Employee

 Why it is important to have a good bond between your local and international employees? 

BUSI 401: International Business

Plan for Term Paper

TOPIC: Why it is important to have a good bond between your local and international employees?

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Abstract

· Introduction

· What does Employee Relations mean

· Challenges of cross-culture relationships

· Benefits of cross-culture employee relationships

· Create Scenario of Cross-culture relationship

· Conclusion

· Recommendations

· References

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Introduction

In a globalized world of trade, businesses need to recognize the significance of tapping into skills and insights of a diverse workforce. More effort should be delegated in forming good bonds with the local and international employees to boost organizational productivity. Workplace relationships are crucial for the operations of a business. The relationships between employers and employees often begin when a contract is signed. These contracts have promises that need to be fulfilled by both parties. The employee entering an organization may come from a diverse culture. Therefore, an employer needs to be conversant with these cultures to find the appropriate way to bond with them. The challenges of cross-culture relationship are harassments and anxiety. Some of the benefits accrued from a good cross-border employee bond are increased motivation, conflict reduction, employee loyalty, improved trust and confidence, better workplace culture, better work-life balance. These benefits not only foster employee retentions but boosts productivity and success of the entire organization.

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The Importance of A Good Bond between Your Local and International Employees

The globalized world of trade has made many businesses recognize the significance of tapping into skills and insights of a diverse workforce. A diverse workforce often comprises of both local and international employees. These people have differences in cultures, race, and norms (Shaban, 2016). Having local and international employees is important especially when a business needs to compete in the new global economy. A working environment coupled with cultural diversity capitalizes on an international workforce’s knowledge to compete with other multinational companies. In the past decade, literature focusing on international human resource management has placed much emphasis on the development of global orientation in organizations (Shaban, 2016). The research provided more insights on how employers should select, recruit and develop a local and international workforce that is more likeminded (Shaban, 2016). Yet, managing both local and international employees in an organization may be quite challenging. Such challenges may make an organization to incur losses. To achieve maximum benefit from a diverse workforce, several strategies should be put in place to solve prejudice. Employers should pay attention to their actions each time they want to meet the needs of the local and international employees. In recognizing the efforts put in place by both local and international employees, employers should form a good bond with them to achieve success in the business.

Employee Relations

It is undeniable that work relationship matters in organizations or businesses. Good or bad relationship has an effect on how employees carry out their duties. Hence, maintaining a good bond with workers is significant in upholding and sustaining their excitement while executing duties (Methot, Melwani & Rothman, 2017). Whether international or local,

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employees work in coordination and under the supervision of their superiors. Employee-employer relationship always affects the feeling and consequently an individual’s performance. As it is purported, the moods determine the level of performance and how employee would perform their duties (Raziq & Maulabakhsh, 2015). It is the responsibility of the management to make the employees happy. Therefore, they should create interventions that will foster the creation of a positive relationship in and out of the office. Besides management intervention, it is crucial for employees to get along with the employer and other employees.

Employee relations always starts when a new employee is hired by an organization and a contract is signed. The contract is known as an agreement between the employer and the employee. Through it, an employee-employer promise is set. These promises are to be performed as duties towards each other. It is implicit that an employee accepts an offer once he/she signs the contract. Yet, it is pointed out that employment contract does not boost productivity but motivation (Kuranchie-Mensah & Amponsah-Tawiah, 2016). Therefore, employers are advised to balance interests such as decreasing wage constraints and maximize on labor productivity thus achieving profitable and productive employment relationship. Above all, motivation plays a significant role in maintain employee-employer relationship. This will in turn benefit the entire organization in term of performance.

To form a good bond with a diverse workforce, employers should have techniques. These techniques include providing monetary rewards, promotions, providing good working environment, providing credit for excellent work, creating relationships with the employees and job security (Wild, Wild & Han, 2019). Economic incentives or material rewards can be provided to employees to make them feel motivated (Martono, Khoiruddin & Wulansari, 2018).

