3033IBA, Managing People in the Global Economy Goal Number.docx

3033IBA, Managing People in the Global Economy
Goal Number: 3
Objective 3.1 Demonstrate an understanding of and application
of major theories, models and tools for analysing and
interpreting real world domestic and global issues
Criteria Standards
Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory
1. Ability to reflect
on and identify key
issues in a given ‘real
world’ scenario.
Demonstrates
comprehensive and
detailed
understanding of key
world’ scenario.
Demonstrates high
competence in
understanding key
world’ scenario.
Demonstrates a
sound ability to

understand key
world’ scenario.
Demonstrates an
adequate ability to
understand key
world’ scenario.
Demonstrates little
or no ability to
understand key
world’ scenario.
2. Ability to reflect
on identify and apply
correct theoretical
frameworks, models
and tools to a given
‘real world’ scenario.
Deep reflection and
complex links made
from theory to the
scenario.
Deep reflection and
general links made
from theory to the
scenario.
Reasonable
reflection as
demonstrated by the

ability to reflect on
the 'what' and 'why'
of the scenario.
Basic reflective skills
as demonstrated by
the ability to reflect
on the 'what' but not
'why' of the scenario.
Little or no
demonstrated
reflection or
application of theory
presented.
3. Written
communication skills.
Convincing and
inspired argument
presented in written
form with few or no
errors.
Very good written
The argument is
clearly stated and
grammatical aspects
are covered at a high
level.
Quite good written
The argument is

stated in a
reasonably clear
manner and
grammatical aspects
are covered at a
quite good level.
Generally able to
express ideas and
argument in a
satisfactory manner.
Partially adequate
though not fully
developed
grammatical skills.
Limited written
3033IBA
Case Study* Reflective Journal
Marking criteria
TOTAL POSSIBLE MARKS
Criteria 1.
Ability to reflect on and
identify key issues in a given

Case study A – 2 marks
Case study B – 2 marks
Case study C – 2 marks
Total marks criteria 1:
6
Criteria 2
Ability to reflect on identify
and apply correct
theoretical frameworks,
models and tools to a given
Case study A – 3 marks
Case study B – 3 marks
Case study C – 3 marks
9
Criteria 3.
Written communication
skills, including:

argument
readability
y to write within
word limits**
5
TOTAL POSSIBLE MARKS 20
Notes:
* The case study being examined is the IHRM scenario for that
workshop.
** The word limit for each workshop case study reflection is
400 words. Therefore the word
limit for the entire Case Study Reflective Journal is 1,200 words
(i.e. 3 by 400 words = 1,200
words). Please note that the word limit excludes references.

1
3033IBA
WORKSHOP 3
IHRM SCENARIO
James Anderson is the HRM Director of @Cloudlink; an
Australian-based MNC that develops
and sells ICT software which links in-house ICT ‘legacy’
systems to internet cloud-based
applications. The firm had initially expanded internationally by
setting up a subsidiary in New
Zealand. This was followed by new subsidiaries in the US and
the UK.
The firm’s decided to employ an ethnocentric IHRM strategy
during the setting up stage of the
above subsidiaries, as this was seen as the best way to transfer
firm-specific knowledge and
skills, maintain organisational control and give some of their

promising managers international
experience. PCNs were therefore used to staff senior
management positions in the subsidiaries.
However the firm had reduced the number of PCN expatriates in
the above subsidiaries over
time, as local HCNs were recruited, trained and became familiar
with the firms organisational
culture. This strategy had been very successful, with the above
subsidiaries performing well.
Buoyed by this success the firm then decided to set up
subsidiaries in the Asia-Pacific region,
including China, India and Japan. The Chinese and Japanese
subsidiaries were aimed at
accessing their respective local markets, while the firm also
hoped to develop the Indian
subsidiary into a research and development (R&D) facility, as
well as selling products and
services to the local Indian market.
The firm decided that the Japanese subsidiary, which would be
located in Tokyo, would be
their first foray into the Asia-Pacific region. Senior
management saw Japan as a developed

economy with a mature market (similar to its earlier
subsidiaries) and it had a long trading
history with Australia.
However, despite the firms’ initial international success, James
has been mulling over the
failure of their first Japanese subsidiary expatriate manager,
John Smith, to complete their three
year overseas assignment.
John Smith had an ICT technical background and had extensive
experience in selling the firm’s
software in the Australian market. John had been one of the
firm’s most successful sales
managers and his ICT technical knowledge was seen as giving
him a major advantage when
explaining and selling the firm’s product to clients.
With his strong technical knowledge of the software combined
with his successful sales
experience in Australia, John Smith was seen as the natural
choice to head up the new Japanese
subsidiary. John was originally very enthusiastic about the
Japanese appointment, which was

