Human Resource Planning Case Study Question And Answer

Question

Question 1 - Culture conflict south of the border
Review Case 2.2 Culture conflict south of the border, in Vance & Paik (2015) p. 73 and then discuss your thoughts in response to these two questions with your classmates:

1. You are an HR manager assigned to the company’s head office, and got to know Jim before he went to Guadalajara. He calls you for advice on his issues. What will you say to him?
2. You also know that Jim should not have been put in this position. What system changes could you recommend to your manager?

Question 2- HR and leadership development
Background: Recent McKinsey surveys have shown that business leaders’ current and future human capital priorities are virtually identical (see McKinsey & Company and The Conference Board, 2012, The state of human capital 2012: False summit (Links to an external site.)).

As cited in the report, it's important to note that leadership development is business leaders' highest priority.

Please read the introduction to the 2017 Q3 edition of the McKinsey Quarterly. Then read the article “What’s Missing in Leadership Development?” starting on page 20. Look particularly at Exhibit 2 and try to identify ways in which the human resources function would affect the requirements suggested.

For a global organisation, can you identify any issues that might need to be taken into account as one goes from say Australia to China and to Europe? What steps would you need to build into a Human Resource Plan.

Question 3 - Develop a training schedule
Activity:In the section of this week’s work on staffing, you looked at a number of brief CVs of candidates to fill the Indian country manager role for Delta Beverages. Assume that the country manager in China was offered a different role and consequent to that move, Haziq Tengku (currently country manager for Malaysia) has been selected to take over as Country Manager in China.

Review Haziq Tengku’s profiles in the case study material: Caligiuri, P. W., & Lane, H. (2016), Selecting a country manager for Delta Beverages India (Links to an external site.) in 'Readings and cases in international human resource management: Sixth edition' (pp. 243-248). Taylor and Francis. (Attached)

You are the HR manager in Boston or Shanghai

• If you were born in an even year (e.g. 1992, 1998) please take the role of the Boston HR manager.
• If you were born in an odd year (e.g. 1991, 1999) please take the role of the Shanghai Human Resources Manager.

Your task is to develop a training schedule for him, and if you think appropriate, his wife and/or family, while he is in your region. Take into particular account the material on expatriate training considerations from page 256 in Vance and Paik (2015). Use the following information about Haziq when developing the training schedule:

• Haziq has been promoted to country manager in China for Delta Beverages.
• This is seen as part of his career development, with more senior roles likely in the future.
• Delta is headquartered in the Boston area of US.
• The China office is in Shanghai, where Haziq and his family will live, but the country manager needs to travel extensively throughout China.
• Haziq is excited about the promotion and has already started to study Mandarin via a PKU MOOC. He will visit Boston and Shanghai over the coming weeks full briefing and familiarisation before taking up his assignment.

Develop a series of one line entries into a daily program

Question 4 - Out of sight, out of mind
Background: Marie slammed the door as she entered the apartment she shared with her husband Don in Hanoi. "I've just about had it with those idiots in Melbourne," she shouted. Don quickly put on the kettle to make her a mug of her favourite tea. “What is it this time?” he said quietly.

"The whole structure of my old division at home has changed", Marie snapped. "Roles have been re-classified up, salaries increased, and people who used to work for me are now a couple of levels above me in the organisation. And no one even thought to tell me about it - I had to find out via a chat with a friend in another division".

Don poured her a cup of tea. This was going to be a long night he thought. "Tell me more," he said.

"The changed structure comes with a changed approach to work, and fewer levels. There is a new manager, and even my current reporting line will change. Everyone is attending training programmes to get them up to speed. But I have been forgotten in the changes. I don't know what this means for me when we return to Melbourne at the end of the year." Marie struggled to contain her disappointment and anger.

Don sighed. "It's been a couple of years since we went home for leave," he said. "Maybe we should have gone home instead of to Europe for our holidays. Isn't the HR manager due to visit next week? Let's go out for dinner and work out how we can use the visit to try to deal with the problem," he said.