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Besides, it should act as a catalyst for improved employee performance. Rewards makes employees to perform excellently thus aligning with an organization’s goals.

Since employees have aspirations and needs, employers should strive to enrich their jobs and improve their working condition. This technique focuses on employers efforts to meet employees aspirations by providing a ambient working environment (Raziq & Maulabakhsh, 2015). Promotions and giving credit for the excellent work done by the employees fosters good relationships. Other than that, verbal praise, which is an egoistic classification of need makes employees to be motivated and perform better (Martono, Khoiruddin & Wulansari, 2018). An employer also needs to assure their workers that their jobs are secured. Job security should be on the high list of priorities because technological changes creates a threat for human labor. General security should also be prioritized as suggested in Maslow’s Hierarchy need.

Challenges of Cross-culture Relationships

Diversity comes with major challenges for modern organizations. The basic concept of diversity often lies in recognizing and maximizing the talents and skills of a diverse workforce. When the diverse workers are not engaged, conflicts such as favoritism and harassment can arise (Wild, Wild & Han, 2019). Staff actions such as promotion and dismissal among diverse employees are attributed to contribute to conflict and inappropriate behavior. By an employer misunderstanding the needs of a diverse workforce, then there will be anxiety and distrust. Employees who are respected by their employers will stay for long in the organization. Therefore, employers’ should focus on reducing tension to ensure higher productivity.

Benefits of cross-culture employee relationships

Encourages Team-Based Performance

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Managers creating a good relationship with both local and international employees encourages team-based performances. Other perspectives of the performance may be based on firm performance, knowledge transfer and creativity. Srikanth, Harvey & Peterson (2016) recognizes that a culturally diverse workforce has a positive effect on global virtual teams. National diversity, which is a part of cultural diversity often determines actions that are significant in the performance of local and international teams. (Srikanth, Harvey & Peterson, 2016) research shows that organizations which values all their employees perform better than organizations with moderate level of national diversity. Pieces of research have emphasized on the effect of positive relations on the creative performance of multinational teams (Wild, Wild & Han, 2019). On a deep and surface level diversity, creativity is born because of different perspectives and problem-solving styles. New ideas and innovation stem in when an employer keeps providing positive criticism to employers regardless of their cultural background. At the company level, the learning of new skills and innovative practices becomes possible only if the employers regards the local and international teams as equals. Diverse norms and communication codes may accompany these employees to uncover creativity. (Srikanth, Harvey

· Peterson, 2016) states that teams that are diverse synergy. Besides, they display better performance if their superiors treat and guide them well. The leverage of different skills and increase in the number of cosmopolitans from different nationalities positively affects team-based performance. Forming strong bonds with both local and international employees makes them portray and value working as a team.

On the other hand, failure to create good ties with the local and international employees affects team performance negatively. The negative attitudes and poor performance are also brought about due to language barriers, ineffective communication, and cultural barriers. Other

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barriers that influence diverse teams’ performance are diverse point of view in their time; this is because it is highly connected to their national backgrounds. The employer having a global mindset coupled with their availability increases team-based performances (Shaban, 2016). On the contrary, some organizations lack managers who are flexible enough to handle local and international employees’ issues. These managers handle the two teams as if they have colonial ties. Moreover, the performance level of the diverse workforce becomes affected if a conflict occurs within the organization. Therefore, developing positive-based criticism in handling issues of a diverse workforce increases their productivity and encourages team-based performances.

Reduces Conflict

It is common for organizations to experience conflict. The conflict can be among the employees or employees versus the management. These conflicts range from complaints, harassments, and poor working conditions to discriminatory practices (Srikanth, Harvey & Peterson, 2016). Typically, conflict is a subject matter that is inevitable. Conflicts can have a devastating impact of a diverse workforce in terms of productivity. Besides, it can create distrust between employees and employers if one group of workers feel they are being discriminated against. The consequences of such challenges can affect an organization’s efficiency.