his first overseas posting, while his wife and two teenage
children had also been excited about
the prospect of moving and living overseas.
Given the high costs of living in Tokyo, the firms decided to
deviate from its previous
ethnocentric staffing policy and recruit most of the staff locally
in order to reduce costs
[management also felt that their previous international
experience would allow them to train
local staff relatively quickly]. John was therefore the only
Western ‘expat’ (PCN) at the
subsidiary, with all of the remaining staff being recruited
locally (i.e. Japanese HCNs).
2
Senior management were keen on getting the Japanese
subsidiary up and running as soon as
possible and John’s pre-departure orientation and training for
the new position was relatively
brief. This included a one day cross cultural training program
along with some perfunctory

information on Japanese business etiquette and customs.
To cover language issues the ability to speak English was
included as part of the selection
criteria for the HCN employees. However, after his arrival in
Japan, John Smith reported that
the actual spoken English ability of the HCNs varied greatly.
Despite their earlier enthusiasm, John and his family appeared
to struggle to settle in to their
new country. Further, despite his reputation as a high-
performance employee, management
were also concerned that John was not meeting pre-set
performance targets in Japan.
Within 6 months of the initial posting John’s wife and family
had returned home, citing family
issues. However anecdotal evidence and feedback from other
workers suggested to James that
they had struggled to adapt to the new living environment.
After arriving home John’s wife
had also complained to other worker’s that she had felt very
isolated in Tokyo.
Ten months into John’s posting James received the following

email:
31 October 2015
Dear James
I am shocked at the apparent inability of the firm to understand,
let alone value, the enormous
amount of time and effort that I have put into setting up this
subsidiary and making it a viable
entity.
I should add that my first performance review was conducted
less than 3 months after my
initial arrival here when I still didn’t know the difference
between sushi and sashimi!!
Even without earthquakes & tsunamis, you need to understand
that things operate very
differently over here – this is not Australia!!
It takes TIME to work out the how the system operates here.
Japan is a very difficult market
to crack - half the time I don’t even know if the business people

here are agreeing with me
or not!!
And don’t talk to me about the different accounting rules over
here!
I have also had to spend much of my time here just to trying and
gain the confidence of my
local workers, most of whom have never worked for a Western
boss before - they don’t call
us gainjin (outsiders) for nothing!!
So here I am. I’m working 7 days a week, I haven’t seen my
family for months and my
reward? A lousy performance review!!!
This is in spite of the contacts and progress I’m finally starting
to make!
3
Let me tell you, I’m at a tipping point!!

As you know I’ve been loyal to this firm for many years, but
this has not been reciprocated.
John Smith
John was obviously disgruntled and returned to Australia soon
after he sent the above email.
Despite being offered a job back in head office John chose to
accept an offer from another
company and left the firm.
This had been an expensive exercise for the firm both in terms
of the cost of sending John and
his family overseas along with the loss of corporate knowledge
and ability. John had also been
seen as a potential future senior executive in the firm and this
posting had been seen as a way
to further develop his high potential within the firm. His skills
would also be hard to replace.
John and his family’s early return had also generated a lot of
damaging rumours around the
organisation which had a negative impact on convincing other
promising managers to take

international assignments.
James was therefore mulling over how the firm could have
handled this placement so badly?
Further, along with replacing John, the firm also had to appoint
expatriates to new subsidiaries
that were shortly to open in Beijing, China and Hyderabad,
India.
Given the problems with John Smith’s posting and the firms
lack of experience in the Asia-
Pacific region, James decided to bring in a consultancy firm that
specialised in offering training
programs (including cross cultural training) for expatriates to
advise on how the firm should
progress from here?
4
AS PART OF THE ABOVE CONSULTANCY FIRM, YOUR
GROUP NEEDS TO

CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:
Activity 1.
1. List the problems/issues that led to the above expatriate
failure in relation to John Smith?
2. Advise how the firm could better address these challenges
and reduce the risks of future
expatriate failure for this posting? You will need to consider:
expatriates such as John Smith?
Activity 2*
The firm needs to fill positions in the following two
subsidiaries which it hopes to open shortly.
2a. Chinese subsidiary – based in Beijing
Position: Manager of subsidiary
Job description: Development/high potential (i.e. position seen
as further developing potential

future senior executives in the firm)
Length of assignment: 2 to 3 years
Position: ICT Specialist
Job description: technical (involves initial setting up of back-
end ICT requirements)
Length of assignment: 6 months
Position: ICT Trainer
Job description: technical/training (involves training local
HCNs in the firm’s ICT systems and
practices).
Length of assignment: short term business trips (4 weeks each)
– ongoing.
2.b. Indian subsidiary – based in Hyderabad
Position: Manager of subsidiary
Job description: Functional (i.e. general setting up and running
of subsidiary)
Position: Manager R&D

Job description: technical/training/development (involves
developing local HCN R&D talent).
5
*As part of the above consultancy firm your group needs to
design/map out cross cultural
training programs for the above positions. This will require you
to:
. China and
India have very different
cultures);
are offered the above
positions may or may not have family commitments).
But: Remember training is expensive! Therefore you will need
to balance training

imperatives with firm financial constraints!
1
WORKSHOP 2: 3033IBA
Role Play Scenario
FEMALE EXPATRIATES
Susan Smith has recently been appointed as the head of the
IHRM section of Boston Global, a
US-based MNC that provides global marketing services. This
appointment was based on
Sarah’s extensive experience in the field of IHRM. In this
regard, Susan had worked for the
European office of the MNC, based in Brussels, for many years
and had extensive experience
and knowledge in relation to the placements of expatriates in

countries in Western Europe.
However Susan has never worked in the firm’s Asian or Middle
subsidiaries and has little
experience or knowledge of these regions.
Susan initially felt confident about her new position, believing
that much of her existing IHRM
experience coupled with her extensive knowledge of the firm’s
IHRM policies and practices
would prepare her for her new role. However, Susan has
quickly found herself unprepared for
some of the decisions that she has had to make.
Recently a position for an executive expatriate manager has
come up at the MNC’s Middle
Eastern subsidiary in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The job is a senior
position and requires the
expatriate to manage a team of local HCNs. The job therefore
requires extensive interaction
with host country workers and nationals.
After an extensive interviewing program she found that the
applicant with the best

qualifications for the position is a woman. The prospective
applicant is also single and has no
children. However it is unusual in the host country for female
workers to be promoted to higher
level management positions.
After careful consideration of all aspects of this international
assignment some members of her
IHRM management team have argued that in this instance it
would not be appropriate to
appoint a female executive manager to this position. Rather,
they suggest that the firm should
appoint one of the male applicants. The male applicant that
they suggest is less qualified for
the position but they feel that he would be a better ‘fit’ for this
particular overseas posting.
However, other members of her IHRM management team have
argued that despite the lack of
female executives in this country it would not be appropriate to
prevent this person from taking
up a senior position simply on the basis of gender.
Susan is quite troubled about this prospective appointment. On
the one hand she dislikes the

idea of preventing a woman from undertaking a senior overseas
based position. The MNC also
has a far higher percentage of male expatriate employees
relative to female expatriates, and
this appointment would help to redress some of this imbalance.
However, Sarah also has mixed
feelings about how she herself would feel about undertaking
this particular overseas
assignment. She has therefore set up a small task force to
consider this issue.
2
PRACTICAL EXERCISES
As part of this task force your group has been asked to consider,
discuss and report back on
the following issues.
Activity 1
1. Provide a final recommendation on the above appointment?

o i.e. who should the firm appoint for this posting?
2. Provide an explanation as to how your group arrived at your
decision?
o i.e. your group needs to provide logical arguments that
support your decision.
Activity 2
1. Draft a policy for the firm to follow on this and similar future
international appointments
o Issues you may need to consider and/or address include (but
are not limited to):
-being of expatriate staff;
repercussions of
expatriate failure).
2. Should this policy form part of the firms International
Workforce Planning strategies?
Why? Why not?
1

C:Userss557995Documents3033IBAWorkshops
2016Workshop 1 - 2016Workshop 1-role play scenario-
2016.docx
THE FOLLOWING SCENARIO SETS OUT A RANGE OF
IHRM ISSUES THAT
WILL BE DISCUSSED IN FURTHER DETAILS DURING THE
COURSE OF THE
SEMESTER.
IT IS NOT THEREFORE EXPECTED THAT YOU
IMMEDIATELY KNOW ALL
THE COURSE MATERIAL THAT CAN BE RELATED TO
THIS WORKSHOP.
RATHER THIS WORKSHOP IS DESIGNED TO HAVE YOU
BEGIN TO
CONSIDER FACTORS THAT DIFFERENTIATE IHRM FROM
DOMESTIC HRM
AND DEVELOP APPROPRIATE SOLUTIONS TO IHRM
CHALLENGES
WORKSHOP 1
IHRM ROLE PLAY SCENARIO

