Analyzing HRM Challenges: Arnott's Biscuit Company in China

This report analyzes the international human resource management (IHRM) challenges faced by Arnott's Biscuit Company, an Australian food manufacturer, during its expansion into China. The report identifies key issues such as communication barriers between Australian expatriates and Chinese employees, leading to miscalculations of training needs and potential conflicts. It also highlights resistances from the workforce, lack of change readiness among Chinese employees, and deficiencies in training and performance measurement mechanisms. The report recommends empowering employee engagement through effective communication, developing communication channels using translation tools, and conducting training needs-based surveys to address these challenges. These recommendations aim to improve employee performance, foster a change-ready environment, and facilitate the success of Arnott's expansion in the Chinese market. The report emphasizes the crucial role of human resource management in aligning organizational processes with strategic goals, particularly in the context of international business ventures.

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Introduction
The different changes that are initiated by the organizations along with expansion in the
different foreign economies are permitted through the engagement of the human resources (Galli
2018). On the other hand, the organizations develop different training programs with the
objective of improving the performance of the employees. In this relation, the training and
development related operations permits an organization in improving the skills and performance
of the workforce in orientation with the strategic goals (Melkman 2018). However, different
factors restricts the training and development based operations of the organizations in the
international context. Therefore, the research will take steps to identify the challenges relating to
international training and development related operations of Arnott’s Biscuit Company of
Australia while expanding to China.
A brief introduction to Arnott’s Biscuit Company
The concerned organization, Arnott’s biscuit company was founded in the year 1865 and
is located in New South Wales, Australia (Arnotts.com 2019). The organization is taken as
Australia’s largest biscuit producing organization and the second-largest supplier of snack food.
The revenue of the organization was around A$1.09 billion holding around 4,300 employees
(Arnotts.com 2019). The diverse range of product offerings of the business enabled the venture
in enhancing the scope of sustenance. On the other hand, the quality of the products supported
the venture in developing a strong customer base in Australia.

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Issues relating to training and development in China
 Lack of effective communication between the Chinese managers and Australian
expatriates resulting to miscalculation of training based needs
The lack of efficient communication and clash in management role would result to
conflicts in the workforce. Again, it has been noticed that Chinese population expects to hold
managerial posts in a foreign company operating from China (Lokkesmoe, Kuchinke and
Ardichvili 2016). The lack of proficient communication among the managers and the
employees, in the context of China, might result to conflicts in the workforce and absence of the
training based needs. The differences in the language would create a major barrier to
communication between the Australian expatriates and the Chinese employees which would
result to failed collaborative approach. On the other hand, the differences in the working culture
among the people would influence confusion and conflicts in the workforce (McGrath and
Powell 2016). Moreover, insufficient communication between the Chinese managers and the
Australian expatriates or the Chinese employees and the Australian managers due to language
differences might result to miscalculation of training based needs (Cascio and Boudreau 2016).
Therefore, the concerned organization might face significant issues in identifying the training
based needs of the
 Resistances from the workforce and absence of engagement in learning activities:
The resistances from the workforce might restrict the capabilities of the organization,
Arnott’s Biscuit, in inducing improvements in productivity of the venture. The lack of proficient
communication between the Australian managers and the Chinese employees might result to
absence of negotiations which might result to reluctance of the employees to engage in the

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training and development related operation of the venture. Therefore, in this relation the lack of
efficient mitigation techniques might restrict the organizational expansion and uninterrupted
operations to achieve the common goal.
 Lack of change readiness among the Chinese employees:
The Arnott’s company might face significant issues in developing familiarity between the
employees from China and expatriates from Australia. The lack of familiarity and collaboration
between the managers and the employees from the respective nations would affect team bonding
and the achievement of common objectives of the venture through training and development.
The lack of change readiness among the employees might also result to reluctance of the same
towards the different induction programs that are being planned by the venture. Hanaysha (2016)
stated that organizations undertake training programs through open discussions and forums with
the purpose of inducing different levels of change in the organizational models. However, the
lack of change readiness among the employees of the organization, while operating in the
Chinese context, might restrict the developmental operations of the same.
 Lack of training and performance measurement mechanisms: The lack of training and
performance measurement mechanisms might restrict the rate of operations of the
venture. The lack of performance measurement might restrict the organizational
understanding of the different training based needs of the employees (Urick 2017). On
the other hand, the insufficient communication with the Chinese personnel due to the
huge differences in the languages have incapacitated the organization in understanding
the training based needs of employees.

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Recommendations
The recommended activities that might be initiated by Arnott’s Biscuit while expanding
their venture in China are:
 Empowering engagement of the employees: The organization must take steps to
empower the engagement of the employees in the different learning and development
programs through effective communication and negotiation. Increased engagement of the
employees in the learning and development processes would enable the organization in
increasing the performance related concerns and change readiness among the same.
Therefore, the organization must take steps to encourage the engagement of the
employees through open discussions and forums with the objective of enhancing the rate
of operations of the venture. Developing communicational channels through translating tools: The development of
communicational channels through the introduction of translating tools. The translating
tools would enable the organization in avoiding the complexity of the differences in
language and facilitate collaboration among the employees, both from Australia and
China. Conducting training need based surveys in the organization: The conduction of surveys
for identifying the training based needs of the employees would enable the organization
in examining the skill shortages among the workforce. The assessment of the training
based needs of the employees would enable the organization in devising training and
development frameworks as per the performance related needs of the venture.

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Conclusion
Therefore, from the above analysis it might be stated that the concerned organization,
Arnott’s Biscuits, might face significant issues in providing training and development
opportunities to the employees while expanding in China. Human resource in an organization
enables the same in developing processes in placement with the strategic goals. The research
identified different issues that might be faced by the organization in China and the recommended
course of actions that might be followed by the same for improving performance through
proficient training and development of employee skills.

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References
Arnotts.com., 2019. Arnott's Australia | Celebrating Arnott's iconic biscuits and crackers and
rich heritage in Australia. [online] Arnotts.com. Available at: http://www.arnotts.com/
[Accessed 30 Aug. 2019].
Cascio, W.F. and Boudreau, J.W., 2016. The search for global competence: From international
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Galli, B.J., 2018. An Evidence-Based Model of Virtual Team Training and
Development. International Journal of Information Technology Project Management
(IJITPM), 9(2), pp.65-79.
Hanaysha, J., 2016. Examining the effects of employee empowerment, teamwork, and employee
training on organizational commitment. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 229, pp.298-
306.
Lokkesmoe, K.J., Kuchinke, K.P. and Ardichvili, A., 2016. Developing cross-cultural awareness
through foreign immersion programs: Implications of university study abroad research for global
competency development. European Journal of Training and Development, 40(3), pp.155-170.
McGrath, S. and Powell, L., 2016. Skills for sustainable development: Transforming vocational
education and training beyond 2015. International Journal of Educational Development, 50,
pp.12-19.
Melkman, A., 2018. Training international managers: Designing, deploying and delivering
effective training for multi-cultural groups. Routledge.

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Urick, M., 2017. Adapting training to meet the preferred learning styles of different
generations. International Journal of Training and Development, 21(1), pp.53-59.