Discuss

1. Why does Marie have these problems?
2. Possible solution is a mentor program. What does a mentor do?
3. Would mentoring be sufficient? Which issues (Q1) are helped by mentoring?

Question 5- Expat salary exercise
Overview: You are the HR manager for an organisation based in Melbourne, about to send its first expatriate overseas to Singapore. Based on an analysis of relative costs, you have decided to send the expatriate John, who will be accompanied by his wife Margaret, with remuneration provided using the balance sheet method, with tax protection. The couple have no children. They are purchasing a house in Australia with current repayments at $24,000 per year. The couple are keen to make the move, which will be for four years. They see it as a development posting setting John up for future senior management positions.

John and Margaret have asked for an explanation of what this means in dollar terms.
John is currently employed as a senior manager in your organisation at a salary of AU$150,000 per year. Superannuation is additional to this figure. Over the past two years John’s average bonus has been $45,000 – you will use the same system for John in Singapore.

In Australia, John also receives a taxable car allowance of $25,000 per year. This provides him with the opportunity to purchase a car for personal use, but it must also be used when a car is required for business purposes. If he chooses to not purchase a car, then the company does not reimburse local travel expenses. Having heard about traffic issues in Singapore, John and Margaret will use taxis and public transport rather than buy a car.

Margaret works as a hospital administrator on a salary of $145,000 per year.

1. Work through the chart/spreadsheet (link below) to develop a balance sheet for John and Margaret and detailing the package that the company will provide in Singapore. This should include salary, any allowances, information on whether a car/transport allowance will be provided, and the level of payments in Singapore dollars and Australian dollars as appropriate. Post the level of allowance calculated in the spreadsheet before grossing up for tax. Please note that if you hit ‘enter’ after each cell entry you will receive feedback on the entry and the correct figure to enter. So, ultimately you will get to the correct allowance figure – you need to do this before answering the next 2 questions. The spreadsheet will take up to an hour to work through.
2. Is tax protection the best approach? Why or why not?
3. After you have completed the calculation, please discuss the sorts of (critical) questions that John and Margaret are likely to ask and how you would answer them

Data

• Food utilities and other expenses in Singapore are 20% less than in Australia.
• Rental of a suitable apartment in Singapore will cost about S$7,000 per month.
• Singapore's tax rate maximum is 15%. For this exercise, you can assume an average tax rate in Singapore of 12% (approximately right for a salary of AU$220,000).
• For this activity, the Australian tax is $72,000.
• Let’s assume that savings in Australia are on average about 6% of after-tax income.
• At the time you were doing the calculation, the Australian dollar/Singapore dollar exchange rate was A$1 = S$1.04.
• Before starting, you might like to review this article on the cost of living (Links to an external site.) (https://www.hcamag.com/opinion/international-assignments-cost-of-living-in-the-spotlight-174154.aspx) over at Human Resources Director Australia.

Answer

Answer 1- Culture Conflict South Of the Border
We are providing some sample solutions of human resource planning case study, to help you in building up a concept plan in drafting the solution yourselves. Using the format given below will help you in drafting the human resource planning case study in a descent way .Kovaleski (2003) acknowledge that whereas being internationally mobile and willingness to accept international case study's is one of the most coveted occurrences of an employee’s career life, a significant issue that the employee must be prepared to deal with is culture shock because it is ‘completely normal’ and they have to experience it as part of the adaptation process. Jim, as illustrated in the case presented by Vance & Paik (2015) could have been in a better position if he considered the following remedies:

First, it would be advisable for Jim to embrace the new culture rather than resist it because as argued by Marx (2001), generalizing his view of the new culture may contribute little success in adopting it. Hence, it is advisable for Jim to embrace the new culture by willingly accepting it and recognizing it as a series of transformative changes which will ultimately contribute to him adapting to the new culture.

