International Training and Development Careers - Research Paper Example

International Training and Development Careers Name: Institution: Date: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 FedEx Background 4 3.0 Corporate Mission, Vision and Values 4 4.0 IHRM Practices Analysis 6 4.1 Orientation Process 6 4.2 Internal Promotion Strategy 8 4.3 Leadership Development Program 10 5.0 Conclusion 12 References 14 1.0 Introduction Globalization has revolutionized the international market operational platform. In this regard, the international markets have dynamically changed and metamorphosised with the increased growth and advent of modern technology and globalization impacts. In order to evaluate the changing international markets, Pies, Beckmann and Hielscher (2010) conducted a study to evaluate and study the change process. On its part, the study analysis established that with increased technology application as well as globalization has changed the global macro-economic factors. As Dowling, Festing and Engle (2013) discussed one of the fundamentally discussed issues that have changed is the labour market is the labour market. Traditionally, organizations were charged and tasked with the responsibility of recruiting employees from within their locality and home base areas. Therefore, such employees often shared a joint culture as well as income levels making human resource policies easy to administer and execute. Consequently, as Ariss, Koall, Ozbilgin and Suutari (2012) discussed, the global human resource management concept and practices have changed. As such, the concept and practice has changed to include the international human resource management practice. In this regard, the authors argued that the IHRM practice include a deliberate effort and strategy to incorporate and assimilate the interests and concerns of the various international employees especially for the multinational corporations operating across the global market. This report develops a strategic evaluation on the application of IHRM practices by the FedEx Company offering improvement recommendations where necessary and as required. 2.0 FedEx Background The organization has its headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. The organization has over the years developed a strong market reputation and regard in the market. Mainly, it has acquired a more is its attractiveness as a working centre in the market. Consequently, this earned the organization a 97th overall position in the Fortune magazine (2008) analysis of the best places to work in across the globe report. As such, this increased the overall organizational employee value proposition as it was among the largest employers ranked that year. Over the years, the organization has evolved and expanded influence and control in the information and transportation industry across the globe. The organizational team of over 300, 000 employees serve its development and advancement engine in the market. In this case, the organization has a competitive edge in its wide subsidiaries that offers it’s a global based presence. Moreover, the adopted organizational decision making process that is largely inclusive and incorporates the views and needs of the diverse stakeholders remain among its key competitive edges. Statistics and market forecasts indicate that the organizational performance and development trends are expected to project and advance into the future thus making it a viable investment opportunity as well as an ideal employer for future career growth and development. 3.0 Corporate Mission, Vision and Values The organization has a mission statement of providing logistical services solutions to the world to enhance maximum investment returns to the shareholders with a vision of emerging as a preferred global logistics provider across the market. The FedEx Company operates under a series of strategic values and practices in the market. One of the fundamental principles applied by the organization is the concept of respect. On one hand, the respect principle is advanced to the consumers through listening to them and offering them a position in the organizational decision and strategies formulation process through regular and frequent consumer surveys. Moreover, the organization extends is respect value to the community and shareholders through increased accountability practices in the market. As such, the organization has over the years developed a relevant and appropriate reporting system in the market. Moreover, the organization has developed a respect principle for its employees across the globe. Therefore, through the advancement of this strategy, the organization has established training and development programs for the employees. A strategic approach in the organization IHRM system management is the application of the People service profit (PSP) philosophy. The application of this philosophy was the perception of organizational employees as important assets and driving force in organizational operations (“FedEx”, 2014, “Mission”). In this case, the organization is founded on the belief that the human resource aspects such as quality, expertise and diversity through the IHRM practice of international inclusion serve a crucial role in developing an organizational operations success and the subsequent gain and acquisition of profits in the long run (Ariss, 2010). In fact, the establishment of these programs and the training and development expository program by the organization management serves as the key strategic aspect and driving force for the development of this report. This report subsequently offers a strategic evaluation and focus on the developed strategies. As such, the report evaluates the relevance of the training and development strategies adopted by the organizational IHRM policies. Subsequently, the report offers recommendations for improvement on deficient training and development policies in the organization. 4.0 IHRM Practices Analysis Based on the above FedEx analysis, it is apparent that the organization has developed a series of relevant employee training and development practices that make it an ideal employer in the market. Strategically, this report section offers an evaluation of these respective strategies evaluating the challenges and achievements of each. Moreover, it offers recommendations for improvements on each of the strategies. 