Drawing from the provided case scenario and working as the leading management consultant, the primary focus of this report is to help MonCo Board of management identify what the problem with their organization relocating its operations to India, and the best-suited solution to the issues identified is.
Recognized as one of the leading Australian telecommunications company which deal with phone infrastructure, cellphone towers, internet and cell phone plans among other communication services. Despite the large customer base, the company has decided to relocate its primary call center from Australia to India. This is due to increased operation cost, wages and infrastructure fees in its home country of Australia. Despite the excellent performance in its first year, the company was faced with endless problems which threatened its overall position and production globally. Increased employee turnover, workers strikes and negative news become everyday things in the company. There were increasing cases of employee concerns, such as inequality between Indian and Australian workers concerning wages paid. There was also management flaws, which led to manager’s inability to lead their teams, poor communication, training and implementation of training programs which in turn led to the development of incompetent employees. The company was also accused of corruption involving Indian politicians. The problems at the Indian call center for MonCo escalated to the international scene, which in turn led to the loss of finances and its overall financial performance in the stock market.
Marred with unending issues from employees satisfaction with the organization managers, to corruption, contract cancellation, employee turnover, lack of teamwork, ineffective management strategies and overall financial loss, the organization's dismal performance and complaints led to the indulgence of both the Indian and Australian government to ensure the problems are identified and solved accordingly. Regarding the forthcoming issues identified in the MonCo’s case, varying theories can be drawn and implemented to help in addressing these issues. These theories/principles entail; Selection, Training, Teaching and Development of Workers, which is focused on training the employees to deliver on assigned duties effectively. Secondly, there is the Cooperation between Workers and Management Principle, which will be focused on establishing the best teamwork between employers and workers in the MonCo’s India branch.
2.0 Problem Identification and Analysis
MonCo Telecommunications Company despite its previous perfect performance in its new Indian call center is being faced with an endless problem which is threatening its overall performance, financial powers and global reputation. The company is being met with multiple issues arising from poor management strategies as well as overlooking of some critical aspects impacting the company’s operations in the Indian market. Caused by different factors, the primary focus was the failure by the management to curb the loopholes for the various problems facing the company. In the modern times, there has been a growing shift from being efficiency and process focused to being more focused on improving workers response to change factors and making them more comfortable, productive and motivated.
2.1 Problem I: Inequality in Employee Management
One of the critical aspects that ensure easy management within an organization is the identification of structured hierarchy and equality among the employees. This is whereby, there is no difference between employees of the same level. According to Commons et al. (2018), employee inequality has been identified as one of the primary catalysts behind employee animosity, poor performance and increased turnover. Concerning the provided MonCo’s case, there is a heightened case of employee inequality. This is whereby, employees that came from Australia are enjoying more benefits and privileges compared to ones recruited locally (Indians). In other words, this problem can be summarized as lack of fairness when addressing both locals and foreign employees. For example, there was an increasing employee strike due to unmet employee demands. These demands related to breaks, wages, career opportunities etc. “Our Australian colleagues are getting paid up to 10 times more than us, and work fewer hours; they get maternity and sick leaves as well as more holidays than we do”.
According to Murphy (2017), employee concerns over payment systems, equal recognition and managerial favoritism have been common leadership challenges. Partisanship has been attributed to the constant fight for equality with some employee leaving the organization, while others focus on equal recognition and remuneration just like their Australian counterparts. One of the primary results of inequality among employees is low employee motivation, and dedication, workplace conflict with the management, employee increased turnover. Regarding the causes of this inequality among the employees can be attributed to poor management practices, which recognized the Australian employees as more important over the Indian employees. More so, there was an element of corruption whereby unless one identified with MISM, he/she could not enjoy the best payment not to mention being hired to be part of the employees. The leadership incompetence in handling the issue made this more of a culture, and in turn, employees were more focused on fighting for their rights over giving their best for the overall organizational gain. To achieve greater success with the issue of equality, the leaders and managers should be focused on delivering comprehensive and thoughtful management approaches.