As an HR professional, it is openly clear that Jim should not have been put in this position. To avoid such a situation, it is recommendable that the company’s HR department should adopt several changes to ensure that employees do not find themselves in such experiences again. For instance, according to Friedman (2007), the organization should consider involving their employees in exercises that gauge their cultural perceptions and conduct intercultural training before assigning them to foreign cultures because as Marx (2001) argues, team issues (e.g. what was experienced by Jim while trying to interact with new staff and managers) are highly likely to arise if team members are not familiar with the cultures represented on the team membership.

Answer 2- HR and Leadership Development
McKinsey (2017) argue that developing an organizational leadership require certain elements that enable effective leadership results in the context of global business. In regards to this, the article suggests that for an effective leadership development to be achieved, the organization must consider for key elements i.e. developing leadership qualities that resonate with organizational objectives, establishing a leadership model that covers the entire organization, creating an enabling environment for leaders to practice and transfer the learned skills, and establishing effective systems that enable the realisation of the desired leadership behaviour.

Apparently, the suggestions made by McKinsey (2017) are can be incorporated into an HR plan for purposes of effective results. For instance, in the case where one goes from China to Australia and To Europe, establishing an enabling environment for the transfer and practice of learned skills would mean establishing effective digital systems and platforms such as organizational social media platforms that enable transfer of knowledge during the organization’s daily workflow. According to Sablock et al (2017), establishing such systems as part of human resource plans enable leaders to share their experiences and problem solving skills with any other employee no matter which part of the world they might be positioned in- enabling the sharing of knowledge by between leaders located in Australia and those in China; in this case.

Human resource planning also involves the establishment of effective performance management systems and structures that enable the reinforcement of new leadership models within the organization regardless of the international boundaries (Fisaha, 2017). For instance, in order to promote the adoption of new leadership models in China, an organization can make an Australian-based manager to be the project sponsor or mentor for a project undertaking in Australia. According to Sablock et al (2017), this can make it easier for the managers in China to acquire new leadership models for purposes of effective performance.

Answer 3- Develop a Training Schedule
Employee Training Schedule Developed By Boston HR Manager: This section of the paper considers developing an expatriate a pre-departure training schedule for Haziq, a newly promoted country manager for Delta Beverages in China. However, it is not considered appropriate to deliver similar training for Haziq’s family as this may lead to additional costs and logistical arrangements. The training will be conducted prior to Haziq’ travel to China and is meant to enable him to have a smoother transition by having an overview of Chinese culture. According to GMAC Global Relocation Services (2006), this training is important to Haziq as a manager because it equip him cultural knowledge about China and how to adapt to these cultures in a more business-friendly manner. More importantly, the training will be delivered in three major modules namely; cross-cultural training, language training and simulation training.

Cross-Cultural Training: This training will be aimed at equipping Haziq with the knowledge of the existing cultural differences between China and the Boston Area of US. However, as recommended by Bennett et al (2000), this training will also include some elements of professional development and performance in terms of how Haziq should interact professionally with his new staffs.

Language Training: Whereas Haziq has already enrolled for Mandarin via a PKU MOOC, it is important for the company to give a formal training and brief to Haziq regarding the Mandarin languages. This is because according to Foster (2000), his ability to speak the Mandarin language is fundamental to adopting and being appreciative of the local culture.

Simulation Training: This training will be aimed at giving Haziq an opportunity to learn various ways of dealing with any possible clash in cultural values that may affect his business relationship with stakeholders at Shangai China. According to Jameson (2007), this training is also useful in equipping the expatriate with knowledge on the cultural values and how to responds emotionally to these cultural values. The following is an illustration of the training schedule:

Answer 4- Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Marie could be experiencing these problems because of an introduced radical structural change in her organization that she has not been involved in. whereas organizational change is influential to the success of the company; employees may have varied kinds of reactions to such change – hence resistance being the norm (Fugate, 2008). Thus, it appears that Marie is disgruntled about the structural changes that are currently occurring at her organization and is likely to resist these changes.

However, according to Herold et al (2007), engaging Marie in a mentorship program would assist in enabling her to embrace the change and understand the importance of such change to the organization. It enables employees to adapt to embrace new roles more confidently and quickly. In doing so, according to Labianca et al (2000), the mentor’s role is to identify developmental needs and goals of the mentorship program besides establishing a plan of how to accomplish these goals.