4.1 Orientation Process The FedEx Company has apparently succeeded in its orientation program. In this regard, the perceived rigorous and extensive orientation process in the organization is an aspect geared towards increased skills development and success in the market. Therefore, this is presumably one of the reasons floated for the organizations increased attractiveness as a global employer. Through the application of the process, the organization is claimed to have earned an increased overall retention rates of the employees in its global operations. Geringer, Frayne and Milliman (2002) discussed on the concepts and application of an orientation program in organisations. On one hand, the evaluation evidenced that the execution of an orientation program enhances the development as well as the retention of an overall organizational culture through equipping employees with the relevant and required organizational operational approaches and needs in the market. In an evaluation of the relationship between an orientation and IHRM, Festing (1997) conducted a study evaluating the application and rationale for the application of an orientation process to an organizational IHRM system operation a case study of the German companies. In its analysis, the study established that orientation serves as a critical international human resource management approach. In this case, the evaluation noted that the international labour has differing cultures and orientation. Therefore, as Dowling, Festing and Engle (2013) stated, the process of orienting the global employees onto the organizational operational culture ensures the incorporation of global labour market diversity while ensuring increased standardization of such respective operations. To this effect, Dowling (1999) noted that the global market IHRM standardization process is heavily reliant on the application and successful execution of a well organized and coordinated orientation process. An evaluation of FedEx Company demonstrates the successful application and execution of the orientation process. In this regard, organizational statistics indicate that the organization considers the orientation process as the starting point for an eventually continuous employee training and development process in the organizational operations. Although most of the employees orientation is for a three weeks period, the organizational employees with direct relationship and contact with the consumers also referred to as the customer service representatives have a more rigorous orientation process. The core reason behind the orientation process is to incorporate diverse global employees into the organizational workforce. Traditionally when the organization drew its workforce form the USA market, the orientation process was irrelevant as the culture across the labour force was common (“FedEx, 2014, “Our People”). However, since its expansion and diversification to include the international market labour force in its operations orientation emerged as a key IHRM success feature. Therefore, through this approach, the organization has over the years successfully applied orientation to ensure proper coordination in its international workforce. Evidently, this report evaluation asserts that the current orientation program is not satisfactory in IHRM. In this regard, the organization applies similar and standardized process. However, as Scroggins (2010) argued, the international labour market has differing needs and cultures. Therefore, it is highly recommended that organisations should strive to diversify their practices and operations in the market. Therefore, this would allow for increased concentration and focus on the respective cultures in the market. Therefore, based on the applied organizational orientation system applied by the FedEx Company and the IHRM needs and concerns, the report recommends the diversification of this program to respective regions and geographical market aspects in the market. 4.2 Internal Promotion Strategy Based on an evaluation of the internal employee development approach, it appears that the organization has developed relevant organizational development practices for development and improvement of the employees and the managers’ form within the workforce. In this regard, a personal evaluation reveals that the application of the internal development programs has enhanced and improved its training and development aspects to a great extent. IHRM concepts and theorists advocate for the application of the internal promotion strategy. Karjalainen (2010) developed a strategic evaluation of the role of internal promotion programs in the management of the IHRM systems as a means of reducing IHRM challenges through organizational culture development and propagation. In its analysis, the evaluation evidenced that through an internal promotion system, an organization offers its employees an opportunity to grow and develop within the organizational ladder. As such, in the international and foreign markets, the organization is able to nature employees and raises them up the organizational platform to acquire management level positions. This, the practice of training and developing employees through an internal promotion program ensures increased employees productivity as well as diversify enhancement in multinational organisations in markets where high level skills are unavailable in the market and thus cannot be directly sourced from the market (Lim, 2012). The FedEx Company has over the years applied the internal promotion program in the market. As such, the organization initiated SFA promotion improvement program. In this regard, the approach was geared towards evaluating and controlling the middle level and executive level managers. As such, the program is a development initiative that seeks to enhance increased promotion of organizational managers through relevant appraisals that showcase on the respective employees’ strengths and weaknesses to showcase their improvement need areas. Moreover, in the recent past, the organization initiated the Leadership evaluation and awareness process (LEAP). Although introduced relatively ate, the program seeks to appraise low level employees onto establishing their talents, nurturing and growing them and subsequently promoting them up the organizational ladder (Shetty, 2011). The application of this program has enabled the organization nurture and grows employees in the foreign markets where such professional levels and expertise are absent. Therefore, this analysis evidences that indeed through its innovative training and development program, the organization has to a large expand succeeded in developing and generating a diversified and representative as well as qualified and professional workforce across the globe (Dowling, Festing & Engle, 2013). In order to grow and expand this training and development programs, this report recommends that the organization should consider the development and introduction of a merger between the SFA and LEAP programs. Through their currently running on different programs, this has reduced the organizational control on them while increasing their overall maintenance costs as different teams are allocated the duties and mandate to manage the systems (“FedEx Express”, 2014). However, merging the system would ensure the establishment of a single team to manage the program. Through such a joint program initiative the employees both at the lower level and executive levels would be treated fairly and equally (Row, 2014). Consequently, the application of this strategic modification on employee internal promotion programs would ensure and facilitate equality and fairness principles that are key among the organizational core operational values. 