2.2 Problem II: Unstructured Employee Training Plans
Being a new investment in a foreign nation away from home, there need for employee development concerning training programs is an inevitable one. Not only does this allow the leaders and managers to identify the best-suited employees for the vacancies, but also train them to do as they are required. More so, employee training enables the employees to, both new and old to have the right skills for the task assigned. Regarding the provided MonCo’s case, due to increasing pressure for the employees to deliver, they are put almost directly into their jobs, with no relevant skills, or unfinished training period. Poor or unavailable employee training hampered the overall employee performance, which in turn made it worse for managers to motivate the employees. Commons et al. (2018), highlight in his article the importance of employee training as a tool that enables new and existing employees to perform in their jobs as training strengthens their skills, as well as bringing them to a higher level concerning skills and knowledge.
With the MonCo’s focus being on increased productivity, i.e. more calls attended to, they had no or little time for effective employee training. As a result, they employed untrained employees which resulted in poor performance, and hence one of the catalysts for the fall of their call center. In addition to the evidence of no structured training, the case also provides a proof of poor records and training of employees, whereby there were no a detailed records of the employees, and their best rained or skilled areas. The employees at the MonCo lacked the right training for the organization's computer systems as well as critical skills such as customer service, compensation etc. this, in turn, impacted the overall relationship between employee performance, teamwork and relation with the management.
2.3 Problem III: High Rate of Employee Turnover
One of the critical issue affecting the MonCo’s relocation to Indian environment is the high rate of employee turnover. Caused by poor employee management strategies, the problem has dramatically hindered the overall company’s service delivery. Despite perfect start with its operation in the Indian business environment, there is the catalyst of poor employee management such as the disparity in wages, and other benefits. This, in turn, reduced the employee’s job satisfaction rates, which is one of the principal basis for the high rate of employee turnover. Evidencing from the presented case, “the recent high staff turnover rates and strikes have had serious effects on the company……” this was the case with MonCo when an entire team of 50 specialized employee assigned Australian Government phone contracts all to quit their job on the same day due to ignored demands. This ordeal considerably dealt a blow to the company’s performance and future operations, which had their contract with the Australian government cancelled, hence ruining the global company reputation.
In addition to losing their best employees, an organization faced with employee turnover suffers from declined productivity from the employees. This is due to the idea that, experienced employees in a company are more aware of how to fulfil their roles compared to a new employee who may require time to ensure their functions are fulfilled. Additionally, the customer service is negatively affected by turnover rate, which is more like the case with MonCo case scenario. As the company struggles to maintain their customers, high-quality customer service is one of the catalyst to satisfied customers and vice versa. Customers may prefer to be attended by the same employees and representative over time, which can foster customer loyalty. However, with employees continually leaving, like the case of MonCo’s Indian call center, it limits the organization's ability to establish and nature a strong and lasting rapport with their customers.
The failure by the leadership and management team that was assigned the task to lead the organization established in India. The management team assigned the role of leading the MonCo Indian Senior Management Team (MISM) was not competent enough to take the organization to a higher level. Despite the success experienced in the firm months of operations, the teamwork and overall employee management failed to unite the employees for better and improved performance. Employee strikes, refusal to work, demand for recognition and equal pay among other grievances impacted the overall team performance dragging the team to turmoil. With the hostile environment, it becomes a challenge for the management team to motivate the employee into their tasks. More so, the affiliated Indian employees were more determined to fight for their recognition and equal remuneration.
Good leaders and managers are ones that lead their employees to success (Kai-Ping et al., 2013). More so, leaders who are regarded as successful, have to establish a defined strategy to inspire their employees to be engaged. However, concerning the case provided, there was a massive fail by the management team as it was unable to steer the MISM team to better performance. The management strategies were ineffective hence the unending issues related to the employee performance, motivation and productivity. Regarding indicators of poor management and motivation strategies for the employees, the organization suffered from high employee turnover, damaged company reputation, poor employee health and relations with the management and finally lacked or inadequate training to the employees (Taylor, 2012). Focusing on the provided case scenario, these are evident characteristics of the MISM team, hence the existence of poor management strategies.
2.4 Problem V: Poor policy and plan implementation; Lack of Official Documentation of Company Operations
From the start, MonCo investment in the Indian market was questioned as to the location of their office. This after pushing people out of their land and business denying them their income from their activities. This was challenged by both Indians and Australian authorities, as it can be defined as a weak business survey. According to the case provided, there is minimal documentation of the policies, rules and regulation that are governing the MonCo business venture into the Indian market. This becomes a sensitive ground for chaos within the company as employees continued to devise the inequality and malpractices from the management. On the issue of documentation, there is little confirmation or documentation of the organizations reviews/interviewed when first allowed to invest in the Indian market. More so, there lacks documentation of the employees present and their relevant qualification details.
