Part A: Cultural Diversity
Introduction
Culture is an important factor in understanding organisation, because for any organisation to operate effectively it must for some extent have a general set of believe and assumptions. Because understanding the term of the culture metaphor helps organisations to be aware of how employees are thinking about the organisation phenomena, and to recognize how different attitudes, value and beliefs affect the workplace. In an organisation, one of the most essential issue to be given attention is about cultural diversity.
The concept of diversity has been described roughly as groups of two or more individuals which characteristically denote demographic dissimilarities among group members (1995). Concurrently, recent studies have been created to describe the abundant dimensions for categorising these demographic dissimilarities. Nonetheless, it is recurrent that hypothesising diverse results for individuals and work clusters, particularly those relating to the level and disposition of those diversity.
The level to which one individually distinguishes with one’s cultural distinctiveness and the worth one consigns on them modifies transversely through cultural factions and across members within cultural groups (1993; 1995; 1997). Additionally, a human being may vary in the degree to which he or she associate with, principles, or articulate a specific cultural personality at any prearranged instance, dependent on the salience and denotation of that characteristics in the perspective within which he or she is in commission (1995;1996) For this reason, cultural identity, as understood in this selection, is communally constructed, multifaceted, and self-motivated.
Primarily, the main goal of this paper is to answer the query: how cultural diversity could be exploited for the benefit of a multi-cultural organisation. The discussion will focus on how the management of the company can use cultural diversity as part of the system of the organisation.
Cultural Diversity and Managing Culture
As mentioned, the goal of this paper is to identify ways on how cultural diversity can be used to benefit a multi-cultural organisation. (1990) argues that organizations can build their multicultural capacities in three ways. Affirmative action creates a diverse staff by recruiting previously excluded individuals into homogeneous organizations. Valuing cultural diversity builds understanding and helps people learn to appreciate this new diversity. Managing diversity attacks institutional racism, reallocates power, and promotes justice in the work place while enhancing the work environment. Diversity is otherness or those human qualities that are different from our own and outside the groups, to which we belong, yet present in other individuals and groups.
Dimensions of diversity include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience. It’s important to understand how these dimensions affect performance, motivation, success, and interactions with others. Institutional structures and practices that have presented barriers to some dimensions of diversity should be examined, challenged, and removed.
Strong Management Commitment
In this regard, one way to exploit cultural diversity to become advantageous is to manage it effectively and efficiently. (1993) defines cultural diversity as the “representation, in one social system, of people with distinctly different group affiliations of cultural significance ( 1993).” Accordingly, people of different ethnic backgrounds possess different attitudes, values, and norms. Increasing cultural diversity in both public and private sectors focuses attention on the distinctions between various ethnic groups in their attitudes and performance at work.
Several authors have research organisations which are successful in managing diversity (1994). In general, these authors find several similarities held by successful, multicultural organisations: First, top management plays a crucial and leading role in making diversity a success and become beneficial for the company.
The CEO must exhibit a strong commitment. Leaders must receive diversity training to address myths, stereotypes and real cultural differences as well as organisational barriers that interfere with the full contribution of all employees. Top executives need experience of what it is like to be a minority. Top management cannot delegate its leading role to Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity administrators. Second, diversity must be part of an organisation’s strategic business objective. A diversity program cannot fully succeed if it is a separate strategy similar to traditional Affirmative Action/EEO programs. Diversity goals must be linked to business goals, not merely meeting Affirmative Action legal requirements ( 1993).
Cultural Diversity must be stressed not only internally but should be a significant part of external outreach programs that identify the organisation as a multicultural leader and active in community and societal issues. Diversity should be a super ordinate goal rather than a goal ascribed to individual groups. Third, managers must be held accountable for meeting diversity goals. Performance evaluations and rewards should be tied to a manager’s ability to develop and manage a diverse workforce. Top management must scrutinise compensation to insure fairness. Fourth, a multicultural successful organisation must improve its supply of diverse workers through aggressive recruiting. It must break the “glass ceiling” and increase the number of women and minorities in the higher salary groups through career development, mentoring, and executive appointment. It must empower all of its employees to use their full capacity.
