The Strategic Development of Talent - Case Study Example

Case Study Customer’s Name Institution: Customer’s Course Tutor’s Name March 18, 2016. Introduction CEOs of companies are always worried when their organizations are not performing based on their expectations and thus realize that there are issues that are lowering their productivity. CEOs need to take various measures to address the issues facing their organization failure to which they may even lose their jobs as the shareholders may lack confidence in them and opt to appoint another CEO since the one in place is not steering the organization in the right direction. The CEO of AutoStar aircraft is worried about the reducing organizational profits and believes that, if anything is not done, a takeover will be unavoidable. This case study analysis sets out to analyze the various issues facing the company in relation to training and development, culture, diversity and international performance management and offer a conclusion as well as a list of recommendations which will steer the aircraft in the right direction. Discussion Diversity In relation to diversity, though the management at AutoStar is impounded by a policy that outlines that all employees in the organization needs to respect age, race, gender, ethnicity, physical abilities, and sexual orientations in addition to other philosophies this are not upheld by some employees (Harvey 2012). At the headquarters in Australia, there seems to be a lot of intolerance in relation to working with employees who are from different generations. To be precise, the senior staffs at the headquarters are prejudiced when it comes to working with the beginners and this in a way makes the working relationship between the two groups strained. Another issue that is evident in relation to diversity is in one of their subsidiary in China. It has been noted that, in China people with disabilities are not recruited to work at AutoStar Aircraft. It has been noted that, managers ignores job applications from people with disabilities and at times, this is done even when the applicant’s skills surpasses the skills of other applicants. This issue can have some consequences since the organization may be sued for discrimination and they may be faced with hefty charges. In general, the Human resources also lack a clear set of practices which can help the employees at AutoStar Aircraft to understand each other more clearly. It is crucial to note that, the interactions among staff members is in a way influenced by the perceptions they have for one another but the HR at AutoStar do not seem to take this into consideration (Madden 2014). The other issue is that, there are not practices to enable the employees to appreciate other cultures and get to know more about other employees working in the headquarter as well as in other subsidiaries of the company (Ravasi & Schultz 2006). Culture The culture created in the workplace can be a means of success or at times cause failure of the organization. Thus, it would be essential for an organization and its employees to adopt and develop the right kind of culture to enhance their success and seek to always enhance it. A major issue that relates to culture in AutoStar Aircraft is that, they have developed a very negative culture and the workers have adopted the perception that “near enough is good enough”. The staff in the company is also adamant to accept any kind of changes that may be implemented in the organizations. This seems to be a step in the wrong direction since change at times comes to benefit the organization (Cummings & Worley 2004). This kind of culture also seems to be straining the communication that takes place between the people in headquarters and those in the subsidiaries. This is not right since it may lead to the downfall of the company (Milliken, Elizabeth & Patricia 2003). Based on the culture that has been adopted, a management team based in Australia has cited that a major issue at AutoStar relates to quality and this seems to be straightforwardly related to parts manufactured in Vietnam and in China. This case seems to be evident since the Aircrafts which are delivered to the customers at times calls for large modifications even after delivery. Though modification may be necessary, at times massive modifications shows the failures of the company in delivering good and efficient products and in this case, the aircrafts. The customers of the company, non-governmental and governmental have launched a number of complaints in regard to quality and there was a time quality was paramount to AutoStar. Some stakeholders have gone even further and issued warning letters to O’Meara stating that, unless the quality of the products are improved within the next six months, some will withhold their partial repayments while some states that they may even withhold 50% while others may withhold 100% of their repayments. This may have a negative impact since the revenues of the company may reduce drastically (Schrodt 2002). Another issue that is related to the culture at AutoStar is that, there is no integration across the teams which amount to over 50 teams and yet they make up the Aircraft assembly team in total. This is evident when Ben Brown who is a member of the Wire harness assembly teams states that the other teams who they are supposed to work together with make it difficult for their team to complete their work (Brownell 2003). He further states that, the teams tend to get in each other’s way and there is also a lot of resentment between the teams. Another issue that is related to the culture at AutoStar is that, each of the team only works in regard to the specifications for their area and this makes the working relationships within as well as across to suffer. In addition, the communication both horizontally and laterally seems to be compromised and a great number of staff members are complaining that they are not receiving ample instructions from their immediate supervisors. There seems to be a communication breakdown since though the line mangers located in