Please I need them urgently

Case study 4.1: Mobile reps become more mobile The company in uution is the local division of a large multinational telecommunications company. It is one of the smaller players in the country but has been growing quickly in revenue and is now seen as a good competitor in the industry with high profit potential. It is not unionised Group headquarters is based in Germany Interationally, the company takes advantage of all the best technology and design skills available world-wide and outsources its manufacturing to reliable suppliers in low-cost countries who offer the best deals at the night quality and on good delivery terms There are 70,000 employees world-wide with 2,000 based in your country. The operation depends on a network of shops in which start sell the company's products over the counter Below the senior management level, the local chief executive has heen told to do whatever makes sense locally in staff management The HR Director in Germany suid You know your national operation will be judged on its financial results at the end of the day That's where you take to perform but we are not going to tell you how to nin your HR policies The local chief executive hired an HR manager from the retail sector who has been responsible for setting up an HR policy manual that all the branches use. The approach is fairly standardised Sales stall in the branches are paid in a range which rises from 30% to 50% above the average retail wage. The company knows it needs to pay people with technical knowledge a little more to get good people and the pay range has four steps so that the more experienced and reliable people can be paid more by the branch managers. Sales staff are expected to assist cach other to maximise the branch's revenue and customer retention. They do not have any individual performance incentives. While the labour market is not tight, keeping top sales people can be a headache. The local senior management team focuses on new business opportunities in the telecommunication market Recently seeing the opportunity to increase market share with a very advanced phone, they launched a more targeted sales campaign. The idea was that these phones would be promoted to wealthier people who do not get to the shops very often and to staff in techie companies, using special offers emailed and texted to them and follow-up phone calls. The marketing department made up regionally-based lists of hot prospects for sales and the local CEO asked the HR Manager asked to target 80 core, high-performing stall to focus on the new sales campaign, drawing them from the most successful branches. These reps would be enabled to work from home or in convenient company offices behind the scenes She approached them individually, and issued the ones who accepted (907) with business cards and their own personal cell phones the new very advanced model. She explained that the CEO had promised exciting career development prospects (although whar exactly was never specified) All attended an initial three-day training course at the company's training facility Apart from these changes the sales reps stayed on the same terms and conditions of employment as before To begin with the new sales campaign was good fun. The people chosen to run it were high performers and made very good sales. In the first six months, the company increased its share of new mobile phone sales by 10%. While the specially chosen rops reported to their former branch managers, how often they kept in touch was entirely in the hands of branch managers who were typically under work pressure due to demanding performance targets in their branches. They generally regarded the new sales initiative as a pet project run from Head Office and resented the special status of the chosen tops as did hranch stair. No new staff were provided to the branches and workloads rose. There was a noticeable increase in absenteeism at branch level. Customers were forced to wait longer for service and some became exasperated Customer sur cys showed signs that this was affecting perceptions of service quality These pressures were a growing problem but then things got worse. Employee turnover rocketed among the reps working on the new sales campaign. The reason? A large competitor used one of their external HR consultants specialising in recruitment in this industry to identify and start recruiting what was clearly a group of top sales people, the cream of their competitor's workforce. The reps were offered either a good sales position or a branch management position, depending on their skills and interests. Both positions offered a higher base salary and a very attractive commission, which would cater to their high levels of productivity. Your company's share of the mobile phone market has now started to decline The questions 1. aj What kind of approach to local HR strategy did the German HR Director take? What perspective on strategic HRM outlined in the previous chapter chapter 3). decs this illustrate b) Do you consider the way for how) the German HR director carried out his approach wise? 2. What observations would you make about human resources and barriers to imitation in HRM based on this story! 1. Would you have adopted the same approach to HR strategy that the local CEO did when the company launched the new phone? Why why not? To regain market share, what would you advise this company to do now in terms of how it employs and manages its sales workforce? replacing NICHe bacheroun the industry having held operational mi dires international Clothing arms and having worked in three different countries. You in die first operations executive in the company to have a seat on the board. alhe company vou have now joined is not a household name but is a major supplier of intematonal retail chains, makine vast quantities of women : fashion items (outer- car for house-label ranges. The design function is located in Italy wule the company manufactures i diversified range of low-cost countries, including Mexico Morocco, China Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines. It does not manufacture in any Tuch wage countries The company has prospered from the escalating trend to otishoning in the last 20 years but its price margms are under constant pressure from its powerful retail customers. The factones the company ows. uront managed by trusted, experienced expatriate and local management start Ons The company is a lean kind of operation in corporate terms There are no head-office TIR Stall in the company Cp until now, the company's CEO has taken personal responsibility for scuting and manaung plant managers As the new Operations Director in this company you will now be responsible for performance management of the plant managers and this will include any people management issues that come up in the process The board you are joining is small consisting of the chairman (who has extensive industry experience and a niajor shareholding), the CEO (who also has a major Shareholding), the head of the design function a finance director and the company longstanding lawyer. They are very experienced in the industry. Know its work practices well, and are not attracted to modern HR jargon Unions are not really a big factor and they maintam a pragmatic attitude towards them This means they do not actively seek to negotiate with unions but, where they are a strong industry feature in a particular country, they expect plant managers to conclude a collective agreement that is cost effective (ie that meets company operating margins) and maintains uninterrupted production Peak-level demand now outstrips what the company own plants can deliver and prior to your arrival, the company set up arrangements with several contractors to supply merchandise made to your specifications like the company's own plants. these contractors operate in low-cost countries. The company has good control over production lead times through electronic ordering and an excellent logistics management system developed by your predecessor. The contracting process is helping you keep up with demand. The company has only chosen contractors who meel good quality standards. Using the contractors has enhanced your company's reputation for being able to deliver variable styles and quantities against tough deadline The Future looks good but a problem has arisen within two weeks of you starting or the ob. A human rights watchdog Toup. linked to an emerging trade imion tonement in lar last country has written to you complaining of human rights Tabases at one of your contractors plants. Using information from employees and the intemet, they have researched the links between the contracting company and your firm and the prominent Westem retailers that you supply They are threatening to publicise the branches while they love include suppression of union activity through acking of union activists declining to meet to discuss a process for Collectibareaming and instances of child labour If possible, however, they wish to work cooperatively with your company and are Te you the opportunity to respond You fly out to meet them bisten to their evidence and then meet with your contractor's management team The company manacement are not entirely straight with you about their attitude to unions and their procedures for recruitment and dismissals You feel the complaint about abuses is most likely accurate. You then lly home and prepare to meet with your fellow directors on the board to discuss the issue. You wonder if you might moet with a fairly hand-nosed response there if you suggest any changes and being new to the company feel you must play your cards carefully The questions moc its 1 Offensal thern ry e copreste ., is of nisk k manash Drawing on the framework in chapter 1 (summarised in Figure 11). what goals have been paramount so far in this company's approach to HRM?