Unit 6 Assignment

STRATEGIC HR MANAGEMENT

STUDENT WORKBOOK

International HRM

Case Study

By Fiona L. Robson

This case study has been adapted from the original version of the case study found at www.shrm.org. The submission
instruction is the portion that has been adapted.

Project Team

Project leader:

Fiona L. Robson

Project contributor: Bill Schaefer, SPHR

Nancy A. Woolever, SPHR

External contributor: Sharon H. Leonard

Editor:

Courtney J. Cornelius, copy editor

Design: Terry Biddle, graphic designer

© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Fiona L. Robson

For more information, please contact:

SHRM Academic Initiatives

1800 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA

Phone: (800) 283-7476 Fax: (703) 535-6432

Web: www.shrm.org/hreducation

http://www.shrm.org/

http://www.shrm.org/

http://www.shrm.org/hreducation

http://www.shrm.org/hreducation

08-0753

© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Fiona L. Robson 1

International HRM Case Study

Purpose of the Case Study

This case study is geared toward an audience with a basic understanding of the issues

involved in recruitment and selection.

The case is based on a fictional organization in the hotel industry; however, the

content covered is relevant internationally and among different industries. The

material is presented in this manner to allow you to apply theory to a practical

situation.

You will have an opportunity to think about the key decisions involved in

international assignments. You will be able to transfer your knowledge of domestic

HR issues to the international context and consider the roles and duties performed

by expatriate workers.

Learning Outcomes for Students

By the end of the case, you will:

■ Understand the main elements and issues related to international assignments.

■ Demonstrate an awareness of when it is appropriate to use expatriate workers and the

key debates that are involved.

■ Appreciate the skills and knowledge needed by expatriate workers.

■ Consider how organizations can prepare expatriate managers to succeed in an international

context.

Expectations for Students

For this case, you will be acting as independent management consultant. You will be

accountable for all of the activities provided in the case study document.

Recommended Resources

Brewster, C. (1997). International HRM: Beyond expatriation. Human Resource Management

Journal, 7(3), 31.

Brewster, C., and Scullion, H. (1997). A review and agenda for expatriate HRM. Human

Resource Management Journal, 7(3), 32-41.

Earley, P.C., and Peterson, R.S. (2004). The Elusive Cultural Chameleon: Cultural

Intelligence as a New Approach to Intercultural Training for the Global Manager.

Academy of Management Learning and Education, 3(1), 100-115.

Forster, N. (2000). Expatriates and the impact of cross-cultural training. Human Resource

Management Journal, 10(3), 63–78.

2 © 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Fiona L. Robson

Ingemar Torbiörn, I. (1997). Staffing for international operations. Human Resource

Management Journal, 7(3), 42-51.

Matthews, V.E. (2000). Competition in the international hotel industry.

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 12(2), 114-118.

Morris, M., and Robie, C. (2001). Meta-analysis of the effects of cross-cultural

training on expatriate performance and adjustment. International Journal of

Training and Development, 5(2), 112-125.

Background Information on

the Organization

Brunt Hotels, PLC, owns more than 60 hotels. They recently acquired a small hotel

chain headquartered in France. Brunt’s chief executive decided that half of the new

hotels in France would be retained and rebranded as part of the Brunt Hotels Group;

© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Fiona L. Robson 3

the other half will be sold. This will support Brunt’s strategic objective of growing the

organization slowly to make sure that new ventures are well supported and opened

on time and on budget.

Brunt’s hotels are considered budget accommodations; they are functional, clean and

reasonably priced. Additional information about these hotel standards is available at

https://www.qualityintourism.com/quality-assessment/safe-clean-and-legal .

Most guests stay for one to three nights and are a combination of business and

leisure travelers. The hotels are typically situated in downtown locations that are

easily accessible by mass transit. Tourists are attracted to these hotels in popular

visitor destinations where the many local attractions mean that they will not be

spending much time in their hotel rooms.

The organization has decided to use an ethnocentric approach and send some of their

existing managers to France to lead the changeover of the new hotels and then

manage them after they re-open. If this new overseas venture is successful, Brunt may

decide to acquire other small hotel groups in other European countries. The

organization would like to own 150 hotels in the next five years. Their 10-year plan is

to own 300 hotels across Europe. This is an ambitious target, so it is important that

the organization finds an effective formula to operate successfully in other countries.

https://www.qualityintourism.com/quality-assessment/safe-clean-and-legal

4 © 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Fiona L. Robson

Case Study—Part One
The organization has never owned hotels before, and has hired you as an independent

management consultant to advise them on how to proceed. They provided you with

the following information during your initial meeting:

■ A majority of their existing managers said they would like a chance to work abroad.

■ None of their existing managers speak French fluently.

■ They will allow four weeks to rebrand the hotels. The new hotels must be ready to

open after that time.

■ They expect to recruit a large number of staff for the new French hotels, because more

than 70 percent of the employees from the acquired organization left.

■ They will require their managers to be flexible and move between countries if any

problems arise.

Case Study Question 1:

Based on the information you have to date, what do you think the key priorities should

be?

The hotel management asked you if they should look only at internal candidates who are

parent country nationals (PCNs) or recruit host country nationals (HCNs).

Case Study Question 2:

Should only PCNs should be hired?

© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Fiona L. Robson 5

Should only HCNs should be hired?

