HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING SELECTING A MANAGER FOR A NIGERIAN FAMILY

QUESTION 1 Would it be best for Victoria to select a manager who is a local (citizen of Nigeria), a home country national (citizen of the United States), or a third country national (citizen of some country other than Nigeria or the United States)?

Nigeria is a Federal Republic modeled after the United States. Ethnocentrism, tribalism and religious persecution have played a visible role in Nigerian politics both prior and subsequent to independence in 1960. In general, Nigerians are a friendly and outgoing people. Those three candidates have their own abilities and capabilities and also disadvantages.

i.

Home country national (citizen of the United States)

If Victoria chooses their manager from United States, their advantages are the manager easily followed the instructions. Home country national (Henry Smith, United Stated candidate) will follow whatever the headquarter command to him without any mumbles and hesitation because his loyalty to the company and also one of the opportunity to make his record become more outstanding. It benefited on familiarity with the host country culture and language. According to the description that was given, Henry Smith was working for Victoria almost 10 years and there are grapevines that he is going to be as a President for Victoria one day. He has the competitive capabilities in international market because the company can reduce on training cost of expatriate. However, even with broaden experiences and excellent records; he is still lack of awareness of other ethnics cultures. This is because he never been outside of the United States. He has limited familiarity with firms own operations. PCNs at headquarters may facing lack sufficient understanding of the subsidiaries needs and corporate strategy. As a result, the subsidiary may suffer. Next, large expenses involved if Victoria chooses Henry Smith for international assignment. They will face fewer problems in order to handle Henry Smith but they need to provide some training for him and his family to ensure he can understand the Nigerians cultures.

Based on literature, international assignment failed because of the expatriates spouse failed to adapt the new culture.

ii.

Third country national (citizen of some country other than Nigeria or US)

If they choose third country national (Juan Lopez), similar to Henry Smith, Juan Lopez also has long term experience in handling oilfield equipment for Victoria in Latin America. Foreign trained professionals have greater familiarity with host country culture than parent country national but loyalty will be with the firm (rather than to host country). Normally, TCNs have intensive on international experience and know the corporate culture from previous working experience. The relocation costs are lower than the PCNs. He also can enhance career development opportunities by allowing employees from the various subsidiaries to move to other subsidiaries. Furthermore, he has softened tensions between host country and home country compromise. However, some cross-cultural preparation may still require especially on communication part. This is because Juan Lopez was originally from Latin America and his language will be Spanish and this is will be challenge for him because almost of Nigerian is speaking English. Due from the differences, communication problem will exist between both of parties. Even, if Victoria trains him to speak in English but it will take long duration because Juans English slang will be differ from Nigerian and again communication problem exists. He potentially suffers from a lack of knowledge of the corporate culture. This is because Choba (Nigeria) and Houston (United States) have their own culture. Again, there is high possibility for TCNs to fail in this international assignment because of adapting the culture.

iii.

Local (citizen of Nigeria)

Meanwhile, if Victoria chooses a local manager (Matthew Ohwueme), it will be advantage for Victoria, because language barriers will not exist. PCNs may be the best people for the job. Basically, Matthew does not have any experiences in handling oil equipment. In oil industries, experiences will be one of main criteria for the candidate. It is because oil industries mostly deal with technically and theoretically knowledge. So even the candidate has knowledge in
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theoretically, he/she still need experiences in order to ensure the industry are sustainable. However, managing business in Nigeria really need some consideration on networking with locals. As a Nigerian citizen, this makes him very favorable as he will be the best versed with the business, its successful operations and ethics in the country. He also familiar with the local markets conditions well versed with managing the company. There is assurance that the subsidiary will comply with company objectives policies and so on. He also capable to maintain controlling and co-coordinating based on both side (HQ and the subsidiary). He may take a short time to adapt to host country because he educated in England. Communication difficulties in dealing with home office personnel may reduce because of his experiences. However, PCNs may impose an inappropriate HQ style. He may have difficulties in exercising effective control over the subsidiarys operation. Next, the compensation differences between PCNs and HCNs may cause problems.

