Recruiting a Manager for BRB, Israel 1

Transcription

1 Recruiting a Manager for BRB, Israel 1 Case Summary BRB Inc., a multinational electronics corporation, plans to establish a new subsidiary in Israel. Currently, BRB Inc. has operations in North and South America and in Europe and Asia. Opening up business in Israeli would be the firm s first attempt to do business in the Middle East. BRB Inc. has been extremely successful in building and selling its very popular type of radar signal processing. BRB Inc. has two VPs of Human Resources, one in the U.S. and the other in the U.K. Each VP of Human Resources has been charged by the CEO to nominate someone to head the operations in Israel. The CEO, Lizfeld, is a very hands-on individual who has a strong will and actively participates in the management of BRB Inc. s total operations. Both HR VPs know that Lizfeld places a great deal of importance on the Middle East operation and therefore feel under great pressure to successfully nominate someone. There are two problems facing the VPs really: the choice of someone they think would be successful in Israel and someone who can adapt to the CEO s personality. To be successful in Israel, someone with a strong will be necessary, yet Lizfeld s strong personality might not allow that strong will to exercise itself. In other words, finding someone who can deal with Lizfeld complicates the choice enormously and, in some ways, might be the real cause of failure in Israel. John Connors, VP of HR in the U.S., has defined the necessary characteristics of a successful candidate as someone with strong technical skills, cultural empathy, a strong sense of politics, language ability, organizational abilities, adaptive and supportive family

2 members, persuasiveness, an ability to make decisions, resourcefulness, flexibility, and adaptability to new challenges. He has identified three candidates. Each has his/her strengths and weaknesses, two are familiar with Israeli culture and speak Hebrew, one of whom is female. Francis O Leary, the U.K. VP of HR, has also identified three candidates from whom he must make a recommendation to Lizfeld. O Leary shared Connor s opinion that someone who understands Israeli culture would be essential. He also knew that Lizfeld had a strong preference for home country presence in the new division. O Leary also had three candidates in mind. Again, two were familiar with Israeli culture and one was not. Like Connors, probably the most obvious choice of the three was someone apparently capable of the challenge yet who would possibly not get along with Lizfeld. Teaching Perspective 1. Students are assigned to individually prepare a proposal regarding who should be selected for the position opening. 2. In class, call on a few students to give a full presentation of who they recommended for selection, how they came up with the recommendation, and why the logic behind their recommendation is sound. Encourage questions from other students after they have given their presentations. 3. Next, a lecture delineating the various methods of personnel selection may be helpful for the students, in order to inform them (or remind them) of the strengths and weaknesses of intuitive selection, average rank method, weighted rank method, average rating method, weighted rating method and the fixed value weighted rating and ranking methods. 4. Then, depending on the time constraints on the class session, the students can be put

3 in small groups, each group being assigned a method of selection, and the task is then given to use the method assigned to them to analyze the situation in the case. 5. The instructor can wrap up the case in many ways, but a safe way is to point out that different methods may generate different recommendations for selection, and that manipulation of the criteria or weightings affects results due to the rater s assumptions and biases. Students may want to know what actually happened, but this is a fictional case, though its dynamics are commonplace in international business. It is important for students to realize that one does not receive feedback as to what the right answer is in the real world. One must make as best an informed decision as one can, and go with it, knowing the feedback as to whether the decision was correct or not will take months or even years to cycle back to the decision-maker. Ideas and Questions to Stimulate Discussion 1. Of the characteristics Conners and O Leary have developed by which they have made preliminary decisions to select three candidates each, which do you believe are most important? Are there any you think they have overlooked? What are the most important competing interests as you see them that have forged their choices and that will probably forge their final nomination? And finally, if you were O Leary and Conners, who among each set of three would you recommend to Lizfeld? The response to these questions is obviously somewhat subjective but should get the students to begin to prioritize their thinking. Certainly, the ability to operate in Israeli culture and develop or have contacts already existing would be paramount. Equally so would be the ability to be able to get along with a CEO who might be seen as meddling in affairs that didn t directly concern him. A proven track record of an ability to

4 successfully administrate an operation would also be essential. The most obvious competing interests from O Leary and Conners perspectives are, how do I satisfy the needs of the Israeli operation, Lezfeld s personality, and my own need to be perceived as being successful? Responding to the last question is very difficult. There are some fairly clear choices, however. None of the candidates without direct experience and knowledge of Israeli culture will probably be successful. Given Israeli culture, selecting a female candidate who is also young and without a great deal of technical expertise is probably a risky adventure as well, even though she is Israeli. Michaelson s motives for wanting to be in Israel are not clear personal or professional or in what proportion? Gilboa appears quite capable and were it not for a probable personality conflict with Lizfeld would be an obvious nomination for O Leary. For Conners, the most obvious choice is probably Goldberg, but the fact that Goldberg wants to retire in a few years clouds his obvious qualification for the job. 2. This case clearly raises several issues: (a) How important is it to hire from within (expatriate) versus to hire outside when starting up a critical overseas operation? In other words, how much do you sacrifice sometimes in terms of actual qualifications relative to the importance of personally knowing the individual? (b) How important is having language and cultural fluency when heading a new operation overseas where the culture and language are different? In what countries or regions of the world might it be more or less important? Which cultures are more closed than others (i.e., which ones highly favor someone from their own country, who speaks their language and culture?).

5 These questions are to help show the strong human aspect that influences business decisions. While there are no absolute correct answers for these questions, students should muster support for their opinion. You should force them to use specific examples (i.e., countries, industries, etc.). Contrasts can obviously be made. For example, Japan has a strong tendency to hire from within, while the U.S. does not have nearly as clear a bias. Japan expects individuals who have studied English and the U.S. to be familiar with them and be able to speak English fluently. The U.S. generally expects others to speak English and does not attach a high importance on familiarity with the culture. By the same token, Japan has very set expectations about people doing business in their culture and anyone not born in Japan is considered a foreigner and is, therefore, not privy to certain aspects of business. Conversely, the U.S. gives most credence to competence, irrespective of age, sex, or cultural background. (This is not to say that there are no biases, because there are, of course.) Note 1. This note was prepared by J. Stewart Black.