Executive Summary
The need to increase engagement in the company’s three branches in China, India, and the USA requires the organization’s HR departments to implement appropriate improvement solutions. Differences in cultural perceptions are constraints because a unified optimization strategy is not possible due to different views of employees on certain management decisions. This work considers the possibility of increasing engagement through the introduction of motivation, involvement, teamwork, and workforce performance tools as approaches to create more convenient conditions. Based on employees’ cultural characteristics, the proposed interventions are analyzed, and specific challenges and barriers are considered. General recommendations are given regarding an opportunity to improve the target parameter through the introduction of cross-cultural programs to call for rallying teams in the countries and achieve high engagement. Such leadership tactics minimize conflicts between employees and leaders and create a favorable environment for involving staff in active work.
Introduction
The need to ensure sustainable employee engagement in a globalized business is an urgent challenge that many companies face when expanding their spheres of influence. According to Aktar and Pangil (2018, p. 54), this practice “has frequently been considered as the key to an organization’s success and competitiveness”. Moreover, managers need to ensure not only high engagement but also the accompanying principles of achieving subordinates’ sustainable performance to implement development and growth strategies successfully. These activities include increasing motivation, enhancing teamwork, and improving workforce performance. By using the example of the current organization doing business in China, India, and the USA, relevant initiatives to enhance the workforce commitment will be examined. The targeted work of the HR department implies implementing corresponding management initiatives in the proposed countries to strengthen employee engagement as a critical factor in ensuring the company’s sustainable and profitable operations.
Literature Review
Motivation Tools
Motivation is one of the important tools of influence and can be used as an incentive for the development of an employee involvement strategy. One concept to apply, in this case, is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the model that is the background for many motivation theories. In relation to the working environment, in accordance with its provisions, meeting the basic needs of employees can help increase their motivation to successfully complete the tasks (Deptola, 2021). Therefore, its use may be justified as a strategy for creating an inclusive cross-cultural environment.
As another motivation concept, one can analyze Herzberg’s two-factor theory, also known as the motivation-hygiene model. According to Kotni and Karumuri (2018), this concept is based on the idea of assessing job satisfaction as an essential aspect of organizational performance by comparing two dimensions. Incentives (motivators) make it possible to increase job satisfaction, while deterrents (hygiene factors), conversely, reduce this indicator (Kotni and Karumuri, 2018). In the operating environment, such a model can be utilized as a marker for analyzing employee satisfaction with current working conditions.
Involvement Tools
Involvement tools are used to create a sustainable, inclusive environment in a team and involve employees in the work process. One of the approaches used for these purposes is applying the work-life balance strategy that, as Houssein, Singh, and Arumugam (2020) state, addresses a range of human resource management tasks, including retention. Creating conditions for workers to allocate time efficiently and not overwork in the workplace is an incentive to influence their productivity. The less stress an employee experiences, the more likely it is their commitment will be stronger.
To accomplish the involvement task, managers can promote Robinson’s engagement model as a potentially useful strategy. According to Ghosh and Sourav (2019, p. 550), this concept states that “employee engagement can be achieved through the creation of an organizational environment where positive emotions such as involvement and pride are encouraged”. Thus, workers feel safe and are ready to contribute to corporate culture. The model also addresses related tasks, for instance, employee retention, but the engagement function is the key and most pronounced, which explains the concept’s relevance to different teams.
Teamwork Tools
In an attempt to increase engagement, managers should not lose sight of such a significant criterion of organizational activity as teamwork. To improve this stat, Tuckman’s team development model can be utilized. Jones (2019) assesses the relevance of this concept in relation to teamwork and notes that it allows rallying the efforts of group members and establishing a collaborative workflow. The model includes five stages – ““forming,” “storming,” “norming,” and “performing,” and a fifth stage “adjourning” was added later as a result of research development” (Jones, 2019, p. 24). At each step, relevant tasks are addressed to enhance collaborative practices.
Another tool that may be taken into account to improve teamwork indicators is Belbin’s teamwork theory. It is also known as a role theory because, as Aranzabal, Epelde, and Artetxe (2022) note, in accordance with the concept, every group member performs one’s role in a team and contributes to building a cohesive environment. Behavior, communication patterns, and other nuances are individual, but the team operates precisely due to the different functions that each member brings to the group. Therefore, Belbin’s theory may be of good use to address gaps in teamwork by taking into account all employees’ roles and features.
Workforce Performance Tools
Engagement indicators are closely related to employee productivity, and workforce performance can be enhanced through a variety of interventions. One of them implies applying the total quality management (TQM) strategy as an approach that allows satisfying employees’ professional interests by optimizing various aspects of their workflow. Ramlawati and Kusuma (2018) highlight the positive correlation between TQM and performance, which is reflected in creating favorable conditions for performing direct duties. As a result, operational outcomes are improved due to covering many working aspects.