To have a good bond with both the international and local workers, employers must have the mandate to investigate, mediate and resolve employees conflict every time they arise. Such a move will facilitate the creation of an ambient working environment thus the reduction of conflict (Srikanth, Harvey & Peterson, 2016). A conflict free environment will make the diverse workforce to concentrate on their duties and responsibility increase in productivity and efficiency. Handling employee related conflicts becomes less challenging when an employer

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focuses on fostering a good working relationship. Work relationships make the employer and the employees stay on the same page in running the organization.

According to Srikanth, Harvey & Peterson (2016) conflict has some hidden benefits in a diverse workforce. A conflicting diverse team can transform their conflict into innovative solutions. However, such benefits outweighs the benefits especially when conflict creates destruction. The local and international employees may be unable to work together if the employer fails to solve the organization’s issues. What tends to happen is that the employees become sour and negative amongst themselves or towards their employer. They develop petty notions and arguments which can hurt their working relationship hence loss in productivity. They gripe and criticize about policies that are mandated by the law and the manager has no control over them. Generally, many conflicts which are connected to diversity are not beneficial. In any organization, the manager must solve any conflict arising early enough. There should be a zero-tolerance policy for discriminatory practices (Srikanth, Harvey & Peterson, 2016). Generally, a reduction in conflict in an organization occurs when a manager work to foster good employer-employee relationships. Less complaints from the employees may ultimately boost employee morale thus motivating them to give their best. Furthermore, less conflict makes the work environment more stable thus an improvement in the overall work culture.

Employee Loyalty

Good employee-employer relationship will promote loyalty in an organization. Employers should create a pleasant and productive work environment to encourage a loyal workforce. Having such a workforce will lead to employee retention thus saving the organization on the costs of hiring new employees (Aljayi et al., 2016). Employees are valuable assets in an organization. The company’s success will depend on how hard they perform their duties. If the

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employer keeps engaging and motivating them, then they will strive the organization’s expectations. The organization benefits as a whole if there is a strong employee-employer relationship. There are maximum benefits such as loyalty if there is good employee relationship (Aljayi et al., 2016). Every business needs to dedicate enough attention to the employees regardless of their number and size. Paying close attention to employee relations encourages their productivity thus higher yields in profits. Generally, a well-managed employee relation helps a business deal with challenges and changes of the business environment.

Job Satisfaction

Good bond between employer and employees often lead to job satisfaction. Job satisfaction, as an entity, has been highlighted as a difficult term to define. In its operational term Martono, Khoiruddin & Wulansari (2018), defines it as the positive feeling and attitude workers hold about their jobs. The satisfaction is often connected to work-related factors. These factors range from workers sense of fulfillment they derive from their roles and rewards. Nevertheless, Ahmad & Ibrahim, (2015) purports that personnel components also affects the level of job satisfaction. These factors are inclusive of employee emotional stability, job experience and family and social relationships. Job satisfaction is also described as an accurate indicator of good relationships between the employer and the employee. The definition is derived from the fact that a satisfied worker often has a positive relationship with the employer. Ahmad & Ibrahim (2015) points out that having a diverse workforce that is happy with their roles and responsibilities to good customer management and satisfaction. In general, this suggests that employers treating their diverse workforce well places them in a better mind frame to treat customers well. In essence, customer service and employee satisfaction are closely linked. Just as employees expect to be treated well with their employers, customers too expect outstanding

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customer service. A diverse workforce wants recognition for their excellent customer service by getting compensations. Employees often want to be led, inspired and recognized by their employers. Raziq & Maulabakhsh (2015) study encourages managers to form a positive bond with their employees because they are the ones that facilitate production, sales and customer satisfaction. Business owners should recognize that their positive criticism satisfies their employees. Besides, they should continuously check if the management and the business process are in line in what the diverse team of workers need. Measures should be put in place to determine if the relationship between the employees and employers contributes to job satisfaction or not. For example, a one-on-one session or filling out questionnaires should be encouraged to determine if workers’ diverse team are treated well. At the same time, employees need to comment on working conditions that they think are more attractive. Results from surveys may be useful in helping employers determine the things that need in the organization (Islami, Mulolli & Mustafa, 2018). Besides, comparing the results from both local and international employees will give enough clue n whether one group is treated with favoritism as compared to the other. Indeed, a good employee-employer bond in a diverse working environment leads to job satisfaction hence success in the organization.