Flying Wombat Travels Pty Ltd is an Australian-based firm that
owns and operates more than
30 travel agencies across Australia. Given the extremely
competitive nature of the travel
industry and the proliferation of internet-based cut price
ticketing firms, the firm does not
attempt to offer the cheapest prices in the market. Rather its
success has been built on its
specialisation and knowledge of local Australian-based holiday
and cultural experiences. This
knowledge is supported by high levels of service and the ability
to tailor holidays to specific
individual or group requirements. Over the years the firm has
built a strong brand name and
loyal following from both local and overseas visitors touring
Australia under its well-known
advertising logo, “Catch the Flying Wombat!”
Senior management at Flying Wombat Travels have recently
decided to open the firm’s first
overseas-based travel agency in Shanghai, China. They are
hoping that this strategy will allow
the firm to gain a greater share of the rapidly growing Chinese

international tourist market.
Please note that the Shanghai subsidiary will still specialise in
offering Australian-based
holidays. However, management believe that a Chinese-based
subsidiary will offer more
personalised service and help to better establish the firm in the
Chinese market. A lot depends
on the success of this project, as senior management aim to roll
out further travel agencies
across China and other countries in the Asia-Pacific, if this
initial venture is a success.
Sarah Johnson heads the firms HRM section. Her appointment
to this position was based on
her extensive HRM experience, however, all her HR experience
has been gained within
Australia. Sarah has also worked for the firm’s Sydney-based
head office for many years and
therefore has detailed knowledge of company policies.
However Sarah has not previously
operated in an IHRM environment and her overseas experiences
have been limited to 2
relatively short overseas vacations to Europe.

Sarah was advised of the above proposed Chinese-based travel
agency strategy at a recent
senior management meeting and was asked to put together a
report outlining IHRM
requirements and issues associated with this venture.
Sarah initially felt confident about this task, believing that
much of her existing knowledge of
HR policy and practices could be easily transferred to the
international context. However,
2
2016.docx
Sarah quickly found herself unprepared for some of the issues
that she faced? Therefore she
hired a specialist IHRM consultant firm to advise her on how to
proceed.
The IHRM consultants were given the following initial
information:
o A senior manager who will be in charge of the Shanghai

subsidiary;
o Three middle level managers;
o Five line managers;
o Approximately 20 support and customer service staff.
nationals but is
unsure what the right ratio of expatriates to local staff should
be? (including the
ratio of expatriate to local staff within and across the different
job categories?)
interest in working in
the proposed Chinese subsidiary. While many of these
managers have extensive
experience and knowledge in the industry:
o none of them speak Chinese.
o They all have spouses and children.
line managers have
also expressed an interest in working in the proposed Chinese
subsidiary.
o Some of these workers have varying levels of fluency in
Mandarin
Chinese (the official Chinese language).
o Many of the younger workers do not have spouses or children.
PRACTICAL EXERCISES

As part of the above IHRM consultant team your group needs to
consider and discuss the
following.
Activity 1.
1. Based on the above information what do you think are the
key IHRM issues in this case?
Activity 2
1. Do you think the senior manager in charge of the proposed
subsidiary should be an
Australian expatriate or a local Chinese national? You will need
to consider:
o What you think will be the main responsibilities for the job?
o What skills you think the position will require?
o The pros and cons of appointing an expatriate versus a local
Chinese manager?
o You may also wish to consider whether there may be any
other ‘better’
approaches to staffing this position? (i.e. than either of the
above options)
2. What do you think the right ratio of expatriates to local

Chinese nationals should be for
the remaining job categories? (e.g. how should the different job
categories be assigned?)
Why?
3
2016.docx
Activity 3
Identify the challenges that Australian expatriates and their
families may face when
transferred to Shanghai, China?
Identify the benefits/advantages that Australian expatriates and
their families may have when
transferred to Shanghai, China?
Questions your group may wish to consider include:
o ask your fellow group members!

o you may use your laptop, tablets, smart phones etc. to look up
more information if
you wish?
to deal with in this
city/country.
city/country?
o n.b. assume you are married with a spouse and two school age
children.
city/country?
this city/country?
you expect to be the cost of living in this
city/country?
would you accept it? Why?
Why not?

3033IBA, Managing People in the Global Economy Goal Number.docx

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