Case Study: Bombardier Transportation - Mr. Li Wei's Career Prospects

This case study focuses on Mr. Li Wei, an employee at Bombardier Transportation, and his potential promotion to General Manager. The case analyzes his skills in partnership building and communication, highlighting areas for improvement. It explores strategies for his development, including on-the-job experiences, relationship building, and training, using the 70:20:10 model. Additionally, the study considers strategic human resource management decisions that Thomas Mueller, the current General Manager, should take when considering a successor, emphasizing experience, communication skills, and familiarity with the company's operations and international clients. The case study also references relevant academic articles to support its analysis of leadership development and strategic human resource management.

Running Head: CASE STUDY OF Mr.LI WEI
Case Study of Mr.Li Wei
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1CASE STUDY OF Mr.LI WEI
This study two employees of a Shanghai based company called Bombardier
Transportation. One of them is Mr.Thomas Mueller, who has been working with the company
for 10 years and currently is the General Manager at the Shanghai branch. The other person is
Mr.Li Wei, who was working with Thomas Mueller for the entire time he has been here. Mueller
was supposed to be in Shanghai for 3 years and has already served for 2 and a half years, so now
when he is planning on moving back to Europe. The problem is that someone has to take his
place in Shanghai and he is considering Mr.Li Wei for the position. But after reviewing Wei’s
case, he found that his skills in building partnership and communication is not up to the mark so
he has given him a review of 3 which means that he has met expectations but has not exceeded it.
Response to Question 5
To improve his positions at the company he can try to learn something new on job and
from those there can be few developmental goals that can be mapped for him. His learning ideas
and developmental goals can be mapped using the 70:20:10 ratios. The 70% of the employee
development depends on the on job experience, 20% of the development of the employee
depends on the personal relationship that is built during the job and 10% of the employee
development depends on the training of the employee (Scott and Ferguson 2016). As a part of
the on job experience, Li Wei should get himself involved in more challenging relationships. He
should work with people from different departments. Working with different department in the
office will help him realize the different functions of the company and get him updated on the
new developments of the company. It will also help him understand the role of the manager
better, as the manager has to make executive decisions and delegate work which Wei will
experience and as he works with different department (Bachkirov 2015). As a part of his on job

2CASE STUDY OF Mr.LI WEI
development he can make more presentations such as decision making charts and client progress,
this will help him improve the quality of his presentations. As a part of developmental process he
should work with international clients on a daily basis, this can also contribute to his on job
experience (Verboncue and Zeininger 2015). The 20% of his development lies in improving
personal relationships. To improve his personal relationship with other employees, he should
interact with people from different generations; this would help in keeping him updated with the
developments in the social media as it has become a part and parcel of any business. In the near
future social media will be the parameter to measure performance (Van Dooren, Bouckaert and
Halligan 2015). He should build some relationship with the new clients in order to secure his
future in the company. 10% of his development in the company rests on trainings. Wei should
involve himself with the training of new employees; this will help in keeping him updated with
the innovations that can be useful in the company’s development. Training helps in improving
capabilities and skills of the employees which serves as an advantage in the global competitors
market (Elnaga and Imran 2013). In lights of this, Wei should himself get involve training; it will
improve his skills and prepare for the new job, if Thomas decides to give him his position
(Konings and Vanormelingen 2015). As a part of his on job experience he should rake on the
role of general manager after Mueller leaves as he is the best experience in this job and after
participating in the learning activities his negatives will also improve.
Response to Question 6
If Thomas Mueller were to discuss the hiring of a new employee to fill his position, with
the human resource business partner of the company, there are certain strategic decisions that he
has to take. Strategic human resource management decisions are taken by the company to make

3CASE STUDY OF Mr.LI WEI
sure that the business runs effectively and money is also invested carefully (Jackson, Schuler and
Jiang 2014). While hiring a local successor for his position, Mueller should first consider hiring
someone who has been a part of the company for a long period, one who knows the work.
Secondly, he should make sure that the person not only someone who know their work but also
someone who is familiar with the role of the general manager. Thirdly, he/she should be able to
communicate with international clients, as the company has a lot of business overseas. Fourth,
the person should be familiar with the existing clients as he/she would have deal with them from
day one, he would have no time to get acquainted from the beginning. Fifth, he/she should have
some idea about the local language or the dialect as they would have work with the locals on a
daily basis. Lastly, the person should have at least five to six years of experience as the position
is of a general manager which is a senior position in a corporate.

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References
Bachkirov, A.A., 2015. Managerial decision making under specific emotions. Journal of
Managerial Psychology, 30(7), pp.861-874.
Elnaga, A. and Imran, A., 2013. The effect of training on employee performance. European
Journal of Business and Management, 5(4), pp.137-147.
Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human
resource management. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp.1-56.
Konings, J. and Vanormelingen, S., 2015. The impact of training on productivity and wages:
firm-level evidence. Review of Economics and Statistics, 97(2), pp.485-497.
Scott, S. and Ferguson, O., 2016. New perspectives on 70: 20: 10. A GoodPractice.
Van Dooren, W., Bouckaert, G. and Halligan, J., 2015. Performance management in the public
sector. Routledge.
Verboncu, I. and Zeininger, L., 2015. The Manager and the Managerial Tools: Job
Description. Review of International Comparative Management/Revista de Management
Comparat International, 16(5).