As the most common strategies for influencing workforce performance, one can note job reward systems. Martono, Khoiruddin, and Wulansari (2018, p. 537) analyze the principle of encouraging productivity and state that “reward management systems have major impact on organizations capability to catch, retain and motivate high potential employees and as a result getting the high levels of performance”. Employees gain real benefits by showing their professional potential to the full, and such stimulation of productivity is in the interests of the modern labor market where commodity-money relations play a major role.
Company Overview
The company in question is a growing enterprise providing services for the supply of IT equipment and components. Its branches are located in China, India, and the USA, thus covering the Western and Eastern markets. The main governing body of the company is the Board of Directors headed by the CEO, and the activities of the branches are controlled by the appointed administrators. Improving employee engagement is seen as an essential aspect of optimizing operational processes, but the cultural profile of each region is a critical factor to take into account to implement the proposed changes efficiently without prejudice to subordinates.
Implementing Motivation Tools: Challenges and Communication Issues
Implementing motivation tools is an adequate mechanism to increase employee engagement. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a concept that is more suitable for the Western branch of the company. According to Briscoe et al. (2021), the American labor market is democratic, and the quality of the work process is largely determined by such aspects as the possibility of career growth, satisfaction of professional ambitions, and other aspects. For China and India, this concept is less applicable because, in these countries, employees tend not to demand satisfying a wide range of needs and show less interest in realizing individual work comfort by any means (Briscoe et al., 2021). Herzberg’s two-factor theory is a tool that will work for all three branches. By promoting appropriate motivators, managers can increase subordinates’ job satisfaction, and hygiene factors will definitely reduce this indicator. At the same time, deterrents will appear less in the Eastern region than in the Western one. Thus, to increase engagement, Herzberg’s two-factor theory is the preferred strategy for all three branches.
Implementing Involvement Tools: Challenges and Communication Issues
In terms of an opportunity to improve engagement across the company’s three locations, Robinson’s engagement model is a universal strategy to apply, which will be embraced by employees in all countries. Creating an enabling environment in which the worker feels comfortable and secure is a powerful way to promote an inclusive environment, regardless of cultural backgrounds. As Le et al. (2020) note, the work-life balance strategy, in turn, is preferred by the US branch because employees in the region value personal time and the freedom to share duties more than their colleagues in China and India. In the Eastern region, less attention is traditionally paid to personal interests in favor of corporate ones, and hard work is a natural feature of the working mentality (Le et al., 2020). Therefore, the work-life balance strategy is a more convenient tool to increase engagement in the American branch, while Robinson’s engagement model is universal.
Implementing Teamwork Tools: Challenges and Communication Issues
As a method for enhancing engagement, teamwork tools are suitable instruments to apply. Tuckman’s team development model, in this case, is a more convenient approach for the US branch and is unlikely to be applied successfully in China and India. Filatotchev et al. (2019) remark that employees from Eastern countries are not inclined to demonstrate long-term preparation for group activities because the personal contribution to the achievement of the final tasks is a priority for them. US workers, conversely, are culturally sensitive to individual comfort and may take time to become a united and cohesive team (Filatotchev et al., 2019). This causes the challenge of explaining to Chinese and Indian employees the relevance of the five stages of Tuckman’s model, and Belbin’s teamwork theory is a more acceptable concept for them since it implies differentiating specialists according to individual roles. Therefore, for the Western and Eastern regions, distinctive teamwork enhancement strategies should be applied to improve engagement.
Implementing Performance Tools: Challenges and Communication Issues
From the standpoint of implementing workforce performance tools to enhance engagement, the company’s managers should take into account the distinctive perception of job reward systems in the Western and Eastern branches. For the American labor market, the system of material incentives is natural, and this principle is used in many local organizations (Kwak et al., 2018). However, for the other two countries, this way of stimulating productivity is not typical because the work mentality of local employees does not imply performing assigned tasks responsibly for personal gain exclusively (Kwak et al., 2018). The TQM strategy, in turn, is the optimal approach to implement in all three branches. Optimizing various aspects of the workflow, including introducing digital equipment and advanced scheduling systems, is a convenient strategy to influence the desire of employees to demonstrate high operating outcomes. Thus, to increase engagement in the company, the TQM strategy is a one-stop approach to enhancing workforce performance.
Overall Employee Involvement Strategy
The company’s management can consider the following initiatives to enhance employee engagement in all the countries:
- Herzberg’s two-factor theory is an optimal concept to apply in all three branches to increase the staff’s motivation.
