The Gtech Employee Engagement And Employee Relations Strategy (Essay Sample)

Gtech Employee Engagement and Employee Relations Strategy Name Course Professor’s Name University City (State) Date Introduction In the world of business, organisations are becoming more interested in the concept of employee engagement as they seek to understand how employees feel and perceive their jobs and how to positively stimulate job performance (Ariani, 2013). As a result, more firms both in public and private sectors are adopting initiatives that aim at enhancing employee engagement and the variable is constantly being used as a key performance indicator (Rees, Alfes, and Gatenby, 2013). In one of the most utilised definitions of employee engagement, Kahn (1990) referred to the concept as the concurrent employment and utterances of an individual’s preferred self concerning talks behaviours that enhance connections to work and to their colleagues, personal performance and full active performances ( Ariani, 2013). In this respect, engaged employees embrace positive attitude and behaviours that promote effective functionality of an organisation. However, as Macey and Schneider 2008 resonate, how management interrogates and shapes employment relations elements through work design and management styles highly impacts employment engagement levels and strategies adopted by a firm. Hence, it is apparent there is a relationship between employee engagement (EE) and employee relations (ER) in human resource management. The purpose of this report is to develop a critically justified EE strategy for Gtech Company as it seeks to expand its operations into Japan. A brief description of Gtech Company Gtech is a family owned business whose headquarters as in Worcestershire in the United Kingdom. As one best performing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, Gtech was established in 2001 by Nick Grey inspired by his passion for handmade designs (gtech.co.uk, 2018). Currently, the company has approximately 200 employees who are comprised of highly skilled workers such as engineers, designers, and model makers as well as semiskilled workers (gtech.co.uk, 2018; McCann, 2017). Notably, Gtech has employees in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and in the People’s Republic of China (gtech.co.uk, 2018). EE SMART goals that G-tech will seek to realise as it enter Japanese market When a company sets SMART goals, there are higher chances of realising them in timely and cost effective manner (Schaufenbuel, 2013). In this respect, Gtech’s decision to venture into the Japanese market will be driven by three major goals: To increase sales derived from international markets by 10% by 2019. To increase profit margin by 8% by 2020. To increase the employee satisfaction index (ESI) by 10% by 2020. Factors that G-tech need to consider when entering Japanese market Japan’s political outlook in relation to employee relations issues The Japanese government has in the recent past enhanced its efforts in supporting positive employee relations via introduction of policies, rules, and regulations at national level as well as closely monitoring unfolding in light of social and economic aspects that are transpiring in everyday basis. One of the vocal national institutions that have been used in this area is the Japan Institution of Labour Policy and Training (JILPT) (Adhikari, 2005). For instance, the concept of “free, fair, and global” is among the latest measures that have been undertaken by the Japanese government with a primary aim of attracting foreign investors and touches on corporate laws and accounting principles. When a government take adopt such proactive reforms, it tends to create a more fair ground for both local and foreign firms (Abbot, 2006). In this respect, Gtech management led by Nick Grey ought to understand how such policies will impact the company, the opportunities created, and what the government expects from the provided enhanced autonomy. Furthermore, it is paramount for Gtech to consider the role and impact of trade unions. According to Adhikari (2005), the Japanese labour market has been characterised by declining rates of unionisation which has been facilitated by factors such as increased rate of the non-regular workforce, decreasing number of players in manufacturing industries, and growth of service industries. When the unionisation rates decline, gaps tend to widen between employers and employees on critical matters such as minimum wage level, working hours, and other welfare issues (Abbot, 2006). Consequently, the Japanese labour market has seen new trends emerging especially employers are arguing the country wage level are higher compared to other western industrialised nations whereas employees are becoming more concerned of maintaining job security. In this respect, the government via JILPT has been vocal in supporting the Shunto, a wage determination policy as the firm level which addresses payment matters and strengthen union-management relations (Adhikari, 2005). From this perspective, Gtech management ought to familiarize itself with policies of the Shunto as they will impact what employee relations the company will adopt and what strategies are applicable when the firm seeks to enhance its employees’ engagement levels while operating in the Japanese market. For instance, while the Shunto has a great authority in determining wage issues, the company need to rethink on how other monetary rewarding systems will be affected if it opts o adopt any in the Japanese market. Japanese cultural outlook in relation to employment relations issues According to Adhikari (2005), national culture profoundly influences work system in a country which in turn affects social systems within organisations. The rationale is that culture touches on critical environmental and behavioural elements such as morals, values, customs, and demographic traits that end up being incorporated both formal and informal rules and regulations that govern people. In regards to Gtech, the firm is established with the UK national culture which according to Sisson (2009), it is more inclined to individualism and neo-liberalism ideologies which is similar to the U.S culture. Contrary, Adhikari (2005) argues that Japanese culture is more aligned to collectivism than individualism. In this respect, ie which stands for the family system is an important cultural element in Japan which has been incorporated even in running of business entities. Ideally, the aspect dictates that companies functions as social groups where employees and management are expected to forego their private interests for the sake of company interests. Relatively, companies are expected to facilitate the growth, teamwork, and harmony among employees via the concept widely known as wa which means group interests surpasses individual interests (Adhikari, 2005). Hence, while seeking to introduce its operations in the Japanese market, Gtech ought formulate strategies that will cultivate a sense of familism among its employees as well as promoting a harmonious relationship between management and employees at all times. Such an aspect points out the need for retraining of both existing staffs and management who will start working from Japan. Gtech’s internal environment As noted in the previous section, Gtech is a family owned business. In this respect, the company’s organisational culture is more inclined to clan rather than market culture. According to Marin et al. (2016), the former involves values and beliefs that are based on internal aspects as well as organisational flexibility while the latter is based values and beliefs that are externally oriented aligning more to achievement, accomplishment, and competitiveness. For instance, while Gtech is becoming an international brand in cordless vacuum cleaning sector, Nick Grey admitted in an interview that he is more concerned in knowing all his over 200 employees by name. Such close connectedness is rare in non-family business (McCann, 2017). In a similar study, Azoury et al. (2013) noted that while family firms’ values tend to be more humane, emotional, and fundamental, non-family firms often adopt values that are more transactional and which are highly determined by outcomes. Moving forward, it is therefore paramount for Gtech management to understand how its organisational culture and values are going to be impacted as it venture into Japanese market. The proposed employee engagement strategy(s) for Gtech Company as it enters in the Japanese market Upon critically analysing factors that can potentially impact Gtech EE strategies and assessing them in light of EE and ER theories, this report recommend that the company should pursue state engagement and social engagement strategies in regards to entering into the Japanese market. The former aligns with Macey and Schneider theory of goal orientation where an organisation is expected to keep its employees engaged by boosting their involvement, empowerment, commitment, and satisfaction on their assigned roles (Macey & Scheider, 2008). In her quantitative study that utilised a sample size of 576 employees, Ariani (2013) found that increased level of engagement triggers goal oriented and proactive behaviours among workers. As a result, employees feel motivated to create a social context that support teamwork, a helping voice, and other discretionary traits which lead to organisational effectiveness (Rees et al., 2013). From this perspective, it is apparent that the idea of Gtech to pursue to state engagement strategy will create a room for the company to improve its profitability by enhancing its effectiveness, an aspect that aligns with second goal of this study. For Gtech to effectively execute a state engagement strategy, the company will need to put a few supportive elements in place and sufficiently exploit them. First of all, the management must target for extensive empowerment of its employees. Such a move would require the compa...