LIMITED ASSESSMENT – CASE STUDY

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Student ID:

Question 2: 768 words

Question 6: 777 words
Question 8: 773 words

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 Table of Contents
Question 2. Total Reward...........................................................................................................3

Question 6. International Assignment........................................................................................5

Question 7. AMO theory............................................................................................................8

References................................................................................................................................12

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Question 2. Total Reward

The total reward approach can be beneficial for CregTech to motivate employees, pool
talented candidates in the workforce, and retain employees for a long time in the
organization. Especially, when it is facing issues to attract young Ph.D. students who like to
work in vibrant and cosmopolitan cities for better opportunities. Now, the total reward system
can help the company to create job opportunities through learning and training for the youths.
The key benefit of the concept is to design a suitable reward program that supports the
distinct needs of the employees (Kaur et al., 2019). According to the case study, the current
employee turnover rate is 5% for the company. This seemed to be low but actually, it is
concerning as the company is in its initial stage and operating with only fifty employees.
Moreover, it must lower its employee turnover as the number of employees will increase in
the future. This issue could be solved with the help of the total reward approach. For
additional benefits, this approach could be added to the employee value proposition of the
company to retain and attract individuals (Mascarenhas, 2019). However, the benefits of this
system can only be enjoyed when both the financial and non-financial needs of the employees
are addressed. For example, monetary payments, and benefits can be considered financial
rewards. On the other hand, non-financial rewards include career growth opportunities and a
positive working environment (Madhani, 2017).

Rewards

Financial Non-Financial

Pay Benefits Growth Environment

Shares Pension Training Leadership

Base pay Life-insurance Development recognition

Allowance Holiday Secondments Purpose

Career
Variable Pay PMI Job design
planning

Figure 1: Financial and Non-financial Rewards

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 (Source: paydata.co.uk, 2022)
Here PMI is for private medical insurance of the employee which is paid fully or as a
percentage in the total reward system. The key challenge to overcome for CregTech is lying
in both the financial and non-financial reward strategies. 36% of employees in the private
sector that half or less than 50% of them are paid fairly as per CIPD’s reward management
report.

Figure 2: % of employees paid fairly

(Source: CIPD, 2019)
Currently, the company is paying salaries lower than 5% compared to its nearest market. The
organization also needs a performance-based bonus scheme rather than the current typical 5%
bonus to employees through a lottery system. One of the major challenges to implementing
total reward strategies is to include every employee in it and equally motivate each of the
(Lipika, 2019). Another key challenge is employees do might not want to work in the same
company for a long time. This is because; the type of career opportunities they want to
achieve might changes with time. Mostly the younger generation works for a few months to a
few years and then looks for a job change to gain more knowledge. Health and well-being
benefits are crucial financial benefits to the employees. Only 50 GBP is given to the
employees per year which are not enough to meet the common health needs. Moreover,
developing a compensation policy that supports the needs of every employee is also
challenging (Wamweru and Makokham, 2018). In a performance-based system, high-
performing employees get the most of the benefits and it de-motivates the lower-performing
employees. Another issue is the cost of implementing the strategy especially when BVCC is
taking a 30% stake in the company. This is because; CregTech needs to provide better
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rewards like increased salary to market level, and performance-based bonus rewards as well.
This will cost more to the company than the present. It is also difficult if Craig cashed out his
shares in his sixties. The employees’ cost for the company is already 55% cost of the
business. Now, the company also needs to increase manpower to 150 from 50 at present.
Hence, the employee cost will increase in both ways.
All of these issues can be solved by the company if it can raise enough money for which
knowledge of investment choices and investment risk preferences are required (Werner and
Balkin, 2021). One of the key opportunities for the company is an investment of 12 million
GBP by the BVCC. Though, the issue here is the increasing demand for employee benefits by
the BVCC and the international expansion of the business with the Japanese organization.
Both of these cost money but the demand of BVCC on employees' benefits could be achieved
with the help of the total reward approach. Still, CregTech management needs to identify
which reward strategies to be implemented and which are not. Not all of the reward strategies
are appropriate to meet the employees' needs and implementing all will raise the cost too
much. Hence, it must implement those that suit the present and future needs of the
employees. For this, it must take feedback from the employees, and track the cost and impact
of the strategies with other steps as presented in the image below.