However, monitoring is not the only solution to the issues faced by Marie. For instance, the organization could have taken a step to involve all employees, Marie included, in the decision making the process that led up to the introduction of the changes. According to Fedor et al (2006), involving staffs in such decisions not only creates a positive attitude towards the change but also informs them early enough of the importance of such changes to the success of the organization.

Answer 5-Problem for Discussion

1. The Appropriateness and Importance of Tax Protection: Tax protection approach is appropriate for this case because moving for a different country means that for the employee to get fair payment there must be an adjustment for tax differences between the countries (External, 2013). Therefore, because in Australia the employee would pay more tax compared to Singapore, it is only appropriate to adjust for tax by protecting the employee from an additional tax that he stands to pay when calculated in terms of his Australian income (GMAC Global Relocation Services, 2006).
2. Critical questions likely to be asked by John and Margaret: A critical question that the couple might as is why their tax amount for the Singapore package is way too low than that of the Australian Package. A good answer to this question is that the 12% tax rate is applied to the Singapore equivalent of the Australian income, leading to a lower tax payable than would be in the case of Australia.
   Lastly, the expatriate might also want an explanation of why the Singapore spendable income is way less than the Australian spendable package. An appropriate explanation to this question is that according to available data, life is 20% cheaper in Singapore than in Australia, and therefore the spendable amount 80% of what is spendable in Australia. In this human resource planning case study we have strictly followed the format given in marking rubrics to cover in helping the student to cover all the deliverables in the case study. You can observe that in this human resource planning case study a detailed analysis is being conducted which helped us to arrive at this conclusion.

References
Bennett R., Aston A. & Colquhoun T. (2000) Cross-cultural training: A critical step in ensuring the success of international assignments [Electronic version]. Human Resource Management, 39(2/3), 239-250.

External (2013). International assignments: Cost of Living in the spotlight. Human Resources Director Australia, 22, Apr, 2013. Retrieved from https://www.hcamag.com/opinion/international-assignments-cost-of-living-in-the-spotlight-174154.aspx [retrieved on 31, Aug, 2018].

Fisaha S. (2017) Human Resource Planning Practice: The Case of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Head Office, ITIHAS The Journal Of Indian Management, 2, 59.

Fedor M., Caldwell S. & Herold M. (2006) The effects of organizational changes on employee commitment: A multilevel investigation. Personnel Psychology, 59, 1–29.

Fugate M., Kinicki A. & Prussia E. (2008) Employee coping with organizational change: An examination of alternative theoretical perspectives and models. Personnel Psychology, 61, 1–36.

Fugate M., Kinicki A. & Prussia E. (2008) Employee coping with organizational change: An examination of alternative theoretical perspectives and models. Personnel Psychology, 61, 1–36.

Friedman A. (2007) Globalization implications for human resource management roles [Electronic version]. Employ Response Rights J, 19, 157-171.

Forster N. (2000) Expatriates and the impact of cross-cultural training. Human Resource Management Journal, 10(3), 63-78.

GMAC Global Relocation Services (2007). Global markets, record earnings, driving unprecedented demand for international job assignments, reveals annual global relocation trends survey.

Herold D., Fedor B., & Caldwell S. (2007) Beyond change management: A multilevel investigation of contextual and personal influences on employees’ commitment to change. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 942–951.

Jameson A. (2007). Developing hospitality managers’ intercultural communication abilities: The cocktail party simulation. Cornell Hospitality Tools, 7, 4-22.

Kovaleski D. (2013).Managing Culture Shock for Employees in International Business Settings, ResearchGate,1-14.

Labianca G., Gray B. & Brass J. (2000) A grounded model of organizational schema change during empowerment. Organization Science, 11, 235–257.

Mckinsey & Company (2012)The State of human Capital,The Conference Board 2012.

Vance C., Paik Y. (2015) Managing Global Workforce:Challenges and Opportunities in International Human Resource Management, 2, 72.