Management at New Oriental Education Group - Case Study Example

Overview: New Oriental Education

New Oriental Education and Technology Group is a company based in China. The company that was integrated on 25th January, 2006, deals with provision of private education to the people (New Oriental 2026). The company provides a variety of educational programs, products, and services that are basically English, training of other foreign languages, assessment tests and preparation courses for admissions. The countries that benefit from these services are the United States, Commonwealth countries, and China. The company also offers primary and secondary school education as well as developing and distributing educational content, online education, software, and other technology. The company also deals with online education, primary and secondary school education, language training and test preparation. In addition, it offers post-secondary education material development in addition to distributing them and consulting services in foreign countries. The institution operates all its learning centers, schools and various bookstores through the New Oriental service Brand it owns. By 31st May, the company intends to deliver its services, products and educational services to students (New Oriental 2026). The 664 learning centers, 60 schools and 28 stores that are operated by the company are the ones through which the company will deliver its services. Others are the 17,200 teachers and over 5,000 third party bookstores in addition to the online network that consist of about 10.8 million registered users (New Oriental 2026). Also, the company has many students and alumni. It has divided its service, program and product offerings into seven areas which include; online education, test preparation, language training, K-12 tutoring done after school, educational content, software for both elementary and secondary school, and other technological developments and distributions besides other services and items.

Test preparatory units are for the students studying languages and entry examinations that education facilities in the United States, China and Commonwealth nations demand. In addition, the company avails test preparatory lesson for the overseas tests. The organization also offers test preparatory units for the PRC admission exams as well as short courses related to the curriculum. More so, the company offers after-school teaching lessons for both the middle and high school learners. These courses are aimed at supplementing learners’ school curriculum offered regularly and also enable the learners to achieve grades to enable them qualify for entry tests for admissions to higher education or high school. The company also offers the following; tutor service to the pupils that need to redo the Gaokao via Tongwen Gaokao School, which is based in Changchun (New Oriental 2026). During the summer months, the company provides intensive and condensed of its courses. More so, the institution has extra teaching for courses taken by children in kindergarten and elementary schools. Language Training Courses for adults such as English language, foreign languages such as Germany, French, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, and Korean are some of the courses offered by the company. During the summer months, the company offers wide but condensed version of its lessons.

Human resource management in New Oriental Education Group

A human resource manager is of great importance in this institution due to the diversity of services and human resource in the institution. The first duty is to recruit qualified employees after which training takes place to ensure that they are fit for the job (Guest, 2002). For instance, they perform interviews to ensure the company gets the most skilled and talented individuals. Monitoring of body gestures during interview questions is a good criterion used by the HRMs in this institution. Once a qualified person has been identified, relevant training is given after which the person starts working in the required department. Intern teachers and other employees are also subjected to interviews and only those that qualify are given a chance this has allowed the company to have highly competent personnel who are ready to work with the rest of the team (Guest, 2002).

An employee-friendly Human Resource Manager must capture the interest of both the employer and the employees to satisfy their needs. It is clear that people have both visible needs and invisible wants, which can have both physical and mental benefits to the person. A worker-friendly HRM takes both aspects into consideration and ensures that they are all satisfied. Physical benefits include money, gifts, certification, and other awards, among others. On the other hand, intangible needs may include being proud, feeling of accepted, and a feeling noticeable besides having a good relationship with colleagues.

Employee Involvement

This can be defined as a way of improving employees’ performance by cultivating their interest and dedication for the benefit of the institution. It creates an environment in which employees can speak out and their views considered by the administration. In involvement Employees’ ideas may only be gathered but they will not take active action in its implementation (Kooij, Guest, Clinton, Knight, Jansen and Dikkers, 2013). In employee participation, employees’ views are be gathered and analyzed to find their suitability in the organization to improve its performance. Once this is done, workers feel comfortable working at the pace due to the appreciation of their ideas and thoughts. In New Oriental community, the views of the employees are very valuable since they have contributed a lot in the growth of the institution. The HRMs and the other management team are keen on what their employees think about their organization after which they take action.

Employee Engagement

This is more than just contributing ideas to the company’s management. In New Oriental Education Center, teachers and other employees play a big role in the operations of the company. Employee engagement can be seen as the ideal levels of outcomes for strategies by the HRMs (Guest, 2002). It may refer to the level at which workers volunteer to make contributions to the company in a united manner to take it to greater heights. For instance, they can submit important knowledge to a level that is higher to assist the institution in many aspects such as recruits-training, orientation, and other functions in the institution. Moreover, some volunteer to work overtime without additional wage required to help whenever work is overwhelming (New Oriental 2026). Communication is vital in achieving the goals set aside by any organization that need to excel. In New Oriental Education Group, interns engage in decision-making processes with other experienced employees as well as the HRM. This is an excellent culture of an institution because the management can identify new employees with great talents. Various strategies are always used to make sure that employees are highly motivated and encouraged to achieve the goals of the entire institution (Mone and London 2014). In this case, interns find themselves engaging in various activities with the rest of the employees and the management team.

