Orientation and Training Program, Good Organizational Goals in China - Case Study Example

Project Made in China Part Orientation and Training Program A careful and well prepared plan with a clear, specific and attainable agenda must be conducted by the assigned team in order to establish a good relationship with Chinese people and come up with a successful orientation and training program. 1. Formal Invitation - Since the company is going to do business with people who have different culture, a very detailed invitation should be sent out to the participants in order for them to gain enough knowledge regarding the planned training. The invitation must be written in both English and Chinese language and should include a brief description regarding the training’s venue, duration, set of activities and training modules. 2. Attendees - This will be sent out to 25 Chinese participants and this will include not only the Chinese manager of Quality and Engineering but also to other Chinese employees who are in top positions in the company like the site manager and chief production manager. Selected Chinese people from every department like production, distribution, marketing, administration and human resources should also be included. Twenty five to thirty people who are consist of trainers and chief employees from the US Company should also attend the training. 3. Agenda – The agenda of the training is to orient and train the Chinese participants about the company’s operation and high value for production quality. Important details regarding the product, product production and distribution should be discussed. Since the company is well known for its quality, training on quality control system must be fully emphasized to the trainees. Lastly, culture training and social interaction should be conducted in order to gain knowledge about each other’s culture that will foster good business relationship. 4. Events and Schedules – Events should be scheduled appropriately during the 28-day training and schedules should include allowance to give way to unavoidable circumstances during the training. A training program calendar should be given during the orientation. Table 1. Training Schedule: DAY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 WEEK 1 Orientation Plant visit Training – Module 1 Language and culture training Social gathering 2 Training – Module 2 Field trip Training – Module 3 3 Rest Day Social gathering Training – Module 4 and plant visit 4 Language and culture training Field trip Rest day Training – Module 5 Closing party Based from Table 1, aside from the regular training, social gathering and field trips are arranged to give both Chinese and American participants an opportunity to know more about each other’s culture. Plant visits are arranged to let Chinese participants see the overall system of the company. 5. Training Coverage – The coverage of the training should be clear enough and a concise objective must be established for each training topic. This will serve as a guide for both trainers and trainees during the session. For each training session, materials will be provided by the company and these should be written in both English and Chinese language if possible. Interactive group activities are to be done at the start, in the middle and after the module discussion. This is to give the participants a better understanding about the topic, develop their social skills and prepare them to a team approach of management. Table 2. Module Content: Module Topic Date Content Organizational Training Week 1 Day 3-5 Full description regarding the company, its nature of business and organizational structure Product Training Week 2 Day 1-3 Full description about the product including its production and distribution. Employee Training Week 2 Day 5-7 Leadership style used in the company including the ways on how to manage employees. Quality Control Training Week 3 Day 3-7 Thorough training about the company’s quality control system and its technology including a plant visit to the company’s quality control system. People Management Week 4 Day 4-6 Additional training on how to handle employees as well as how to distribute tasks efficiently to various departments. Based from Table 2, five days are allotted to quality control training because this is the most important thing that the company wants to emphasize and convey to its trainees. Part 2. Establishment of Integrated Process Engineering and Quality Program The duration for the task will be 28 days and during this period, a thorough plant study and strategic planning will be conducted. The start-up team together with the Chinese managers who participated in the training will perform SWOT and Porter’s Five Analysis in order to gain enough knowledge regarding the market, and present competition among milk manufacturing companies in China. A schedule of activities and planned events will be made in order to optimize the stay. Regular meetings with the Chinese managers should be done to establish future plans and a specific agenda for each meeting should be established. To ensure that any misunderstanding will be avoided, a Chinese translator may be present during meetings. Table 3. Scheduled Events DAY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 WEEK 1 Initial meeting with Chinese Managers Contract signing Plant SWOT Analysis and Porter’s Five Discussion regarding the SWOT and Porter’s 5 results Social gathering 2 Position Briefing Discussion about Product Registration and procedures Business office establishment planning and information dissemination 3 Short term and long term goal planning Proposal preparation and discussion Social Gathering 4 Quality Control System Planning Follow up reports regarding product registration and business office establishment Closing Party Short Term Plans 1. Contract Signing – A strong legal contract between both parties is always essential in establishing good business relationship (Lee, 2008)). The contract must be complete and should be discussed in detail in order to be understood by both parties. Also, include a proposal of making English as the business language in the company to avoid translations in future meetings. 2. Product Registration – Doing business in foreign country includes several risks like protection of the company’s patent or trademark. Therefore it is a must to register the product in China to ensure that their product will not be pirated by other companies (Lee, 2008). Based from studies, there’s a high demand of milk in China even after the infant milk scandal that happened last year (“Emerald Dairy Provide Business Update”, 2008). It would be a big loss for the company if they will lose sales due to product pirating. 3. Establish a Business Office – Having a business office in China is like having the presence of the Chief Manager even if the person is not actually there (Lee, 2008). The goal of having a business office in China is to have a better control and management of the business. Reports regarding production and sales will be easily received and problems regarding the business will be easily addressed without doing frequent long distance communication with the main office in US. Lastly, information dissemination and action plans will be much easier. 