Tex-Mark, a company that was started in the late 1970’s, is a manufacturer of printer and optical scanner in the United States and across the globe. Tex Mark has expanded their operations to be split between their HQ office in San Antonio, TX and moved product development, sales and distribution to other parts of the globe. It has operations in countries such as Australia, Brazil France, India Israel and Hong Kong.
The company takes employees: expatriates, and places them within those countries to run their engineering operations abroad.Tex Mark has developed a training program for these expatriates before their decent into international territory to ensure that they are comfortable managing human resources and implementing various programs, cross culturally, this program has failed (Allen D Engle Sr, 2004). As a spin off from Dell Computer Company, Tex Mark wasn’t the only one having an issue that day; Eric Christopher was not having the best morning either. Sitting in traffic contemplating the day’s tasks along with trying to resolve the issue of.
In the beginning of the case study, Eric is stuck in traffic and because of this his whole day is thrown off track. Rescheduling meetings and pushing back conference calls was the first feat in Eric’s day. Along with the present day of stress, to accompany his outstanding career thus far, Eric has taken on the burden of school as well. Trying to further his education that will accompany his global knowledge and extensive language skills.
As outlined by Fred Banks, the engineer sent to Mexico and India has issues with the training program that Tex Mark has in place.The employees were encountering relationships issue within the company and with other employees brought on by the cultural differences within those relationships. The project that was supposed to take 18 months was drawn out into a 3-year term (Allen D Engle Sr, 2004). The result of the team remaining in Mexico and India for those 3 years was essentially more money and improper planning requiring a longer stint overseas for Fred and the team.
In order to implement cost effective procedure, Juanita Roberto, the Vice President for Human Resources Department, is trying to get rid of the training process all together and create definite time restraints for certain projects (Allen D Engle Sr, 2004). This idea hinders solution for the real issue of not having the proper training program in place prior to the expatriates departure therefore an extension on a per project basis is needed and more funding is required, after the fact.Removal of the training, rather than embellishing its importance will only hurt the projects overseas and make the expatriates less productive. Situation Analysis: Tactical vs Strategic In presenting the idea of a new and innovative training program to the VP and Human Resources Director there are two ways Eric can approach it.
The tactical approach would expand and formalize the pre-departure training, especially for the operation that is being moved and set up in China in the very near future. Language training, classes on cultural jargon and communication needs to be a large portion of the pre-departure training.An introduction into the barriers and other ways to communicate may make it easier for the expatriate to communicate within the community upon arrival. The tactical way to look at the next assignment is a look into reality; in this case communication is key.
The strategic presentation of such a program and the issue of proper training would consist of revising the roles to require mandatory mentoring by the local host and the expatriate, as well as more complete and planned out career expectations from the employer to employee.Along with extensive research in the cultural realms of the international country the team is set to visit, each expatriate should be paired up with a mentor from the native country. A mentor, almost like an exchange student, should be someone that can teach the expatriate cultural norms and ethical standards for them in and outside of the workplace. A strategy ensures the proper entry and exit of a project for Tex Mark within the foreign countries they operate in.
Solution: Although the strategy approach is a bit riskier, the company’s move in China meshing culture and language and new roles of employees being integrated.By using the strategy approach I think that an internship program or something of that sort would be good, in order for the gaining the needed support of the local community and define goals for each individual within the company. This along with a mentor program will also give them a first hand look inside if what it is really like to be a part of that society and make it easier to conduct business. As far as budgetary concerns with the company, Eric should present the tactical and strategic options to the team members as well as the expatriates and argue for the more strategic option.
By following the more strategic option the employer will know what his or her defined task and expected responsibilities are, the amount of funding readily available for the project/proper training, and plan ahead procedures prior to entering the country and the A negotiated and justified cost of a longer term project and management team will be factored into the budget in the first quarter so there is a clear understanding of the investment Tex Mark is taking in the expatriates.Tex Mark will stand to save money because they are not only solutions but also precautions to make sure that there is an understanding of the expatriates and the investment in them. In conclusion the way to properly address these problems is to implement a training process that entails the use of mentor with the same concept as a foreign exchange student. Learn about and live the culture, rather just researching it.
Also, a strategic design of the project, costs and proper funding should be arranged in the first quarter.Through this thorough training program an employee should be properly prepared to begin on this/her international assignment. A cultural sneak peak into the diverse communities and business ethics would open the eyes of anyone entering unknown territory. Proper knowledge and integration of an alien to a foreign culture makes the transition much smoother and allows the focus to be on the task at hand and let the team not overly obsess about the their integration into a new society.
