Implementing Employee Engagement Essay: Challenges And Opportunities In Subsidiaries.

To write a “Senior Management” Report discussing, exploring and evaluating some of the key opportunities, challenges and issues inherent in implementing an “employee-engagement” strategy across several different regions of the world. 

Imagine that you are promoted to be the head of the HR Division of an organisation with subsidiaries in China, India and Germany (choose any three countries). You can relate this to a previous employer if this “fits”?

You have been tasked with producing an internal report to the Senior Management Team, in which they have asked that you to discuss an “employee engagement” strategy.

The Management Team wants to make sure that teamwork, motivation, engagement and work performance is effective and functioning to a high level across all of these locations.

In your report you need to clearly identify the opportunities such a strategy offers the company but (more importantly) you also need to identify and evaluate the different issues, problems and challenges which you would associate with implementing this type of working across these different cultures and also within these different countries. Please provide related context information as you see fit.

You should examine and address any relevant issues around leading and managing people in these countries. If you can see clear preferences for certain communication styles, are those associated with cultural patterns (of all underlying cultures) and if so, do those advance or hinder the development of good co-operation within these dispersed cross-cultural teams? How do you envision communication taking place and what issues might you associate with these communication processes?

In essence, “what would you summarise as the commonalities which can be introduced right across these different cultures when developing and implementing the “employee-engagement” strategy and what would need to be tailored for any specific country?” (China, India or Germany)

You need to make practical, specific and relevant recommendations that you consider would help future co-operation and employee-engagement.

You are required to critically evaluate and academically substantiate your proposed considerations and recommendations.

Team Work Movement through Four Phased Framework

In the recent time the organizations are focusing more on the innovative international human resources policy.  A high committed employee is helpful in ensuring the want of the organization.  It is important to ensure a high performance workforce that allow in managing the issues. The current organization is looking for the new opportunities that need to be used in order to manage the subsidiaries (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). They are exploring the challenges in the different market. It is important to manage the situation in order to access the international market.  The human resource strategies need to ensure that the employees are motivated and are involved in work performance. Therefore being a head of the Human resource department it is important to define the strategies to manage the subsidiaries efficiently (Storey, 2007).

There are various different tested models that are important to improve the team efficiency. The four phased framework introduced by Bruce Tuckman is considered to be one of the most interesting and effective team building model.  It is proven in the current scenario that the team building is important to manage the inefficiency in a team. The four stages primarily focus over the: Forming, storming, norming and performance.  In the initial stage every individual tries to figure out their role in the team (Noe et al 2007).  Storming helps the team members to slowly define their role in the team.  There is a competition in the team members that can lead to low performance.  The team efforts are being judged in the norming process where the collective efforts are accounted. The last stage focus on enhancing the team objective where priority is been given on team relationships.  For the purpose of gaining results it is important to implement the four stages in a well efficient way in order to gain results.  The team work culture is mostly suitable in the country with Communitarianism. Countries like India and China follow a culture where the management plays a vital role in decision making.  Therefore there can be a vast gap in implementation of the team wok policies due to a vast gap in the working culture (Bratton and Gold, 2012).

The team performance can only be enhanced if the team members are aware about their individual responsibility. It is important to implement an effective model that allows every individual to understand their role in the team.  The team performance is affected through the Belbin model. One of the major focuses of the model is to create a balanced team. This can be achieved through the segregation of team roles that are action oriented.  The action oriented on the specific role and implementation of roles (Schuler and Jackson, 2008).  People are assigned the roles that are important for managing the different aspects in order to gain efficiencies.  By assigning the roles to the team in an effective way one can gain results.  Team building is significant for the business organization to accomplish sustainable consequences. Therefore, there is an extensive claim of the total rewards system that aspires to address the employee motivation all the way through a grouping of the financial and non- financial rewards. The Intrinsic rewards system like promotion, recognition, work-life balance and authority is important while understanding the culture in different countries. An extrinsic rewards system is regarding the pay, bonus or other monetary grants (Hamel, 2008).  

Team Improvement through Role Assignment

For an international brand it is important to follow a total reward strategy. Though, standardizing the total reward strategy is not recommended for the three subsidiaries in Germany, India and China. The total rewards strategy should be a localized strategy. For the purpose of better understanding it is important to understand the cultural context of the country. As in India and China there is a high power distance and a lack of equality in the workplace arrangement. This can affect the efficiency of reward management.  The German culture has a low power distance system. Consequently, it is relevant to use a localized performance reward system. This will help the organization in meeting the requisite goals (Price, 2007).