4. Assign Positions – Relationship are vital to Chinese culture and it is always useful to have Chinese people on the ground who can understand and manage Chinese employees very well (citation). Therefore, managerial positions must be given to the Chinese managers especially to those who undergone training in US. Negotiations with other companies in China will also be easier if there’s a Chinese manager who can talk and negotiate with the other companies because Chinese people prefer to deal with people they know (“Making Sense of China”, 2008). On the other hand, the business office should be headed by a team of selected American managers because they are the ones who will receive reports from the Chinese managers and report it to the main office in US. Long Term Plans Long term plans will be established to ensure good working relationship between the company and the Chinese people. 1. English as a Secondary Language – The Company must pursue this goal of making English as a primary business language to its Chinese managers and top employees. Based from studies conducted, most of the Chinese people cannot speak English and so difficulties in business transactions usually happens (Ellinor, 2008). If all the people or at least the top managers know how to speak in English, then harmony in the company will be preserve because good communication and better understanding aid in good working relationship. 2. Intensive Employee and Managerial Training – The purpose of this plan is not only to develop the employees’ skills in work but also to develop the employees’ working attitude when it comes to a teamwork environment. For the past years, China has not been into a collectivist society and most of the Chinese employees do not engage in a team work environment (Making Sense of China, 2008). Moreover, the new generation of Chinese workers is more individualistic compared to Chinese workers before but they are more flexible and more open to new experiences. Since very few companies in China provide worker trainings, it will be a good step for the company to provide effective training to develop these workers into team players and develop the company as a whole (Making Sense of China, 2008). Managers should also undergo training from time to time not only to develop their skills in Western leadership but to train them on how to be concerned about their employees personally. Based on studies, many younger workers leave their companies because their managers, though they posses effective and efficient leadership, care less about them (Making Sense of China, 2008). If employees know that their managers care about them, then they will be more motivated in their work and will; be more productive. 3. Good Organizational Goals – There are two factors that affect the behavior of a Chinese employee. The first one is the proximal factor which includes the goals, structure, leadership style and organizational practices. The second one is the distal factor which talks about the Chinese tradition and culture (Making Sense of China, 2008). The goal of this plan is not to change nor remove the Chinese culture in order create a harmonious business relationship but to continuously set good goals for the company and its employees that will bind both parties together towards one goal of business prosperity and development. 4. Stable Database and Quality Control System – A stable database is needed in order to effectively and efficiently control the plant operations. Using a database, reports can be easily transported to the US and communication will be easier. Investments in quality control system should be done in order to ensure the quality of the products made. After the scandal about the melamine in dairy products in China, Chinese consumers became keener in selecting which product to buy (“Emerald Dairy Provide Business Update”, 2008). Therefore, if the company can establish their reputation to these customers through consistent production of high quality products, eventually, they will be able to boost sales and create a good relationship with Chinese people as well. Part 3. Recommendations to the Board of Directors Aside from the short term and long term plans that are established, the team will recommend the board of directors to come up with a reward system for the Chinese employees. As stated earlier, one of the factors that affect employee behavior is leadership style and management structure. If the company will implement a reward system type of management, this will further motivate the employees to be more productive. Moreover, this system is not new to Chinese workers since for the past twenty years; managers have been using a reward system instead of harmony method to push the lower level employees to do better (Making Sense of China, 2008). The company’s reward system will also aim the same thing but it will also convey harmony through group tasks and activities where cooperation is important. Incentives maybe in a form of compensation bonuses, leaves, promotion or gifts like furniture or gadgets. The technology that is used in quality control system in US should also be brought to China in order to ensure that the same quality of products goes out from the production. Chinese quality control managers are suggested to undergo training with the US quality control managers in order to break the culture barrier and establish one goal of quality achievement. If possible, the company may opt to train their Chinese managers with Total Quality Management training or Six Sigma to equip them with tools needed for management and quality assurance (Peter, 2001). ISO certifications may also be pursued in order to assure all the customers including Chinese people about the quality of the company’s product. If possible, “exchange-work” system can be implemented. Selected Chinese workers are to be brought to US to work for three months while selected US workers are to be brought as well to China to work for the same duration. The purpose of this is to further convey the culture of both parties to each other by means of letting them experience the real thing. This step will aid in maintaining good business relationship between two parties and help in understanding each other’s culture and behavior. References: Book: Pande, Peter.(2001). What is Six Sigma?. McGraw-Hill Professional. Articles: Ellinor, Rebecca (2008). The Benefits of Employing Chinese Buyers. Supply Management. p.1 Emerald Dairy Provide Business Update. (2008). PR Newswire. P. 1 Lee, Jasen. (2008). Chinese Culture taught to Firms. Deseret News. p.1. Making Sense of China: an expert in Chinese management explains why the country isnt as foreign as it seems to Western businesspeople. (2008). Gallup Management Journal.p.1-4 Read More