GoPops Staffing Approach For New Russian Stores

Identifying GoPops Staffing Approach for New Russian Stores

1. The process of the recruitment of the staffs have a key role to play in GoPops. The company is a US based fast food chain and has been operating in USA as well as in Western Europe. In the recent times, the company had acquired a small-fast food chain with 60 stores in Russia (Isiaka et al. 2016). The new stores would be retained and rebranded with the GoPops fast food chain. In order to start the business initially, the CEO of GoPops have decided to bring in some of the European store based managers to Russia in order to bring in the new changes in the newly launched stores (Garrett2013). However, as the stores become stable and grow steadily, the local managers would be hired. Initially, as the food chain is launched in Russia, the managers from the Western European stores will be recruited in the newly launched stores. Initially, when the new store will be opened, the ethnocentric staffing policy was used (Rowlands and Iles 2017). The ethnocentric staffing approach highlights the recruitment of the staffs from the countries of the same nationality as the parent country (Guo et al. 2016). The ethnocentric staffing has a special significance in the enhancement of the business. This staffing strategy is effective as the newly opened stores have to be well managed (Michailova et al. 2017). The effectiveness of the ethnocentric approach are as follows:  
2. Controlling the set up of the new system

 The managers who have been already in the European stores know the management of the stores. Hence, their presence in the new stores will be effective in the newly launched stores in Russia (Garrett  2013). The employees of the parent company have a strong knowledge about the policies of the existing companies (Guo et al. 2016). Hence, the ethnocentric staffing is effective for the new stores in Russia (Michailova et al. 2017).

1. Giving the efficient employees a global exposure

While the ethnocentric staffing style is chosen for the stores to be opened in Russia, the existing employees get a global exposure (Isiaka et al. 2016). Since the mangers of the European stores who are chosen for the Russian store are efficient, hence the global opportunity provided to them will act as a motivation for them to work even more diligently (Garrett  2013). Since the mangers already know the organizational culture and policies, hence it will be much easier for them to align with the Russian culture (Karadjova and Mujtaba 2016). However, if the new employees from Russia would be recruited at the initial phase of the new stores, then they would find it difficult to cope up with the organizational culture along with the Russian culture.

However, as mentioned in the case study, once the business of GoPopss have been launched successfully in Russia, the company has planned to recruit Russian managers, such that the Russians could get employment opportunities (Michailova et al. 2017). In this phase the Geocentric staffing approaches will be used. The various advantages of the Geocentric staffing approach are as follows:

1. The company is able to develop a pool of senior management with a variety of culture and diversity (Garrett2013).
2. The unity in diversity is effectively managed with the recruitment of employees from various parts of the world (Guo et al. 2016).
3. Since the employees are chosen solely based on their expertise, hence the enhancements in the business of GoPops have been experienced (Lakshman et al. 2017).   

The risks that are associated with the geocentric staffing approach are as follows:

1. The cost of training and relocation of the employees are high in geocentric approach (Xu 2016).
2. The recruitment cost of the employees is high since recruitment form all over the world is a costly affair.                   
3. Expatriates refer to the employees who are living in different country, other than their native country (Karadjova and Mujtaba 2016). The expatriates face various issues while they are recruited in different organizations. In case of GoPops, the expatriates face various cultural challenges and issues. The issues are as follows:
4. Cultural differences: One of the major issues that are faced by the expatriates are the differences in culture. The cultural differences between the native country of a person and the country where the person works poses an issue (Garrett2013). Thus, the person struggles between the cultural differences and find it difficult to cope up with the cultural differences (Storgaard et al. 2014). The cultural clashes with the other employees are common (Isiaka et al. 2016). However, the expatriate have to get adjusted to the new culture and respect the cultural differences.    
5. Adjustment issues: The expatriate often finds it difficult to adjust to the new culture. Moreover, with the majority in the number of the native employees, the expatriate finds it even more difficult to adjust (Lakshman et al. 2017).
6. Transition issues: The transition phase is difficult, since the expatriate tend to follow the working practices that the person has been used to, in the native country (Kang and Shen 2016). Moreover, the differences in the organizational practices are also a major issue in the GoPops faced by the expatriate (Moran et al. 2014).   
7. Loneliness: The expatriate faces loneliness before he is able to make friends in the new country (Xu 2016). The language is also a barrier for the person, thus decreasing the scope of communication with the neighbours and natives (Garrett2013).  
8. Ways of living: The differences in the culture also promote differences in the ways of living in the country (Isiaka et al. 2016). Thus, the expatriate finds it hard to adjust with the life style of the people along with the food habits and the customs and culture (Rowlands and Iles 2017).  