Australia are tasked with the duty of communications between the headquarters and the various subsidiaries, the CEO receives constant emails from the subsidies with a request of clarification on various points. This further shows that, communication is not effective since if it would be effective, there would be no need to seek clarification from the CEO. International Performance management Organizations operating in the various industries are faced by a number of performance issues and this also seems to be the case in AutoStar Aircraft (Nielsen 2013). A major performance issue that is present in AutoStar relates to performance reviews. Though performance reviews are conducted in the headquarters in Australia by the HR, there are no performance reviews that are conducted in the subsidiaries in China, Vietnam and Singapore. Another issue that is closely linked to these is that, there is no formal performance appraisal process that is followed for the expatriate. Another performance issue relates to the fact that the headquarters usually takes a very informal approach on issues and at the same time do not consider the impact of the various economic factors in the business targets (Zaffron & Steve 2009). This issue is further supported by a statement made by one of the manager when he stated that they were under a lot of pressure in Australia due to the high costs as well as due to the higher expectations. There are also conflicting performances outcomes since people in the headquarters and in the subsidiaries fail to listen to each other. The decisions are mainly made in the headquarters and the decisions tend to affect all the subsidiaries. This is evident when the headquarter makes a decision and them make an order for their Singaporean subsidiary to make a certain quota of parts. It is later realized that, there is an excess of the similar parts in their headquarters. If there is clear communication between the headquarters and the subsidiaries, this would not happen since they would have accurate records on what is already there. Additionally, AutoStar also lacks policies to underpin performance management in the organization (William 2005). This implies that there are no clear measures and this fact is further supported by the claims made by O’Meara when he told the HR Manager that the organizations needs to have better performance measures in place and that they need to measure so as to manage. Thus, the need for some to travel to their subsidiaries in Singapore, China and Vietnam to ensure that there is consistency and at the same time there will be a need to take note of the local practices and culture since the headquarters and the all the three subsidiaries have different local practices and cultures. Training and Development Training and development is an essential function of the HR and it needs to be treated with great importance to ensure that there is well trained workforce to undertake the duties in the workplace in the most effective way (Cohn, Khurana & Reeves 2005). A major issue in regard to training and development is the time allocated for the expatriate training. Expatriates trainees leaving Australia to work in the other subsidiaries are offered with training that does not exceed half a day. The time allocated is too minimal. The HR also refers the employees to online resources but fails to acknowledge that every employee has different needs when they decide to go and work in another country. Another issue that relates to the training and development is that no system is in place at AutoStar to enable the employee to offer feedback on how effectiveness the expatriate training was and offer recommendation to be implemented in the future (Patrick & Bruce 2000). This is a major issue as depicted by Alice Morgan who is a mechanical engineer and had recently moved to Singapore. She stated that no training was available to assist her in integrating in her new surrounding and noted that people did things different in Singapore and she took a long time to get used to the new surrounding without training. Another issue is that though the level of performance at AutoStar Aircraft indicates that the organization has a very strong rationale while it comes to training and development in the organization, this does to seem to be the case. Another issue relates to the fact that, at AutoStar there is no organized workforce planning as well as management development programs. The key role that is played by the management development program in organizations is identifying as well as recruiting potential managers and then developing their skills and knowledge through the use of career development plans with the aim of meeting the organizational needs. When this is applied effectively it ensures a clear and effective succession plan in all management positions in the organization (Harzing & Pinnington 2016). The issue at AutoStar is that, a great number of the employees are unsure of career prospects based on the fact that the organization career development plans are not being utilized. Additionally the senior management team is unwilling to develop the junior employees into taking over their role in the future since they feel that in case of promotions, they may be sidelined. Since AutoStar does not uphold the professional development ideas, a number of their best employees who have been marked down for promotions in future have already been poached by other companies (Paauwe & Boon 2009). Conclusion Based on the above discussion, there exist a number of issues that the CEO O’Meara needs to address to avoid the takeover, maximize the shareholders returns on their investment and at the same obtain and maintain a high share price for the organization. AutoStar have a very negative culture which tends to inhibit the work of the various teams and there is also breakdown of information. The organization also does not embrace diversity and in regard to training and development, there is no organized workforce planning as well as management development programs. Additionally, there are no policies