How do the HRM practices at Great Wall fit together strategically - Case Study Example

?How do the HRM practices at Great Wall fit together strategically? To delineate how Great Wall’s HRM practices fit together strategically we observeits practices with regards to the HR’s four functions, namely: recruitment, training, rewards and staff retention. For starters we are informed that Great Wall organized itself functionally. This implies that the organization is then better placed to accurately define its recruitment, training, rewards and staff retention policies for each area of concentration. Also, using the functional divisions Great Wall is able to utilize a decision-focused approach which is based on the three decision making levels, namely operational, managerial and strategic. Recruitment We are informed that staff that was recruited was chosen based on their experience and interpersonal skills. Experience enables them to add value immediately to Great Wall and this is important for the organization as it seeks to rise to the pinnacle of Asian golf resorts. Furthermore, unlike their competitors Great Wall hired senior managers from Asia who had a better understanding of the culture and social practices of the Chinese target market. Training Great Wall knew that for the organization to raise its profile to world class it would have to invest in training its staff to meet those world class standards. From Exhibit 4 in the case we can see how Great Wall differentiated the training offered to its staff based on their level. There was the mandatory training required for all staff and additional training offered to staff that was at supervisory level and above. This is in line with the decision-focused approach to HRM. Through structured training as evidenced by Exhibits 4, 5 and 6 Great Wall could enhance its operating efficiency and develop specific skill sets among its vast number of employees. Rewards One of the challenges that Great Wall faced with regards to its staff is that many came from rural backgrounds or from State Owned Enterprises (SOE) that did not have a culture that recognized quality work. To transform Great Wall into a great brand it was imperative that it develop a new culture to these staff to encourage quality work and innovation. One way for achieving this is through a reward system. Great Wall is aware that each department is unique and therefore the organization has to employ a unique approach to gauging performance and offering rewards. Great Wall’s HR thus devised various informal and formal reward systems for managerial staff as well as rank and file employees. For example reward systems for rank and file employees included “Employee of the Month” which gave employees recognition as well as one month’s salary as financial reward. On the other hand, the best caddies would receive both monetary and non-monetary rewards for superior service and performance, with the monetary rewards being issued quarterly. Staff retention Another major challenge that Great Wall faced as an employer in China stemmed from the migrant nature of the workforce. Even though its staff turnover was lower than the industry average, it was still higher than Great Wall’s desired level. The company knew that its ability to retain staff that had long-standing relationships with members was a key competitive advantage thus it had to lower its staff turnover. With this goal in mind, the organization used a combination of incentive plans such as putting in place both formal and informal reward systems, trainings, comfortable housing, medical plans and so on. How do the HRM practices at Great Wall support Great Wall's strategy? Corporate strategy is about what a company wants and how the company should go about to satisfy this want. To achieve its main goal the company employs a grand strategy. Grand strategies fall into three general categories which reflect what a company’s overall goal would be namely: growth, stability or retrenchment. From the context of the case Great Wall’s grand strategy was to grow. The organization aimed to achieve this growth through placing emphasis on profit, innovation, and quality, to be market-driven, and focus on professional development (including staff development). Great Wall’s vision was to be acknowledged and accredited within the international community as world class and among the best in Asia. It was to achieve this goal through provision of personalized, high quality service to every one of its 2,000 members. The fact that it was difficult to provide such a high standard of service in China because of limited amenities made this a viable way for Great Wall to differentiate itself from its rivals. When we look at Great Wall’s HRM practices we are able to identify aligning of HRM to business strategy. To enable us evaluate this point we first have to delineate Great Wall’s business strategy. The organization has employed a competitive strategy that is manifested through its management and marketing. An organization could also use its marketing strategy to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. This is often done by differentiating decisions relating to market segmentation, targeting, and the development of a positioning strategy based on product, price, place and promotion. The predominant source of new members was the guests of current members who had visited the club, or those referred by a member (Everatt 5). This meant that Great Wall had to exceed its customers’ expectation as a means of marketing itself. Exceeding customer expectations would only be possible if the company retained staff that had long-standing relationships with members. We can therefore state that Great Wall’s HR policy to utilize a combination of incentives to lower its staff turnover directly supported this marketing strategy. Secondly, from the case it is stated that 90 percent of Great Wall’s membership spoke Mandarin and assumedly held that culture. The organization’s strategy to employ senior managers from Singapore and Hong Kong therefore meant that other than having superior language skills in comparison to their rivals, the senior staff was well versed with the culture and social habits of its core customers. As the stewards of the organization their input would significantly influence the success or failure of Great Wall to achieve its growth objective. In addition to that, we expect the interaction between senior management and the rank and file employees to be better where both groups understand each other’s culture. In such settings it is easier for the seniors to implement changes that the rank and file may not necessarily appreciate at first, but that may enable the company to gain competitive advantage. What would you do with Great Wall's HRM practices going forward? Be sure to take a strategic HR perspective on this. Elizabeth Wee, Great Wall’s Group Director of Human Resources, presented a HR plan with four key objectives that focused on recruiting, educating, training and keeping staff. However, for Great Wall to truly benefit from Wee’s plan it has to overcome the following four barriers to strategic HR. Firstly, Great Wall will need to increase the ability of its HR managers to think strategically and influence colleagues in other departments. Probably clear support from the top, Mr. Lin, would be needed to implement key changes in the organization. Secondly, Great Wall must avoid short term orientation considering that most of the HR interventions or practices have long-term implications. The company must avoid focusing on evaluating impact based purely on quantified results. Thirdly, there is always the feeling of risk in investing heavily in human resources which may hamper the development of employees. Fourthly, Great Wall should be aware that the implementation of strategic HRM may involve drastic changes in its work practices and other HR processes which may affect a lot of employees. The company should know that bringing about change is a difficult process and people who have faced negative consequences of an unsuccessful effort to change may obstruct the change processes in future. Works cited Everatt, Donna. Great Wall Golf & Country Club. Ontario: Ivey Management Services, 2000. Print.  Read More