Training Program for Staff Who Are Being Groomed to Become International Managers - Coursework Example

Running Header: Training program Training program Course Name Professor’s Name Institutional Affiliation City and State Where Institution is Located Date Table of Contents Running Header: Training program 1 Introduction 3 Brief overview of Fastest Food 4 The focus areas for the training program 4 Leadership 4 The organizational frames 5 Culture 8 Conflicts 8 Trust 9 Motivation 10 Communication 10 Local laws and regulations affecting business conduct 11 Challenges that the implementation stage of the training program may face 11 Overcoming the challenges 12 The plan of action 13 Conclusion 14 Appendix: Suggested training program format 17 A training program for staff who are being groomed to become international managers Introduction Staff who are being groomed to become international manager’s need special training that is different from the one the staff who are being trained to become managers within the host country are given. This is because apart from imparting them with normal managerial skills, the organization also need to train them on how to deal with a completely new market that may have completely different culture from the host country. The differences in the market environment may thus result to differing types of challenges that may make the new manager’s work challenging and may even hinder the company from achieving its motive of sending the new manager in the new market. This calls for the organization to impart the staff who are being groomed to become international managers with both hard and soft skills necessary for survival and success in the new market. Hard skills would include the technical areas which are specific to the manager’s job. On the other hand, soft skills are even more critical for the expatriate manager since the manager needs to learn at least the basics of the new country’s language, they also need to learn the basics of the new country’s culture and adapt to it where necessary while also learning about the new consumer culture if they are to help the company tailor make their products in accordance to the new market’s tastes and preferences. In addition, their success in the new market will depend on how well they manage those they will be working with. As such, they also need to understand their culture and conflict resolution techniques in their new stations since conflicts are bound to happen. This shows how complex training and grooming staff for a managerial role internationally is. Due to this complexity, the implementation process is bound to be faced with some challenges. As such, this report is a proposal of a training program for staff who are being groomed to become international managers in Fastest Food Company Melbourne as it continues to launch its new stores abroad. In addition, the report outlines the challenges that the training program’s implementation stage is bound to experience as well as how the challenges could be overcame. It is hoped that the suggested training program will go a long way into helping Best Food Company achieve its objectives abroad once the expatriate managers are deployed. Brief overview of Fastest Food Fastest Food is a medium sized food company that has its headquarters in Melbourne Victoria and has been primarily operating in Australia. The company has several branches in across Australia and owing to its continued increase in size, the company is now opening branches in Beijing and Tokyo. In a bid to make the plan successful, the company recognizes challenges in finding staff among its current employees who have the requisite skills to become managers in the new markets. The company also recognizes the multiple factors at play in establishing the new branches internationally which include conflict, trust, motivation, culture and politics among other issues. Thus, these issues have been incorporated in the training program since they are considered vital for the new managers to have if they are to succeed in the new market. The focus areas for the training program As a HR consultant, I would advise the HR manager that the following areas be covered in the training program Leadership `This being a new assignment in a completely new markets, the staff being groomed to become international managers ought to be well equipped with the right management and leadership skills apart from their managerial skills. It is important to note that the new branches will have new employees who have little knowledge concerning Fastest Food. Thus, the new managers’ role will include leading these individuals with differing characteristics and personalities into forming a new organization that meets Fastest Food’s internationalization objectives (Beau, 2009). They need to drive their teams in the international branches towards the overall Fastest Food’s overall vision by being able to unleash the full potential of each and every employee who will work under them. In addition, the leadership skills are necessary to enable the new managers to successfully encourage the new employees working under their supervision to willingly perform assigned tasks efficiently and effectively. This is necessary for the international branches to achieve high levels of job satisfaction and hence productivity by the managers enabling their staff feel they have a say in how they perform their duties. It is however worth knowing that effective leadership by managers will only be possible if they have the right view of the organizational complexity and how the organizations work. This is why they need to understand the four organizational frames and how they can effectively apply them in differing organizational situations if they are to successfully manage their new work stations abroad. The organizational frames As leaders, the new managers need to be equipped with knowledge on differing organizational frames. Organizational or leadership frames are the lenses with which we view the organization with regard to complexities and situations. Getting knowledge on the four