International Human Resource Management Case Study - Management Assignment Help

Assignment Task

Task 

Assignment details

Your role
You are a consultant that specialises in the Human Resource aspects of developing an international business focus and has been approached by Future Smart Inc. to assist in analysing and, where appropriate, developing a plan to assist the company in expanding overseas. While the Board of this company is open to other ideas, they are set on the direction of international expansion. However, the Board would like to adopt a cautious approach until they have a sound understanding of all the issues, including the HRM aspects of international operations. 

THE SCENARIO 
This International Human Resource Management case deals with problems and issues of setting up an international subsidiary, which aligns with corporate strategy. 
Future Smart Inc. is a key supplier of educational materials for the US. The company focus is on learning tools and systems for use in technology, science and business classrooms. In addition, it develops and provides books, manuals, videos, software and hardware used in the fields of technology education, instructional development and business applications. 

The three main divisions exemplify three different strategies: quality enhancement, innovation and cost-reduction: 

• Product manufacturing. The primary strategy of the Manufacturing Division is quality enhancement. Future Smart Inc. has an enviable history of providing the highest quality products, which have been adopted by first-rate schools and corporate training programs. 
• CreativeDevelopment. TheprimarystrategyoftheCreativeDevelopmentDivisionisinnovation. Future Smart Inc. is widely known for providing truly cutting edge teaching materials, which always mirror the latest techniques and processes. 
• Transportation,ServiceandMaintenance. TheprimarystrategyoftheTransportation,ServiceandMaintenance Division is cost-reduction. Future Smart Inc. has long been known for providing service and maintenance programs, which are very reasonably priced. 

Within the Human Resources Department there are four sections: 

1. Staffing section.
2. Training, career development and performance appraisal section.
3. Labour-management relations section.
4. Compensation and benefits section. 

There are also human resource specialists in each of the four divisions around the country. 
Future Smart Inc. has decided to expand to Japan. Management has conducted research and discovered that they want to start selling in east Asia. That area is organizationally, politically, legally and culturally so different from the US, though market researchers have shown huge opportunity and considerable forecasted demand in that specific market and that is why the managers of Future Smart Inc. thought it would be best to start the internationalization with east Asia. The company bought a small, high-tech education firm in Japan. The firm has been around for many years and has a mature workforce. The internationalization project manager, Sean Dickson, has to decide whom to hire as a manager for the firm. 

The strategy of this factory is quality enhancement. The manager should be able to continuously keep up quality and make sure that the employees understand the importance of producing quality products. Also, the manager should have a good vision about how to develop educational products for east Asian markets. That means he or she should also be innovative and know about high tech educational products. The job includes making long-term plans, deciding about new educational products, hiring and managing performance for current staff and making sure that the subsidiary strategies are in line with the parent company. 

There are some major differences between Japan and the US in labour laws. In Japan, it is common practice to have long-life employment and one cannot fire people without a legally defensible reason. There are also collective bargaining agreements that are made with unions, but which cover employees outside the unions. On the other hand, the U.S. has something called ”at-will” employment. Japan does not. This means that, in the US, employers can terminate an employment relationship without notice, for any reason, so long as doing so is not a violation of a protected class. Another difference is the union system. Japanese unions are more centralised and more powerful in collective bargaining; whereas US unions are more fragmented and less powerful in upholding the rights of the employees. 

The HR Executive has three candidates for the plant manager position: 
Hoshino Taikuchi is a 45-year-old Japanese man. He is a manager in the Japanese high-tech companyFuture Smart Inc. just bought. He was against the trade and has not talked kindly about Future Smart Inc. On the other hand, he worked with the former company for ten years and he knows the employees well. He has always been well-liked in the company and does his work well. Hoshino has a wife and two teenage daughters. He has never worked anywhere else except in Japan.  Jason Beatie is a 36-year-old American man. He has worked with Future Smart Inc. for five years as manager of a production department. He has always done his work well within the company, and his boss has nothing but good things to say about him. He has shown a real aptitude for guiding high-quality production operations and is considered a rising star in the company. Jason has never worked outside the US, but he is very anxious about this new opportunity and he is ready to take on the challenge. Still, he does not wish to work abroad for a long time, just a few years to gain experience and help the company start its business in Japan. Jason has a wife and three young kids. 

Jess May is a 27-year-old Australian woman. Despite her young age, she has had a lot of experience in the high tech industry. She has worked several years in Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia, so she knows the far Asian market quite well. She speaks Mandarin Chinese and Korean, but not Japanese. Her present employer is a South Korean company, where she was recently promoted to be a project manager. The reason she is applying for this position is for new challenges. She seems really career-oriented. She seems very motivated and anxious to work with Future Smart Inc. She is still single and does not plan to get married or have kids in the near future.

The Portfolio task
HR Executive first problem is who to choose as plant manager? Why? 

The other four problematic concerns are: 

•  TheStaffingContext: FutureSmartInc. Hassomeinterestingsendingoneof’theirpeople’overseastorun the new business. What staffing option/s would you recommend and discuss your reasons? 
• TheCulturalContext: FutureSmartInc.recognisesthatitisimportanttoconsidertheculturalcontextina potential new overseas venture. What type of cross-cultural management approach and knowledge would you recommend? Why? 
• TheOrganisationalStructure: Whichtypeoforganisationalstructureforoverseasoperationswouldyou recommend Future Smart Inc. adopt? Discuss your reasons. 
• The International Training, Development & Careers Context: What types of training, development and performance management and measures will Future Smart Inc. need to consider if it goes ahead with the overseas operations? Why  

This Management Assignment has been solved by our Management Expert at My Uni Paper. Our Assignment Writing Experts are efficient to provide a fresh solution to this question. We are serving more than 10000+ Students in Australia, UK & US by helping them to score HD in their academics. Our Experts are well trained to follow all marking rubrics & referencing Style. Be it a used or new solution, the quality of the work submitted by our assignment experts remains unhampered. 

You may continue to expect the same or even better quality with the used and new assignment solution files respectively. There’s one thing to be noticed that you could choose one between the two and acquire an HD either way. You could choose a new assignment solution file to get yourself an exclusive, plagiarism (with free Turn tin file), expert quality assignment or order an old solution file that was considered worthy of the highest distinction.