In the current global market, team managers are expected to work with teams from different cultures. This can be challenging if the managers and their teams lack adequate cultural literacy. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that employees know the diverse cultures before sending them for overseas assignments. In the case involving Sybil, cultural literacy inadequacy significantly contributed to her failure as the global team manager for Alternating Energy Inc. (AEI). The paper will address a few items involving the case in light of cultural knowledge in personal and professional settings.
Problems Recognized in this Situation
Several issues stand out in this scenario. First, the hiring process used by Sybil does not comply with the company's hiring procedures. Alternating Energy Inc. (AEI) has an employee handbook that provides the guidelines used during employee recruitment. The guide provides that individuals are to be hired based on their abilities from diverse applicants. The diversity in the hiring process aligns with the company’s global market requirements. However, Sybil employs her former employees without using the proper hiring protocols, which may have resulted in a mismatch in work profile and skills. An aspect of favoritism in the hiring process can be perceived.
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Secondly, the hired team was deployed to India for the assignment without proper cultural literacy training. The families of the newly hired team were also not adequately oriented to the Indian culture before relocating to the country, which led to their discontent. This probably led to internal conflicts and a lack of client cooperation due to cultural strife. Thirdly, there is no indication that Sybil had prior experience managing global teams or whether she underwent any form of training to prepare her for the task. This may have led to her failure in managing the taskforce since she did not have the necessary skills. Lastly, the teams' autonomy to make independent decisions is limited, with Sybil making most decisions. Therefore, the performance and satisfaction of the employees have gradually reduced over the six months.
How the global teams in India are managed versus how they should be managed
In India, global teams are managed using a different approach from the one used to manage teams in North America and other Western countries. The cultural structures in India promote self-sufficiency and adaptability, unlike in most Western cultures. Therefore, autonomy in decision-making and accomplishing tasks is something that the Indian taskforce considers essential. The decision-making process should be decentralized in a global market setting (Raymond Noe, 2018). However, in this scenario, Sybil does not extend complete autonomy to the Indian senior taskforce, which indicated a lack of trust and confidence in them. This incited dissatisfaction among the employees and internal conflicts.
The Indian teams are also motivated by their task significance and not the pay incentives involved in completing an assignment. When they understand the importance of their task, the Indian teams are empowered to give their best. The taskforce is also the top priority of most Indian organizations, unlike in Western corporations where customers and profits are the top priorities. In this context, the employee motivation strategy used to motivate global teams in India may not work in Western countries and vice versa. Sybil may have failed to employ the correct motivation system with India's worldwide team, which resulted in frustration of the taskforce and gradual decrease in performance.
Applying global HRM concepts to the Hiring of teams
The international HRM concepts about global teams' hiring process encourage recruiting individuals based on their skills and ability to perform in global settings. In this perspective, it is essential to hire individuals who are proficient in the host country's national language and can communicate effectively with the locals (MBA Knowledge Base, 2010). It is also vital to recruit individuals who are capable of assimilating into the new culture. Global employees should be willing to learn about other cultures and have resilience for challenges associated with overseas assignments. Family support is equally a significant consideration during the hiring process (Raymond Noe, 2018).
A task force comprised of individuals who have met the above requirements is more likely to succeed in a foreign assignment. This is because they possess an approachable and cooperative disposition that blends well in the new culture, thus promoting teamwork (MBA Knowledge Base, 2010). Open-mindedness and ingenuity are also essential traits of a global employee since they encourage new ideas on dealing with challenges. The families provide much-needed emotional support that enables the global team members to handle foreign assignments' emotional challenges.
Alternating Energy Inc. (AEI) has developed an employee handbook that ensures that the global HRM concepts are applied during the hiring process. However, Sybil disregarded the hiring protocols, and the hiring process was unfair and inappropriate. The company’s global objectives could not be realized with such a team in place.
How cultural acclimation concepts would have been applied in this scenario
An organization needs to prepare its taskforce for overseas assignments adequately. If I had been Sybil, I would have applied several cultural acclimation concepts to ensure the employees are ready for their India assignment. First, I would have used the AEI employee handbook to hire a task force that meets the specific job requirements. In the described scenario, Sybil did not follow the due process in the hiring process; thus, the employees did not have the overseas assignment's proper qualifications. Once I have hired a qualified taskforce, the next thing I would do is to familiarize the employees and their families with the Indian culture. I would ensure that the employees receive language training, among other business operation training, before their departure to India (MBA Knowledge Base, 2010). It is essential to discuss how the foreign assignment will affect their career and prepare them for the challenges they are likely to face.
Once the task force has arrived in India, a second cultural orientation practice would be essential to prepare the employees for their assignment. Engaging native employees to mentor and orient the taskforce would significantly help the employees become accustomed to their work environment (MBA Knowledge Base, 2010). This is because, in a foreign country, the business culture is different. After the team is settled in India, I would have to discuss the individual team members' repatriation process. This would ensure that the employees are adequately prepared for life after their assignment is completed. The employees should be prepared for changes in their native country regarding living standards and their compensation upon return (MBA Knowledge Base, 2010). These cultural acclimation concepts would have enabled Sybil to successfully recruit and prepare the AEI employees for India's assignment.
References
Raymond Noe, J. H. (2018). Fundamentals of Human Resources. New York: Mc-Graw-Hill Education.
MBA Knowledge Base. (2010, April 17). Cross-cultural preperation in employee training programmes . https://www.mbaknol.com/human-resource-management/cross-cultural-preperation-in-employee-training-programmes/
