Comprehensive Report on Global Strategies pg 1

Comprehensive Report on Global Strategies

SeRaphia A. Lott
University of Phoenix
June 2, 2008
 Comprehensive Report on Global Staffing Strategies pg 2

Abstract
This report will identify a comprehensive staffing strategy for Office Depot. They have
acquired India's Reliance Retail. It is completed by the HR executive who has been
instructed to develop such a strategy. With the onset of Office Depot's joint venture with
India they must prepare for a strategy that will meet the needs of the Human Resource
systems. The appropriate strategy must be put in place so they can be effective and
prosperous in both North America and India. The challenges at hand are cultural and
regulatory factors in accordance with the law. Also, the changes in organizational
structure needed in the expansion , recruitment and selection practices,and the
determining which skills and abilities are needed to enforce appropriate training and
development. Lastly, the mix of expatriates and nationals expected.
Comprehensive Report on Global Staffing Strategies pg 3
Mergers between nations has become the here and now. Office Depot and Reliance Retail
are certainly not the exception. It was an opportunity to
expand, and increase wealth, most importantly to offset growth. With an effective
strategy this can and will happen. As the Director of Human Resources for
Office Depot an opportunity to is present to present a conducive plan that will enable
Office Depot to continue in growth and expansion. This expansion
allows an opportunity to meet the needs of corporate consumers. It is imperative that the
strategy put into place will address all the challenges
and succeed .
Cultural and Regulatory Factors
When considering the cultural differences between countries there are communication
barriers that have to be addressed for a smooth transition into the
new partnership. The HR Director must meet with the HR Director in the new location
(or send a representative ) to carefully examine their current
methods. They should be clearly understand and relayed back to the HR Director to
trouble shoot for appropriate implementation and /or revision of the
necessary policies and procedures in Office Depot.
Examining the equal opportunity laws will ensure the correct adopted policies regarding
employment discrimination are put into place. What is considered
discrimination in India may not be interpreted the same in America and vice versa. "The
principle of employment discrimination enforcement is disarmingly
simple: no one should be denied a job or a promotion or be fired simply because of his
race. But this simple proposition conceals a nest of thorny legal and
political questions about the state's role in defining and enforcing racial fairness in
employment; establishing legal guidelines, procedures, and sanctions; and
devising coercive mechanisms to ensure compliance. "(Lieberman, R., 1999) It is the
goal of the HR Director to create a table consistent working
environment. Robert Lieberman (1999) says that, "the patterns of stability and change in
policy paradigms that are apparent in both countries even in the short
time span under study here. Clearly both ideas and institutions matter — ideas as frames
for the definition of problems and the linkage of problems with
solutions, and institutions as filters of ideas and regulators of the process of policy choice
— and a complete explanation of race policy will consider not only
both elements but also the ways in which they interact to reconstruct patterns of race
relations." In some instances both countries policies could
read the same, yet be interpreted differently. In an effort to keep all entities involved
headed in the same direction there has to be a clear communication and
regulatory rules to ensure the partnership remains stable.
Conversely, they say, companies have to give employees the "freedom" that's essential to
innovate.
Organizational Structure
Raymond Miles and Charles Snow, authors of ,"Organizational Strategy, Structure, and
Process" help provide the strategy typology appropriate for
outcome desired. The particular typology appropriate for Office Depot and Reliance
Retail is the "Analyzer". This is the description of a company that is
purposely more innovative in their product marketing initiatives. The Analyzer has a
watchful eye yet is willing to take risks in order to succeed. The other
three typologies are, " Prospector", "Reactor", and "Defender". The Prospector is
described as a company who prospers by stimulating and meeting new
product opportunities. The Reactor is the company who vacillate in an approach to their
environment . and ultimately fail. The Defender prosper through
stability, reliability, and efficiency. Mark Huselid, professor of HR management at
Rutgers University and co-author of The HR Scorecard and The
Workforce Scorecard.states, "I think that moves us as a field to more things around
benchmarking and lowest-common-denominator metrics," he says, "and I
think the real success in workforce strategy and measurements is around designing
measures uniquely tailored to the firm's strategy and strategic capabilities.
Those are much more firm-specific." Another strong strategy move is suggested by Dave
Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank. "Workforce demographics that