Fifth, a diverse workforce requires efficient communication. Leaders must insure that there are open avenues for employees to communicate new ideas, grievances, input and feedback. In many ways, the classic bureaucratic model is antithetical to the needs of culturally diverse workgroups and innovative, non-hierarchical organisational designs may be in order to insure effective communications. Finally, a multiculturally successful organisation must value diversity.
A cultural climate must allow differences to be celebrated instead of merely tolerated. All employees must understand the competitive and moral advantages of diversity. They must respect and support cultural diversity through the recognition of distinctive cultural and religious holidays, diet restrictions, and the like. Often, organisations must undergo a “cultural transformation” (
1994) before they can successfully achieve the full benefits of diversity.
Because management philosophies and practices are culturally conditioned, it stands to reason that there is much to be gained by including cultural studies in all management or professional development. This is particularly relevant during the global transformation underway. Culturally skilled leaders are essential for the effective management of global corporations, as well as for the furtherance of mutually beneficial world trade and exchange ( 2000).
Integrating Culture at Work Approach
The concept of culture at work, whether international, local or at the organizational level, extensive emphasis should be warranted for because effective HRM practices plays an effective role on achieving high performance levels of employees. Managing culture is a broad and complex issue. Leaders face formidable challenges in building a multicultural organisation that truly values diversity. To be successful, managers need to “unlearn practices rooted in an old mind set, change the ways organisations operate, shift organisational culture, revamp policies, create new structures, and redesign human resource systems ( 1991).” This is a tall order and indeed may be so difficult and complicated that it requires a new paradigm to guide organisational management.
To manage diversity strategically may require a shift from an efficiency mind set to one with a higher emphasis on human relations goals. For managers leading or working in culturally diverse organisation, the level of flexibility, communication skills and hands-on management required often goes above and beyond what they are accustomed to. Regardless of where they are located, managers may find themselves challenge to motivate struggling employees. Managing culturally diverse teams and facilitating teamwork across cultures can present unique challenges and may be unfamiliar territory for many managers.
The manager often experiences his most uncomfortable moments when he has to deal with differences among people. Because of these differences, he must often face disagreements, arguments, and even open conflict. To add to his discomfort, he frequently finds himself torn by two opposing desires. On the one hand, he wants to unleash the individuality of his subordinates in order to tap their full potential and to achieve novel and creative approaches to problems.
On the other hand, he is eager to develop a harmonious, smooth-working team to carry out his organisation’s objectives. The manager’s lot is further troubled by the fact that when differences occur, strong feelings are frequently aroused, objectivity flies out of the window, egos are threatened, and personal relationships are placed in jeopardy.
Because the presence of differences can complicate the manager’s job in so many ways, it is of utmost importance that he understands them fully and that he learns to handle them effectively. It is important that the communication provided by the organisation is clear and consistent from within all levels of the organisation. It must address both organisational and individual employee concerns. Management behaviour will influence employee behaviour more than the words included in a communication. Employees assess the communication to see if the change meets their needs.
Internal Communication is linked to performance, job satisfaction, job avoidance, market conditions, commitment, culture and turnover. Communication and culture are useful to the success of any organisation. A positive, strong culture allows the organisation to attract and retain the best people, where a negative culture can do the exact opposite. In addition, a clearly articulated mission statement is an essential part of building the image of the organisation in the minds of the employees. Therefore, effective internal communication is needed in a culturally-diverse organisation. If poor internal communications exist, it could lead to lack of job satisfaction, increased job avoidance, reduced performance and commitment and an increase in turnover.
Managers and team leaders will need to learn how to interpret signs of troubled or stressed employees. Moving forward, it is clear that both challenges and opportunities exist for those who lead or manage culturally diverse work teams. For those employees who are relocating to another culture, employers who are proactive and provide support up-front are certainly taking a step towards ensuring the success of the project team assignment. Pre-departures preparation programs can be put in place to help expatriates and short-term assignees prepare for losing a sense of cultural identity and the confidence that goes with it.