Design and Monitoring of the Employees

The institution has a well designed and monitored system for employee behavior to ensure that they work as recommended. Regarding the New Oriental Education Group, the institution has a well designed system for each employee’s performance monitoring. Course instructors, on site instructors, learners, and fellow on site tutoring assistant, do monitoring. Monitoring is essential since it allows the supervisors to keep track of daily activities in addition to ensuring that all employees perform their duties effectively (Mone and London 2014). The institution does it in a way that does not discriminate any group of individuals and ensures that no one is uncomfortable with the routine. First, it is required to sign in at the entrance in the morning and when leaving the compound. This helps in controlling absenteeism and lateness since some employees may do it deliberately. Interns receive a more thorough monitoring since they are new and still learning to cope with the challenges of work. However, the routine check is done in a polite and acceptable manner such that no one feels offended. Activities in the office are also monitored in addition to monitoring of classroom attendance. One is required to signed and indicate time that one enters a classroom and when one leaves in a class attendance book for teachers. Since this has been a tradition of the institution, workers find it quite normal and do not complain. The HRM has a role to play to ensure employees attend to work and engage themselves as required (Mone & London 2014). Monitoring has helped the institution to give the best to the learners and ensure satisfaction of their parents and guardians. No one is happy when their children waste time in schools and training institutions due to lack of employee commitment. Since the school has promised excellent services to parents it has to ensure that every activity is done to perfection. The monitoring process as made the New Oriental Education Group a big institution trusted by many investors.

Employee Motivation

Motivation at the place of work is an important factor as it leads to effectiveness and efficiency in an organization. At New Oriental Education Group the greatest employee motivation is job security and the least one is responsibility. If an employee is assured of having a job for a long time especially women who have to go for maternity leave, he/she is likely to work hard to promote the institution. Teachers are consisting of an important factor in the determination of the quality of education in this institution. It is very important to understand that motivation of any kind by their school leads to the quality of performance after its evaluation. The management of the New Oriental Group is very keen on the well-being of all the employees including the non-teaching staff. Some of the common activities of motivating teachers include taking them for tours, paying them well, appreciating their performance, and awarding them certificates besides frequent promotions. According to the Hierarchy of Needs Theory by Maslow, every person desires some basic things in life. In addition, there are other complex needs for workers to feel appreciated at their place of work. The physiological needs include food, pay, clothing, shelter, and comfortable work conditions (Snell, Morris, and Bohlander 2015). New Oriental group management has ensured that their workers including the teachers have all these needs to make them comfortable as they do their work. In addition, their security has been beefed up to ensure that even those that leave the compound at night do not feel scared. They are protected against threats, job security, abuse, and other issues that may interfere with their rights and freedoms. They feel accepted by the institution management and feel as part of the team always working to achieve the best and produce excellent students. It is very evident to realize that the teachers and other employees are comfortable by looking at their behaviour such as how they walk and act. They are full of self-esteem since they feel that the institution has fully accepted and accommodated them as one of their own. The needs that have been accomplished to motivate the staff are the self-actualization needs as they are able to realize their full potential though self-development. Studies have showed that interpersonal relations are the most important factors, which contribute to job satisfaction in many institutions including new Oriental Education Group (Guest, 2002). In addition, policy and the administration form one of the most important factors that lead to their morale to continue working. There is some distinct difference on satisfaction based on compensation of the institution teachers with different marriage condition, department and position. Unmarried teachers recorded less job satisfaction on their incomes compared to the teachers that were married. The higher position the teachers occupied the more satisfied he/she was in terms of the income they earned. Working condition to teacher means both conditions in classroom and staff room. It is a fact that the working conditions for tutors in schools are an excellent motivator in the case of Oriental School. For instance, the environment is conducive for both teachers and the students. The staffroom is spacious and teachers are allowed to interact freely especially during their free times. The perception of Supervision indicated that teachers do not enjoy working under supervision. However, they can be monitored or appraised by supervisors to ensure that everything goes well and that they feel important in the school. If the conditions of the teachers are not favourable, they may be forced to possess strong negative attitudes towards their work affecting productivity. It is right to give the implication of the factors such as Job Security, freedom of expression, and Personal Life on the quality of education offered in this institution.