4.3 Leadership Development Program Apparently, FedEx Company has established a global recognition as a major attraction through its leadership development approach. In this case, the organization seems to have focused and zeroed in on the development of a successful employee value proposition practice in which the respective employee development and growth is guaranteed. This is presumably one of the reasons as to why the organizational managers have established market recognition of competence and professionalism. Bartlett, Lawler, Johngseok Bae and Wan (2002) discussed the concept of career development in organisations. In this regard, the evaluation study developed a unique perception and evaluation of the topic through the critical evaluation of the concept relationship with the IHRM practices. In its analysis, the evaluation study established that one of the strategic approaches through which organisations could create value to their global workforce is through their respective career development and advancement opportunities (Perkins, Shortland & Perkins, 2006). In this case, the evaluation argued that organisations had the opportunity to develop and improve their employee skills and expertise through increased integration and interactions establishment. To this end, Brewster and Mayrhofer (2012) argued that through the establishment of strategic approaches and avenues through which the global employees interact, relate and share between each other, organisations promoted their ultimate employee development and retention rates in the market. Evidently, the FedEx Company has satisfactorily and to a great depth and extent applied the practice. In this regard, the organization instituted the purple promise pipeline strategy. In this regard, the pipeline is a series of strategies and approaches through which its managers and leaders are trained and developed through to increase and enhance their professional and expert skills elevation. One of the approaches is through job rotation. As such, none of the organizational managers serves in a single geographical region for long. As such, they are frequently rotated across the globe. Through this location, the managers interact with the international labour force in the respective cultures thus promoting the ultimate development of an integrated international labour force as a measure to managing its IHRM practices (“FedEx Express”, 2014, “Monitoring”). Moreover, the organization applies the coaching and mentoring human resource development program. In this regard, the program is often executed by expatriates in the foreign markets. Through this approach, the expatriates coach and mentor the respective foreign labour force to increase and promote their leadership skills. Consequently, this ensures the development and establishment of an expert qualified leadership workforce in the organization across the globe. Further leadership development approaches can be cited in the establishment of the leadership Development Institute (LDI) to offer training and development services to the organizational employees. Although it is clear that the organizational leadership development system in the IHRM context is almost satisfactory, this report recommends that the program be refined and modified to suit the changing market dynamic international labour market needs. As such, the report recommends the inclusion of performance appraisal systems in the program. In this regard, the conduction of regular and frequent performance appraisal systems in the market would ensure that the program graduates the best performance and offers a flexible development schedule. Currently, all participants undergo the program under equal timeframes (Schmeisser, Krimphove & Popp, 2013). However, through the use of regular appraisals, the timeframe would be reduced or increased to individual managers depending on their response and gains from the program. 5.0 Conclusion This report develops a strategic evaluation and focus on the FedEx Company IHRM training and development programs application. In this regard, the report evaluation focused mainly on the actual applied strategies, the theoretical arguments supporting the strategies application and retention as well as the relevant strategic recommendation alternatives for future increased performance and success. Essentially, the report analysis lists and describes three key training and development IHRM practices applied by the venture. One among them is orientation. On its part, the organization has a rigorous global orientation program for its employees. The program promotes IHRM management in that it ensures the development and establishment of synergies between the diverse organizational cultures in the market. As such, this promotes concentration and corporation between the diverse market cultures in the market. Moreover, the report establishes that the organization applies an internal promotion program. Through the internal promotion program, the organization promotes the development of skills among employees in the international market. As such, the approach ensures that for the markets with minimal skills and expertise to acquire management positions, such markets acquire the ability through the internal programs where employee admitted on the low levels rise through the hierarchy. Therefore, the approach increases diversity and representation in IHRM practices. Finally, the report establishes the application of a leadership development program. Through the program application practices such as job rotation, the organization facilitates interaction between the global leaders thus enhancing reduced IHRM perceptions in decision making. Based on the developed evaluations and the subsequent recommendations offered, the report concludes that the FedEx Company has potential to advance and project its current IHRM practices into the future justifying its inclusion in the best places to work in analysis reports over the years. References Ariss, A. A. (2010). Modes of engagement: Migration, self-initiated expatriation, and career development. Career Development International, 15(4), 338-358 Ariss, A. A., Koall, I., Ozbilgin, M., & Suutari, V. (2012). Careers of skilled migrants: Towards a theoretical and methodological expansion. The Journal of Management Development, 31(2), 92-101 Bartlett, K. R., Lawler, J. J., Johngseok, S. C., & Wan, D. (2002). Differences in international human resource development among indigenous firms and multinational affiliates in east and Southeast Asia. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 13(4), 383-405 Brewster, C., & Mayrhofer, W. (2012). 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Strategic international human resource management: Choices and consequences in multinational people management. London: Kogan Page Pies, I., Beckmann, M., & Hielscher, S. (2010). Value creation, management competencies, and global corporate citizenship: An ordonomic approach to business ethics in the age of globalization. Journal of Business Ethics, 94(2), 265-278. Row, H., (2014). Is management for me? That is the Question, Fast Company. Retrieved from < http://www.fastcompany.com/33660/management-me-question> Schmeisser, W., Krimphove, D., & Popp, R. (2013). International human resource management and international labour law: A human resource management accounting approach, International human resource management and international labour law München: Oldenbourg-Verl. Scroggins, W. A. (2010). International human resource management: Diversity, issues and challenges. Personnel Review, 39(4), 409-413 Shetty, N., (2011). Leadership at FedEx, Management Paradise. 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