FINAL ASSIGNMENT TOPIC ANALYSE CASE STUDY RECRUITING FOR a MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE IN CHINA

UEH UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – MARKETING FINAL ASSIGNMENT TOPIC: ANALYSE CASE STUDY “RECRUITING FOR A MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE IN CHINA” Subject: International Human Resource Management Lecturer: Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang Class: IBC02 Name: Ho Duy Thai November, Ho Chi Minh City LECTURER’S COMMENT MARK TABLE OF CONTENTS .3 ABSTRACT .6 PART 1: KEY AREAS OF A CASE STUDY I CASE STUDY SUMMARY Introduction: A brief introduction of Sinotrading Ltd Company and characters’ background 1.1 General information about Sinotrading Ltd 1.2 Human Resource Manager: Jiao Li 1.3 John Smith 1.4 Dong Chen 1.5 Long Peng 1.6 Anne Hoffmann 1.7 The initial condition of the HR team in Sinotrading Ltd .8 Story developments: Story content and problem development 2.1 Overview of the HR member’ perspectives on the interview 2.2 Procedure and working style of the company 2.3 The first difficulty in the progress of recruiting new employees 10 2.4 The light success of Sinotrading’s first interview round 10 2.5 The second difficulty in the progress of recruiting new employees .11 Final harvestment of Sinotrading Ltd: Cut the knot and final results 12 II MAIN ISSUES OF THE CASE STUDY 13 Strategy for recruitment .13 A determination about undertaking-specific job requirements .14 Procedures to evaluate these job demands 14 Procedures for personnel selection and final-decision making 16 The diversity within the team and cross-cultural problems in addition to the leadership behavior of its own CEO 17 PART 2: KEY CONCLUSIONS OF THE CASE STUDY .19 Question 19 Question 20 Question 26 Question 27 PART 3: LEARNING OUTCOMES: WHAT YOU LEARN FROM THE CASE STUDY 28 I KNOWLEDGE 28 The importance of job demands and its effect 28 The importance of employee engagement in an organization 30 The importance of the recruitment strategy .30 The importance of job requirements in the workplace .31 The importance of procedures for personnel selection 32 The importance of final decision-making 32 II SKILL 32 The importance of teamwork .32 The importance of language 33 III ATTITUDE WHEN WORKING IN A MULTINATIONAL COMPANY 33 PART 4: SELF-REFLECTION 35 Question 35 Question 36 Question 36 PART 5: CONCLUSION 38 REFERENCES 39 LIST OF IMAGE Image 1.1 The partial organizational chart of Sinotrading Ltd ABSTRACT The fourth industrial revolution is currently in full swing, bringing significant changes to economies throughout the world and especially, HR is also an important department determining the development of an organization Owning potential human resources easily supports the company to expand and has a stable position in the market.  International Human Resources subject is a foundation for International Business students who are studying at the university It assists them to have a deep foundation about humans and all the characteristics, activities surrounding them This subject covers a wide range of HR topics, functional examples, applications and the crucial role of HR in an organization It builds its core around the talent management process which the author defines as the goal-oriented and integrated process of planning, recruiting, developing, managing, and compensating employees About the following case study: “Recruiting for a multinational enterprise in China” which displays all aspects of Human Resource for students to understand through main issues in the recruitment process and solutions shown logically From that, students can realize and learn new knowledge that is really necessary for future jobs PART KEY AREAS OF A CASE STUDY I Case study summary Introduction: A brief introduction of Sinotrading Ltd Company and characters’ background 1.1 General information about Sinotrading Ltd Sinotrading Ltd.’s offices in the middle of the financial district with thousands of Chinese people in the streets of Guangzhou Sinotrading Ltd was a listed trading company It was headquartered in Hong Kong and had several offices in Zurich, Vienna, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin The company traded children’s toys and produced toys made of wood in factories owned by the company in Shanghai, Tianjin and Nanhai, near Guangzhou The company achieved a Cdn$4,000,000 revenue last year and employed 2,500 employees Image 1.1 The partial organizational chart of Sinotrading Ltd PARTIAL ORGANIZATIONAL CHART Source: File forwarded by lecturer 1.2 Human Resource Manager: Jiao Li The HR manager, Jiao Li had held this position for three years and Li’s current position was her first job after graduation After her bachelor’s degree, she had studied abroad in Australia and received her master’s degree in the field of human resource management and organizational behavior 1.3 John Smith Smith “was a 35-year-old Canadian with a young Chinese girlfriend He had moved to China nearly 10 years ago and he had been working for the company for two years Before moving to the human resource (HR) department, Smith had worked in the marketing department and was responsible for public relations and international affairs His main responsibility was to act as a consultant in communication matters Due to restructuring activities in the company, Smith’s job in the marketing department was cut and the CEO of the company, Robert Stingl, shifted Smith to the HR team The new HR team’s task was to create and establish a new system for recruiting and selecting managers and factory workers for different positions throughout the company in China.” 