(1991) provides a working definition that goes beyond valuing differences: Managing culture is a comprehensive managerial process for developing an environment that works for all employees.” This definition has two key features. First, “managing culture” is a “comprehensive managerial process.” It is not enough to provide diversity training in an organisation and pat ourselves on the back for raising the level of awareness. Managing diversity implies an ongoing, system-wide process that will tap the potential of all employees.
It implies growth and development on the part of the organisation and its people — movement on both sides. Second, this definition specifies “developing an environment that works for all people.” In order to develop this environment that works for all people, we are going to have to change corporate cultures. (1991) provides an action plan for developing cultural changes in corporations. According to , we expect people to assimilate into the corporate culture. Today, employees are reluctant to assimilate and are more likely to want to maintain their uniqueness. As a result, we will have to create a culture that both values and manages diversity.
The vast majority of cultural diversity initiatives in the U.S. focus exclusively on valuing differences. Instead, Fine argues, the dominant corporate culture must be transformed into a multicultural organisation. Fine defines a multicultural organisation as an organisation that: values, encourages, and affirms diverse cultural modes of being and interacting, creates an organisational dialogue in which no one cultural perspective is presumed to be more valid than other perspectives and empowers all cultural voices to participate fully in setting goals and making decisions (1995).
Allowing Change Management Approach
Another way to exploit cultural diversity to become beneficial for the company is in terms of changing corporate culture and management systems. Changing corporate culture and management systems to accommodate the diversity of employees involves strategic initiatives that are designed to break down barriers that prevent all people from contributing to their fullest potential. n and Associates (1992) describe examples of corporate diversity initiatives that are “intentionally planned, targeted against business objectives, long-term oriented, and involve the entire organisation (1992). For example, Travel Related Services, a subsidiary of American Express, focused their efforts on becoming “the Best Place to Work” by providing benefits that would attract and retain employees from an increasingly diverse labor pool. Child-care subsidies, improved part-time benefits, sabbaticals, and flexible work arrangements were introduced after a systematic diagnosis and planning effort involving input from employees (1992).
Another study of corporate diversity initiatives by (1992) is based on interviews with over 200 managers in 16 U.S. companies. The research describes the barriers that prevent women and minorities from advancing as well as the processes that facilitate their movement through the ranks. Recruitment, development, and accountability strategies that foster an appreciation for diversity and allow organisations to achieve measurable results are labelled “best practices.”
One of the practices (1992) cites is the use of internal advocacy groups as a means for building commitment to diversity and monitoring the corporation’s diversity practices (1992) Advocacy groups were found in 10 of the 16 companies examined in the study. While the roles and power of these groups vary within corporations, (1992) acknowledges that much of their negotiating power comes from the information they receive about personnel administration (personnel profiles, promotions, pay records, and advanced notice of personnel policies). According to some executives communicate this information in order to share responsibility for identifying diversity problems and developing solutions (1992).
Managing the process of resolving conflicts in a culturally diverse organisation, therefore, is the central task, making sure that positive effects are garnered from the situation by understanding that all of those involved or in controls are doing everything in their power to maximise the positive products and quality output, while minimising the disruptive consequences among the members of the project team in a culturally diverse organisation.. Such good management, in turn, requires a full and sophisticated grasp of major elements in the managing process.
Individual causes and determinants of conflicts in a culturally diverse organisation, such as faulty attributions, poor styles of communication, and personal traits or characteristics that contribute to interpersonal friction, all play a role in this regard and must be taken into account. Similarly, culturally diverse organisation-based factors, such as competition for scarce resources, ambiguity over responsibility or jurisdiction, growing internal complexity, and faulty or inadequate forms of communication, must also be considered.
The framework for national culture has been developed by researcher (1980). While the respective merits and drawback of different framework are widely discussed, the Hofstede basic module of culture can be seen as a helpful framework to illustrate the major issues that need to be considered in change process.
Culture environment is one of the important principles that influence the organisation. (1991) identifies that there are dimensions that differentiate cultures at a national level (power distance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity, uncertainty avoidance and Long-term versus short-term orientation), which help to understand that people arrive to organizations with their own national culture.
