Faculty of Business Environment and Society

Module No: 341HRM

Module: International Human Resource Management

Coursework:
International HRM Case Study
(Individual assignment, 25% of the final grade).
The case is based on a fictional organization in Vietnams hotel industry; however, the content covered is relevant internationally and among
different industries. The material is presented in this manner to allow you to apply theory to a practical situation.
Submit 5-6 page written analysis including relevant tables and figures.
You will have an opportunity to think about the key decisions involved in international assignments. You will be able to transfer your knowledge
of domestic HR issues to the international context and consider the roles and duties performed by expatriate workers.
Assessment Criteria

Understand the main elements and issues related to international assignments.

Demonstrate an awareness of when it is appropriate to use expatriate workers and the key debates that are involved.
Appreciate the skills and knowledge needed by expatriate workers.
Consider how organizations can prepare expatriate managers to succeed in an international context.

Develop a coherent and well-presented report within specified word limit.

Instructions:
You will need to print off a pre-filled coversheet, containing programme and submission details.
You must also submit an electronic copy for plagiarism checking
This assignment must be submitted to Nicole Baudisch or student care.
Please note:
1. All work submitted after the submission deadline without an approved valid reason (see below) will be given a mark of zero. (This is
not the same as a non-submission, as a late submission counts as an attempt and a mark of zero may allow you to re-sit the
coursework.).
2. Short deferrals (extensions) of up to three calendar weeks can only be given for genuine "force majeure" and medical reasons, not for
bad planning of your time. Please note that theft, loss, or failure to keep a back-up file, are not valid reasons. The short deferral must be
applied for on or before the submission date..
3. Students MUST keep a copy and/or an electronic file of their assignment.
Please also submit an electronic copy of your assignment
The electronic version of your assignment may be used to enable checks to be made using anti-plagiarism software and approved plagiarism
checking websites.
Word Length: 1750 words (+/- 10%)
Any penalties for not complying with word limits will be in accordance with University and Faculty policy. Ability to produce a coherent case
study analysis which answers all given questions within a word limit is an integral part of the assessment.

Learning Outcomes Assessed

LO 1,4
Return of Marked Work
Coursework marks will appear two working weeks after the submission date.
PLAGIARISM WARNING! Assignments should not be copied in part or in whole from any other source, except for any marked up quotations,
that clearly distinguish what has been quoted from your own work. All references used must be given, and the specific page number used should
also be given for any direct quotations, which should be in inverted commas. Students found copying from the internet or other sources will get
zero marks and may be excluded from the university.
Project:
For this case, you will be acting as independent management consultants and should be split into groups. You will work within your groups for all
of the activities provided in the case study document. You will submit an individual paper.

Background Information

on the Organization
Khch Sn Rex, PLC, owns more than 30 hotels throughout Vietnam. They recently acquired a small hotel chain headquartered in The UK. Khch
Sn Rex chief executive decided that half of the new hotels in The UK would be retained and rebranded as part of the Khch Sn Rex Hotels
Group; the other half will be sold.
This will support Khch Sn Rexs strategic objective of growing the organization slowly to make sure that new ventures are well supported and
opened on time and on budget. Khch Sn Rexs hotels are considered budget accommodations; they are functional, clean and reasonably priced.
Most guests stay for one to three nights and are a combination of business and leisure travellers. The hotels are typically situated in downtown
locations that are easily accessible by mass transit. Tourists are attracted to these hotels in popular visitor destinations where the many local
attractions mean that they will not be spending much time in their hotel rooms.
The organization has decided to use an ethnocentric approach and send some of their existing Vietnam-based managers to The UK to lead the
changeover of the new hotels and then manage them after they re-open.
If this new overseas venture is successful, Khch Sn Rex may decide to acquire other small hotel groups in other European or Asian countries.
The organization would like to own 150 hotels in the next five years. Their 10-year plan is to own 300 hotels across Europe and Asia. This is an
ambitious target, so it is important that the organization finds an effective formula to operate successfully in other countries.