Employee motivation is important for the business organization that is influenced by two major factors. All these hygiene factors and motivators are important for the workforce to achieve the desired targets. As per Herzberg, the deficiency of hygiene factors can demotivate the employees. These factors are significant for stirring the employees to seek advantage for achieving long term sustainable goals.  The benefits are one of the important parts in an organization. Working conditions, pay, security etc are the examples of the hygiene factors. All These factors are significant for directly affecting the total amount of productivity and often referred as the important aspects that help unswervingly on the employee motivation level. The Motivators are the intrinsic factor that is the important factor as per Maslow’s hierarchy (Harzing and Pinnington, 2010).  

In a competitor business atmosphere it is necessary to have a right combination of the hygiene and motivating factors.  These factors are important for determining the level of motivation in the workforce. It is important for managing a global brand’s perspective while considering the right mix of hygiene factors and motivators. It is vital for a business organization to determine the possible employee motivation in order to gain results. One can gain possible change in the reward and compensation strategies by organizing the efforts in an effective way. The cultural profile of Germany, China and India is necessary to be analyzed in order to understand employee’s priorities. In order to understand the working culture in the country it is important to formulate policies Depending on the countries’ cultural rewards can compensation policies. These need to be formed in order to motivate the employees (Chen and Huang, 2009).     

It is necessary for an organization to Motivate employees by concentrating on expectancy. The Workforce motivation affects the organization in a positive way by increasing the expectation of the employees. Victor Vroom has found that an employee’s productivity directly depends on factors like skills, personality, experience, acquaintance and aptitude.  Hence through this theory it is evident that the employees can be motivated in case they find a positive correlation between attempt and performance. An effective performance creates a justified reward system where the effort are worthy for the rewards. In This process one can understand the view behind the proposition that causes the following equation i.e. Motivation = Valence × Expectancy. From this equation it is suggested that one can assure employee motivation in the three different countries by controlling the all these three factors. People in all these three countries do have a different set of values. There priority regarding the people in Germany, China and India is different. There need to be different values perception towards rewards and motivation. In a high power distance culture Germany people are moved by the reward and incentives; whereas in the Chinese and Indian culture motivation plays a crucial role. It is important to analyze the cultural values in each of the regions in order to decide the apparent principles of the employees (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 2011). This approach helps in managing the valence, expectancy and instrumentality. Motivating employees through suitable rewards and benefits allow in gaining experience. One can gain possible change in the reward and compensation strategies by organizing the efforts in an effective way (Werner and DeSimone, 2011).

Motivation through Hygiene Factor and Motivators

 The total quality management is a framework that helps in optimizing workforce performance through greater appointment of the organizational employees. The total quality management method emphasizes on the procedure to control overall business performance. The business Organizations facilitating the TQM method has a best Return on investment while compared with the other companies who are not following the TQM process. TQM procedure is linked with a PDCA that engages employees in the judgment process in every stage of operation (Heery and Noon, 2008).

For the process of involving the employees in the subsidiaries it is important to consider the application of a TQM process. Following a standardized TQM framework is necessary across the German, Chinese and Indian subsidiary to manage the business operation. The TQM is not altered on the geographic location. It is hence important to design an appropriate TQM model in order to address the issue. The TQM method aspires for gaining a long term business objectives that is required to align the business requirements.  The strategic objectives and the business operations are important for managing the issues taking place in the business organization. Hence it is evident to choose an effective TQM process that involves more employees in the decision making process to gain long term sustainability (Hammann Habisch and Pechlaner, 2009).

This process is important for managing the overall process in order to ensure greater participation of the employees in the subsidiaries.  This is to gain a better system where the employees are able to gain sustainable results through workflows, the end-to-end business process etc. The process of Business reengineering proposed by Hammer and Champy in seven steps strategies is helpful for the business procedure in terms of time management, quality and profitability. These are appropriate for the business organization in order to manage the critical aspects.  In order to organize a process it is necessary to deliver the outcomes rather than tasks. It is however necessary for a Sorting out business procedure in terms of priority. This will allow the business organization and the subsidiary across to gain a competitive advantage.  Information processing work incorporation is necessary to meet the Real time work process. This is however important for treating resources geographically will stimulate permanence in the organization. By Linking parallel activities in the process allow in making a competitive advantage on a long run (Marchington et al 2016). By considering the decision making it is necessary to manage the process according to the wants and the requirements in the organization. One can gain competitive advantage by capturing the information to fit in the seven principles. While considering the overall process the organization can develop a high performance stature each step of operation. Consequently the advancement in re process will help in managing the three different subsidiaries located in Germany, China and India (Brady, 2009).  There is a need of a greater level of employee involvement canned be ensure in the division organizations. This process will however help in the reengineering process in order to manage strong relationship between the employees and the organizations. This will result in gaining effective market position by considering the team and the organizational culture (Ngo et al 2008). By considering the information one can gain a competitive advantage in order to assume the process reengineering model to aid an employee empowerment strategy. This will allow in managing a systematic growth in an organization that would likely to offer augmented profit in the subsidiaries as well as in the organization as well(Scullion and Collings, 2011).  