Accordingly, if a multinational company wants to better manage cultural diversity, it is important to understand the management system of the host country. The management of the multicultural organisation should have both knowledge and empathy with the entire domestic scene. The management should also consider the 5 important dimension mentioned by Hostede to ensure that the change management process would be successful.
A healthy organisation is one in which an obvious effort is made to get people with different backgrounds, skills, and abilities to work together toward the goal or purpose of the organisation. Very few organisations in the have become effective in incorporating culturally diverse backgrounds, skills, and abilities in their organisational culture.
An effective, culturally diverse organisation is one whose culture is inclusive of all of the varying groups and constituencies it intends to serve, that is, in the case of the services, the people of the state. The organisation’s values, vision, mission, policies, procedures, and norms constitute a culture that is manifested in multiple perspectives and adaptability to varying values, beliefs, and communication styles. People from differing cultural groups in business operations have differing perspectives, manifested in their values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours. And these differences, if managed properly can be used as a strong factor to strengthen corporate culture which may lead to a more productive and competitive multi-cultural organization.
Other Benefits of Successfully Managed Diversity
The above analysis shows the benefits of a successfully managed diversity in the organisation. Aside from those benefits, there are also other benefits that the company may have when they managed cultural diversity effectively. One of the benefits of a well managed cultural diversity is in terms of having a more productive workforce, strong communication, customer loyalty and ensuring quality products and services. For example, through the effective management of cultural diversity in Honda which is a multinational and multi-cultural industry, the company has been able to make their employees work productively and be able to provide quality products and services among their customers. Since Honda is an international organisation, it is exposed to employees having different cultures. Instead of letting this cultural diversity affects the company negatively; Honda has been able to use this to establish a management approach that will handle cultural diversity within the organisation. With the effective cultural diversity management approach Honda enables their employees to work efficiently which also leads in the reduction of employee turnover. Having been able to have this kind of setting, Honda has been able to gain competitive advantage in every nation that they operate. Aside from a multinational automotive company, other company who have been benefited by a well managed cultural diversity are the multinational construction company.
Accordingly, managers of a multinational construction company who are assigned in culturally diverse company are experiencing cultural shocked, specifically when the responsibilities are not done effectively. In this manner, it is perceived that the multinational companies need a more effective diversity management, specifically in the international level. On analysing the context of international project management, especially for multinational construction companies, it can be noted that different project management, can establish competition among the diverse groups and evoke pride in work that enhances performance when they are able to arrange culturally homogenous groups of different cultures. In addition, it can also be perceived that successful managers used bicultural individuals to bridge the cultural gap between the project team members. By using a mediator, who understands the needs of both cultures, the managers are able to effectively manage the human resources and the diversity. With an effective cultural diversity management in a multinational construction company, there is a greater possibility of avoiding wasted time, costs and effort.
In an article written b various authors, they tackle the impact of cultural diversity in the performance of multinational firms. Herein, they both argued that international diversification and business performance are affected by the effective management of cultural diversity. The authors highlighted that diversity must be stressed not only internally but should be a significant part of external outreach programs that identify the organization as a multicultural leader and active in community and societal issues (1996).
Diversity should be a super ordinate goal rather than a goal ascribed to individual groups. Third, managers must be held accountable for meeting diversity goals. Performance evaluations and rewards should be tied to a manager’s ability to develop and manage a diverse workforce. Top management must scrutinize compensation to insure fairness. Fourth, a multicultural successful organization must improve its supply of diverse workers through aggressive recruiting. It must break the “glass ceiling” and increase the number of women and minorities in the higher salary groups through career development, mentoring, and executive appointment. It must empower all of its employees to use their full capacity.
The authors also discussed the significance of cultural diversity in enhancing the performance of the business and that the role of the managers should be to incorporate all diverse groups into one working team. The article perceived that although cultural diversity can negatively affect the performance of an organisation, such effect is only temporary. If the management would be able to handle and manage diversity effectively this will result to positive value.
