Trying to Raise the Number of Local Women Employed - Essay Example

Management Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Management Assessment The report essay aims at identifying managerial problems faced by Remel supermarket, located in India. The problem is of having a low percentage of local women staff members occupying supervisory and managerial positions. It also discusses the causes leading to the problem (challenges) and the solutions undertaken to correct the problem. As a result, recommendations addressing the issues and challenges discussed and identified in analysing the problem. Problems faced by Remel Supermarket in India A supermarket, like any other business organization, faces various problems among them, managerial problems. In Rebel organization, a chain of supermarkets in Brisbane (India), several types of management problems encountered. Being a member of the management team, located at the head of office that is, in Brisbane, the Indian government minister is responsible. The program aims at raising the number of local women employed by transnational organizations. The ministry approached me and voiced concerns over the low percentage of local staff members, who occupy supervisory and managerial positions in the organization. This issue made us as the management team look into the various problems that existed within the organizations. Therefore, this led to having a low number of women occupying supervisory and managerial positions overseas. Although, it was not easy as the problems were masked by external factors and events, from the analysis, we identified several issues that the organization was facing that causes the problem among various others. The factors were separated into two. They were internal factors and external factors. These included legal and political factors, which pose as a challenge to the organization. Findings of the problems When opening a branch of the supermarket in an overseas country, the business must ensure that the legal requirements of the host country are met. This ensures that the operations undertaken by the business are legal and go smoothly. In our case, there were changes in the legal framework and policies that affect business structure in India. This includes adding the number of women in managerial and supervisory positions, in the supermarket. Changing the structure of our management team in order to adhere with the legal requirements is an issue that poses as a problem. This is because the requirement must be met. The management structure of the supermarket branch in India was made by managers who came from Brisbane and were assigned to work oversees. The choice based on their qualities and experience in international management (Peak & Peak, 1977, p. 56). Another issue, which led to the problem, was choosing workforce that consisted of few managers who had multicultural experience, but were not from the host country. There was also an addition of a few experts from the host country. This was to ensure that the success of the business would be achieved through cross cultural interactions. The choice of the managers was also based according to their traits (Joshi, 2009, p. 17). Our organization adopts the classical management theory, where we identify the different, specific business functions. These include marketing, production, finance and accounting, and divide them into different departments that work in a process (Joshi, 2009, p. 18). This strategy ensures that a number of workers are under the supervision and authority of a few managers as each manager is assigned a department. The strategy implemented is a cost effective system that ensures the cost of production in the supermarket is reduced (Joshi, 2009, p. 20). Cultural factors also contributed to the problem. Being an ethnocentric oriented organization, the operations of the business in India are carried out using the styles and practices that work in the home or head quarter country. This therefore, implies that bringing the culture that we practice to the host country. In many years, women were not considered leaders, but lately, the world started changing its views concerning this issue. As a result, the number of women who worked in the corporate world was limited as most of them did not go to study and thought that it was the vocation of men to engage in business activities. Our organization also embraced this culture. Because of the limited number of women who were in the corporate sector, our organization employed a small number of women who were available to take the role (Brewer, 1997, p. 65). This was a predicament when it came to assigning managers to go and work overseas. Women were included in the list, as it was believed that their traits would not be effective in carrying out the duties that were required by an international manager (Powell & Graves, 2003, p. 105). Women are considered to be emotionally attached to their families. Therefore, it would be hard for them to work away from their families (Powell & Graves, 2003, p. 110). They would also find it hard to adopt in a different environment compared to how men would do. They were also seen as being physically unfit in performing their required task in an overseas country (Powell & Graves, 2003, p. 112). All these characteristics contributed to us having a few number of women in the managerial position in Rebel supermarket, in India. In addition to that, the Indian culture also assumed that women could not play the role of leaders in the society (Powell & Graves, 2003, p. 105-117). The problem of having low percentage of local staff members who occupy supervisory and managerial positions is caused by economic factors. The economic policies that the government of India has set regarding business operations have been quite unfavorable especially in the taxation system (Bond, 2002, p. 88). Our business is highly taxed, which leads to an increase in the cost that we incur compared to the profits obtained. Stiff competition from other supermarkets in the market forces us to price our goods at low prices. Although, India’s economy is in the recovery stage, our organization must ensure that its productions are efficient and effective. By cutting down on the costs of operation, the decision of hiring few local staff members was made as a way of controlling our costs. Lastly, it was also identified that India had a large number of uneducated and unqualified people who take up the managerial position of the organization, and the few available were expensive or lacked experience, which was required by the organization. This factor led or rather forced the management to appoint a few numbers of local individuals be part of the management team. After identifying the problems, the possible solutions to the problems were devised. The solutions were made up of contextual factors, which would affect the solutions. The management that is located in the head office came up with various strategies of how the solution would be implemented. Recommendations The management that looked into the issue recommended that Remel should have an operating system. This should be flexible to adopt changes in the policies of different country. By planning for and having an effective change management strategy, the organization can successfully implement changes in its operations without having to disrupt or interfere with its organizational goals and objectives. Another recommendation is to change the organization from being ethnocentric oriented to geocentric oriented (Halweil, 2004, p. 127). This would ensure that the organization chooses the best people to manage their business regardless of where they are from. By adopting this approach, the organization will also incorporate competent locals in the management structure (Halweil, 2004, p. 128). Although it may be difficult to apply, it will ensure the success of the business as the managers will understand the local and global ramifications that the supermarket entails (Halweil, 2004, p. 129). Due to increased globalization and changes occurring in the world, businesses must ensure that they keep up with the changes. One recommendation in this sector is that the organization should change their views of women as incompetent managers. Instead, the organization should encourage and see to it that they develop through training and development programs. Since more women are being educated around the world, it has proved that they can perform just as well as their male counterparts. The organization also recommended finding other sectors in their operations where they can ensure effective cost reduction other than the management sector (Griffin & Pustay, 2010, p. 74). The management area in business function was particularly crucial in ensuring that the business grows and survives, as it is the one responsible for planning, organizing, controlling, coordinating and staffing all the business activities. Therefore, having an effective and qualified management team was necessary, irrespective of the cost incurred in that field (Griffin & Pustay, 2010, p. 75). For the problem of having inexperienced locals employed, it was recommended that the organization should train the locals after employing them. This would ensure that they become qualified for the position, as appointed, for them to know exactly what to do. The locals can be given such positions as assistants to managers. This ensures that they learn from their supervisors and at the same time, work for the organization. References Bond, R. (2002). New economy equity: navigating security and legal issues in digital business. Chichester: Wiley. Brewer, B. (1997). Challenges for expatriate managers: an exploration of cross-cultural management, adjustment, and training issues faced by Anglo-American managers in Hong Kong. Boston: Sage Publications. Cross, F. B., & Miller, R. L. (2009). The legal environment of business: text and cases : ethical, regulatory, global, and e-commerce issues (7th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Griffin, R. W., & Pustay, M. W. (2010). 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