1.4 Dong Chen Chen “was a new Chinese colleague, a married 42-year-old father of two boys Chen had grown up and studied in the northern part of China He lived in Guangzhou with his wife, children, parents and brother After completing his master’s in law and general business administration he worked for several companies and gained lots of experience in finance, accounting and public law He was a leading member in one of several table tennis clubs in Guangzhou and more of a team-player than someone who wanted to sit alone in his office all day and work on a task individually assigned to him.” 1.5 Long Peng The “opposite was true for the other new colleague, Peng, a single 22-year-old young man who had finished his studies at the Guangzhou University with a bachelor’s degree in German He was the only son in his family and had grown up in the countryside Next to his new job at Sinotrading Ltd., Peng also gave language courses for foreigners and worked in a nightclub as a barkeeper.” 1.6 Anne Hoffmann The “third new member in the HR department was Hoffmann, a very smart 27-year-old German who was extremely glad to get the chance to her internship at Sinotrading Ltd Hoffmann was in Asia for the first time Her new position was the assistant of the HR manager, a paid internship position Hoffmann had received her master’s degree from a German university known for its excellent reputation in teaching and research on HR management, especially personnel selection, leadership, and evaluating the effectiveness of HR methods.” 1.7 The initial condition of the HR team in Sinotrading Ltd The current structure and the existing formal procedures in the HR department were developed by Li and the CEO The new HR team’s task was to create and establish a new system for recruiting and selecting managers and factory workers for different positions throughout the company in China and the target positions for the 85 individuals Due to these factors, Stingl decided the new HR team would create a new recruiting and selection system to enable the company to find the right people for the right positions in a timely fashion.  Story developments: Story content and problem development 2.1 Overview of the HR members’ perspectives on the interview Li knew recruiting in Sinotrading conducted at the last-minute and without any consistent method For selection decisions, there was no formal procedure and for many months, Smith reminded Li to incorporate selection tools like other companies However, Li declined Smith’s suggestion because of its cost-intensity There is a different thought of choosing new employees between Smith and Li: Smith worried because the time was limited but there were not any particular methods to choose new employees Li argued that “Smith, all of that is not needed in China These things might be appropriate in Canada For China, these procedures are useless and a waste of time and money.” Li supposed Smith’s opinion - that is to set up a detailed process of recruiting was unnecessary in China and these methods would be a waste of time.  The new procedures mentioned by:  About Anne Hoffmann: “This should be based on objective criteria And they need to know the job requirements for every position and conduct a job analysis Hiring someone should be based on performance because it must be a fair, transparent and objective process After having found the candidates they want to hire, they have to work on their contracts They also have to evaluate their decisions based on the performance of the newly hired persons at Sinotrading Ltd.”  About Long Peng: He stated: “Oh Anne, this sounds too academic and this is far from the reality For our purposes, we need something practical I know who I should hire just by looking into that person’s face”  About Dong Chen: He thought that they should choose employees based on contract 2.2 Procedure and working style of the company Attitude of Hoff towards the interview procedure of Sinotrading Ltd.: At first, Hoffmann was really confused He knew the current selection process depending on prior performance or prior experience in similar jobs or on prior degrees collected And hiring decisions were made by a four eye principle using an interview approach This means that the company doesn’t care about the experience of the employees, mainly based on the interview The working style in China: Similarly, promotion decisions at Sinotrading were not based on a worker’s performance and just based on the employee’s loyalty to the boss Consequently, Sinotrading kept these criteria covert and arbitrary power was a major source of a supervisor’s authority Moreover, at this company, arbitrary power allowed one to not only ignore established rules, but also annul them Hoffmann’s example of abnormal working style in China: We can take Hoffmann’s own contract provided as  an example A contract was written in English, whereas an email was in Germany After two weeks in Guangzhou, she received a new contract in Chinese with the request to sign it This new contract specified more obligations and tasks which were not included in the previous English contract Under some circumstances and in case of non-fulfillment of the commitments, the contract stated 50 per cent of a salary cutback would be applied and Hoffmann would have to pay 50 per cent of the salary she had already received back to the company.  Arbitrary power’s example: The CEO Stingl said to Anne Hoffmann: “You are my “voice,” the “voice” of the CEO in Guangzhou I cannot be there all the time I want to spend most of my time in my office in Zurich During your time in China, you will receive all of my instructions via phone, Skype and email” 2.3 The first difficulty in the progress of recruiting new employees.  There were few CVs sent to the company Some methods of testing that the HR department uses and mention how a decision is made by Jiao Li: In the past, “the HR department had never used personnel selection methods But after reading previous personnel records, Hoffmann discovered Li was very quick to jump to conclusions when she thought she found the right employee — possibly due to the pressure from Stingl.”  After there are no CVs left, all the members come up with many different opinions to gain more CVs: After observing the current situation, Hoffmann asked Smith, Chen, and Peng for ideas to change the procedure.   