Conclusion
In managing people, the human resource management should be able to learn to think more systematically and strategically in using the organisation’s most valuable asset and the company’s great resource and that is the people. The human resource management should be able to develop a thriving organisational culture and a stronger organisation by good management of the people, providing their needs and the things that they deserve in order for them to be motivated and for them to seek more improvement and career development for their sake and for the organisation’s sake as well.
Further, it can also be concluded that in order to have a high-performing and competitive organisation, it is critical that the human resource management and the organisation as well should effectively align their people, work, structure and organisational behaviours to the purpose of the organisation and effectively reward the right performance that supports the objective of the organisation. Elements such as work processes, organisation design, career path, performance management and a compensation program are part of human resource management strategy and a plan to ensure continuing success.
All in all it is very important that an organisation should make a way in adjusting their management and styles to complement the differences and similarities of the employees and the organisation as a whole that may catalyst the motivation among the employees. Hence, the role of human resource management is crucial in making the organisation achieved its goal of having a working force that contributes to the competitive advantage of the organisation.
Working in a culturally diverse situation is challenging; managing a culturally diverse service presents even greater challenges. The rewards, however, are great in opening our minds and sharing experiences. Seeing our own society, with its habits, customs, and beliefs that we may take for granted, through the eyes of an incomer heightens self-awareness and self-understanding. The two aspects of management: working with staffs that are culturally diverse and providing a service to a culturally diverse community must be given enough focus.
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Human Resource Management
In FedEx
Introduction
The performance of every company can be said to be affected by different business elements. These elements are the ones attributed for the success or even the failure of a business. In this regard, organization is trying to find ways to improve their performance by using strategic management system. One of these systems is the human resource management system.
Human resource management (HRM) is known and accepted in the broadest sense of the term, as a form of management that includes “all management decisions and actions that affect the nature of the relationship between the organisation and the employees – its human resources” (1984). As can be observed based on the definition, the tasks of those belonging in HRM can be complex as it involves all issues that encompasses employee and firm relationship. Believing that the most important asset of a business is the people in order to achieve sustained business success is the core philosophy of human resource management (HRM), and realising this leads to a strategic management of people within the organisation.
Primarily, the main goal of this paper is to provide insightful details regarding the concept of the human resource management in relation to a multinational company like FedEx. This report will attempt to identify the challenges encountered by FedEx in terms of managing their human resources.
Overview of the Company
FedEx Corporation was established by in 1973 as an entirely new concept in package delivery an overnight air delivery service. While many competitors have sprung up since that time to steal small portions of the market share, FedEx is still undeniably the global leader in its industry. The company also provides e-commerce and supply chain management services to its clients in more than 210 countries. The corporation has some 215,000 employees and contractors and offers a wide range of delivery options including worldwide express delivery, ground small parcel delivery, freight delivery, and customs brokerage. Integrated business solutions are provided through a group of operating companies, of which Federal Express Corporation is the largest.
FedEx was the pioneer of the express transportation and logistics industry. In addition, FedEx is also regarded as one of the world’s leading transportation companies that focus on the transportation of parcels and packages worldwide. In accordance to the activity around us especially when it comes to the speed and efficiency needed to serve the clients better, FedEx also has improved its performance when it comes to service through continuous changes in its IS and addition of certain programs like tracking lost parcels within thirty minutes which is of good help to clients and the such. This is very important so as to keep the company consistent of being number one on its spot. In this way, it will never fail to attract more clients.
HRM Issue in FedEx:
While every organization seems to invest in technology, there are other aspects that should be considered in attaining a holistic performance of their respective organization. One aspect that needs as much, if not more attention and investment than technology is human capital management. An organization’s human capital management philosophy must value the workforce as a key asset that will define an organization’s character and performance capacity (2001). “In fact, human capital is a critical factor that would either lead the organization to success or to failure,” as stated by (2001).
In the international arena, the quality of management seems to be even more critical than in domestic operations (Tung, 1998). This is primarily because the nature of international business operations involves the complexities of operating in different countries and employing different national categories of workers (1986). Yet, while it is recognized that HRM problems become more complex in the international arena or more importantly in multicultural organisation, there is evidence to suggest that many companies underestimate the complexities involved in international operations. Being an international organisation or multi-national company, FedEx encountered many issues in line with human resource management. One of the most serious problems in a multinational organisation which FedEx also faced is conflict.
