International Human Resource Management

In the case of Superbrand’s work organization, there is visible pattern which includes promotion of services and goods through its own employees. Such method indicates that company’s type of organizational behavior is leaning towards social communicating, encouragement and training. There are two key factors that demonstrate social system: enhanced training of ‘newbies’ of company’s core values and mission, and active engagement of old employees into the promotion of goods and services of the brand.

When determining the exact type of an organization to which Superbrand belongs, one might consider the company a specimen of a social organization. Indeed, the company is almost entirely devoid of bureaucracy, which allows for faster management of workplace processes, yet also impedes their implementation with the absence of rigid guidelines. The presence of the social framework of managing an organization is exemplified by the propensity toward division of labor that Superbrand shows, namely, the company’s propensity toward creating different teams, each having a distinctive set of goals and a separate manager. The resulting multiplicity of functions within the company is yet another crucial feature of the approach that helps to manage critical tasks promptly. However, it also introduces certain challenges in promoting homogenous standards of performance, quality criteria, and expectations for the staff’s behaviors in the workplace. Indeed, as the case of Superbrand shows, different attitudes are featured in different departments, with solid premises for conflicts being created due to the differences in the approaches.

Exploring the features of the rational approach mentioned above, particularly, the division of labor, one should mention the opportunities for creating an intricate organizational hierarchy with the emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration. Built on social attachment, this system allows to directly interact with employees as they are essentially the main company’s element, connecting the company with the customer, which is a major advantage. Normal human behavior is formed under the influence of certain factors related to their needs and the consequences of their actions. Nowadays employee motivation is a mandatory attribute of any organization. All resources received by the organization cannot be used until the work of pre-motivated people is applied to them (Waldron, 1997). If employees are the main asset of the company, then their job satisfaction should be a priority in order to maintain high efficiency and engagement. Job satisfaction is supported by job involvement¹ and psychological empowerment². High level of job involvement as well as psychological empowerment positively related to organizational citizenship and job performance. Robins (2013) concludes that high job involvement is also related to reduced absences and lower resignation rates. Study conducted in Singapore revealed that various methods of empowerment for employees raise their self-esteem and a desire to work better (Robins, 2013, p.74). Therefore, the promotion of the rational approach of managing the corporate processes leads to multiple benefits, including improved employee engagement and performance.

Moreover, a review of 27 studies suggested the relationship between commitment and performance is strongest for new employees and considerably weaker for more experienced employees (Robins, 2013, p.75). It may be concluded that special internal organizational trainings for new employees can form a tight bond between them and the company which leads to natural growth of productivity and efficiency.

However, this system also has its drawbacks. Poor employees’ management and lack of supervisor competence can lead to the company’s malfunction. It is also important to keep in mind that Superbrand is a rapidly developing retail chain. It must have a certain hierarchy that allows company to manage every aspect of its work. Sole dependence on employees’ abilities and duties can lead to company going out of control since all major corporations, institutions and government entities still have bureaucratic type of organization. This idea is supported by the theory of Hawthorne effect³. Specifically, the theory indicates that the increase in employee involvement in the organization’s performance contributes to the rise in employee engagement and, thus, prompts the development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Therefore, the current work design, which does not encourage staff members to consider their role in the company, impedes the development of employee engagement. For this reason, extra steps must be taken to ensure that staff members feel a part of the company; specifically, talent management opportunities must be sought. Therefore, by conducting various trainings and developing programmes, Superbrand gives its employees certain privileges and freedom of action, trusting them in advertising customer service onto the highest level. Yet, they still need to monitor actions of employees, because the mistake made by any worker is entirely company’s responsibility.

In addition, it must be taken into consideration that currently there is no large successful companies that would exist exclusively on the same type of organization design. Very often, this is a mix of a bureaucratic hierarchy consisting of a ‘rational’ approach with high efficiency, control, calculability, adding to its social engagement, developing programmes for the company employees. It is vital for any big or small enterprises to include any kind of social activities within the company. This is confirmed by the survey, which proved that more than 200,000 employees stated in favor of various sort of social engagement at work, having positive impact on the general workflow (Robins, 2013, p.4). In this context, the role of Hackman and Oldhams job characteristics model needs to be brought up as a crucial framework to consider. Namely, the model allows drawing cause-and-effect relationships between the approach toward assigning staff members with specific jobs and responsibilities, the extent to which they are comfortable with the workplace tasks, and the resulting efficacy of their performance. Thus, applying the model to the Superbrand context, one will be able to arrange tasks and responsibilities in the way that will make every employee feel important and useful in the organizational setting, thus adding to their engagement rates and increasing the efficacy of their performance.

To sum up, Superbrand has chosen a good tactics of directly engaging its employees in the process of advertising goods and services from the very start. Having unique proposal such as exclusive or lower cost products and additional services, plus, extremely interested workers – Superbrand may reach new productivity level. Nevertheless, ongoing supervision is a must for keeping up control and order.

Reference List

Brewster, C., Houldsworth, E., Sparrow, P. and Vernon, G. (2016) International human resource management. 4th edn. London, UK: Kogan Page Publishers.

Principles of management (2020) Web.

Robbins, S.P. and Judge, T.A. (2013) Organizational behaviour. 15th edn. London, UK: Pearson Education, Inc.

Waldron, M.W., Vsanthakumar J. and Arulraj S. (1997) Improving the organization and management of extension Ch. 13. Web.

Footnotes

1. concept that is generally viewed as managing discretionary effort, that is, when employees have choices, they will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work.
2. employees’ beliefs in the degree to which they influence their work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job, and their perceived autonomy
3. The Hawthorne effect occurs under special conditions when a person participates in an experiment for the first time or is actively involved in the process, or feels that others are watching their actions. The individual begins to behave differently than usual, which leads to a significant distortion of the results of the experiment. Due to being in a new and unusual situation, the actions and behaviour of participants differ significantly from everyday ones. Subjects show increased diligence due to the emergence of awareness of involvement in the experiment, a sense of special attention to their own person.