Promotes Equality

Good bond between employers and a diverse workforce leads to the fostering of equality. In most scenarios, employers are not into equality as they think they are. The cases of favoring local employees over the international ones may be subconscious. However, creating a good bond with the employees and embracing equality can create a fair and equal environment for all (Shaban, 2016). If the local and international employees feel that they are being treated equally, they are more likely to work harder and be more productive (Shaban, 2016). Employers should

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recognize that employees should not be judged based on their demographic differences, functions and interests preferences. A better job performance can be achieved from a diverse workforce through positive diversity climate. Yet, equality is not only promoted by making every employee happy, but by reward them accordingly. There should be no gender pay gaps. If an employer can demonstrate equality of pay for both men and women regardless of their nationality, then the company will attract more skilled individuals. Having more skilled workers places an organization at a better chance of achieving success. And then, these employees should be rewarded with no favoritism based on their merits.

Improved Communication

A significant aspect that comes about with good employer-employee relationship is improved communication. A good bond facilitates the transfer of information and general matters that affects employee performance. Constant communication and consultation makes a diverse workforce understand management actions. Misunderstandings, which often arise from daily activities gets addressed easily when employees are at ease with the management (Srikanth, Harvey & Peterson, 2016). Communication, which is a two-way process, needs to be both upward and downwards. Communications that are officially approved by any employer are recognized as formal communication channels. Formal communication is often practiced during meetings, displayed on circulars and on posters. Organizations should acknowledge that formal communication is important especially in the channeling and exchanging of opinions, feelings and suggestions between workers and the management (Srikanth, Harvey & Peterson, 2016). Employers bonding and at the same time communicating with employees is intended to ensure that employee behavior is consistent with organizational goals. Besides, consistent communication seconds innovation whereby the management can seek to change the way things

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are done. Communication is significant in integration purposes where the employer’s objective may be to identify the employees with the business and how activities are carried out. Finally, communication is for information purposes which helps employees do their jobs well. Employers should recognize that communication is a significant aspect in an organization and should be fostered by good employee relationships.

Cross-Culture Relationship Scenario

This scenario is written from an international worker’s perspective (Leah) who recently moved into the country from India. This example will help illustrate the significance of employee-employer cross-cultural interactions as applied in real world situations. The scenario focuses on cultural identity and values.

When Leah first arrived to the country, she met her employer, John. John was supposed to guide Leah for the first two weeks. He was to familiarize her with the work processes. In Leah interacting with John for the first week, she found herself frustrated. She thought her employer as someone who lacked courtesy and was rude. She felt demotivated and wanted to quit her job. According to Leah, leaders should be courteous and always ask their subordinates about their wellbeing. Therefore, John needed more time to learn about Hindu culture and develop a more professional approach to their relationship.

Conclusion

Employers need to foster positive relationship with their diverse workforce to boost productivity. It is recommendable for employers to form working relationships with their employees. This happens when an employee is first hired and a contract signed with promises in it. Having both local and international employee working in one organization promotes cultural

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diversity. Techniques that can boost good employer-employee relationship in an organization are providing monetary rewards, promotions, providing good working environment, providing credit for excellent work, creating relationships with the employees and job security. The challenge of cross-culture relationship is harassment. Employers forming a good bond with employees has several benefits. They include encouraging team-based performances, conflict reduction, employee loyalty, team leadership, job satisfaction, equality and improved communication. These benefits not only foster employee retentions but boosts productivity and success of the entire organization.

