Analyzing TK Ceramics' HRM Strategy for Indonesian Market Entry

This case study analyzes TK Ceramics' planned expansion into the Indonesian market, focusing on the human resource management challenges. The assignment addresses the best process for redesigning both internally facing and customer-facing jobs, recommending the use of Hackman & ...Read More

Running head: TK CERAMICS: AN INDONESIAN OPPORTUNITY
Human Resource Management
[TK Ceramics: an Indonesian Opportunity]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1TK CERAMICS: AN INDONESIAN OPPORTUNITY
Table of Contents
Answer to Q1:..................................................................................................................................2
Best process to redesign the internally facing and customer-facing jobs:...................................2
Answer to Q2:..................................................................................................................................3
Advantages and disadvantages of drawing at least some of the shop workers from existing
staff:.............................................................................................................................................3
Answer to Q3:..................................................................................................................................4
Creating job descriptions and person descriptions for jobs in the shops that do not yet exist:...5
Answer to Q4:..................................................................................................................................6
Finding the relevancy of skills in between the field sales representatives and shop staffs:........6
References:......................................................................................................................................8

2TK CERAMICS: AN INDONESIAN OPPORTUNITY
Answer to Q1:
Best process to redesign the internally facing and customer-facing jobs:
Internally facing jobs mean all kind of works that executives and staffs do it internally.
Such operation is not open to customers. It can be termed as back-end operation. This may
include various like quality management, process designing, human resource management and
others (Timming 2017). On the other hand, customer-facing jobs are all those that involve
interacting with the customers. This can be while the executive teams are in their field operation
or this can also be when customers are in the shop (Timming 2017). However, the different
nature of customer-facing jobs requires distinguished kind of expertise. The staffs that are there
in shops to help their customers reach to a certain area of the shop or guide them on products that
they like to see. This may also include helping customer until the time the customer purchases
their desired product (Timming 2017).
The case study organization TK Ceramics which has now the largest importer in Victoria
is eyeing an entry to Indonesia. There are few very valid reasons for it. Cost of tiles which the
case study organization sells to the wholesale clients is expensive in Italy. The owners Tim and
Kate had recently visited Indonesia and found that cost of tiles is comparatively cheaper in
Indonesia. The fact has compelled them to import tiles from Indonesia and target the retail sector
which is a radical shift from wholesale to retail sales. However, the company has few challenges
like the quality of ceramic tiles which needs to meet the guidelines of Australian Standards – ISO
13006: 1998 10545 Test Methods (Bernzen & Braun 2014). The tiles that were being imported
from Italy had met the guidelines of Australian Standards. However, it is very challenging to
meet the same criteria for the tiles in Indonesia. There are plans to recruit professionals who
could take care of several roles like designing, implementing and monitoring of quality
procedures.
The human resource manager Renee now has a challenging task ahead of her. She has to
design jobs for a long list of professionals who could stay there in Indonesia for at least a year.
There are several techniques like motivational work design, socio-technical systems, Hackman &
Oldman Theory and others. However, choosing one design could be the most viable decision.

3TK CERAMICS: AN INDONESIAN OPPORTUNITY
The case study organization may be benefitted if the company’s HRM uses the Hackman
& Oldman Theory followed by motivational work design for designing jobs to take care of the
operation in Indonesia. The Hackman & Oldman Theory encourages employees to have direct
contact with the client which is good in regards to the case company as this may keep the newly
recruited professionals engaged in their work. Additionally, the theory also talks about
specialized work which is very important for the case organization as the HRM has planned to
recruit professionals for specialized positions (Christina et al. 2017). In addition to this process,
the motivational work design may also be helpful in motivating the appointed professionals
who will be sent to Indonesia to take care of the proposed operation in the country. Such
professionals may require motivation from the management; so that, they could patiently stay in
the country for one year and energetically perform their task. Management can use the various
kinds of rewards system which needs to be given to acknowledge the quality works of the
professionals (Christina et al. 2017).
Answer to Q2:
Advantages and disadvantages of drawing at least some of the shop workers from existing
staff:
There can be an ample number of advantages and disadvantages also in drawing the shop
workers from existing staffs. The first and foremost advantage of such process will be the
lessening of pressure from the human resource department. A recruitment process attracts
significant investments for conducting different activities like advertising the job vacancies in
different media resources such as online websites, daily newspapers and others. In addition to
this, there are expenses required for the induction and training process for those who have been
selected for the interview. On top of all, those newly recruited professionals will be given a fresh
set of pay scale which is an additional burden on the management (Shaikh 2014). These are all
the few expenses which are required while opting to recruit new professionals for different
positions. It also means that the case study human resource manager looks for picking up few
staffs from existing professionals then this would be a straightforward saving in terms of
investments. Followings are the advantages and disadvantages of drawing some workers from
the existing office staffs (Chiang, Lemański & Birtch 2017):

