Case Study: Great Wall Golf and Country Club

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Executive Summary

The HR Director of Great Wall Golf and Country Club has put up her new HR plans. This report believes that the HR plans as drawn up are very good and, with certain recommended refinements, can help Great Wall to successfully maintain its status as one of the premier golfing resorts in China.

Aims of Great Wall Golf and Country Club HR Plan

The HR plan has very lofty aims.

1. To manage human resources effectively so that Great Wall would maintain its status as one of the premier golfing resorts in China.
2. To assess all aspects of HRM covered by the plan and rate its likely effectiveness
3. Indicate any gaps or omissions in the range of HRM issues covered.

From these aims, it is clear that upper management places a premium on the company’s human resources.

Introduction

In order to assess if the HR plan accomplishes the prescribed aims, several factors must be looked into.

1. Job analysis and design
2. Recruitment and Dismissal
3. Appraisal systems
4. Development of personnel
5. Compensation
6. Benefits

If done well, all these will form a framework for a good HRM system to support the company’s HR aims.

Job Analysis and Design

Job analysis focuses attention on the job content, the job requirements and the job context (1). Based on the job analysis, different jobs within the company can be designed (2).

The case study does not appear to have much information regarding this fundamental part of the HR plan in the company. The company has an organization chart for the Executive Committee (3), which appears to define certain functional levels of responsibilities, but we see no other evidence of a detailed job design for that. Evidence of detailed job design for those below the Executive Committee is virtually non-existent within the scope of the case study.

Job design is very important to an organization, since ‘productivity, job stress and quality of work life are tied to job design (4). It is unlikely, though, that this is a major determinant of the 4% a month turnover. It is recommended, however, that all jobs be given a jobs description, in line with a world-class HR system.

Recruitment and Dismissal

When it comes to recruitment and dismissal, one must look at the company’s policy in the context of mainland China’s labour laws. It is one still in its infancy, and which tends to ignore matters of EEO. Moreover, foreign-invested companies are generally given a quota to hire expatriates. This quota is likely to be used for senior positions, resulting in a situation where senior management are expatriates and middle management, supervisory and ground positions taken by the locals.

The company’s recruitment policy appears only at the senior management level – recruited mainly from the overseas Chinese in Singapore and HK. The major determinant of the policy of recruitment from Singapore appears to be that of language – the ability to converse in Mandarin appears to be a very important consideration (5).

The trend to hire expatriates at the senior management level would continue for some time, until local managers could be trained to take over at that level, and is a common strategy for foreign-invested companies to reduce payroll and benefits costs over time.

The recruitment of lower echelon staff appears not to be guided by any existing policy, but by the skills of the HR personnel at the interview (6). No scientific means of assessment (personality profiling, background checks, references checks) appear to be in use. This report recommends that the company begin the use of such instruments and codify it into their recruitment policy, so that the movement of HR personnel would not affect the ability to recruit personnel that fits their jobs.

Many of the personnel recruited tend to be migrants from outside the city (6), so it would appear that the nature of the jobs do not attract those from the city proper. This is a common issue in China, as the city dwellers prefer to take on office or civil service work rather than service vocations. Service vocations tend to be shunned and looked down upon in the hierarchy of prestige in the country.

The company does not appear to have a dismissal policy. Labour laws in China is currently quite weak, but are constantly being reviewed to catch up with western standards. To avoid trouble and potential lawsuits which may affect the company (like dismissal for blogging – there were high profile lawsuits in Google and Delta Airlines (7) over this), dismissal policies should be put in writing and be available for viewing publicly.

Appraisal Systems

The company shines when it comes to their appraisal system. A performance appraisal system should ‘signal (sic) to managers and employees what is really important; (sic) provides ways to measure what is really important; (sic) fixes accountability for behaviour and results; and (sic) helps to improve performance’ (8).

The major objectives of appraisal systems are as follows.

1. Discrimination
2. Reward
3. Development
4. Feedback

The Performance Review form (9) defines the activities treasured by management, and is tied in to the strategic goals of the company. In addition, a point system provides for easy measurability of these activities and ties the success of these activities to the performance of the staff. Staff can also see at a glance their strengths and areas for improvement by the score given to them on this sheet, and know where they stand in the ‘scheme of things’ in the company.

No information is available in the case study regarding the frequency of the formal appraisal – but we can safely assume it is on an annual basis, based on the fact that it is dated by the year. A good appraisal system should be more regular than that. Having it on a half-yearly basis would mean more immediate feedback to the employee, in order for him to change or make alternate plans if necessary.

Other forms of appraisals were also given throughout the year, in the form of the Employee of the Month awards and the quarterly bonus system (13). Appraisals were made by their department managers and caddie leaders, together with member input (for the case of caddies). They appear to be fair and much more visible than the annual formal appraisal.

Development of Personnel

Development of personnel comes in two forms – training and career development.

Training can take many forms.

1. Orientation
2. Classroom Activities
3. Simulation
4. On-the-job Experience

All these factors appear to be in place, evidenced by the training calendar (10).

1. Orientation is run throughout the year for new staff that joins the company.
2. Language training is very likely to be classroom activities, and is run throughout most of the year.
3. Fire Safety & Security, First Aid/CPR and Crisis Management are mostly run in the form of simulations, and a specific month is set aside in the calendar year for the training.
4. Department Job Skills Training is carried out throughout the year, creating a good source of on-the-job experience for staff.

