40. You have served as HR Director for over a decade for Equis Pharmaceuticals,
ID: 364077 • Letter: 4
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40. You have served as HR Director for over a decade for Equis Pharmaceuticals, a domestic producer of antibiotics. Equis has recently acquired R&D; and manufacturing operations in Austria, France, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo. You are leading a team charged with developing a strategy for expanding global operations. Considering the conceptual contributions of Tichy, Trompenaars, and Ulrich, outline your strategy in the following areas: a Improving staffing for these global operations in a way that maximizes agility and b. c. Managing risk derived from changing technology, culture, and political forces. cultural common ground. Developing talent within the organization in a way that sustains traditional strengths while enhancing readiness for change/improvement.Explanation / Answer
First as a HR director I need to understand that going global requires certain standards to be kept in place for the whole organization and all its members - irrespective of the location, ethnicity or cultural identities. 'Ethnocentricity' shouldn't be promoted even unknowingly where the culture or ethnicity of the Head Office is prioritised.
Since R&D and Manufacturing operations have expanded in diverse markets like Tokyo, Austria, France and Tel Aviv, first I need to understand these markets both in terms of its business and culture in order to undrstand the Human Resources here. As an HR Director the strategy has to be ingrative to the Business Strategy and should not be isolation.
a) Before going into the recruiting phase in these regions, in house managerial mobility has to be focussed upon. This also helps in building the trust of the existing workforce and maintaing the retention strategy.
Coming to the strategy for improving the staffing- after due understanding of the local laws, business needs (From the expansion policy of the business) and cultural leanings it is time to focus on the customer needs and base the decisions of placing the heads on clearly 3 parameters. Which is knowledge, skill and attitude of the individual. irrespective of whether the individual is a native of that place or not he/she has to be placed if they hit these parameters. Building a Multi cultural organization requires effort from everyone including the head of the organization to the last end employee. The target should always be to look at the big picture of forming a 'Multi Cultural and Multi Ethnic' organization for which steps have to start on day 1 of expansion. This not only increases the free flow of passing along instructions and resources but also aids in managing the teams as business sub units part of a wholesome structure and not as isolated entitites. Thus the agility is maintained and common cultural ground is established.
b) As mentioned initially, any organization has to build the trust of their employees in staying back by showing them a clear career path and recognizing their talent and contributions. All employees have to be given a chance to function to their fullest which will make them grow an extra mile to deliver to the organization and not leave the role and organization at the first chance. This calls for a great effort in placing the proper HR systems in place. First build a global database to know the 'who and what' of every employee in the company. Based on the suggestions and advises of their superiors ( the system has to train every manager to assess their juniors and guide them) appropriate trainings (for both soft skills and technical knowledge) and leadership workshops have to arranged for these employees. Monitoring and guidance mechanisms have to be organic and not merely for sake of doing things. Employees should also be trained to be mobile, to explore new challenges, new markets and new assignments. This would increase the willingness to not only move and take new projects but also equips them with necessary skills to perform these projects to their utmost ability. This also helps these employees being ever ready for any change and improvement. Mobility not only in terms of geography but also in terms of organizational hierarchy has to be ensured. Only then the employee feels his/her work has been recongized and eventually strengthens the organization as an organization is only as good as its systems and resources.
c) As for every opportunity, it presents itself with certain risks which only if overcome give fruitful results instead of throwing into a spiraling failure.
As a pharmaceutical company, every drug launched in the market on the company's logo has potential to help improve or damage an individual's health. This calls for greater caution than any company in any other industry. Also every country has its own laws in permitting or restricting sale of drugs. The research, technology and manufacturing policies of every country vary as well which has to be taken due consideration of.
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