According to (1998), conflict or issues may be defined as the perception of personal or organisational differences among individuals. Other meanings of conflict defined the term as the process of social interaction between struggling parties over beliefs, status, power, resources and other desires or preferences. The goal of the contradicting parties may vary from a simple aim of gaining acceptance to securing a resource advantage; in worst cases, conflicting parties will go even to the point of harming or eliminating their opponents (2001).
In a multinational organisation like FedEx different conflicts or issues are being encountered in line with working behaviour of their human resources. This issue arises when staffs have incompatible emotions or feelings which results in a negative working attitude with their co-employees. According to (1997), this kind of issue happens when interpersonal clashes are observed between the contradicting parties. Oftentimes, this is characterized by frustration and anger. When two or more organizational parties argue over content or task issues, substantive conflicts result. Also known as cognitive, task or issue conflict, this type of conflict occurs when group members disagree on each other’s opinions or ideas in relation to the task at hand (2001). An example of this conflict is when one employee or board member disagrees on which marketing strategy or alternative is to be applied; arguing over company data to develop a business plan is also a common problem in the company. It is said that when conflict occurs, the working attitude of the employees are being affected.
FedEx also often encounter conflicts due to differing interests or cultures. Herein, two parties realize and understand the problem; however, the solution they intend to use to solve it is different from one another. Ideological conflict or the conflict of values is yet another source of this organizational problem. Basically, this conflict type occurs when two or more social entities have contradicting ideologies over certain matters.
This conflict is often observed in human resource issues especially when one party prioritizes what is best for the company while the other is after the interest of the employees. Conflict also occurs in FedEx due to contradicting goals. Since the employees of FedEx have different preferred results or decision outcomes, problems occur which affects the performance of the organisation ( 2001).
Other authors also raised similar sources of conflict in the workplace. In a the company also encounters intra-organizational which occurs due to differences in beliefs, basic values or knowledge; personal dislike; differing attitudes or perceptions generated through organizational structure; and competition for power, position or recognition. Diversity in the workplace is said to be an important aspect for efficient and optimized organizational performance. Diversity does not only pertain to people’s gender, age and race; differences in role expectation. Goals, thoughts and values are also part of this concept (1993). The concept of diversity is a notion of individual differences. While others may consider this as a way of expanding one’s perspectives, experience or ideas, diversity may be taken negatively and be seen as a factor that hinders organizational effectiveness, specifically for a multinational organisation like FedEx.
Managing people may vary in different context and one of which is managing their performance. Management is the process of directing and facilitating the work of people organized in formal groups to achieve a desired goal. Management may not be indispensable to group activity, but it is essential in utilizing limited resources to accomplish maximum output, that is, in order to prevent wasted effort by individuals. Without some source of central direction and guidance, individuals in any sizable number can- not work together successfully or efficiently over a sustained period of time. In other words, formal organization of work and a high degree of specialization of labor make management imperative as the means for ensuring performance of any undertaking.
In terms of performance, FedEx sometimes faced the problem of low performance among employees. This is mainly due to the diverse situation of the working environment in FedEx. Having diverse people affects the behaviour and even the productivity of the human resources, which may lead to unmet quality service offered for the target market.
Another issue that has been encountered by FedEx is in line with communication process. As a heritage of HRM, many firms still provide “top-down” communication. Poor “bottom-up” communication, suppressed by managers, can lead to employee discord and conflict. This issue affects the performance of the employees to be provided quality service among their target market. The management of FedEx at a certain period have implemented a highly centralised decision making process. This highly centralised decision making and a manager’s preferential treatment stifle workers’ creativity and productivity and also results in an unhealthy work environment. Herein, very little or no creativity and innovation occurs in the workplace.
The issues mentioned above are the ones considered as conflicts that affects the firm as whole.
