Atlas Engineering: Managing People in a Global Context Report

This report examines the international human resource management (IHRM) strategies for Atlas Engineering, a construction company from Trinidad and Tobago, as it expands its operations into the United Kingdom. The report begins by highlighting the importance of IHRM in selecting and managi...Read More

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Altas engineering limited
Managing people in global context
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MANAGING PEOPLE IN GLOBAL CONTEXT 1
Introduction
International human resource management is considered as the backbone of all the international
business operations of any organization that is operating their business on an international level.
IHRM plays a very significant role in selecting the most brilliant minds for the organization.
These people have the capability to adopt any dynamic work environment to fulfill the internal
objective of the organization. IHRM helps the organization to minimize their internal risk in
terms of culture, believes and tradition by adopting the most advanced technique in their
recruitment and selection process (Schuler, Jackson and Tarique, 2011). It is the basic dream of
every company to increase its market share in the business world and for this one of the best
options is to launch business operations on the international level. Same is the case with
companies in Trinidad and Tobago. In this situation, these industries have only one option for
them to take the support of international human resource management to fulfill their dream
because managing things on the international level is not easy at all (Gannon, Roper and
Doherty, 2010). Every organization is having a different working culture, values and rules so it is
not someone cup of tea to expand its business in other countries which are having a different
demographic pattern.
Expansion of Atlas engineering in the United Kingdom
Atlas Engineering is one of the construction engineering companies of Trinidad and Tobago
which was established in 1992. In its initial stage, this company was in the business of offering
service like engineering surveying but later it transformed its service into building and civil
construction pattern. After analyzing the growth of construction business on the global level, the
management of Atlas Engineering had decided to launch their international operation in the
United Kingdom and in this situation international human resource management will play a very
important role in terms of completing this objective of the company. Being an HR manager it
will be prime duty to design some international strategies which will aid in this process
(Nikandrou, Brinia and Bereri, 2009).
Design Pre-Departure Training Program

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As compared to Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom is completely different in terms of
working culture, environment, standard of living as well as beliefs. So it will not be easy for any
person living in Trinidad and Tobago or United Kingdom to adjust into each other countries very
easily. Trinidad and Tobago is a country with an extremely hot climate while United Kingdom is
covered with cold and snow most of the months. There is a huge difference between language
and behavior as compared to the UK (Whitmarsh, 2009). Trinidad and Tobago believe in
individual work while Trinidad and Tobago believes in collective work. Hence, it becomes very
important to provide proper training to the employees in order to run this international program
successfully (Shah, Dulal, Johnson and Baptiste, 2013). This training program will include
various sections related to language, behavior, proper use of postures and gestures. This training
will also include how to manage individualism work culture. This training program will also
include the use of advanced technology used in construction design in United Kingdom. One of
the most important aspects of this training will be that the person will be taught how to live in a
completely different environment. For this, the selected candidates will be sent for some day to
UK in advance so that they can actually observe the difficulties which they are going to face
while living there (Chen and Huang, 2009). This real-life observation will help this training
program to introduce some strategy or approaches which will be helpful in overcoming these
difficulties. In addition, this training program will also include a practice workshop in which the
applicant will go through real-time situations linked to UK and so that management can
understand the possibility of risk in appointing these applicants for international operations in the
United Kingdom.
It becomes very difficult to find out suitability of any applicant without analyzing their
performance outcome. Hence performance management system will be introduced to observe the
performance of the persons who will be connected with international operations. This
performance management system will include managers’ review, 360 feedback from the various
elements of the company, level of engagement in the operation, level of recognition in the
branch, goal setting and process to execute these goals (Shen, Chanda, D'netto and Monga,
2009). In addition to these aspects, one additional feature will be involved in which work cultural
adjustment. In this feature, a thorough investigation will be done by Atlas Engineering company
management in terms of satisfaction level outcomes related to work cultural adjustment. This
feature will help the management to understand at what level the person has adopted the working

MANAGING PEOPLE IN GLOBAL CONTEXT 3
culture of the foreign country. As per study, it has been found that even brilliant minds were not
able to perform on foreign soil because they were not pre-trained in terms of an international
working environment which has increased the level of dissatisfaction in them and hampered their
performance (Salas et al., 2008). This new feature will help in understanding the level of
satisfaction in the person related to international operations so that proper action can be taken in
case of emerging dissatisfaction in the business operations.
In order to run this international program successfully, it is very important to design a strong
Compensation Management Program for those applicants who will work on the international
platform of this company (Gagnon et al., 2013). As per the study, it has been seen that one of the
factors that increase the dissatisfaction among the employees is weak compensation management
program. Hence, a strong Compensation Management program which is developed for this
international business operation in order to keep a high level of satisfaction for these
international. This program will include a combination of Salary, benefit, service inducement
premium and allowances in a unique format (Shen et al., 2009). Here the basic salary will be set
up on the service benchmark of the UK which is one of the most significant points because all
benefits, allowances and incentives are based on basic salary.
Here the management will introduce a service inducement premium in which company will pay a
little bit extra to support the hardship of the employees which are on these internal projects. Atlas
Salary
Service
inducemen
t
Benefit
Allowances