Figure 2: Total Reward Strategy

(Source: Gardner, 2022)

Question 6. International Assignment

There are high chances of failure of international assignments especially when the
responsibilities are on the employees of a local organization like CregTech. Some of the key
reasons are lack of knowledge of different cultures and business processes in an international
environment (Suutari et al., 2018). There are many other reasons for the failure of an
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international assignment. For example, the selection of the wrong person in the first place has
ensured failure in the first place. On the other hand, if the meeting of the international
assignment is held in the location of another company, then lack of knowledge of local
culture and support from the locals can be big issues. This is because; the research manager
send to another country and the company is unaware of the changing business conditions
(Rantakeisu, 2015). International assignments between companies from different nations
might also be failed due to the different weightage of cultural dimensions in the countries. In
the study by Cole and Nesbeth (2014), most of the respondents stated that cross-cultural
issues, lack of preparation for the assignment, and lack of organizational support were the key
reasons behind the failure of international assignments. For organizational support, an expat
in the host country must keep continuous communication with their home country and
colleagues. Communication is also required to support family and not led by domestic issues
that will bring the end of the international assignment without success. An isolated expat is
more likely to reject the assignment quickly. In this case, long-term international assignments
are more likely to be failed than short-term international assignments. The probability of
underperformance of the ex-pat in international assignment increases with the period the
expat needs to spend in the host country (Kumarika Perera et al., 2017). Moreover, the
organization might fail to meet the psychological needs of the employees. Though, this could
be done by both the host and parent organization. In both cases, the lack of perceived support
has impacted the working engagement, commitment, and performance of the employees
negatively. Job dissatisfaction due to this also led to turnover intention and obvious failure of
the assignment. At last, it is difficult to comply with the laws of the host country which might
lead to project delay, cost overrun, and failure of the assignment. Most employment laws in
the host country have created most of the problems (Burgess, 2018).
One of the positive points for CregTech to do business with Kodeshi is the similar business
profile of both companies. That means, the organizations can understand the business
operations of each other. Still, they did not encounter one another in the past. Which
CregTech must ensure that the research manager must know Koeshi's business operations and
Japanese culture as well. For this, the application of Hofstede's cultural dimensions is
recommended to the company. CregTech is from the UK though, cultural changes occurred
as BVCC is from the USA. Thus, the differences in the cultural dimensions between the UK,
the USA, and Japan are shown below.

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 Figure 4: Cultural differences between the UK, the USA, and Japan
(Hofstede-Insight, 2022)
The image showed the cultural differences between the UK and Japan are more than that
between the USA and the UK. Hence, the differences between Japan and the UK are more
convenient even though Japan is the host company and the UK is the parent company in this
case. For example, Japan is a high uncertainty-avoiding nation in the world though, the
British people like to deal with uncertainties in their life. That is why; the Research Manager
from CregTech must be punctual at meetings and plan the presentations before meeting as the
Japanese hate late comers and surprises. Similarly, the personal and emotional issues of the
Japanese must be treated with respect else it could lead to dissatisfaction with the host
company. For this expat training to the Research Manager is recommended to CregTech. For
the training, the company can use a multidimensional model for the success of the expatriate.
This model includes contextual performance, retention, and relationship building (DeNisi and
Sonesh, 2016). That means it could not result in the turnover intention of the Research
Manager. On the other hand, the cultural shock model is recommended for the Research
Manager so the manager can deal with long-term living in the host country without any issues
of communication with the parent company and domestic difficulties. The cultural shock
model will help to deal with the psychological issues in Japan. According to this model, the
first six months will spend happily but adjustments are required after six months to master the
time issue.

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 Figure 5: Cultural shock model
(Source: Mansor et al., 2013)
Thus, knowledge of Japanese culture and training to deal with the issue including language
training are required for both the company and the Research Manager.