Strategy used by FedEx to Solve the Issues
FedEx is committed with their People-Service-Profit philosophy. Herein, the company aims to produce outstanding financial returns by means of providing, competitively superior, totally reliable global air-ground transportation of high priority goods and documents that require rapid, time-certain delivery. The company also aims to provide positive control of each package that will be delivered by using real time electronic tracking and tracing systems. In this manner, a complete record of each shipment and delivery is being presented with the company’s request for payment. The company’s goal is to become helpful, courteous and professional to each other and the public. The vision of the company is to strive efficiently to have a completely satisfied customer every time they avail the services of FedEx ( 2000).
In order to solve the issues faced by the company has been able to use different strategies. These strategies include performance management approach, cultural diversity management approach, conflict management and the development of strategic human resource management. Performance management is the principal set of practices by which control is manifested in organizations. Control here is defined as any process that is used to align the actions of individuals to the interests of the organization ( 1992). Under such a characterization, performance management is expected to regulate both motivation and ability (1990). Performance management is usually conceptualized as consisting of three elements: (1) objective setting, (2) formal performance evaluation, and (3) linkage between evaluation outcomes and development and rewards, in order to reinforce desired behavior (1992). This system is cybernetic, with feedback from both employer and employee driving modifications at each point in the system. Empirical research has tended to be absorbed in the constituent elements of performance management, and studies into performance management viewed as a set of interlocking policies and practices are rare.
There are three prominent views as to how performance management may be used to regulate performance, through focusing either on behavior, or on skills, or on outputs. Monitoring behavior is largely concerned with articulating operating procedures which are initiated top-down through a centralized bureaucratic framework (1992). The intent is to monitor employee performance closely, with appraisal used chiefly as an auditing device to correct deviations from set norms (1992). A less rigid view of controlling behavior lies in the use of competency frameworks. Competencies can specify behaviors, skills, and knowledge which are deemed desirable for employees to exhibit, and criteria for their attainment are set by the organization, forming an important part of the evaluation process.
Through performance management, the FedEx has been able to monitor every activity of the employees, including those conflicts faced by the culturally diverse employees. FedEx are able to determine the cause of disagreements among their employees and find solutions to solve such conflict. In addition, through performance management, FedEx has been able to monitor the output of the diverse employees.
Monitoring output is characterized by the use of performance targets which provide some discretion in how employees achieve them. This type of control allows employers to decentralize control and gives relatively objective criteria for evaluation. Herein, the employees of are given discretion in how they achieve them. Since the effects of these three approaches overlap, it is usually the case that firms will employ elements of behavioral, skills, and output controls simultaneously (1992).
Aside from managing the performance, FedEx has also able to developed their Human resource functions. The development of Human resources in FedEx has served the needs of organisations to provide human resources with up-to-date expertise. Accordingly, Human Resource Development is concerned with learning and with how it might be managed. In addition, FedEx human resource development approach is concerned with change, of behaviour, as can be seen in the manifestation of innovative or improved skills, implementation of new knowledge and understanding, and employing new attitude. Through this, the employees are given the chance to improve themselves in order to cope with the diverse situation of the organisation. Human Resource Development covers the organisation as a whole, and adheres to the needs of individual functions. According to (1996), FedEx HRD includes different activities and processes implemented by the organisation with the intention of developing or enhancing the performance of both organisation and individual. It is a process of unleashing and enhancing the skill of human resources by employing organisational development and training and development for the goal of improving the competency of a certain organisation (Swanson, 1995) which FedEx has done to solve different human resource issues.
One of the strategies used by FedEx in terms of managing their human resources is their integration of HRM practices with the employee empowerment concept. Herein, the corporation announces proudly how important employee empowerment is. Founder and CEO Frederick Smith determined to make employees an integral part of the decision-making process, due to his belief that “when people are placed first they will provide the highest possible service, and profits will follow” (2002). Some of its employee empowerment programs include: an annual employee satisfaction survey, which rates management’s performance and forms a basis for improvement; an employee recognition and reward program; and pay for performance based on management-by-objective and project-by-objective goal-setting processes (2002).