So from the above explanations, even though, three candidates have experiences, knowledge but still have disadvantages on culture awareness and experiences in other industry which is very big different. In short, three candidates are very good but still need a deep analysis on them.

QUESTION 2 Which of the factors to be considered would favor the selection of Henry Smith? Juan Lopez? Matthew Ohwueme?

Henry Smith i. ii. iii. iv. 34 years old United States citizen 10 years experiences with Victoria High capabilities in works which make him as a president at the young age A discipline, objectivist and outstanding person as graduated from Texas A&M i. ii. iii. iv.

Juan Lopez 46 years old Venezuelan citizen 21 years experiences working with Victoria. Experienced in handling oil equipments from zero because involved with headquarters for two years (Operating Victoria in Latin America.) Experienced for international assignment (Ecuador) i. ii. iii.

Matthew Ohwueme 52 years old Local (Nigerian) The member of the Ibo ethnic group (One of three major group in Nigeria) Experienced in automobiles industry (The owner / manager of the largest Honda dealership in Lagos) Educated in England

iv.

v.

v. v.

Table 1: The details about potential candidates Based on the above table, there are factors that will be favor for those three candidates. Henry Smith is a very capable and objectivist person. Smiths factors of education, experience, job knowledge, and stability play a positive role in considering him for the manager position. That is why he is going to be a president for Victoria one day. Besides that, his profile really balances whereby he is a graduate with 10 years experience and had served Army for three years. From this, we can interpret, he is a very knowledgeable not matter in theories and also practical experiences. His work record with Victoria over the past ten years has been outstanding, which is just another positive factor for him, especially since Victoria wants to begin developing current managers for international operations. However, Smith has never been outside of the United States, but sending him to Nigeria would fit with Victorias desire to develop current managers.

Meanwhile, Juan Lopez also very experienced but he served Victorias subsidiary at Latin America and this shows that his experience working in Latin America will greatly influence his lifestyle especially in communication. He can speak Spanish fluently but moderate in speaking English because English is a foreign language with a great demand in Venezuela. This might be the major problem to communicate with Nigerian who uses English. Lopezs experience, knowledge, and tenure with the company are the main favorable factors contributing to his consideration for this position. He has been with the company for 21 years, so he knows the ropes very well. Of his 21 years working for Victoria, he spent two of them at headquarters planning operations in Latin America, which gives him even more credibility for this position. Currently he manages the facility in Ecuador and is well respected throughout the company. He has previous experience of running an international facility as well as experience at the company headquarters. During the time he was at the company headquarters, he worked in planning operations in Latin America, thus giving him crucial foreign leadership experience. This will be good for him to use in order to get the new facility off to a great start. Another factor playing into Lopezs direction is that Victoria has never entered into the African market before; therefore Victoria needs to choose someone with a lot of experience. For a new international facility to run successfully it is imperative that the manager has job knowledge to be able to teach the new workers how to run the facility. Matthew Ohwueme is a local which will ease the communication and he is also has experiences in automobile industry. However, he never has any experiences in oil equipments. As a manager for the largest Honda dealership in Nigeria, he absolutely has a big network within the business industry. He also has the maximum ability as a leader in managerial part. One without managerial skills to handle the business cannot survive in business arena. Even without proper training in oil equipment, he may run the business, as long as he manage to master on the field (short period) once appointed as a leader by Victoria. Once he cater with the business process, he can easily read the trick. Furthermore, he is matured enough to handle the local with his experience dealing with Nigerian. Nigerian values respect on older people. As one of Ibo member (ethnic group), he can easily build relationship with Nigerian because its like an honor working with international company but manage by locals. Next, factors on ability to any adaptation (HQ and local company) also need consideration to pick the best among the best. As a graduate student from England, he will easily cope working with westerner business culture.
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QUESTION 3 Which candidate would you recommend? Why? The best way to respond is to give concrete reasons of why skills and accomplishments make one of the candidates suit for the job. It is a need to compare the job description with their abilities, as well as mentioning list of factors that the company should take into consideration. To make the best selection, we decided to compare their potential based on the company requirement for current situation. No. Criteria General criteria: i. Education ii. Experience iii. Job Knowledge iv. Desire v. Stability
(Involved for HQ Planning Operation in Latin America)