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Engineering company will carefully explore the premium amount timing in order to maintain
healthy work situations in the foreign land. The premium will be given in the form of percentage
depending on the tenure of the project and working weekdays. This will act as a support to these
people who are working on foreign soil (Jabbour and Santos, 2008). In addition to this, the
company will also add on cost to living allowance as per the difference between the living
standards of the two countries in terms of relocation allowance, family allowance and many
more.
In terms of benefit, Atlas Engineering company is aware that medical insurance of UK is very
costly as compared the native nations. Hence, the company will provide benefits in terms of
medical support which will lower down a huge burden of the person living in UK. In UK person
can adjust food and shelter but when it comes to medical insurance it seems out of focus due to
their heavy cost (Brewer and Brewer, 2010). In addition, the company will also arrange
provision of adding a vacation trip for the family of the employee along with special leave to
take rest for few days.
Another important aspect that can help in nurturing international business operation is efficient
repatriation program. It has been seen that when a person returns from his international project to
his/her native country then that person does not remain special for the company anymore. In
addition, the person has to adjust in low position with very little to explore (Chan et al., 2011).
Hence, Atlas Engineering management will design a very impactful repatriation program in
which the person will remain special even after returning to his/her native country along with a
good position so that the person will not feel disrespect. The position will be given on the base of
their international business performance. The person will be given ample opportunity to explore
business pattern in their native country (Ahad M. Osman-Gani and Hyder, 2008). Repatriation
program will be created in four stages, the first stage will be development and review of
repatriation which will analyze the possible repatriation stress on the person returning from
overseas. The second stage will be forming an agreement related to this policy which will
include posting period, benefits and other allowances for the person. The third stage will be a
repatriation program which will include mentoring and support structure to the person and four
stages will be evaluating the possible impact of this strategy program (Tzika et al., 2009).
Factors driving standardization in IHRM practices Atlas Engineering company

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Standardization of proposed HRM practices is the key point in the formation of IHRM strategy.
Although there are various factors which actually drives standardization of IHRM strategy in
most of the companies which are operating on foreign soil or are thing to expand their business
on an international platform (Kujala et al., 2011). But in the case of Atlas engineering company,
there are only two factors which are impacting the IHRM strategy of the company which are a
stage of maturity and issues related to strategies. Strategic issues are mainly connected to the
capability of the company to straight human resource management responsibility towards
achieving a high level of competitiveness along with extreme monetary objective in this
international platform of the business world. While the stage of maturity aspects is connected
with the experience that this company has in terms of efficiently utilizing every single resource
of the company in terms of man, machine and strategy (Niinemets et al., 2010). In addition, there
is possibility of facing ethical business challenges because emission control rule of UK are very
much strict as compared to Trinidad and Tobago which rules related to emission control are
weak.
Factors driving localization in IHRM practices Atlas Engineering company
In the situation of localization in IHRM practices, there are the great amount of factors which
can turn tables on any side but the main two factors which truly impact this entire business
process are institutional attitude and cultural environment. Every nation has their own identity
which is being formed with its unique cultural believes that impact the process associated with
the business (Benedetto et al., 2011). But the most important factor which gives rise to plenty of
issues for doing business on the international platform is a culture difference. Same is the case
with Altas engineering company, as compared to their strategy cultural difference will truly
impact their business plan and hence the company must adopt localization of HRM practices in
order to sustain in UK business environment. More ever institutional attitude also plays a very
significant role in forming localization of the business operation because if a particular company
is following the traditional business structure in their business operation, then it is very difficult
for them to survive in that working environment which is completely based on the technology
platform. In UK, individual usually like to have personal space and focus on individualism while
in Trinidad and Tobago individual usually like to hug each other whenever they meet. In
additional Tradition of the UK is completely different in term of working hours, weekends and

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even in working shifts as compared to Trinidad and Tobago (Fan et al., 2016).. In the UK people
are very emotional related to their tradition and believes as compared to Trinidad and Tobago
flexible tradition. Hence, it will not be easy to balance this kind of situation related to
international business operations. In UK people have very different things towards their work as
compared to other countries (Jiang and Wei, 2012). In UK, people really sensitive about the
environment and single wrong action of the person who is being appointed in UK can put the
entire process in danger. While in Trinidad and Tobago, people some time neglect change in the
environment in terms of money making because this country is a developing country and is in
need of continuous money supply. So, there is enough change to neglect the environmental law
in UK which can impact the entire IHRM strategy of the Atlas engineering company.
Practice in Atlas Engineering company subsidiary will be most affected by the driving
factors
It becomes very important for Atlas engineering to form a balance between standardization and
localization of their company resources (Chen and McQueen, 2008). There are various factors
which are associated with both standardizations as well as localization which will impacting the
IHRM practise of this company. In this case, repatriation management program will be most
effected in Atlas engineering subsidiary because this company will just enter in the forigen
market and it will not be easy to understand precise business environment of the United
Kingdom. Every single element of this repatriation management program will be on continuous
test on every day basis untill when the person return back to its native country. Working on
international project has put the person on continuous test untill the person gets habitual to
forigen situation. But when that person return to his/ her native country it will be very difficult
for them to accept readjusting with that working environment which will give them a
demotivated feel despite of forming an effective repatriation management program in terms of
living standards, culture and monetary terms. When Atlas engineering company is analyzed on
the international platform this company is just in growing stage and has not enough experience
on the repatriation platform which will really display possible challenge in their IHRM practices
in terms of problem-solving, manhandling and effective use of business laws. It is very difficult
for any person to change their regular working pattern, especially when it seems to be much
lower level as compared to already adjusted situations. We are aware that UK is more advanced