In addition, FedEx also incorporates the use of employee empowerment in terms of the information system that it used. Since information is considered as the one which represents power in this generation, information systems used also have the potential to impose employee empowerment. Empowerment being known as the process of enabling and encouraging employees to accept more responsibility for their job is a concept that has been discussed for many years but has been difficult to achieve. Specifically, empowerment involves pushing decision-making downward in the organizational hierarchy to the lowest level where the necessary information and expertise is available.
Successful implementation of empowerment has been chiefly dependent upon radical changes in management attitudes and behavior. Now, because of the access to shared information available through intranets, the long sought goal of improving employee empowerment may be within reach. Welch (1996) suggests that access to company information and opportunity for expanded cross-functional communication can enable managers to more effectively share power with employees, thus achieving improvements in employee empowerment. However, managers must be willing to share power, which could be an even greater challenge than simply making the data available. Hence, through the information passed from the managers to the staff as part of the operation of employee empowerment is being achieved.
Implications the issues to FedE
It is said that multi-national organisations faced more complexities than any other organisation in terms of handling or managing human resource. Hence, these companies should be able to implement human resource management strategy suitable for the needs of their human resource needs. Human Resource Management is regarded as an umbrella term that comprises (a) specific human resource practices such as recruitment, selection, and appraisal; (b) formal human resource policies, which direct and partially constrain the development of specific practices; and (c) overarching human resource philosophies, which specify the values that inform an organisation’s regulations and practices. Basically, these encompass a system that attracts, develops, motivates, and retains employees who ensure the effective functioning and survival of the organisation and its members. It is true that managing people in organisation is a very difficult task to handle because the employees that you will handle are provided with different culture, attitudes, values and norms.
In order to effectively solve the issues or conflicts encountered by a multinational organisation such as the human resource management should be able to learn to think more systematically and strategically in using the organisation’s most valuable asset and the company’s great resource. The human resource management should be able to develop a thriving organisational culture and a stronger organisation by good management of the people, providing their needs and the things that they deserve in order for them to be motivated and for them to seek more improvement and career development for their sake and for the organisation’s sake as well.
Herein, FedEx or any multinational organisation can use empowerment as a technique for improving solving the issue while improving employee satisfaction. Satisfying the employees can significantly create a good working relationship among the employees; it involves responsibility and authority for decisions affecting the workplace, downwards through the organisation. Thus, in an organisation, employees need to be equally empowered. This empowerment results to an increased competence, self-esteem and self-respect, which are very important to one’s well-being.
Moreover, creating an environment in the workplace that results in employees feeling better about themselves when they are in it results in love of their work. A working environment that constantly raises an employee’s self-esteem, above that she/he experiences anywhere else in their life, will be where she/he most desires to spend their time and yields very high employee satisfaction with their job and costs next to nothing. People do more of what they enjoy and less of what they don’t enjoy. The results also show that people who enjoy working are more productive than employees who are not satisfied with what the company is giving.
In the case of they value their employees as they value their customers. Hence, the company promotes different programs in line with their integration of employee empowerment with their employee relationship approach. Through this program and the information system used by the company, the employees are given the chance to be involved in decision-making process needed within the organisation which means that their opinions and ideas regarding the operations and management of the company counts.
In addition, through the empowerment programs implemented within the company, the employees feel that the company does not ignore the capabilities and skills to handle every management performance. All in all, employee empowerment is just one of the many ways that a certain organisation may use in order to show the appreciation and recognition of the abilities of their employees.
Aside from this, FedEx also sees to it that they value whatever cultures, beliefs and norms the employee has. The awareness of the differing culture in the FedEx enables the company to understand why some employees behaved differently. With this, they create a strong organisational structure that bonds employees even if they came from various cultures.
All in all it is very crucial that an international organisation should make a way in adjusting their management styles and approaches to adhere with the differences and similarities of the employees, specifically those in the international environment so that IHRM may catalyst the motivation among diverse individual. It is also important to note that international human resource management should have the ability to employ the principles and concepts of emotional intelligence and give emphasis to the importance of self-awareness in dealing with different kinds of people, winning their trust and to ensure that the people’s values and the organisations objective will intersect to a common goal and that is to incorporate good employment relationship to ensure competitive advantage in the international market.
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