The training appears also to address the main weakness of the workforce (but only to a certain extent) – a low level of sophistication and a low level of awareness of service standards. The fact that the workforce comes mainly from rural backgrounds or SOE contributed to that. An emphasis on Guest Courtesy (running for half of the calendar year!) is a start, but more training may be required. Case studies and scenarios on the taking of initiative, on service standards of major trend-setters (SIA, Giordano, etc) may be additional training necessary for the induction of such a workforce.

The career development plans, however, appear to be missing in this implementation of HRM. HR practitioners should understand that ‘career (sic) planning and development play a major part in ensuring that the organization has a competitive and knowledgeable work force’ (11).

It is suggested, then, that the following elements (12) be placed into the career development of the personnel employed by the company.

1. Exposure – to senior management and other important persons in the organization.
2. Qualifications – sponsorship to higher degrees (or even basic degrees).
3. Mentors – place mentors to give a leg-up on the career ladder.
4. International Experience – give a chance of rotation between the present company and sister companies in other parts of the world.
5. Language Skills – this is already part of the company’s training and development programme.
6. Financial Planning Skills – this is an area traditionally weak in China. The company will do well to support their employee in this area of their life.

Compensation

The compensation system is not spelt out in the report, but evidence points out to the existence of a performance pay system in use. The department managers are given a year-end bonus and an accompanying increase in salary, based on their ability to meet targets (13).

The ground crew is motivated by the ‘Employee of the Month’ award of 1 month’s salary (which fits in with the recommended 6%-7% of base pay as the minimum (14)) and an invitation to a party. The 10 best caddies are given quarterly bonuses, together with their group leaders.

Such a compensation system has its weaknesses.

1. Bias of managers – this appears not to be so strong for the appraisal of department managers but more so for the ground crew.
2. Takes time – appraisals and recommendations have to be made before the pay can be given.

One must, however, understand the challenges facing the company to know why such a compensation system is in use. The company is in the service industry, requiring the employees to show differentiation from competitors in the level of personal service delivered. A motivated employee is a strong asset here (recommendation from club members due to perceived good service), while an unmotivated one may drag the company down (loss of club membership due to poor perceived service). Breaking the thinking patterns of rural folks (planting and harvesting are routine activities) and SOE employees (getting the same pay regardless of contribution) requires such an approach to compensation.

Benefits

The right combination of benefits can assist an organization in reaching its strategic business objectives and provide HR managers with an improved focus and sense of perspective on their organisation’s benefit programs (15). The type, number and proportion of benefits to direct or cash compensation have an impact on the employee mix.

The benefits provided by the company are very important to the migrant population. These are workers who are away from their families in a strange land, because of their desire to earn a better standard of living for their folks back home.

1. Accommodation
2. Meals
3. Transportation
4. Recreational activities

It is in benefits that the company can consider implementing certain ones to help keep some of the workers who may have made valuable personal contacts with clients (like the female caddies). The ability to attract and keep these workers with the company may create a differentiating factor from the competition.

These are the suggestions for additional benefits for the workers.

1. The 4 basic benefits outlined above to be extended to the family.
2. Help in getting work for the spouse of the worker. With the spouse’s career being affected by the other, both workers will be very careful with their working attitudes and is a major motivational factor.
3. Schooling for the children of the worker. This was the route taken by Sun Island International Resort in Shanghai, to attract their expatriate staff to join and to stay. Since the Chinese public schools tend to enroll only the children within their respective municipalities, migrant workers find it difficult to get a school for their children. Such a benefit will ensure the workers stay longer, before returning (if at all).

Conclusion

Great Wall Golf and Country Club has a very strong HR plan in place, and the HR Director should be commended for a job well done. Some refinements could be made to the plan, however – refinements which would make meet the aim of the club ‘to manage human resources effectively so that Great Wall would maintain its status as one of the premier golfing resorts in China’.

References

1. Stone, R J 2005, ‘Job Analysis, Job Design and Quality of Work Life’, Human Resource Management. 5th Ed. Australia: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, p. 140
2. Ibid, p. 144
3. Everatt, D 2000, Great Wall Golf and Country Club. Canada: Ivey Management Services, p. 9
4. Stone, R J 2005, ‘Job Analysis, Job Design and Quality of Work Life’, Human Resource Management. 5th Ed. Australia: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, p. 161
5. Everatt, D 2000, Great Wall Golf and Country Club. Canada: Ivey Management Services, p. 3
6. Ibid, p. 5
7. Michael Chan, 2007, Sensei Michael, viewed 18 Nov 2007. http://www.senseimichael.com/2007/02/15/sensei-michaels-blogging-policies/
8. Stone, R J 2005, ‘Appraising and Managing Performance’, Human Resource Management. 5th Ed. Australia: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, p. 276
9. Everatt, D 2000, Great Wall Golf and Country Club. Canada: Ivey Management Services, p. 10
10. Ibid, p. 14
11. Stone, R J 2005, ‘Career Planning and Development’, Human Resource Management. 5th Ed. Australia: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, p. 373
12. Ibid, pp. 376-382
13. Everatt, D 2000, Great Wall Golf and Country Club. Canada: Ivey Management Services, p. 7
14. Stone, R J 2005, ‘Employee Compensation’, Human Resource Management. 5th Ed. Australia: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, p. 460
15. Stone, R J 2005, ‘Employee Benefits, Human Resource Management. 5th Ed. Australia: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, p. 516