to underpin performance management in the organization. Recommendations A major recommendation in relation to diversity at AutoStar Aircraft is to encourage and undertake effective communication (Brownell 2003). Effective communication is essential in the promoting of workplace diversity. Through effective communication, the management team can communicate their expectations to the employees by use of a clear language in describing the diversity programs and goals that will be achieved. The management team should also have a cleat set of guidelines for dealing with employees who tend to engage in activities aimed at inhibiting diversity. At the same time, the management should listen to workers who may report being treated differently due to disability, ethnicity, age as well as other factors related to diversity. Additionally, they should integrate diversity into the hiring and promotion process in the company. Through these, there will be standards that will guide the hiring and promotion only based on merit and not based on quotas (Tatli & Ozbilgin 2009). This will ensure that the employees who are promoted can be able to tackle the tasks in the most effective manner. In relation to the culture in the organization, there is an urgent need to deal with the negative culture that has been created in the organizations. Instead of relying on a notion that “near enough is good enough”, the management team needs to ensure that the employees surpass the expectations laid out. Another recommendation relating to culture is on quality of the products delivered to the customers. AutoStar need to put quality measures in place to ensure that all the aircrafts delivered to their clients are of good quality and no more modifications or changes will be needed after delivery. Prior to delivery, the aircrafts should be checked by a team to ensure that they meet the set quality standards (William & Kazanas 2004). When it comes to the training and development, the management team needs to allocate adequate time and most to those employees who will work in other countries other than their country of origin and there should be a system in place for them to offer feedback on the training (Shawn & Rebecca 2004). This training will enable them to fit in the new environment well and work well with the other employees in the new location. Additionally, AutoStar also needs to engage in workforce planning as well as management development programs. This will enable them select employees who may be promoted and thus there will be time to train and mentor them on how to perform the management roles. By doing so, the employees are unlikely to move to other companies since they are optimistic about the future of the company. In relation to performance management, the Human Resource manager needs to take a close look on it and apply similar standards in the headquarters and also in the subsidiaries. The management needs to come up with a number of policies to underpin performance management in the organization. Additionally, after performance reviews, the employees who have improved in terms of performance need to be motivated through the use of various incentives such as a pay rise, promotion, or bonuses (Klerck 2009). This will be for the benefit of the company since even those employees lagging behind will work towards the improvement of their performance. References Brownell, J 2003, ‘Developing Receiver-Centered Communication in Diverse Organizations’, Listening Professional vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 5-25. Cohn, J, Khurana, R & Reeves, L 2005, ‘Growing talent as if your business depended on it’, Harvard Business Review vol. 83, no. 10, pp. 62–70. Cummings, T & Worley, C 2004, Organization Development and Change, South-Western College Publications, USA. Harvey, C 2012, Understanding and Managing Diversity, Pearson Education, Inc, New Jersey. Harzing, A & Pinnington, A 2016, International Human Resource Management, Sage Publications, London. Klerck, G 2009, Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management, In D. G. Collings & G. Wood (Eds.), Human resource management: A critical approach (pp. 238-259), Routledge, London. Madden, B 2014, Reconstructing Your Worldview: The Four Core Beliefs You Need to Solve Complex Business Problems, Learning What Works Inc., USA. Milliken, F, Elizabeth, W & Patricia, F 2003, ‘An Exploratory Study of Employee Silence: Issues that Employees Don't Communicate Upward and Why’, Journal of Management Studies vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 1453–76 Nielsen, P 2013, ‘Performance Management, Managerial Authority, and Public Service Performance’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. Paauwe, J & Boon, C 2009, Strategic HRM: A critical review, In D. G. Collings, G. Wood (Eds.), Human resource management: A critical approach (pp. 38-54), Routledge, London. Patrick, J & Bruce, H 2000, Training and Development, Barron's Educational Series, New York. Ravasi, D & Schultz, M 2006, ‘Responding to organizational identity threats: Exploring the role of organizational culture’, Academy of Management Journal vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 433–458. Schrodt, P 2002, ‘The relationship between organizational identification and organizational culture: Employee perceptions of culture and identification in a retail sales organization’, Communication Studies vol. 53, pp. 189–202. Shawn, A & Rebecca, A 2004, Training and Development: The HR Answer Book, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, America. Tatli, A & Ozbilgin, M 2009, ‘Understanding Diversity Managers' Role in Organizational Change: Towards a Conceptual Framework’, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences vol. 26, pp. 244–58 William, J & Kazanas, H 2004, The Strategic Development of Talent, Human Resource Development Press, Amherst. William, J 2005, Effective Succession Planning. AMACOM Div American Mgmt, America. Zaffron, L & Steve, D 2009, Performance Management: The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Read More