GoPops have a major role to play in helping the expatriate manage the transition. The work culture of the GoPops has to be made suitable to assist the expatriate to adjust to the changes (Storgaard et al. 2014). Moreover, the native employees have to be trained such that they are able to help out the expatriate and help the person to cope up with the differences (Guo et al. 2016). The cultural differences have to be respected effectively, such that the expatriate is not bullied by the differences in culture.   

1. The mentioned article identifies the various expatriate adjustments that uses the auto ethnographic account of the situation that the author faced while her first job in a financial services company of Hong Kong (Friedman et al. 2009). The authors have used the theory of auto ethnography, in order to adjust the expatriate into the present working culture. Moreover, the authors have highlighted that the cultural shock is a discontinuous process (Friedman et al. 2009). This shock is likely to be reduced as the expatriate gets adjusted to the differences in the culture and accepts the new culture (Friedman et al. 2009). However, as mentioned in the given case study, the managers of the new store of GoPopss in Russia might find it difficult to adjust. The cultural shock among the employees might be prevailing for an extended amount of time, thus making it even more difficult for the expatriates to adjust successfully (Friedman et al. 2009). As the authors of the article suggests that the acceptance of the cultural differences have a key role to play in enhancing the process of adjustments to the new culture (Friedman et al. 2009). The adaptability among the expatriates have to be ensured such that the workplace becomes a good and positive place to work in (Friedman et al. 2009).  The cultural shock is a common phenomenon that all expatriate undergo initially (Friedman et al. 2009). However, the survival depends on the ability of the expatriate to cope up with the cultural differences and accept the new culture and customs gladly (Friedman et al. 2009). If the expatriate highlights the cultural differences more, then the cultural shock is likely to prevail (Friedman et al. 2009). However, if the new culture is accepted gladly with grace by the expatriate, then harmony is established (Friedman et al. 2009). The article presents a very helpful way of overcoming the cultural shock that an expatriate faces at the initial days of their employment. The auto ethnocentric approach is the most appropriate one for overcoming the cultural shock and accepting the new culture. The expatriate has to take the initiative to accept the new culture and het adjusted with them. However, the business organization has to ensure that the expatriate is not misbehaved with or ill-treated by the local people. Thus, the culture of the expatriates and they ways they adjust to the changes varies widely with the ones mentioned in the given article.
2. The cultural differences is a major issue of any employee who have been chosen for the newly opened GoPops store in Russia (Kang and Shen 2016). According to the given case study, the chosen employee has been associated with the fast food chain for the past 12 years. The employee has been in the position of a manager for the past 7 years at GoPops. Hence, he knows the organizational culture and policies completely. However, the person has not travelled much  around the world (Moran et al. 2014). Moreover, he is expertise in English only (Karadjova and Mujtaba 2016). The employee is concerned regarding the limited knowledge about the culture of Russia, and the way the fast food chains operate in Russia. In this case, it is essential that the employee be given the adequate training. The first training that needs to be given to the employee is the development of the communication skills (Moller 2014). Since the manager is well-versed only in English, hence it is necessary that the Russian language is taught to him. This is because, without knowing the local language, it is difficult for the employee to communicate effectively. Since in a fast food cafe, local people are likely to visit the place more often, than the tourists (Kang and Shen 2016). Hence knowing the local language is of utmost importance. Once this training is given to the employee, the next training is the awareness about the Russian culture (Lakshman et al. 2017). Since the Russian culture is much different than that of USA or Western Europe, hence awareness about the culture is needed. The customs and practices that are of specific importance to the Russians are trained to the employees (Mu et al. 2017). The manners and etiquettes that the Russians are particular about are also briefed about to the manager. The type of food preferred by the Russians as fast food are also highlighted and trained to the manager (Plakhotnik et al. 2015). Since the manager did not have any idea about the Russian fast food business operations, this training is of special significance, for the success of GoPops in Russia (Guo et al. 2016). The manager has to be trained about the cultural differences such that he is conscious regarding his behaviour and follow the Russian customs diligently (Moran et al. 2014). Well-equipped with such diligent training, the manager will be able to run the business successfully and effectively in Russia (Xu 2016). The cultural shock that the manager will undergo has to be told about to him, and the ways he need to adjust himself with the cultural differences, thus mitigating the cultural shock. Finally, the manager has to be trained to retain patience and work diligently, to enhance and expand the business of GoPops in Russia. Thus, this assignment highlights the overall human resource management and the staffing needs for the fast food chain GoPops in Russia. The training needs of the employees of the Western European branch of GoPops who are send to the Russian stores have been mentioned in details. The significance of the ethnocentric and the geocentric approaches are also discussed in this assignment. The importance of the acceptance of the culture of Russia has been also shed light upon in this assignment.

References

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Garrett?Rucks, P., 2013. A Discussion?Based Online Approach to Fostering Deep Cultural Inquiry in an Introductory Language Course. Foreign Language Annals, 46(2), pp.191-212.

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