frames is important for the new managers as it will help them in conceptualizing different approaches to various issues that they may be faced with when managing the new organizations/branches they are to manage. Thus, they will be able to apply one or more leadership approach depending on the circumstances. The four frames that the new managers need to understand include the structural frame, the human resource frame, the political frame and the symbolic frame (deJanaz, et al. 2005). The frames will be useful in diagnosing organizational needs, identifying organizational challenges and contexts and hence devising appropriate actions at the branch level by the new managers depending on the issues at hand. The frames will also be useful in reframing the organization and hence be able to arrive at appropriate actions depending on the situation at hand which would lead to the branch and hence organizational success. In these regard, it is crucial that the new managers acquire deep knowledge on how to apply the different leadership frames as follows; a) Structure frame- this frame casts managers and leaders in fundamental roles of clarifying goals, attending to the relationship between structure and environment, and developing a clearly defined array of roles and relationships appropriate to what needs to be done. Without properly understanding the organization structure, the new managers will be unsure about what they are supposed to be doing resulting in confusion, frustration and conflict in the international branches established. However, proper understanding of this frame will result in an effective organization/branch where everyone understands their responsibilities and their contribution with policies, linkages, and lines of authority being straightforward and accepted. By applying the right structure in the branches they will manage, they will help Fastest Food achieve its goals since every individual will understand their role in the big picture. The new managers will help focus on task, facts and logic as opposed to personality and emotions since they will be able to design and implement an architecture appropriate to the circumstances. b) Human resources frame- As stated above, the ability of the new managers to manage the people operating under them will be critical to the success of Fastest Food international operations given that people are the center of any organization. Thus, understanding the human frame will be critical in enabling the new managers make the employees under them understand that Fastest Food is responsive to their needs and supportive of their personal goals hence enabling them deliver commitment and loyalty (Draft, 2011). Thus, the new managers need not be authoritarian or insensitive and they need to communicate effectively and care for them to be effective leaders by working to serve the best interests of both the organization and the people they lead or manage. Thus, understanding the human resources frame will equip them with skills necessary for supporting and empowering those they lead and manage. c) Political frame- The new leaders need to understand organizational politics and hence be able to know how to deal with conflict. This is because there are various interest groups that are either internal or external to the organization that have differing agenda and which compete for scarce organizational resources which may at times result in conflicts. Thus, understanding the frame would enable the new managers manage organizational politics and conflicts as productively as possible to the benefit of Fastest Food. d) Symbolic Frame – understanding the frame is important for the new managers to be able to inspire those they lead thus enabling them to identify with the new Fastest Food branches abroad by making them unique in their niche while protecting the general organizational culture. By incorporating the four frames in the training plan, it will help the new managers understand how organizations operate and hence be able to employ the leadership approaches that will have the greatest productivity for Fastest Food. Culture Australia’s culture and hence that of Fastest Food significantly differ from that of Beijing and Tokyo and indeed all other areas where the company will establish branches. This means where great differences exist, conflicts are bound to arise and this may at times hinder the achievement of the company’s goals or the success of the international branches. As such, it is important that the staff being groomed to manage the international branches be trained on the cultural differences and how best to deal with them for the benefit of the international branches and hence Fastest Food company (Lionbridge.com, 2017). In this regard, the training plan on culture will entail training the staff and their families in a bid to increase their knowledge about the new country’s culture, society and business culture as well as the day to day living thus significantly reducing the risk of cultural misunderstandings and enhancing cross-cultural experience. The plan will also include the manager and team cultural briefing. This is important since the manager and those he/she will be working with need to understand each other’s cultural values and norms with differences regarding communication and management style being identified together with differing expectations. This is important as it would greatly reduce chances of cultural based conflict occurring which would hinder the achievement of the overall organizational goals. Conflicts The training program also needs to incorporate conflict as one of the areas the staff being groomed to become international managers for Fastest Food need to be trained on. This is because conflicts are bound to occur in any organization and some conflicts are healthy and hence necessary for the organizational success while others are unhealthy for organizational success and hence should be avoided. Thus, the staff need to be trained on what triggers conflict, what conflict is necessary and which one is not. They also need to be trained on the