Development of a Multinational Personnel Selection System @ ComInTec AG & Co.

By Group L2: Niket Verma Eti Srivastava Mani Thomas Makarand Madhav Pathak Sanjeev Kumar

Problem Statement
The development of a uniform multi-national personnel selection system at ComInTec AG & Co. the company operates in diverse cultural conditions and developing a uniform system for recruitment to key managerial positions in these locations is the challenge.

SWOT: Strength:
1. Planning team has a diverse representation across cultures. 2. The team members are of very good educational backgrounds. 3. Experts from different fields like psychology, economics, etc were readily available.

Weakness:
1. Lack of consistent procedures which was applicable cross-nationally and crossregionally. 2. Less support from higher management as in case of Koenig and Koch.

Opportunities:
1. A uniform selection system may be able to simplify recruitment procedures. 2. Asian job markets were increasingly becoming familiar with European recruiting procedures, eg., the referral practice was being adopted in Asian countries also.

Threats:
1. The threat of job cuts due to the transfer of the project to consultants loomed over the planning team. 2. The educational systems and social backgrounds in the different operating regions are so different that applying a uniform system may not be feasible.

PEST
Political: Political factors play a major role in any organization. In the given case, external political scenario is not particularly mentioned.

Economic: The Company had 23000 employees and made more than 5.8 billion euro in sales. The company had survived the economic downturn of 2003-2006.The company is going for its global restructuring. For that a new regional management team had to be formed. With the sales roaring the salary was decided between 40000 Euros to 150000 Euros.

Social: These factors are most important factors governing this case. The new middle management team was a cross cultural team with managers from all the continents of the world. The managers from the varied backgrounds were to be selected for representing the APAC regional managers for various departments of the company. The HR tem which was given the task of recruiting the team also belonged to different countries from German to Chinese.

Koch had the responsibility of managing the idiosyncrasies of his subordinates while following the orders of Mr. Koenig.

Cultural: The recruiting team belonged to different countries as well as totally different cultures. From highly aggressive German Ms.Weitmann to quite submissive Ms. Yue Yu. Even the education backgrounds were not consistent throughout the team. Economist Andreas Mueller had a totally different view on the problem than the in house psychologist Ms. Sabine Weitmann as well as the strategic Human resource Graduate Dai Wei. The unity of the Chinese against the aggressive stubbornness of some of the German colleges created an interesting cultural mix in the recruitment team. Legal: A few years back, during the downturn the company made some staffing cutbacks. The company did not pay any termination pay to the lay off staff members. The company had a hard time managing the legal actions taken by the staff members against the company seeking claims for the damages and compensation. Koch was worried that the company might get into another legal trouble with the attitude of Mr. Koenig.

Factors
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Cultural Diversity across the operating geographies Adequate cultural representation in the top management Dimensions covered in the Recruitment process Language Limitations Tensions within the Planning Team

Critical Factors
1. Cultural Diversity across the Operating Geographies : This factor is the most crucial element that determines the success/failure of the new recruitment system. The company operates in geographies with diverse cultural backgrounds. Hence what is regarded as desirable in one region may be condemned in the other. Hence the new system needs to address these sensitivities and failure in doing so will result in the selection of unfit individuals. 2. Adequate Cultural Representation in the Top Management : The level of sensitivity and accommodative mentality of the top management at ComInTec can significantly determine the success of the system. How the top management weighs the suggestions coming from the different sources in the organisation will be a key factor in determining the success. How the management understands the cultural differences among the planning team itself is a crucial factor. 3. Dimensions Covered in the Recruitment Process :

This is nothing but the crux of the process itself. This determines how the challenges faced by the system are overcome by a robust recruitment process. The overall success of the recruitment procedure depends on how accommodating and efficient this process is.

Theoretical linkage:
Personnel selection is the process used to hire (or, promote) individuals. Although the term can
apply to all aspects of the process (recruitment, selection, hiring, acculturation, etc.) the most common meaning focuses on the selection of workers. In this respect, selected prospects are separated from rejected applicants with the intention of choosing the person who will be the most successful and make the most valuable contributions to the organization. Job performance constitutes all measurable work behaviors relevant to organizational goals and within the individuals control. Job performance is complex, dynamic, and multidimensional, and consequently personnel selection systems might predict individual differences for several types of job performance (e.g. task prociency and leadership behaviors). Correlations between ability, conscientiousness (predictors), individual task performance, and organizational citizenship (criteria) illustrate how validity can vary greatly depending on criterion weights.

Cross-Cultural Selection Issues

With their expanding global markets, culturally diverse work teams, and expatriate work assignments, international and multinational organizations place new demands on selection processes and measurement tools. Validities of domestic selection instruments may not generalize to international sites, because different predictor and criterion constructs may be relevant, or, if the constructs are the same, the behavioral indicators may differ. Interpersonal skill, open-mindedness, and adaptability are important factors for expatriate success, and family situation is the most commonly cited reason for failure. The vast majority of companies base their expatriate selection decisions on technical competence alone so nding a very high failure rate among expatriates is unsurprising.

STEPS INVOLVED IN HIRING PROCESS:

Develop de personnel plans & job description

Recruit candidates

Interview & select employees

Train employee as per requirement

Manage HR in global enterpeneur -ial firms

Appraise & reward employees

Careful selection is important because:

1. Performance: employees with the right skills do a better job for the company affecting the firms performance as a whole. 2. Cost: it is costly to recruit a employee, hiring and training an employee requires lot of fees & supervisory. 3. Legal obligations: mismanaging the process may lead to legal implications. In US legal implications of hiring are on three counts; EEO, negligent hiring, & defamation.

Basic testing concepts:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Reliability: consistency in test scores Validity: the accuracy of tests, interviews, etc Personality tests. Background investigations and reference checks Complying with emigration laws: hire only citizens and employees lawfully authorized to work in cross culture environments 6. Avoiding discrimation: on the basis of race, country , sex.

Streamlined interview process:

1. Prepare for interview keeping in mind the knowledge & traits the job requires. Knowledge & experience Motivation Intellectual capacity Personality factor 2. Formulate questions for interview based on situational & behavioral characteristics, plus open ended questions. 3. Conduct interview Devise and use chronological plan Follow the plan 4. Match the candidate to the job

After hiring procedure:

1. Attitude management across cross cultural differences 2. Overcome preconceived notions about organizational culture. 3. Train employee as per job requirements.

Possible Solutions:
One size fit-all policy cannot be suitable for each country. Therefore, there has to be a separate recruitment policy for different geographies. Koch should intervene with the attitude management for the German employees as it is interfering with the overall employee morale (read Chinese employees). A training program for these German employees should be held wherein they need to be educated about the overall attitude management when working with a diverse set of colleagues.

Constraints: Different people coming in from diverse backgrounds come with a pre-conceived notion
regarding the organizational culture; hence it is very difficult to mould them together to ensure overall employee productivity.

The organizational culture is highly centralized. It stifles the employee and little freedom is given to the executives to put forth their ideas and take them to the level of execution. The management at times seem to become autocratic as in the case of Koch being given strict guidelines and hence employee satisfaction goes down.