Should there be a combination of PCNs and HCNs should be hired.

Present the advantages of the approach you support and give specific reasons why

Case Study—Part Two
Brunt management decided that because this is their first venture into a foreign

country, they want to use PCNs to set up the new hotels and that only internal

candidates should be considered. They think that this is important so they can

incorporate the organization’s values. However, they believe that once the hotels are

up and running, HCNs could be hired. The management vacancies must be filled as

soon as possible.

In their company literature, the organization states that their core values are to:

■ Provide excellent levels of customer service to all guests.

■ Provide a clean and comfortable environment for guests and staff.

■ Recruit and retain excellent staff.

■ Support and develop staff so they can reach their full potential.

■ Continuously strive to improve all aspects of the business.

■ Ensure that all hotel buildings, fixtures and fittings are well-maintained in a proactive

manner.

It is important that the management consultants for this project take these core values

into account when making their recommendations.

6 © 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Fiona L. Robson

Case Study Assignment #1:

Write a recruitment advertisement for the new positions which can be sent to existing

managers by e-mail. Your advertisement should include, at a minimum, the following

information:

■ Main responsibilities of the new job.

■ The skills you are looking for in the position.

Case Study—Part Three
The management team liked your recruitment advertisement, but realized that they

did not consider the salary for these new positions! Since the organization has never

hired managers to work in foreign countries before, they do not know how to start

determining the compensation. They provide you with the following information that

they found on the Internet:

■ Existing salary for managers is £30,000 (45,000 Euros) plus bonuses.

■ Surveys show that the average salary for hotel managers in France is 60,000 Euros

with no opportunity to earn bonuses.

The directors want to have a consistent approach as to how they compensate

expatriates because they expect their overseas business to expand in the future. They

also want existing employees to be enticed into working abroad and want to have a

good range of incentives.

© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Fiona L. Robson 7

Case Study Assignment #2:

Suggest a compensation package for the hotel management position. Explain the

rationale for your design. You may also include non-financial benefits.

8 © 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Fiona L. Robson

Case Study—Part Four
The management eventually approves the advertisement and the compensation

package and distributes both internally. Interested candidates are asked to write a

letter to the CEO to explain why they think they are the best person for the job. Thirty

managers apply for one of the new positions (there are 10 positions available), which

means there will be 20 unsuccessful candidates still working for the organization.

The management team acknowledges that the application letters were not helpful

with making decisions and that they need a more robust selection process. There

must be a strong sense of fairness in the selection process because they do not want

to de-motivate any of these existing employees. They want to select the right

candidates because it is essential that the new hotels are successful and up and

running quickly and efficiently. The senior managers know all of the candidates

quite well (personally and professionally). They would like you, as an independent

consultant, to design an appropriate selection methodology.

The management team advises you that they do not want to take into account the

marital or family situation of the expatriate candidates; they are concerned that this

may fall afoul of equal opportunities legislation.

Case Assignment #3:

You as a management consultant must design a selection process for the candidates.

There is no budget limit for the development of the process. The senior management

team knows that it is important to get the right person for the job. However, because

the new hotels must be up and running quickly, they ask you to design a selection

process which will take a maximum of two days.

You must be able to justify why your method is appropriate.

© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Fiona L. Robson 9

Case Study—Part Five
The management hires six candidates to work overseas because they did not feel that

the other candidates were qualified. They feel confident that these six can

successfully open the new hotels. The success of these managers is vital to the success

of setting up the new business, so management wants to ensure they provide effective

support for them in terms of training and development. They believe that the best

option is to divide training into two parts: pre-departure training and on-the-job

training in the new country. Since the organization has never sent employees abroad

before, they are not sure about what should be included in these training programs.

The only mandatory area that must be included is an introductory language section

(including basic business French) so that the managers have a basic grasp of the

French language by the time they open the new hotels. However, they hope that the

managers will enjoy their introductory language course and will continue to attend

more advanced language classes when the new hotels are open.

Case Assignment #4:

The organization knows that training is important; but despite looking at what other

companies offer, they cannot decide what the key training areas should be.

They would like for you to suggest the content and structure of these training programs

Case Study—Part Six
The management team decides to your proposed training program, confident that it

will be useful and informative for the new expatriates. However, they would also

like to provide external support for the new expatriates to make their transition to

a new country as smooth as possible. They are aware of some of the services that

10 © 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Fiona L. Robson

can be offered to support employees on both a personal and professional level, but

do not have a comprehensive overview.

Case Assignment #5:

The management team asks you to conduct Internet-based research to find out what

expatriate support services are available in France.

You need to create a list of the services that are available and provide details of at

least one organization which could provide the services. These services should then

be listed in of priority for the expatriates.

You should be prepared to justify your reasons for prioritizing the services.

SHrm members can download this case study and many others free of charge at www.shrm.org/hreducation/cases.asp. If you

are not a SHRM member and would like to become one, please visit www.shrm.org/join. 4/2020

http://www.shrm.org/hreducation/cases.asp

http://www.shrm.org/hreducation/cases.asp

http://www.shrm.org/hreducation/cases.asp

http://www.shrm.org/join

http://www.shrm.org/join

http://www.shrm.org/join

1 8 0 0 D u k e S t r e e t
Al e x a n d r i a , V A 2 2 3 1 4 – 3 4

9 9