Survey, question, read and review the information in the case study provided. Select the key problems and issues in the
Posted: Mon May 30, 2022 5:36 pm
Survey, question, read and review the information in the case
study provided. Select the key problems and issues in the case
study. Read and review the five case study questions provided. In
addition to answering the case study questions, be sure and
establish sufficient background information, relevant facts as well
as the most important issues. Be sure and demonstrate that you have
researched the problems in this case study.
Closing the Gulf -Preparing the US executives for
assignments in Mexico
On a summer's day in 2017, Charles Ramoz-RamÃrez was chairing a
meeting of the six most senior employees of the HR consultancy he
established almost five years ago. His decision to establish the
consultancy was an extremely difficult one for him, as he held a
senior, well-paid and secure position as an HR executive within a
Multi-National Corporation (MNC) based in New York. This HR
position within the MNC involved training and developing
professional executive staff such as engineers and project managers
to undertake overseas assignments mainly in Spanish-speaking
countries in South America.
At this meeting with his senior staff, Charles reminded them
about the history of the consultancy for which they now work. He
reminded them that there were two main reasons which underpinned
his decision to leave the employment of the MNC and set up the
consultancy business. First, he found himself being invited to
deliver, on an increasingly frequent basis, specialized training
sessions on expatriate programs organized by independent training
organizations and even other MNCs. He concluded from the frequency
of these requests that there was a scarcity of HR professionals who
possessed genuine expertise in preparing US executives for
assignments in Mexico. Second, he did not agree with his HR
director's view of expatriate training which was very much a case
of 'send them and see'. That is, his HR director did not doubt that
pre-departure training for expatriates was helpful, but she did not
see it as a critical success factor. Charles's view was that
pre-departure training of expatriates was not just helpful; he saw
it as a prerequisite for any overseas assignment no matter what its
duration. His belief in the value of pre-departure training thus
became a key operating principle of the CRR Expatriate Development
consultancy organization which he formed on the day he left the
employment of the MNC. In essence, Charles established a
consultancy which aimed to design and deliver in-house
pre-departure training programs for employees of US MNCs who would
be taking up assignments in Spanish-speaking countries in South
America.
The approach by the MNC: Problems with employees'
Pre-departure Training
After reminding his senior staff of how the consultancy came
into being, Charles explained to them that a recent event had
served to convince him that the emphasis he placed on the training
of expatriates was fully justified. Charles informed them that he
had recently been approached by the current HR director of the MNC
which had previously employed him. (The previous HR director for
whom Charles worked had retired approximately two years ago.) The
current HR director told Charles that, over the last 12 months, the
senior management of the MNC had become increasingly concerned
about the general failure of its expatriate workforce to adjust to
life in Mexico. As a result, the HR department had commissioned an
independent training needs analysis. Part of this analysis was
based on responses from 40 engineers who had returned home in the
last two years from assignments in Mexico. Charles proceeded to
inform his staff about the findings of this analysis which were
supplied to him by the HR director of the MNC.
The independent analysis provided a fascinating insight into the
pre-departure training that the 40 employees had received. Notably,
only 25 of them had received any formal pre-departure training at
all. Subsequent investigations revealed no obvious explanation as
to why the remaining 15 staff had received no formal training.
Further, when the MNC's training records were examined, they showed
that the duration of the training received by the 25 staff varied
tremendously. See Table 1.
Table 1: Length of Pre-departure Training Received by
the 25 Employees
1 to 5 days
6 to 10 days
11 to 15 days
More than 15 days
Number of employees
6
3
11
5
Again, organizational records offered no obvious explanation as
to why these 25 employees received training which varied so much in
terms of duration.
The training needs analysis document proceeded to report further
information about the nature of the pre-departure training received
by the group of 25 employees. The 25 employees experienced various
pre-departure training methods such as lectures and tutorials
including basic language classes, access to online material about
Mexico, and cultural awareness workshops delivered by an outside
training agency. Prior to their assignments, four of the 25
employees were offered the opportunity to undertake seven-day field
visits to Mexico. These visits enabled them to meet colleagues
already based in Mexico and to visit organizations and places in
Mexico that were linked to their assignments. The variation in the
pre-departure training received by the 25 employees made it
difficult to evaluate the employees' views about the effectiveness
of the pre-departure training they had received. Some anecdotal
evidence presented in the analysis did, however, indicate that
seven employees who accessed online training material found it to
be of little value in terms of cultural preparation for their
assignments.
Finally, with an eye on future training, the 40 employees who
had returned from assignments in Mexico were asked to identify the
two biggest challenges that they had faced when working in Mexico.
A summary of their responses to this question is presented in Table
2.
Table 2: The 'Two Biggest Challenges' Faced by the
Employees (N=40) During Their Assignments in Mexico
'Biggest Challenge'
Number of employees citing this challenge*
Communication problems with local workers
28
Technical issues relating to their work
15
Traveling within Mexico
10
Health and diet issues
10
Accommodation issues
6
Loneliness/boredom
4
Safety including crime
3
Pressure from family in USA
2
Other challenges cited by only one employee
2
*Total number of responses is 80, that is, two responses
per employee
Implications of the Analysis
Case Study Questions for Further Reflection
Reiche, B. S., Harzing, A., Tenzer, H., International
Human Resource Management. [devry]. Retrieved from
https://devry.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781526454928/ pp.
