistakes will affect the whole organizational team and heavily weigh on the progress towards achieving organizational goals. New employees in any given organization are hired to take up specific stipulated roles. Such roles add up to the overall productivity of the firm and therefore any sort of inefficiency affects the whole organization as a whole. Taking the case of new managers for example, any wreck less, non-judgmental or non-informed decision made by a new manager will be picked down the hierarchy and therefore spread the whole mistake throughout the organization. Any faulty programs put in place by such managers will be propagated throughout the whole organization to the disadvantage of the entity. If for instance, the organization does not lay down sufficient structures to quickly acclimatize its new members to its cultural way of doing business, there are high chances of either inefficient operations or even delayed productivity. In extreme cases, this might even result in total failure. (Snell & Bohlander ,2013). Another possible effect of failing to address the mistakes of a new member in an organization is that such new members get detracted, demoralized and lose confidence due to the reactions and feedback they may receive within the organization. Once a new employee starts making evident mistakes and cannot subsequently find any willing person to offer direction and correction, such an employee eventually develops nervousness. Acting on trial and error has never been such a confident venture since you cannot gauge the kind of expected response. (Snell & Bohlander ,2013). Nervousness will always be accompanied by low confidence levels and suspense in individual ability. Eventually the employee may lose as a result of an unfriendly work atmosphere. Part 2 What could have the company done better to prepare Donaldson? The human resource department ought to have conducted an exhaustive induction training program to introduce and expose the new employee to both the organizational culture and his working team. Every new employee, including new senior managers require induction training before taking up their duties and responsibilities in the new dispensation. It is not right to directly introduce the new employee onto his duties due to the recommendations from forces within the organization. Induction is conducted regardless of the previous experience, success, reputation, legacy or whatsoever. Although one might be moving from one organization into anther in the same position, the duties, responsibilities, work environment, culture and perhaps the organizational size differ and therefore no prior experience should be assumed. This is the only time that a new employee will be free to make consultations, establish rapport with the entire organizational team. During induction, the new employee is free mistakes that do not necessarily affect the organization but rather provide a learning platform for future engagements. The employee is briefed about the general working conditions, the kind of personalities to expect and the organizational expectations as well. Some practices that are socially binding and acceptable in one society or culture may turn out to be the contrary in the new setting, and therefore induction allows elaboration of such aspects. (Sumanth, Mayer & Kay, 2011) What does this case suggest about company’s current policy and recruiting and preparing expatriate? The scenario as exposed by the flaws made by Donaldson exposes some of the loopholes in the Argos organization hiring and recruitment policy. To begin with, it exposes the ineffectiveness of the whole policy alongside its implementers and managers spearheading the program. An effective selection and recruitment policy does not end up at selection and placement only. It goes ahead to cater for such aspects as job satisfaction, induction and training as well as interpersonal working environment. The overall output from an employee is not dependent on his/her expertise and experience but also proportional to the extent to which the same employee feels comfortable at his place of work. The policy at Argos Europe it’s only concerned at landing the qualified individuals and does not provide the necessary environment and structure to maximize the work output from such newly recruited individuals. The overall time taken by a new employee to settle down in his/her job goes a long way to affect the perception of the same employee towards the general organization as a unit. Longer settling periods do not only limit and pull down employees’ personal contribution towards the organization’s mission but also derails the general performance of the organization which to some extend depend on the quality of his managerial policies, decisions and executions. (Clark, Grant and Heijltjes, 2000) The second inference that can be made from this case consideration is that besides being ineffective, the hiring and recruitment policy at Argos Europe is also compromised. One basic consideration in conducting global recruitment is the ability of the preferred candidates to adjust and quickly adapt to the new environment in which they are expected. This is an attribute that is missing in this case study. Despite being in Europe for a period exceeding one year, he is yet to adopt into the system and get a firm grasp of the organizational culture in Europe. The interview as well as any selection criteria chosen to pick potential candidate in this case should seek to asses and establish the extent of exposure to cultural diversity of the same candidates. On the same regard, applicants who show flexibility and cultural dynamism should be given priority. In other words, the hiring system should not be interfered with conflict of interest from influential persons or any other member within the hierarchy of the organization. (Scullion and Starkey, 2000). Such compromise may end up selecting a semi complete candidate who might have the right expertise skills but lack the dynamism to fit into new systems and work environments. Part 3 Make policy suggestions The mistakes made by Donaldson as well as interpersonal associations at Argos Europe exposes the company’s hiring and recruitment policy hence calling for adjustments and modifications so as to realize a streamlined organization working cohesively towards a common objective. The initial suggestion to be made to the existing policy is to include a comprehensive induction program for all newly recruited and selected organization members. This should be designed in such a way to cater for both organizational as well as personal needs of the new employees. For the case of personal needs, the induction training should be aimed at introducing the employee to his duties and responsibilities as earlier on briefed, establishing strong working relationships between the new employees and the old members of the organization as well as cater for employee job satisfaction and working morale. (Maurice, Sorge and Warner, 2010). This suggestion is made on the assumption that new employees find it hard to fit into an existing organizational structure because they are not effectively inducted into the same set up. For the sake of organizational needs, the induction training program should be such that it elaborately and exhaustively acclimatizes the new employees to the organization’s way of doing business, the organizational norms, societal expectations and organizational expectations from the same individuals. This will be a great effort to help all new employees understand their exact roles in society, their limits and freedom space. Another policy suggestion to the Argos Europe human resource department would be for the department to design and implement team building and bonding sessions for all the employees within the organization. This will eradicate instances of witch hunting and encourage team spirit hence creating a cohesive society. For instance, Waterhouse expects Donaldson to serve as his climbing ladder to the apex of his managerial career and therefore to some extent finds comfort where Donaldson fails. Team building and bonding sessions will also help solve issues such as subordinates showing rebellion towards their seniors especially in cases where the leadership approach taken by the manager may be new and unfamiliar. Once employees get to exercise their freedom space by freely interacting with each other at hierarchy levels within the organizational structure, there are higher chances of developing the best work environment hence cohesion and streamlined operation. With such cohesion and streamlined work force, other aspects of the organizational structure such job rotation and simplification can be easily implemented to the benefit of the organization. (Schuler and Jackson, 2007). References Baruch, Y. (2001), “Global or North American top management journals”, Journal of Cross‐cultural Management, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 131‐47 Budhwar, P.S. and Debrah, Y.A. (2001), Human Resource Management in Developing Countries, Routledge, London Clark, T., Gospel, H. and Montgomery, J. 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