Who’s to blame?A Southern African company, Selebeas Parts Pty Ltd was founded in 2000 by four business friends, who were retrenched from a well known car manufacturing company. They each specialized in different areas. Thomas was made the Chief Executive Officer because of his International business exposure and global network that he built up over the years. They decided to manufacture vehicle body parts and bought a declining factory. A few changes were made to get themselves into production.Thomas spent several weeks overseas sourcing contracts and was lucky enough to secure a huge contract with Nigerian Government in North West Africa to manufacture bonnets and doors for luxury Nigerian built cars.It will be expected to Nigeria until a subsidiary factory was built and staffed in Nigeria. This would put Selebeas on the road to success because it was a multi-billion rand contract. A South African expatriate would then be appointed as a General Manager, while ten South African technicians would assume the responsibility for production and quality control in Nigeria. Since 2002, two general managers and six technicians have returned home early before their agreed international assignment time expired. These early repatriations resulted on loss of production and quality control in Nigeria, and subsequent cost to South African parent company (Selebeas) atleast five million rand, which they couldn’t afford in the infancy stage of their company. The Nigerian Government threatened to terminate the contract due to performance failure and because it was selebeas’ first international market, they had to make this work. More international and global contracts were on the horizon, and this poor performance could not be known. Thomas decided to step in and interview the production manager, four local supervisors and ten shop-floor workers on-site. He had to use an interpreter and later analysed all the information. It was found that the Nigerian employees were of the opinion that South African are:§ Very demanding with unrealistic targets and deadlines.§ Exercising too strict policy with disciplining for absenteeism (sometimes employees were absent due to their religious beliefs).§ Not understanding the language barrier that causes misunderstanding with instruction and procedures. § Enjoying a much more affluent lifestyle than their counterparts due to inequity insalary structures.Thomas looked at the exit interviews of the repatriates who returned, interviewed a few and their perceptions were that the Nigerian employees: § Did not know the meaning of achievement or deadlines and goals.§ Used their religion as an excuse to be absent- that’s the reason why all cases of absenteeism were disciplinedThey did not understand the South African culture, customs, and family responsibilities.The repatriates found it difficult to settle in and to adjust to their work and home situations on their return. Thomas realized that this was too much for him and decided to call on an international human resources management consultant for advice.Source: Human resource Management (Nel, Werner, Sono, et al).Questionsa) If you were the International Human Resource Management consultant (IHRM), how would you advice Thomas, in order to retain this contract? (8 marks)b) What are the challenges faced by Selebeas Patrs (Pty) Ltd for engaging in the foreign markets. (8 marks) c) What is an expatriate? (2 marksd) Explain exit interview. (2 marks.
Who’s to blame?
A Southern African company, Selebeas Parts Pty Ltd was founded in 2000 by four
business friends, who were retrenched from a well known car manufacturing company.
They each specialized in different areas. Thomas was made the Chief Executive Officer
because of his International business exposure and global network that he built up over
the years. They decided to manufacture vehicle body parts and bought a declining
factory. A few changes were made to get themselves into production.
Thomas spent several weeks overseas sourcing contracts and was lucky enough to secure
a huge contract with Nigerian Government in North West Africa to manufacture bonnets
and doors for luxury Nigerian built cars.
It will be expected to Nigeria until a subsidiary factory was built and staffed in Nigeria.
This would put Selebeas on the road to success because it was a multi-billion rand
contract. A South African expatriate would then be appointed as a General Manager,
while ten South African technicians would assume the responsibility for production and
quality control in Nigeria. Since 2002, two general managers and six technicians have
returned home early before their agreed international assignment time expired. These early repatriations resulted on loss of production and quality control in Nigeria, and
subsequent cost to South African parent company (Selebeas) atleast five million rand,
which they couldn’t afford in the infancy stage of their company. The Nigerian
Government threatened to terminate the contract due to performance failure and because
it was selebeas’ first international market, they had to make this work. More international
and global contracts were on the horizon, and this poor performance could not be known.
Thomas decided to step in and interview the production manager, four local supervisors
and ten shop-floor workers on-site. He had to use an interpreter and later analysed all the
information. It was found that the Nigerian employees were of the opinion that South
African are:
§ Very demanding with unrealistic targets and deadlines.
§ Exercising too strict policy with disciplining for absenteeism (sometimes
employees were absent due to their religious beliefs).
§ Not understanding the language barrier that causes misunderstanding with
instruction and procedures.
§ Enjoying a much more affluent lifestyle than their counterparts due to inequity in
salary structures.
Thomas looked at the exit interviews of the repatriates who returned, interviewed a
few and their perceptions were that the Nigerian employees:
§ Did not know the meaning of achievement or deadlines and goals.
§ Used their religion as an excuse to be absent- that’s the reason why all cases of
absenteeism were disciplinedThey did not understand the South African culture, customs, and family
responsibilities.
The repatriates found it difficult to settle in and to adjust to their work and home
situations on their return. Thomas realized that this was too much for him and decided to
call on an international human resources management consultant for advice.
Source: Human resource Management (Nel, Werner, Sono, et al).
Questions
a) If you were the International Human Resource Management consultant (IHRM),
how would you advice Thomas, in order to retain this contract? (8 marks)
b) What are the challenges faced by Selebeas Patrs (Pty) Ltd for engaging in the
foreign markets. (8 marks)
c) What is an expatriate? (2 marksd) Explain exit interview. (2 marks.
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