393-395
study provided. Select the key problems and issues in the case
study. Read and review the five case study questions provided. In
addition to answering the case study questions, be sure and
establish sufficient background information, relevant facts as well
as the most important issues. Be sure and demonstrate that you have
researched the problems in this case study.
Closing the Gulf -Preparing the US executives for
assignments in Mexico
On a summer's day in 2017, Charles Ramoz-RamÃrez was chairing a
meeting of the six most senior employees of the HR consultancy he
established almost five years ago. His decision to establish the
consultancy was an extremely difficult one for him, as he held a
senior, well-paid and secure position as an HR executive within a
Multi-National Corporation (MNC) based in New York. This HR
position within the MNC involved training and developing
professional executive staff such as engineers and project managers
to undertake overseas assignments mainly in Spanish-speaking
countries in South America.
At this meeting with his senior staff, Charles reminded them
about the history of the consultancy for which they now work. He
reminded them that there were two main reasons which underpinned
his decision to leave the employment of the MNC and set up the
consultancy business. First, he found himself being invited to
deliver, on an increasingly frequent basis, specialized training
sessions on expatriate programs organized by independent training
organizations and even other MNCs. He concluded from the frequency
of these requests that there was a scarcity of HR professionals who
possessed genuine expertise in preparing US executives for
assignments in Mexico. Second, he did not agree with his HR
director's view of expatriate training which was very much a case
of 'send them and see'. That is, his HR director did not doubt that
pre-departure training for expatriates was helpful, but she did not
see it as a critical success factor. Charles's view was that
pre-departure training of expatriates was not just helpful; he saw
it as a prerequisite for any overseas assignment no matter what its
duration. His belief in the value of pre-departure training thus
became a key operating principle of the CRR Expatriate Development
consultancy organization which he formed on the day he left the
employment of the MNC. In essence, Charles established a
consultancy which aimed to design and deliver in-house
pre-departure training programs for employees of US MNCs who would
be taking up assignments in Spanish-speaking countries in South
America.
The approach by the MNC: Problems with employees'
Pre-departure Training
After reminding his senior staff of how the consultancy came
into being, Charles explained to them that a recent event had
served to convince him that the emphasis he placed on the training
of expatriates was fully justified. Charles informed them that he
had recently been approached by the current HR director of the MNC
which had previously employed him. (The previous HR director for
whom Charles worked had retired approximately two years ago.) The
current HR director told Charles that, over the last 12 months, the
senior management of the MNC had become increasingly concerned
about the general failure of its expatriate workforce to adjust to
life in Mexico. As a result, the HR department had commissioned an
independent training needs analysis. Part of this analysis was
based on responses from 40 engineers who had returned home in the
last two years from assignments in Mexico. Charles proceeded to
inform his staff about the findings of this analysis which were
supplied to him by the HR director of the MNC.
The independent analysis provided a fascinating insight into the
pre-departure training that the 40 employees had received. Notably,
only 25 of them had received any formal pre-departure training at
all. Subsequent investigations revealed no obvious explanation as
to why the remaining 15 staff had received no formal training.
Further, when the MNC's training records were examined, they showed
that the duration of the training received by the 25 staff varied
tremendously. See Table 1.
Table 1: Length of Pre-departure Training Received by
the 25 Employees
1 to 5 days
6 to 10 days
11 to 15 days
More than 15 days
Number of employees
6
3
11
5
Again, organizational records offered no obvious explanation as
to why these 25 employees received training which varied so much in
terms of duration.
The training needs analysis document proceeded to report further
information about the nature of the pre-departure training received
by the group of 25 employees. The 25 employees experienced various
pre-departure training methods such as lectures and tutorials
including basic language classes, access to online material about
Mexico, and cultural awareness workshops delivered by an outside
training agency. Prior to their assignments, four of the 25
employees were offered the opportunity to undertake seven-day field
visits to Mexico. These visits enabled them to meet colleagues
already based in Mexico and to visit organizations and places in
Mexico that were linked to their assignments. The variation in the
pre-departure training received by the 25 employees made it
difficult to evaluate the employees' views about the effectiveness
of the pre-departure training they had received. Some anecdotal
evidence presented in the analysis did, however, indicate that
seven employees who accessed online training material found it to
be of little value in terms of cultural preparation for their
assignments.
Finally, with an eye on future training, the 40 employees who
had returned from assignments in Mexico were asked to identify the
two biggest challenges that they had faced when working in Mexico.
A summary of their responses to this question is presented in Table
2.
Table 2: The 'Two Biggest Challenges' Faced by the
Employees (N=40) During Their Assignments in Mexico
'Biggest Challenge'
Number of employees citing this challenge*
Communication problems with local workers
28
Technical issues relating to their work
15
Traveling within Mexico
10
Health and diet issues
10
Accommodation issues
6
Loneliness/boredom
4
Safety including crime
3
Pressure from family in USA
2
Other challenges cited by only one employee
2
*Total number of responses is 80, that is, two responses
per employee
Implications of the Analysis
Case Study Questions for Further Reflection
Reiche, B. S., Harzing, A., Tenzer, H., International
Human Resource Management. [devry]. Retrieved from
https://devry.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781526454928/ pp.
393-395