Question 7. AMO theory

AMO theory where AMO stands for ability, motivation, and opportunity which are used to
enhance the performance of employees. However, the application and outcomes of AMO
theory depend on the team size (Dasí et al., 2021). Hence, the application of AMO theory in
CregTech with 50 employees at present and 150 employees in the future will be different.
Moreover, the application of this theory must include the five expectations from BVCC. This
is because; the expectations will help to motivate employees and improve their performance
as well. Development of leadership team, succession plan, talent acquisition, continuous
development, and performance-drive culture are demanded by BVCC. Bailey who developed
the model has identified three elements for enhancing employee performance which are
appropriate motivation, required skills, and participating opportunity. The company must
develop a human resource department effectively which focused on creating a sustainable
working environment for the employees as the first step of applying the AMO model (Pak et
al., 2019). Now, sustainable business strategies cannot be created with the help of traditional
human resource management only. For this, CregTech needs to apply Green Human
Resource Management strategies or GHRM (Yu et al., 2020). Although, the AMO model was
very old and it is improved at present and it is called a high-performance work system
(HPWS). Hence, CregTech must focus on developing HPWS in the organization to gain the
most from the AMO model. For this, the organization needs to incorporate high involvement

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working programs or HIWP for its employees. The recommended design of HIWP as per the
AMO model is given below.

Opportunities or
Abilities or Skills Motivation
empowerments

Provide job descriptions Performance appraisal Job enrichment and

after analysis Rewards and design
Talent requirement compensations Self-directed teams or
Structured selections Job security workteams
Skilled traininig based on Bonus payment Employee feedbacks
job Promotions Information/knowledge
Performance Salary hike/incentives sharing
enhancement Suggession systems for
individual and group

Figure 6: HIWP development as per AMO theory

(Source: Juarez Tarraga et al., 2019)
Thus, to improve the skills of the employee the organization must provide intensive training
to them. Moreover, the organization will also increase its existing manpower. Hence, it must
only include skilled candidates in the workforce. For this, structured selection procedures
must be used. Besides structured employment, CregTech must focus on training the
employees which can be divided into formal, informal, and extensive training. For evaluation
of the performance, the company can use leader-member exchange programs. In this process,
the quality of relationships between employees and leaders is evaluated. This is mainly
effective for employees from the young generation (Mahmudi and Elmi, 2020). Hence, the
leader-member exchange program is recommended after the organization hires at least 50
more employees and the manpower rise to 100 employees. Though, it must be used after at
least six months of recruitment as that much time is required to evaluate the relationship and
trust as high-quality exchanges. On the other hand, low-quality exchanges such as economic
leadership and business leadership can be evaluated after six months of selective recruitment.
Such strategies could meet the first two demands of BVCC which are the development of
leadership and a succession plan. Similarly, motivations like payments to employees can be
developed as group payments. Groups of employees are recommended to be made as per
their functions (Kremmydas and Austen, 2020). Currently, the employees are divided into six
functional groups among which the scientific staff is the largest group as shown in the graph
here.

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 Figure 7: Functional Group for group payment
(Source: Created by Researcher)
However, to implement AMO successfully, the company needs to create another functional
group of HR management. This could be done with the employees from business
development and senior management. Though, new recruitment is needed for these functions
so far.
However, the creation of the self-directed working team is also pointed to as the succession
plan for leadership in the organization. However, only human resource strategies are not
enough to motivate employees and create opportunities for them. This is because the
company needs to implement HPWS to gain most of the benefits from the AMO model.
Besides Human Resource activities, the company also needs to involve employees in
organizational decision-making and get feedback from them. In this way, the employee will
participate in decision-making activities and develop a strong sense of engagement (Raby,
2017). Similarly, commitment from the employees is required apart from rewarding them.
The success of the AMO model relies on these factors as given below.

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 Involvement and
participation

Reward and
Human Resources
Commitment

Figure 8: HPWS for the successful implementation of the AMO model

(Source: Raby, 2017)
Apart from the mentioned techniques to motivate employees in the AMO model, team
working, and automation can also create opportunities for the employees. The Ph.D. students
who want to work in the cities to get more opportunities can return to their hometowns as
they will get both opportunities and time to spend with their families after the application of
AMO in CregTech. The company is also recommended to ensure the well-being of the
employees and security in the workplace. For this, it is necessary to create organizational
policies against discrimination in the workplace (Ray, 2019). This is necessary especially
when BAME and non-European people are working in the organization.

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References

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July 2022]
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