About Peng: he suggested posting employment ads in the universities and in the city center to find candidates.   About Li: she suggested asking a nearby restaurant to post ads as a solution to reach more workers And Li and Peng agreed and stated they would ask family members as well  About Chen: he remarked that he could ask family members to work for Sinotrading.  2.4 The light success of Sinotrading’s first interview round.  A few days later, the HR department was flooded with applications Some were handwritten, some were typed.  Some ways of arranging the day for interviewing and finding out good participants after the 1st round Interviews: On the next day, the team came together to discuss and select the possible candidates for face-toface interviews The company conducted all interviews for the interns from Europe via Skype using English and Smith suggested choosing systematically.  10 Question 3: How would you characterize the leadership style of the CEO? Given the theory of transformational leadership, what is evident in the CEO’s leadership style? When it comes to the Sinotrading Ltd, especially Stingl - the CEO, we should know the definition of leadership Leadership is the ability to influence employees to work toward organizational goals As a company’s highest-ranking executive, the CEO makes the major decisions that affect the business, establishing a company culture, managing operations, and allocating resources The CEO also may serve as the public face of the company, communicating with shareholders, board members, customers, employees, and media outlets to present information, gather feedback and track business progress After reading the case study, we suppose that the leadership style of the CEO Stingl is autocratic leadership According to some sources on the Internet, the autocratic leadership is described as a leader who takes control over all decisions with little input from the members Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their ideas, judgments and involve absolute, authoritarian control over members First of all, Stingl always tended to evaluate the final decisions and orientate the team towards his expectations and make all the final decisions He ordered the leader to submit the document that was recorded during the meeting and made decisions after reading that document Furthermore, when making decisions, he often has a bossy attitude with a tough accent to the team leader and he seems to those things when the idea of the team does not meet his expectations that make him an autocratic leader Secondly, Stingl set the four eye principle priority to assess candidates in the interview He has already permitted the arbitrary power to allow his supervisors to ignore or even break the established rules so that the four eye principle can work out effectively It implies that the personnel selection decisions are dependent on him or the supervisor, not how greatly the candidate meets the job requirements And the last is Stingl does not hesitate continually putting the new HR team under pressure to complete the recruiting within a short period of time Throughout the process, Stingl never stopped pressing the team and yelling whenever the team made unexpected results It seems that he paid no attention to the drawbacks that the team encountered and their emotion, he just insisted that they completed the target he wanted According to the theory of transformational leadership, focusing on completing the target is the identical characteristic in the CEO's leadership style In spite of being rude, his aim has not changed and he always tried to have the team complete the employment Stingl observed everything through documents submitted every meeting and made the right decision for the next step of the team He criticised Peng when he did not 26 participate in interviewing and then suggested an assessment center so that Peng could participate in interviewing and learn something Question 4: If you were asked to consult with the project regarding teamwork, what would you recommend?  - Problems about teamwork occurring in the HR team: o With culture diversity, however, Jiao Li, team manager, didn’t make any agreement on language to talk Hoffman, who went to China for an internship, is not good at Chinese Consequently, in the first part of the case, Hoffman didn’t understand what the team was talking about Moreover, it caused a challenge for team working =>  That leads to the ineffective communication o There wasn’t any formal procedure of personnel selection With the task of hiring 85 employees, Stingl and Jiao Li didn’t make any preparations for the teamwork If there had been a formal procedure to stick in in the beginning, there wouldn’t have been so much conflicts between team members and boss; team members to each other.  o It is also because in China, things are not transparent so with the new foreigners like Hoffman can’t get accustomed to o When Hoffman tried to show her perspective of personnel selection methods that she had learned in German, literally no one was listening and immediately refused her ideas It was also because Stingl’s leadership characteristics.  - Suggestions:  Having an agreement in language if there are cultural differences  Making a group task at the beginning so that anyone can follow and stick to it  Sharing mindset: Listening and Analysing our teammates ideas before judging it Even if you believe your concept is the greatest, you should listen to all other suggestions before implementing your own   Establish project milestones:  Having a formal procedure is necessary  Determine the project's baselines: Before you start drafting a project with great teamwork, be sure you understand the fundamentals Begin with determining the project's scope, timeline, and budget baselines, as the rest of your project planning will have to work around those limits 27 PART LEARNING OUTCOMES: WHAT YOU LEARN FROM THE CASE STUDY Nowadays, we are living in the globalization era, so there are many developments that we have to recognize and adjust so as not to be backward Being a student in the International Business major, so I have to have a good knowledge of what I have learned, especially the International Human Resource Management subject Because the main purpose of my major is about humans and all the activities surrounding humans, knowing a lot of useful information and comprehension in the early age at the university plays a pivotal part in orienting my ideal job in the future.  