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in terms of technology as compared to Trinidad and Tobago so it will surely display a great
number of possible challenges for IHRM strategy of Atlas engineering company (Graven-
Nielsen and Arendt-Nielsen, 2010). This technology advancement of UK will not only impact
the business operation but will also impact on cost of living in UK as compared to cost of living
in Trinidad and Tobago. Culture in UK is very different in every aspect as compared to Trinidad
and Tobago. Even after offering good position, deep in the heart person will have little bit
feeling that the person is being demoted because this readjustment is not only limited to
professional life, it is an adjustment which the personal has to introduce in their personal live too.
As Subsdidary is in starting phase it will be very challeneging to offer precise repatriation
program that can minimize the dissatisfaction related to re-adjustment of the person in their
native country. Hence in starting phase the company will have to face challenges in terms of
repatriation untill the company will not becomes experience by handling these serioes of
associated challenges.
Recommendations
In this situation, it seems that the Atlas engineering company is in need of an IHRM control
system which will be a combination of both structural as well as cultural improvement. In
structural control, the company will try to temporary set a formal business structure control
which will mainly focus on the international business of this company. Here the company must
make use of centralization pattern connected to the international business project during its initial
stage as compared to decentralization pattern of the subsidiary in UK. As the subsidiary is new in
the foreign environment it will always be in need of proper guidance and continuous mentoring
in order to tackle various challenges linked with the UK business environment. In addition, the
headquarters of the company must take all the responsibility to provide timely resource
allocation to the subsidiary company. Time plays a very important role in the success of any
organization and in case of new subsidiary it acts as the heart of their international business
which will continuously provide support to other parts of the subsidiary business. In terms of
cultural control, the headquarters of Atlas engineering company must provide proper guidance to
the subsidiary in UK so that any kind of dispute regarding to cultural understanding can be
avoided. The company must conduct a workshop in the company related to cultural difference in
which employee will try to gain as much knowledge as possible. In addition, this workshop must

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be organized in a practical format in which the employees will be put in a situation which will
resemble the situation of UK culture. Then a group of experts will be involved in this process
which will observe each and every action and response of the employee will be noted done and
then compared with the bench march which has been already set up by these experts. This
approach will help in the company in minimizing the risk associated with the transfer of the
particular person from native country to foreign country. In addition a separate section must be
conducted in the company related to business communication which is considered as one of the
most important tool in the hands of the company by which the company can gain a competitive
advantage in terms of engaging more customers and in a country like UK, this communication
really play very important role in every sector of the business. In this section, the employee of
Atlas engineering company will be made aware about how to use correct postures, behavioural
pattern, gestures related to UK environment because people in UK prefer personal space and
moreover it will also help in minimizing the possibility of deal canceling due to
misunderstanding related to these important aspects.
Conclusion
In this world of competition, it is very important for every organization to possess some kind of
unique IHRM strategy which can provide them an added advantage when it comes to introducing
subsidiary of the company in foreign soil. In this IHRM strategy, the company must introduce a
combination of both significant points cultural as well as structural aspect. Cultural aspect will
help the company to pr-prepare their employees in terms of adjusting in the foreign culture by
which it can minimize the risk associated with the cultural differences. In terms of structure, the
company must introduce a flexible pattern which can support the advancement in technological
as well as working style. In order to provide suppport to this strategy, the management of the
company must inrtroduce a training program in which the employees will be trained as per the
present situation. In addition, the company must design a compensation program in which the
employees will be provided a great amount of support in terms of benefits, allowance and so on.
As the person is going to work on foreign country, there will be always a difference between the
cost of living in the two countries and when it comes to UK, we all can image the level of rising
in the cost of living. These benefits will act as a motivators to keep the preson out of stress in
terms of expenditure and will also encourage them to give their outstanding performance on

MANAGING PEOPLE IN GLOBAL CONTEXT 9
forigen soil. These aspects will generate a sense in the individual that the company is really
taking care of them and therefore it becomes the first responsibility to provide their full support
in order to fulfill the objective of the organization.

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