- Robinson’s engagement model is a universal strategy, but the work-life balance can be of good use to the American branch.
- Teamwork tools differ for the Western and Eastern regions: Tuckman’s team development model is a relevant tool to apply in the USA, while Belbin’s teamwork theory suits best to China and India.
- Due to liberal views on labor responsibilities, the performance of the employees in the American branch can be strengthened through personal rewards; the TQM strategy is universal and can be applied by the managers in all three branches.
Recommendation
Due to the differences in the cultural perception of managerial interventions in the branches of the three countries considered, this is crucial to create a unified HR control strategy to strengthen engagement. The proposed involvement strategy can be supplemented with appropriate work based on cross-cultural training to eliminate potential disagreements within the teams (Presbitero and Toledano, 2018). In both the Western and Eastern regions, corresponding programs for the development of communication and interaction in diverse groups should be promoted to create a sustainable engagement mechanism. As a significant aspect to take into account, this is crucial to consider the distinctive leadership styles in different countries to eliminate potential disagreements between supervisors and subordinates. HR leaders should be instructed on preferred interventions and desired objectives to take the necessary actions and communicate to colleagues the importance of engagement as a mechanism to bring teams together and achieve high productivity.
Conclusion
To achieve high employee engagement in the three branches in the USA, China, and India, the company’s management needs to establish sustainable HR activities while taking into account the characteristics of the operating environment in each region. This is essential to pay particular attention to the distinctive features of the operating environment caused by established traditions and special rules of manager-subordinate relationships. Given the considered motivation, involvement, teamwork, and workforce performance tools, one can identify the appropriate areas for development, taking into account differences in cultural perceptions. Herzberg’s two-factor theory, Robinson’s engagement model, Belbin’s teamwork theory, total quality management, and some other practices are useful strategies to build cohesive teams. By promoting cross-cultural projects and using additional methods to stimulate involvement, the representatives of the organization’s HR departments can create an inclusive environment and achieve high engagement in each of the branches.
Reference List
Aktar, A. and Pangil, F. (2018) ‘The relationship between human resource management practices and employee engagement: the moderating role of organizational culture’, Journal of Knowledge Globalization, 10(1), pp. 53-87.
Aranzabal, A., Epelde, E. and Artetxe, M. (2022) ‘Team formation on the basis of Belbin’s roles to enhance students’ performance in project based learning’, Education for Chemical Engineers, 38, pp. 22-37.
Briscoe, J. P. et al. (2021) ‘Here, there, & everywhere: development and validation of a cross-culturally representative measure of subjective career success’, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 130, pp. 1-23.
Deptola, A. (2021) ‘Motivation: an integral component of resident well-being’, Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 13(1), pp. 11-14.
Filatotchev, I. et al. (2019) ‘Connecting eastern and western perspectives on management: translation of practices across organizations, institution and geographies’, Journal of Management Studies, 57(1), pp. 1-24.
Ghosh, A. and Sourav, S. (2019) ‘A comprehensive study of employee engagement: contemplating 7-D model in view of NIFTY 50 companies’, International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 5(9), pp. 549-555.
Houssein, A. A., Singh, J. S. K. and Arumugam, T. (2020) ‘Retention of employees through career development, employee engagement and work-life balance: an empirical study among employees in the financial sector in Djibouti, East Africa’, Global Business & Management Research, 12(3), pp. 17-32.
Jones, D. (2019) ‘The Tuckman’s model implementation, effect, and analysis & the new development of Jones LSI model on a small group’, Journal of Management, 6(4), pp. 23-28.
Kotni, V. D. P. and Karumuri, V. (2018) ‘Application of Herzberg two-factor theory model for motivating retail salesforce’, IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17(1), pp. 24-42.
Kwak, Y. et al. (2018) ‘Money for us versus money for them: cross-cultural differences in sensitivity to rewards for ingroup and outgroup’, Culture and Brain, 6(1), pp. 36-52.
Le, H. et al. (2020) ‘Work-life balance in Asia: a systematic review’, Human Resource Management Review, 30(4), pp. 1-23.
Martono, S., Khoiruddin, M. and Wulansari, N. A. (2018) ‘Remuneration reward management system as a driven factor of employee performance’, International Journal of Business & Society, 19(S4), pp. 535-545.
Presbitero, A. and Toledano, L. S. (2018) ‘Global team members’ performance and the roles of cross-cultural training, cultural intelligence, and contact intensity: the case of global teams in IT offshoring sector’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(14), pp. 2188-2208.
Ramlawati, R. and Kusuma, A. H. P. (2018) ‘Total quality management as the key of the company to gain the competitiveness, performance achievement and consumer satisfaction’, International Review of Management and Marketing, 8(5), pp. 60-69.