Recommendations

Since employee-employer bonds propels an organization forward, employers should strive to create a conducive working environment for employees. The employer should motivate employees by providing incentives for excellent work done. Besides, employees’ salaries should be increased whenever necessary, allowances provided and promotions granted. Communicating and motivating employee’s increases their morale and level of productivity. Communication within a diverse working environment should be improved to promote ideas interchange, feelings and opinions with the employer. Both local and international employees should be involved in decision making process to improve trust between the two parties. Employers should develop a supportive climate to promote self-confidence amongst employees. A supportive climate will make both local and international employees to support each other for being unique. It will encourage praises among workers for doing extraordinary tasks. A supportive climate will make employees feel they are respected and safe and know it is not a crime to make mistakes. Nonetheless, the environment will make the employees take constructive criticism. Employers should continue hiring diversified to improve productivity at the same time managing them well.

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Employers should find solutions to manage the attitudes and difference in perceptions of workers; this is directly linked to human behavior and highly affects productivity of any organization. For workplace success, it will be crucial for employers to implement diversity programs for all the employees. Diversity should be peppered in all business units, company’s policies and initiatives. Besides, a sensitivity training should be carried out periodically and facilitate employees participation in community outreach program to learn more about diversity. Other recommendable strategies are encouraging the use of common language, leaving communication channels open for employees and employers. Employees should be encouraged to participate in activities that boosts their productivity. Further, employers needs to understand that it is not just a matter of diverse culture that matters but quality for the tasks delegated to each employee. Therefore, employers should create bonds with employees for improved productivity in the organization and quality maintenance.

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References

Ahmad, H., & Ibrahim, B. (2015). Leadership and the characteristic of different generational cohort towards job satisfaction. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 204, 14-18. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.08.104

Aljayi, Y., Fjer, A., Guennioui, M., & Tamek, A. (2016). Multinational companies’ human resource management practices’ and their organizational culture impact on employees’ loyalty: Case of Japanese multinational company in Morocco. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 230, 204-211. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.09.026

Islami, X., Mulolli, E., & Mustafa, N. (2018). Using Management by Objectives as a performance appraisal tool for employee satisfaction. Future Business Journal, 4(1), 94-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fbj.2018.01.001

Kuranchie-Mensah, E. B., & Amponsah-Tawiah, K. (2016). Employee motivation and work performance: A comparative study of mining companies in Ghana. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management (JIEM), 9(2), 255-309.

Martono, S., Khoiruddin, M., & Wulansari, N. A. (2018). Remuneration reward management system as a driven factor of employee performance. International Journal of Business & Society, 19.

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Methot, J. R., Melwani, S., & Rothman, N. B. (2017). The space between us: A social-functional emotions view of ambivalent and indifferent workplace relationships. Journal of Management, 43(6), 1789-1819. DOI: 10.1177/0149206316685853

Raziq, A., & Maulabakhsh, R. (2015). Impact of working environment on job satisfaction. Procedia Economics and Finance, 23, 717-725. doi: 10.1016/S2212-5671(15)00524-9

Shaban, A. (2016). Managing and leading a diverse workforce: One of the main challenges in management. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 230, 76-84. doi:

10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.09.010

Srikanth, K., Harvey, S., & Peterson, R. (2016). A dynamic perspective on diverse teams: Moving from the dual-process model to a dynamic coordination-based model of diverse team performance. Academy of Management Annals, 10(1), 453-493.

Wild, J. J., Wild, K. L., & Han, J. C. (2019). International business (p. 342). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Importance of Good Bond between local and international employees

Introduction

CHALLENGES

Challenges

BENEFITS

Increased Motivation

Less Chances for Work Conflicts

Improved Trust & Confidence

Better Workplace Culture

Enhanced Work-Life Balance

Better Employee Engagement

Benefits

Enchanced Employee Loyalty

Increased Motivation

Fewer Chances of Work Place Conflict

Improved Trust & Confidence
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Better Work Place Culture

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Residential
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Hospitality
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Better Employee Engagement

Enhanced Work-Life Balance

Cross-Culture Scenario

Conclusion
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Someone Famous
“Team Work Makes The Dream Work.”
The End