4TK CERAMICS: AN INDONESIAN OPPORTUNITY
Advantages:
- Staffs who have proven track record of their performance can be sent to Indonesia for one year.
Moreover, this will reduce the pressure which could have been the case while finding talented
and experienced professionals from external resources.
- Such staffs have better knowledge of the case company’s insights and they are also aware of
the operational objectives which matter a lot while venturing into a new market. Such staffs will
be in better position to showcase the case company’s operational objectives.
- The case company's HRM will have reduced work pressure and therefore, they would be able
to focus on some other critical aspects of recruiting professionals for quality inspection position.
This is indeed a critical requirement when the case company will be operating in Indonesia. It
has already been suspected the tiles that are being manufactured in Indonesia lack in meeting the
quality standard of Australian Standards - – ISO 13006: 1998 10545 Test Methods (Bernzen &
Braun 2014).
Disadvantages:
- Existing staffs are well settled with their roles and responsibilities in the existing operation.
This is also why ‘TK Ceramics’ is the largest importer of ceramic tiles in Victoria. However, if
some of them are being selected for the proposed operation in Indonesia then the HRM will be
required to recruit fresh professionals to fill the gaps. They may or may not match the quality
standard of those staffs that have been selected for operation in Indonesia (Ahammad 2017).
- The shortlisted staffs for a new business operation in Indonesia may also face the challenge.
They have always been facing the clients and selling them products at wholesale. However, in
Indonesia, they will be required to interact with the retail customers which will be a pretty new
experience for the staffs. They cannot approach the same way of interaction that they had used
while interacting with the wholesale clients. They will be requiring to have an utmost level of
customer service, so that, they could cater for the organizational values and deliver the expected
service (Shukla 2014).
Answer to Q3:

5TK CERAMICS: AN INDONESIAN OPPORTUNITY
Creating job descriptions and person descriptions for jobs in the shops that do not yet
exist:
Creating job descriptions and person-specific job proficiencies for a shop that do not yet
exist is a challenging task; however, this could be done if planned appropriately. A job
description is a description of roles that a specific position will need. On the other hand, person-
specific description means specifying the jobs based on individual’s proficiencies. Job
descriptions and person descriptions can be created in following ways (Coelho et al. 2017):
- Approaching the consulting agencies may provide a much-needed relief in this regard. The case
study human resource management will then only be required to provide a brief of the works that
they will be expecting from the newly recruited professionals. The specific consulting agency
may be able to design jobs accordingly and create the specific positions as well. Moreover, they
may also be able to describe the position specific jobs by discussing it further with the case study
HRM (human resource management). The case study company will then be able to use the
specification provided by the consulting agency. Moreover, the human resource management at
the ‘TK Ceramics’ will be able to advertise the various job positions based on the specification
provided by the specific agency. Additionally, they could also use the specifications as a
checklist for making an evaluation of CVs and interviews. This may prove to be a real time saver
for the recruiting panel at case study human resource department.
- The case study organization will be required to provide the several kinds of details to the
specific consulting agency. A brief idea about the roles and responsibilities which the human
resource management at the case study company is expecting needs to be explained to the
consulting agency. In addition, job location is also required to be explained to the consulting
agency. The qualifications, list of duties, required skills, salary benefits, kind of work and others
need to be provided to the consulting agency.
- The consulting agency may also be briefed on person-specific skills which the case study
organization is looking for. Person-specific briefs will be like the technical, communicative,
organizational and creative skills that the case company is expecting from newly recruited
professionals. If they are also looking for specific qualification for some post like the quality
inspection then they should also give the brief of such details to the specific consultancy. If they