The issues related to the performance management and an exceptional performance through effective reward policies is essential to boost the morale of the employees. However it is important to formulate an effective reward management strategy to reduce the complex procedure.  It is important to understand the overall process that helps in motivating the employees in a positive way. Consequently, there is an extensive application of the total rewards system that permit in attending employee’s motivation during an amalgamation of the financial and non- financial rewards (Dessler, 2009). The Intrinsic rewards methods like promotion, recognition, work-life balance and authority are important to be taken care while managing the risk. While the extrinsic rewards mechanism like pay, bonus and monetary allowances are necessary for the organization.  

It is necessary for an international brand’s viewpoint the total reward strategy is an important option to be given preference. However in order to manage the subsidiaries it is a standard approach to manage the total reward strategy for the three different subsidiaries in Germany, India and China.  The reward system should be localized rather than generic. This will help in boosting the employee’s morale and allow in providing employee satisfaction.  Performance management through key performance indicators is one of the most accepted approaches to review employee performance across a range of business sectors.  While evaluating the performance of the employees it is necessary to set particular parameters helps that help the manager in following a fair appraisal process. The process is however supported by performance evaluation using KPI is a translucent procedure and is extensively conventional crossways global business sectors.  This will help in organizing the subsidiaries in China, India and Germany. The performance management procedure is a standardized KPI tool.  The employees would be conscious of assigned tasks that can only be achieved by assigning responsibilities. The fairness of the performance management and appraisal is important to manage the organization. As in India and China there is a high power distance and a lack of equality in the workplace arrangement. This can affect the efficiency of reward management. It is necessary for organizing the efforts in an effective way (Marchington et al 2016).

In order to Implement work performance strategies in a target countries, challenges and communication problems it is necessary to manage the changes in an effective way. The   Workforce management in the subsidiaries is important to be managed in order to gain a fair performance management and appraisal process. The claim of a total reward strategy is optional in this context.  By following an appropriate business strategy it will help the three subsidiaries to approach in a better way. The cultural differences in the countries need to be given preference while assimilating the culture. So, in order to gain a competitive advantage it is necessary to introduce a reward management strategy is depending on the cultural context of the regions. The work culture and atmosphere need to be considered while development of the policies and structure. Total reward strategy in an organization need to be focused with superior incidence of extrinsic rewards like credit, social rank or power. In this way the employees are motivated in a positive way (Bloom and Van Reenen, 2011).

There is a higher degree of masculinity in both China and India.  Hence while applying the reward management system it is important to apply a total reward strategy for gaining better performance.  There are growing concerns in China and India due to lack of exposure of the employees to the process of TQM and process reengineering. There is a necessity to provide a proper training and development process in both China and Indian to attain a desired performance. It is important for an individual in both the subsidiaries to analyze the right KPIs for the employees to manage the challenges occurring in the organization.  In such a different business atmosphere it is necessary to manage the business there is a necessity that the employees need to communicate the associated KPIs throughout one-to-one sessions to gain a better performance. These factors are significant for stirring the employees to seek advantage for achieving long term sustainable goals.  The benefits are one of the important parts in an organization. The purpose is to gain a competitive advantage that will allow in measuring the benefit attached with the organization & its subsidiary. The reward mechanism and system is different in order to measure the changes in an effective way. The Intrinsic rewards system like promotion, recognition, work-life balance and authority is important while understanding the culture in different countries (Stahl, Björkman and Morris, 2012).

Recommendations and Conclusion

It is important for a business organization that is operating in three different countries to find out a working model that allows in analysing the proposed employee involvement agenda. It is believed that the future plan can be matched with an effectual cross cultural training and development programs.  It is necessary to understand the cultural values before moving forward. There is probable cultural gap between the organizational culture and the home country. In order to promote the organizational interest it is necessary to provide a cross cultural training to the employees in the other countries. One can directly see the difference in the culture of the three target region that can create a concern. The organization might face a failure .in these regions. Even though there is a sure amount of cultural similarity is originated in Indian and China, whereas the German culture is completely different.

References 

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