Henry Smith
(HCN)

Juan Lopes
(TCN)

Matthew
(Local)

Expertise on facilities (Ability on handling facility especially in the start-up phase) Developing current manager in international operations (A risk taker-Willingness to adapt new environment) Culture adaptation (In term of managing reputations and build customer acceptance) Experience on managing international assignment (Latin America / Africa) Networking (Linkage with the government for Nigeria operation) Ability to cater the demand for potential worker (In order to supply trained operators in Nigeria that is less the demand)

(Western and Africa culture)

(Latin America)

(Nigeria)

(Member of Ibo Ethnic)

(The Owner / Manager for Honda dealership)

Table 2: The comparison among candidates

Based on table 2, Matthew Ohwueme is the most recommended candidate for Victoria subsidiary in Nigeria because he fulfilled almost criteria needed by Victoria. Matthew is the best candidate even he did not have any experience with oilfield equipment. There are some elaborations on the decision.

i.

Matthew is ready for the task Nigeria is a multi-religious and multi cultural country. Basically, establishing a personal relationship with Nigerian counterpart is common practice before starting the business. Within the next three months after the machinery, trucks and equipment are ready; its really hard for a manager from different culture to adapt and manage a business. Even the company provides some pre-departure training for the candidate; it will take time to master on it. At the same time, Victoria really needs someone that efficiently handling their operations.

ii.

Matthew able to adapt the culture Nigeria has a long history of colonial and military suppression. This effects on Nigerian business culture and makes it conservative. Its really important to always find out which religion or cultures the people you are working with belong to. Bear in mind, that even though officially illegal, favoritism and nepotism is still a common practice in Nigeria. Culture adaptation for Matthew is a piece of cake either from organizational culture (Victoria HQ) or national culture (Nigeria). This is because Matthew is Nigerian citizen who educated in England. Based on experience, Matthew can easily managed adapting both cultures.

iii.

Matthew is the influencer. Nigeria culture both business and social is influenced heavily by its politics. After an unsettled period of military rule, colonialism and several civil wars, today, Nigeria is ruled by a democratic government. The government is making an effort to restructure and improve Nigerias economy. Since person in-charge (Nigerian) who has political power within Nigerian government is no longer in the government, Matthew is the stepping stone for Victoria easily linked with the government. Matthew also has big influence in
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Nigeria because he is the owner of the largest Honda dealership in Lagos. This helps Victoria to cope with the government.

iv.

Matthew is matured to handle the operation. In Nigerian business culture, decisions are typically made by the most senior manager. Nevertheless, input from employees is rewarded and encouraged. Senior executives and colleagues expect a degree of respect. Therefore, Victoria needs to prepare for interruptions by people of a higher rank when in operation. This 52 years old man can easily cater the perceptions by local workers. In advance, by choosing him as a manager, it might also build up some trust from locals who trained with oil-drilling equipment operator to work with Victoria.

v.

Matthew is the man. As a manager for high profile company (dealer for Honda in Nigeria), he is the man who manage to instruct his subordinate to work efficient and effectively. He can lead his company even he has no idea on the business. As long as he has the guideline and trained people behind the operations (HQ), the company will operate with colors. Even without experience in oilfield equipment, he is the man who can work based on good instruction and relationships with Victoria headquarter in Texas.

As a conclusion, in order success in Nigeria, Victoria needs to manage their business by local manager.