Founded on less strong grounds is a catalyst for the fail of every business (Goh, 2015). Despite their good deed and positive development of investing in the Indian market, MonCo is marred with cases of fraud, oppressiveness, corruption most of which are law prohibited. With these grounds, the call center was destined for a fall. The increasing cases of strikes, underperformance and increased employee turnover led to the dismal performance and overall demand by both Australian governments for investigation as to why the poor performance from a giant telecommunication company. Banerjee (2013), identified that the establishment of a business of the right and lawful way, saves the organization from unwarranted lawsuits. More so, it promotes right habits in the workplace and from the employees, hence providing room for success, and overall improve productivity. Poor law implementation can also be attributed to organization management.
3.0 Statement of Major Problems.
MonCo branch in India was faced with multiple problems in its operations. However, the two major ones included;
Unstructured/poor employee training programs
Ineffective employee management and motivation programs.
Firstly, the business enterprise adopted ineffective employee management strategies which not only impacted their productivity but also rarely motivated them to strive for success. As the management was marred with favoritism between the natives/Indians and Australians, the practice was a catalyst for poor performance. The administration generally lacked the element of equality and was focused more on productivity other than improved employee welfare. With increased cases of strikes, high rate of turnover etc., the overall employee training are found demanding which in turn led to poor employee performance and lack of motivation among the employees.
Secondly, there were little, or ineffective employee training programs. With the company working in a new environment, it was crucial for developing effective training programs for the new employees. This would enable acquisition of much-required skills for their daily operations and customer relations. However, this isn’t the case, as the company is more focused on the increased number of customer care calls answered, hence pushed the employees to work with little or no adequate skills (Goh, 2015). The result was poor performance, decreased satisfaction among the customers and an overall decline in financial performance.
4.0 Generation and Evaluation of Alternative Solutions
4.1. Unstructured employee training
4.1.1 Defined employee recruitment and training program
One of the primary solutions to the training and development problems in the organization is restructuring of the company’s recruitment and training programs. With cases of corruption, favoritism etc., the company’s recruitment program is wanting. The basic training program should ensure there is well laid down timeline, resources and man power to implement the relevant training (Stone " Dulebohn, 2016). On the other hand an effective employee training program should ensure it addresses the skill gap in the organization, the training methods are the best suited and should allow for easy results evaluation and follow-up. Finally, the company managers should make learning and development to part of the organization culture and should not be compromised whatsoever.
4.1.2 In-service training
With the focus being to develop a successful training for employees and managers, implementation of in-service training would help in solving the problem faced by MonCo. This is due to the fact that, in-service training would allow the management to ensure the employees gains new skills which would enable them perform better in their daily operations. This form of training keeps the workers equipped with desired skills to remain relevant in their jobs. More so, it makes the managers care for the employee’s needs, hence increasing their productivity as well as increase the employee retention rate (Nicolescu " Lloyd-Reason, 2016). Finally, in-service training demonstrates management commitment to improve the employees work, hence a catalyst to improved performance, better customer care and practices.
4.1.3 Detailed hiring process for the qualified
In an effort to improve organizational performance the focus has shifted towards improving the overall employee relations with the organization objectives and the management. With reference to this, another solution to MonCo’s undefined employee training can the development and implementation of the best hiring method. This would allow organizations to have the best employees to attend to customer calls. It would enable to develop the best strategy for teaching, training and development of employees to use company resources to their best of ability.
4.2 Ineffective employee management and motivation strategies
4.2.1 Effective leadership and teamwork management approaches
In an effort to change the employee issues related with MonCo’s issues, another solution is to adopt revolutionized leadership strategies. With focus being to change the relationship between employees and managers, the organization would enable to improve the team work and overall employee’s relations. Through leadership revolution, there would an improved communication procedures which would result to positive performance from the employees. Revolutionized leadership would lead to recruitment of the right people, improve communication, and develop best reward system in accordance to employee performance (Miles, 2014). Not only does change in leadership improve overall employee performance, but also establish a positive organizational culture that recognizes employee skills.