6TK CERAMICS: AN INDONESIAN OPPORTUNITY
are looking for experienced professionals then they should also disclose this to the agency. The
characteristics related traits if required needs to be discussed with the specific consulting agency,
so that, they are able to construct an exactly the same person specific description as it is required
from the ‘TK Ceramics’.
Answer to Q4:
Finding the relevancy of skills in between the field sales representatives and shop staffs:
This is indeed a very complicated question; however, this is also much more transparent
that executives are bound to find the different set of customers while being into the field or the
shop. While being in the field, sales representatives proactively reach to customers though
customers may or may not have any intention for such interactions. On the other hand, staffs in
the shop are required to interact with customers who are intentionally visiting the shop (Botha,
Van Vuuren & Kunene 2015). There are evident differences in between the skills of field
executives and the shop staffs which are being highlighted below. Representatives who
proactively approach customers in the field, they need to be well versed with the following set of
skills (Denker et al. 2015):
- They need to have the desires and the ability as well to sell the product.
- They need also have presentable communication skills, so that, they could effectively present
their brand and also establish a fair amount of interaction which is needed to accomplish the sale.
- Such representatives must also have strong commercial awareness, so that, they could maintain
the professionalism while avoiding any sort of emotional attachment to customers. There will be
a customer who might not be capable of purchasing the product; however, being professional in
approach could make it possible. Such customer if being realized about the importance of
product they might feel like purchasing the product.
- They also need to be resilient and are able to cope with rejections, so that; they do not get
demoralized while not being able to make a sale. By being resilient to rejections, representatives
will actually be able to make the sale.

7TK CERAMICS: AN INDONESIAN OPPORTUNITY
- They also need to have a high degree of drive and self-motivation. This will assist such
representatives in times when they are not being able to make the sales. They will rather keep on
trying which is necessary while interacting with customers in the field.
Shop staffs need to have the following skills (Bacon 2016):
- The shop executives need to be well versed with basic numeracy and the literacy, so that; they
could handle the queries of customers.
- They need to have a high standard of customer service skills, so that, they could make the
customer feel like in safe zones.
- They need to have the selling skills as sometimes, the customer makes decisions which they
have not planned it before.
- Staffs need to have the product knowledge, so that, they could explain the product details to
customers. Customers might have several queries which could only be solved if the staff has the
utmost knowledge of the concerned product.

8TK CERAMICS: AN INDONESIAN OPPORTUNITY
References:
Ahammad, T., 2017. Personnel Management To Human Resource Management (HRM): How
HRM Functions?. Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, 13(9), pp.412-420.
Bacon, D., 2016. Special Issue Call for Papers: The “Work-Ready” Marketing Graduate. Journal
of Marketing Education, 38(1), pp.65-66.
Bernzen, A. and Braun, B., 2014. Conventions in cross-border trade coordination: the case of
organic food imports to Germany and Australia. Environment and Planning A, 46(5), pp.1244-
1262.
Botha, M., Van Vuuren, J.J. and Kunene, T., 2015. An integrated entrepreneurial performance
model focusing on the importance and proficiency of competencies for start-up and established
SMEs. South African Journal of Business Management, 46(3), pp.55-66.
Chiang, F.F., Lemański, M.K. and Birtch, T.A., 2017. The transfer and diffusion of HRM
practices within MNCs: lessons learned and future research directions. The International Journal
of Human Resource Management, 28(1), pp.234-258.
Christina, S., Dainty, A., Daniels, K., Tregaskis, O. and Waterson, P., 2017. Shut the fridge door!
HRM alignment, job redesign and energy performance. Human Resource Management
Journal, 27(3), pp.382-402.
Coelho, F.A., Rodrigues, D.A., Fogaça, N., Teixeira, J.A. and Richter, L.D.D., 2017. Empirical
relationships between support to informal learning, professional competences and human
performance in a Brazilian public organisation. International Journal of Learning and
Intellectual Capital, 14(1), pp.90-108.
Denker, A.L., Sherman, R.O., Hutton-Woodland, M., Brunell, M.L. and Medina, P., 2015.
Florida Nurse Leader Survey findings: key leadership competencies, barriers to leadership, and
succession planning needs. Journal of Nursing Administration, 45(7/8), pp.404-410.
Shaikh, M., 2014. Essentials of strategic HRM. Lulu. com.

9TK CERAMICS: AN INDONESIAN OPPORTUNITY
Shukla, S., 2014. Emerging issues and challenges for HRM in public sectors banks of
India. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 133, pp.358-363.
Timming, A.R., 2017. The effect of foreign accent on employability: a study of the aural
dimensions of aesthetic labour in customer-facing and non-customer-facing jobs. Work,
employment and society, 31(3), pp.409-428.