influence the pool of labor available to conceive, develop, produce, distribute and sell
products and services are changing in turbulent ways," they write.
Recruitment and Selection Practices
One of the best parts about this joint venture is that Reliance Retail has decided that
Office Depot should select one of their own executives to head the
business in India. This is the first time in Reliance Retail's history it has decided to do
this. What a mile stone and an awful good start to a long
relationship. This certainly makes it easier on the HR Director who knows that Office
Depot will have North American ears, eyes and voice in their India
location. Another positive for HR executive in recruitment that Patricia McKay left the
company March 1st, but her replacement is the former CFO for Office
Depot. Charles E. Brown, who started in 2005 as the head of International Expansion.
The international division has done exceptionally well and have
exceeded the North American retail business. Profits in 2007 in North America were $6.8
billion, and the international profits were $4.2 billion. Charles E.
Brown is definitely an asset to Office Depot and in his rightful position. In selection of
other staff consideration must be given to existing staff with the skills and
abilities to to carry out matters abroad. With this in mind all jobs for the newly acquired
positions must include detailed job descriptions. This is a helpful
tool when selecting from the first fruits, recruitments and new applicants. All selected
employees must be ready and capable to handle its new consumer base and all that it
entails.
Training and Development
Training and development are the foundation of a effective strategic plan. However, this
process must be done carefully. There are too many
organizations wasting monies on training their staff into boredom which leads to non
interest. Office Depot must be the exception. On an average employees
attention span is 15 to 30 minutes at best. Intensive research should be administered in
the new location. Once management has been placed in his or her new
work environment their first priority should be finding out what is missing. By observing
the protocol closely they are able find the loop holes and fill them.
This is the tool that will channel the areas that require development and or improvement.
Mark Sickles, president and CEO of Mark W. Sickles LLC in
Newark, N.J., suggests companies train people in the art of inquiry. If you accept the
notion that inquiry is at the core of creating change, then its crucial for
employers to teach the workforce how to put inquiry into practice, he says. Companies
spend millions on training and developing their people, Sickles says. "If
there's a methodology that teaches workers how to manufacture breakthroughs," he asks,
"wouldn't it make sense to target some of those funds there?"
Mix of Expatriates and Nationals
It is imperative to become accustomed with the language, customs and cultures of both
India, and North America. Employees on either side of this joint
venture must desire to learn all they can to increase the opportunity for growth. If one is
familiar with their ways and customs it could open up alternatives
to market the companies. Exposure helps others develop appreciation. The authors of ,
"Making Innovation Work "suggest that an innovative culture needs to
embrace both discipline and surprise. "The second creates value, the first one captures it,"
they write. There is no doubt that the mix of expatriates and
nationals could definitely cause some controversy. Redirection from this controversy and
focus on how the mix will benefit the companies is the goal. This is a
positive tool for distraction of negative issues that may arise.
Conclusion
Results usually happen because steps have been taken to ensure the outcome. In this case
the efforts are placed to revise the current strategy based on
the joint venture with Office Depot in North America and Reliance Retail in India. The
HR Director concludes that the best strategy is to instructed to
develop a strategic plan conducive to the recent changes in the company is having North
American management in the new location. It is ensuring that all
current HR methods are learned for appropriate implementation and additional policies.
Utilizing study of customs and culture in both countries will help
conquer the communication barrier in the partnership with Reliance Retail. Recruiting
and placing staff appropriately means having detailed job descriptions
to ensure appropriate placement in positions for effective results. It is imperative to start
the hiring process with the first fruits, followed by recruits, and new
applicants. Intensive observation and elauation by management should determine the
appropriate route for training and
development implementation. Organizational Structure includes the Analyzer topology
approach in utilizing more innovation in their product marketing
initiatives accompanied with workforce firm-tailored specifics, and workforce
demographics. An unknown author once said, "We don't plan to fail, we just fail to plan".
.
References
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Retrieved on June 3, 2008
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Retrieved June 3,
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