4.2.2 Promotion of equality, and employee motivation
One of the major areas of contention and that brought along animosity between the Australian investor and the Indian employees is the lack of equal treatment or recognition which in turn made it hard for effective employee motivation. This solution would entail establishment of the employee population establishing the ration between the Indians and the Australians. Then establishment of equality committee which would recognize the qualification aspects of every employee regardless of their origin, and in turn harmonize their remunerations packages. This approach would as well focus on establishment of an official company equal employment policy, which would in turn ensure the company is in line with labor laws (Shenhav, 2012). Through promotion of equality, the employee will be self-motivated to perform better, which would in turn lead to a solution to the disparity strikes.
5.0 Recommendations
5.1 Training and Planning
In an effort to solve the issue of poor and unstructured employee training strategies, defined training and planning is an inevitable undertaking of the management team in MonCo’s Indian call center. Adopting regular employee training and in-service training would best solve the gap between employee skills and the job demand for improved and effective service delivery. According to the principle II of scientific management approach, training, teaching and employee development helps an organization to find the best suited employees for different vacancies. More so, this would equip every employee with the know-how of their position, goals and demands.
Through helping the employees identify, set and reach goals is an every organizations is the focus of every management team that is success focused. On the other hand, employees are focused to be part of the organization big picture, hence it inevitable for managers and employees to establish the undying connection. Through training, there is goal-setting which is particularly a platform for feedback giving between employees and managers, hence establishing a positive working relations (Lowe, 2010). Through training and planning, the managers performs goal setting which enables the team work to focus on both long-term and short-term goals. More so, the management is able to give real time check and device the best motivating strategies for the employees. Effective training would greatly help the MonCo’s revival as it would drive down the cost of running the organization, minimize waste, reduce errors, and as well improve customer satisfaction. Finally, it ensures the employees gains the required skills, experience and knowledge which need in an effort to complete their work efficiently.
5.2 Improved employee management strategies
The second solution to the MonCos problems is through adoption, improvement and implementation of effective employee management strategies such as team work, and communication. In an effort to improve employee experience, the managers
6.0 Implementations
WHO
WHAT
WHEN
WHERE
HOW
COST
Managers and organizational leaders
- All managers from top to bottom are called " training
- Call all staffs together to talk about the goals. Training and work designs and shifts.
- Meeting employees to address disparity among natives and Australians
Every week
Company headquarters in India
- Every start of a month, a the company boardroom
Manager to hold a meeting to set specific goals, and establish official recruitment and training of the employees.
Employees
- Give suggestions on how to improve working conditions and environment
Any time though suggestion box to avoid victimization
Can air their ideas views in meetings or send a letter to the management team
Setting of suggestion box
7.0 Reference List
Banerjee, A. (2013). Management Essentials: A Recipe for Business Success. Los Angeles: Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd.
Commons, M. L., Miller, P. M., Ramakrishnan, S., " Giri, S. (2018). Employee Management Using Behavioral Developmental Theory. Behavioral Development Bulletin, 23(1), 22-33.
Goh, A. B. (2015). ROFO Principle Generates Ownership, Commitment And Team Learning – Mindset Change Before Implementing Total Quality Management. Total Quality Management " Business Excellence, 26(7/8), 854-874.
Kai-Ping, H., Jane, T., Sheng Chung, L., " Mei-Ju, C. (2013). A Review and Critical Analysis of the Principles of Scientific Management. International Journal of Organizational Innovation, 5(4), 78-85.
Murphy, J. (2017). Discovering the Drivers of Employee Equity Valuations. Business Valuation Update, 23(4), 13-16.
Taylor, F. W. (2012). The Principles of Scientific Management. Auckland: The Floating Press.
Lowe, S. (2010). Managing in Changing Times: A Guide for the Perplexed Manager. Los Angeles: Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd.
Shenhav, Y. (2012). Taylorism Transformed: Scientific Management Theory since 1945. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37(4), 676-679.
Miles, J. A. (2014). New Directions in Management and Organization Theory. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Stone, D. L., " Dulebohn, J. H. (2016). Human Resource Management: Theory and Research on New Employment Relationships. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Nicolescu, O., " Lloyd-Reason, L. (2016). Challenges, Performances and Tendencies in Organisation Management. Singapore: World Scientific.