various techniques that they should use in resolving conflicts that arise in the organization for the organizational goal to be achieved. It is worth noting that any conflict that is not solved or managed in the right manner is likely to hinder the achievement of the organization’s goals as different sides continue pulling in different directions while others feel that they have been mistreated depending on how the conflict was resolved. In a cross cultural setting, the effects of a conflict that is poorly resolved can even be worse. This is likely to demotivate some employees hence hindering the performance of the branch and hence the essence of going international for Fastest Food will not be achieved (Quinn, et al. 2007). This is the reason why we need the potential managers to be trained on conflicts and conflicts management so that whenever conflicts arise, they will be appropriately resolved and thus will not act to hinder the achievement of organizational goals since people will remain focused to the productive process as the manager resolves the conflict. The training should also be aimed at equipping them with the right negotiation skills as a conflict management tool. In addition, it will be important for the new managers to be trained on how to resolve any conflict that may exist between personal and organizational motives for moving abroad so that both the motives can be achieved without necessarily hurting the organization while recognizing that individuals have differing goals and motives. Trust It is worth noting that the new managers will be working in a completely new environment with people who barely know them and a market that barely knows the Fastest Food. How will trust be established in such a situation between the manager and his subordinates as well as between the new branch and the potential customers in such an environment that is also cross cultural? In this regard, it is important that the staff be trained on skills that will help them establish trust between them, the company and other stakeholders. This is because without trust, it will be hard to achieve the goals of the branch and thus the organization. Motivation Motivation of employees play a great role in the success of any organization and hence the need to include motivation in the training program. Motivation is necessary for the created international branches to have higher performing and more capable employees. It is also necessary for the creation of a happy working environment and also creates a competitive advantage for both the company and the employees (americanexpress.com, 2017). Thus, motivating employees is critical for the organizational success and hence the staff being groomed to assume international managerial roles need to be aware of various theories regarding motivation and the various techniques they can use in motivating the employees in their various countries which may also have cultural dimension. This will ensure motivated employees leading to the achievement of Fastest Food’s overall globalization objective. Communication The staff being groomed to be managers will be operating in a cross cultural setting which may make communication with their subjects as well as customers a challenge to them. Lack of proper communication may lead to misunderstandings and hence conflicts which necessitates that learning of proper communication skills be part of the training program. In addition, good communication skills will be critical to the success of Fastest Food’s international operations since it is critical to establishing good relationship between the manager and employees thus producing a competitive advantage (Robbins, et al. 2011). Whether verbal or non-verbal communication, communication that is supportive will most likely lead to positive relationships in the work place and hence organizational success. Thus, the training program ought to equip the staff with adequate communication tools and skills that will enable them operate successfully in the cross cultural settings. Local laws and regulations affecting business conduct The laws and regulations that affect business in Australia may greatly differ with those of other countries and hence the training program needs to acquaint the staff with these differences to ensure that the new branches in foreign locations are conducted in a way that avoids legal conflicts since the business is unlikely to succeed unless conducted legally. Apart from the above elements, the training program also ought to incorporate the normal managerial skills that a normal manager not operating in the international arena should possess. Skills such as problem solving skills, planning, organizing and all other managerial functions will be important for the staff being groomed for international managerial roles since apart from leading the employees at the branches, the new managers at the international branches will also be expected to perform managerial roles for the overall success of the branches they will be managing. Challenges that the implementation stage of the training program may face The implementation of the training program is bound to face a number of challenges. The greatest challenge would be the conflict of interest between the trainees and the organization regarding being repatriates. In some cases, organizational motives may differ from those of the employees involved and this may hinder the implementation of the program. The cost of the implementation is another factor that may challenge the implementation. As stated above, the new locations are completely different from the environment at home (Mathis and Jackson, 2010). This means that some aspects of the training program may incur a lot of costs as they may incur visiting the new locations and acquainting one selves with them so as to gain an understanding of the locations including their culture. This may make the cost of training prohibitive. At the same time, the time required to undertake the training may be too much and this may be a challenge. This is because the timeframe between the implementation