Case Study Part One

The organization has never owned hotels outside Vietnam before, and has hired a team of independent management consultants to advise them on
how to proceed. They provided the consultants the following information during their initial meeting:

A majority of their existing managers said they would like a chance to work abroad.
None of their existing managers speak English fluently.
They will allow four weeks to rebrand the hotels. The new hotels must be ready to open after that time.
They expect to recruit a large number of staff for the new English hotels, because more than 50 percent of the employees from the
acquired organization left.
They will require their managers to be flexible and move between countries if any problems arise.

Task 1:
1. Based on the information you have to date, what do you think the companys the key priorities should be?
2. The hotel management asked you if they should look only at internal candidates who are parent country nationals (PCNs) or recruit host
country nationals (HCNs). The management board is divided in 3 groups with different point of views

Group 1 believes that only PCNs should be hired.

Group 2 believes that only HCNs should be hired.
Group 3 believes that TCNs should be hired.

3. Summarise the advantages of the approach each group could present in your paper and add from your point of view the disadvantages

Case Study Part Two

Khch Sn Rex, PLC management decided that because this is their first venture into a country outside Vietnam, they want to use PCNs to set up
the new hotels and that only internal candidates should be considered. They think that this is important so they can incorporate the organizations
values.
However, they believe that once the hotels are up and running, HCNs could be hired. The management vacancies must be filled as soon as
possible. In their company literature, the organization states that their core values are to:

Provide excellent levels of customer service to all guests.

Provide a clean and comfortable environment for guests and staff.
Recruit and retain excellent staff.
Support and develop staff so they can reach their full potential.
Continuously strive to improve all aspects of the business.
Ensure that all hotel buildings, fixtures and fittings are well-maintained in a proactive manner. It is important that the management
consultants for this project take these core values into account when making their recommendations.

Task 2:
Write a recruitment advertisement for the new positions which can be sent to existing managers by e-mail. Your advertisement should include, at a
minimum, the following information:

Main responsibilities of the new job

The skills you are looking for in the position.

Case Study Part Three

The management team liked your recruitment advertisement, but realized that they did not consider the salary for these new positions!
Since the organization has never hired managers to work outside of Vietnam before, they do not know how to start determining the compensation.
They provide you with the following information that they found on the Internet:
Existing salary for managers is 45,000 Pounds plus bonuses.
Surveys show that the average salary for hotel managers in the UK are 60,000 Pounds with no opportunity to earn bonuses. The directors
want to have a consistent approach as to how they compensate expatriates because they expect their overseas business to expand in the
future. They also want existing employees to be enticed into working abroad and want to have a good range of incentives.
Task 3:
Design a compensation package for the hotel management position. Explain the rationale for your design. You may also include non-financial
benefits.
Support your ideas with relevant Industry research in Europe and Vietnam.
We do not want you simply to extract apparently relevant sections from appropriate information sources and then regurgitate them in undigested
form in your assignment. Assignments constructed in that manner are extremely unlikely to attain a pass grade. We would like you to read
appropriate material in a critical manner, and then write a coherent response to the assignment task above using coherent, sound arguments based
upon your own understanding of the subject matter. We are looking for evidence that you understand and have integrated the module content and
are able to apply that knowledge to the construction of coherent arguments in the completion of the task specified above.

STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS:

A Title For Your Work

Title Page / Table Of Contents
Executive Summary
List of Abbreviations
List of Tables/Figures
Introduction
The Body Of An Essay / Report
Discussion (Findings)
Conclusion
Recommendations
Reference List
Appendices

Academic works include: journal articles, monographs, books of edited readings, conference papers, working papers and
theses. Make sure you refer to a variety of sources in your assignments.

Coursework feedback sheet

Student: ________________________________________________
Assessment criteria:
Assessment
Corrector 1
Context/
Is the report structure logic and clear?
Part 1-3
Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions
Select / design and apply appropriate methods / techniques
Present and communicate appropriate findings
Use critical reflection to evaluate own work and justify valid conclusions
Demonstrate convergent / lateral / creative thinking support with examples

Format and Structure

Use of externally sourced material; interpretation of this material to support
argument; references properly
Consistent and convincing reasons for point of view; reasoning matches standard
form or logical structure
Language
Spelling, grammar, use of relevant vocabularies
Conclusion

Max.
10
15
10
10
15
15
10
5
5
5

Achieved

Total

100