Employee Communication

Effective communication is very important in any organization especially between the management and the employees (Guest, 2002). It is wise for any company that needs to succeed to adopt quality communication and ensure that the channels are favourable to everyone. This is what happens in Oriental Educational Center since school has established the best lines of communication. Employees are free to air their views and complaints without fear of intimidation. One of the strategies used to communicate in the organization is weekly correspondence to all employees especially on Mondays. Personal written emails from the CEO are very effective in showing the employees that they are highly valued by the management. This has the benefit of connecting with the entire organization workforce including teachers. Another strategy noted is building of comfort in talking about the facilities and programs that are not working. Teachers and other staff do not feel uncomfortable when airing their problems and issues that they feel are not going well in the institution. This is because the management appreciates their views that do not take it offensively. Several organizations and companies are ford of discussing only the positives and ignoring the negatives but this is not so with New Oriental Education Group. This way all the employees are very free to share their organizational culture in addition to feeling as part of the entire team. The management has a culture of holding general meetings especially when the year ends to unite everyone and ensure that the institution is well organized. Even the interns feel as part of the institution and work towards achieving a common goal. Another way the institution enhances communication especially for the op leaders is holding an annual conference. The leaders contribute towards improving the institution and bring feedback to the rest of the team. Good staff communication is considered very essential since it enhances the potential of the employees. Companies that manage to have effective communication tend to perform better compared to those that do not care about information sharing in their organization. Working with Oriental Education Group is a great experience since communication is considered of great value. Oriental is a unique institution owing to the nature of activities that go on every day in the offices, the class, and the field, yet the management has view issues to deal with. This is great and everyone in New Oriental Education Group is comfortable with the running of the entire facility.

Leadership Styles

In the work environments different leadership styles exist and organizations use one of a combination of many of them to run their activities. In New Oriental Education Group several leadership styles play part to produce commendable results. One of them is the participative leadership style which uses democracy and engages many of the stakeholders (Arnold, Connelly, Walsh and Ginis 2015). However, the responsibility to make the final decisions is left to the participative leader. The leadership increases employees’ morale since they contribute to the process of making decisions for the institution. It makes them feel as if their suggestions are sensible and important in the running of the company and its success. Whenever the institution has to change some plans within its operations, the participative leader assists workers in accepting the changes enacted in an easier manner since participated in the change processes. This style can be challenging if companies have to make a decisions quickly making it impossible to involve several individuals. Another style used in this institution is the transformational leadership. This leadership style depends on high level of communications from management to achieve the set objectives. Leaders try to give motivation to their employees to enhance productivity and efficiencies via communication and high visibility (Arnold, Connelly, Walsh and Ginis 2015). This leadership method needs the involvement of management to achieve goals in which they consider the needs within their company then delegate small tasks to the team to achieve targets. The management of the New Oriental Education Group has a way of rewarding the team that helps in achieving the target. For instance, promotions are based on performance and not the period one has worked. Someone may work for only two months and get promoted to the next level if he/she has big ideas and performs excellently. Sometimes the company also uses transactional leadership style in which the managers are given certain roles to work on and provide reward or punishment to team on the basis of their performance results (Arnold, Connelly, Walsh and Martin 2015). The management and team members arrive at some focused goals together, and workers vow to follow the directions and directions of the manager to acquire their set targets. The management has mandate to make reviews of the results and make any corrections on employees if the team members fail to achieve the required objectives. Workers may be rewarded through means such as bonuses, pay increment, and promotion when they accomplish company’s objectives as agreed. This is common in the New Oriental Education Group and everybody appreciates it.

Job Design and Flexibility

Job design can be defined as allocation of a specific task to individuals or groups. Workplace flexibility has several benefits such as increased morale, attracting and retaining talents, and motivation of employees (Snell, Morris and Bohlander 2015). Collaboration is essential in organizations such as New Oriental Education Group to help in performing important tasks. Some employees can work better is they telecommute for some days which can save on money and time especially during travelling. Work schedules should not be completely fixed as this can create boredom (Snell, Morris and Bohlander 2015). Teachers in this institution do a lot of collaboration especially during lesson planning sessions. This helps in shaping the character of the employees and some become very talented. There are some employees who have proved to be self-managing and these should be entrusted with more flexibility. In New Oriental Education Group some employees such as the intern supervisors are very flexible and are allowed to perform their supervisory work at their own convenient time. However, for those that do not seem flexible in their work they are required to follow a certain work schedule.

Conclusion

Working with the management of this institution is a great inspiration for any intern and employee since it has a flexible culture. Some tasks such as timetabling are given to teams rather than giving them to individuals. As an intern who has worked with this institution for some time, I have enjoyed working with the rest of the team especially in teaching. The role of flexibility and job design is to ensure that workers work at their convenience without struggling with the laid down schedules. Working as a team helps in achieving the organizational goals and improve efficiency. The company is doing well especially the human resource department in dealing with their employees.