of the training program and the establishment of the new branches abroad may be limited and this may not afford the new trainees ample time to get a deep understanding of what they are being trained on to become effective managers. This is especially so if the trainees do not have previous managerial experience which may make the program’s implementation a challenge. The fact that the staff may lack prior experience of the markets they are being trained to manage may also be a great challenge. This is because they are not learning from an experienced point of view and this may make learning a little challenging for them. Overcoming the challenges In order to overcome the above challenges, I would advise that the selection of those to be involved in the training program be done carefully to ensure that only those whose motives are aligned with the organizational goals are chosen (Jay and Fulmer, 2003). In order to reduce costs, enough prior research ought to be undertaken in a bid to ensure that technology can be applied where necessary throughout the training process as opposed to for instance visiting the new venues all the time during the training. For instance, video conferencing can be used in providing training where those on location are used in training much about what the new environment looks like. The same strategy should be applicable in saving on time in a bid to ensure that more time is dedicated to the most crucial areas of the training program. If possible, those with managerial background should be chosen to participate in the program since their training would act as a boost to the program as they would be quick to understand what they are being trained on. The plan of action The training program will be implemented through the following steps Step 1: assessment of training needs- the first step will involve establishing the employees training needs with regard to establishment of international operations and see whether they lack as far as the above areas are concerned. Step 2: Setting the organizational training objectives-Based on the organizational training objectives and the needs identified, a training program will be established Step 3: Creating training action plan – a comprehensive action plan that will include learning theories, instructional design, content, materials among other training elements with regard to managing in an international context will be established. The plan will also consider learning styles before the program is launched (Gael and Patrick, 1996). Step 4: Implementation of the training initiative – this will bring the program to life. Decisions will include whether training is to be conducted in-house or externally coordinated. This will include scheduling of training activities and facilities. After implementation, the staff progress will be monitored to ensure the training program’s effectiveness. Step 5: Evaluation and revision of training- resulting from continually monitoring the program, the program will be evaluated at its end in a bid to determine its success and whether the training objectives have been met. Any weakness will be identified and corrected and once the program is considered successful, the staff will be deployed as expatriate managers. Conclusion This report has given the components of a training program for staff who are being groomed to become international managers for Fastest Food’s intended establishments in Tokyo and Beijing. In the report, the various issues to be incorporated in the training program have been looked at in detail. It is worth noting that the two markets are completely new and also greatly differ from the Australian market where the company has been operating. Thus, the issues to be addressed should greatly dwell on cultural differences while ensuring that the new managers are well equipped with the challenges that arise from operating in international markets. The report has also identified the challenges that implementation of the program may face while also suggesting how the challenges ought to be resolved. Finally, the report has also identified the steps that the training program will go through to ensure that the staff are eventually deployed. It is hoped that by strictly adhering to the program, the company will have successfully trained effective managers hence ensuring its success in the international markets. References: Beau, L2009, Optical illusions show how we see, Retrieved on 2nd June 2017, from; https://www.ted.com/talks/beau_lotto_optical_illusions_s how_how_we_see?language=en#t-33720 DeJanaz, S, Dowd, K&, Schneider, B2005, Interpersonal skills in organizations, McGraw Hill. Draft, R2011, Organizational theory and design, Thompson, Australia. Lionbridge.com, 2017, Top 5: Training and development challenges, Retrieved on 2nd June 2017, from; http://content.lionbridge.com/top-td-challenges-address/ Quinn, R, Faeman, S, Thompson, M&, McGrath, R2007, Becoming a master manager, John Willey & Sons, N.J. americanexpress.com, 2017, 10 ways to groom your employees into leaders, Retrieved on 2nd June 2017, from; https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/10-economic- ways-to-create-opportunities-for-employees-to-develop-key-leadership-skills/ Robbins, S, Judge, T, Millet&, Waters, M2011, Organizational behaviour, Pearson, Frenchs Rorest, N.S.W. Mathis, L&, Jackson, H2010, Human resources management, South Western Cengage Learning. Jay, C& Fulmer, R2003, Developing your leadership pipeline, Retrieved on 2nd June 2017, from; https://hbr.org/2003/12/developing-your-leadership-pipeline Gael, M&, Patrick, C1996, Ethical acculturation of expatriate managers in a cross cultural context, Cross Cultural Management: An international Journal, vol. 3, no. 4, pp.9-30. Appendix: Suggested training program format Name/Purpose of training Intended audience Priority (1-10) Comments Potential resources for training delivery Use Leadership and Ethics Managerial staff Leadership frames Culture Conflicts & Negotiations Trust Motivation Communication Applicable laws and regulations Applicable managerial skills Read More