After analysing the case study: “Recruiting for a multinational enterprise in China” clearly and deeply, I find out a huge number of learning outcomes that need to be noticed and learned I Knowledge All of the knowledge rooted from this case study is really crucial to me because it will help me to form a mindset of my future job and the methods to find my ideal one Thanks to the case study, I can gain new understanding in the Human Resource Management field as I would like to have an internship in this second year And I suppose they will be useful tools for me in terms of finding a job Here are some key aspects of knowledge The importance of job demands and its effect It can be seen that a good company is a place caring for all aspects of the employees, from that they feel worthy to work and devote their enthusiasm for the jobs This is one of the top conditions when I find a job in the future If a company has not well-structured job demands through some feedback in seeking job groups , I will not apply for this due to bad consequences I can face.  It is undeniable that job demands are very essential for all workplace since it helps the employer, in this case is the CEO Stingl a lot of things about his employees whether they: 28  needs accommodations at work  needs to stay off work longer to recover  would benefit from rehabilitation or additional health services  needs to consider a job more compatible with their current functioning  should not be working An important part of assessing the employees’ ability to work is to consider the demands of the job, particularly what is considered the essential tasks of the job By comparing their work abilities to their job demands including essential tasks, the company will be able to:  better understand their employees’ strengths and limitations  communicate these adequately to the CEO and his employees  determine which aspects of the job the members in the company can  start to identify strategies for addressing the employees’ challenges at work  recommend accommodations  advise the employees on whether they can return to their former job The job demands are usually focused on two main factors: physical and mental health Here are some evidences that illustrate for the influence of job demands on the employees Job demands and poor health The number of research studies on occupational stress has increased in recent years because of a growing awareness of the need to improve the quality of working conditions and thereby the well-being of employees Although it has been suggested that job demands sometimes might be the source of challenges rather than stress at work, job demands may become stressors, especially when they require a lot of effort to sustain the expected performance level, consequently eliciting  negative responses, including job burnout and depression.” There are three general organizational job demands, such as interpersonal conflicts at  work, organizational constraints and a demanding workload Each of them is identified as a serious source of psychological strain Interpersonal conflict at work is defined as a negative interpersonal encounter characterized by a contentious exchange, hostility or aggression It may be an isolated incident or recurring and enduring acts which can be a manifestation of bullying Interpersonal conflict at work may range from minor disagreements between coworkers to physical violence against others.”  The conflict may be overt (e.g., being rude to co-workers) or may be covert (e.g., spreading rumors  about coworkers) The Stress Incident Report (SIR), an open-ended method used by Keenan and Newton (1985) to collect stressful incidents that occur at work, shows that  seventy-four percent  of reported incidents were caused by social interactions with superiors, subordinates, or colleagues Previous research showed that interpersonal conflicts at work are positively associated with employees’ frustration, anxiety, anger, emotional exhaustion, job burnout and depression Organizational constraints are related to situations or things that prevent employees from translating ability and effort into high levels of job performance These constraints may include faulty equipment, incomplete or inadequate information, as well as interruptions by others It has been found that organizational constraints are associated with employees’ frustration, work anxiety, mental fatigue, job dissatisfaction, job burnout, and physical health complaints Workload is listed as one of the most common sources of stress It can be measured by workload rates, the level of production, or even the mental 29 demands of the job-related task which one is currently performing In the current study, quantitative workload is provided, which is measured by the volume of work that employees are required to perform during a given time period Numerous studies have pointed out the correlation between demanding workload rates and poor physical and mental health.” The importance of employee engagement in an organization Employee engagement in an organization is an important phenomenon in an organization.  Employees who have high engagement will feel satisfied with their work, so they have a smaller tendency to leave and quit their jobs Employee work engagement plays an important role in creating good working conditions and reducing negative behaviors that can hinder work in an organization so that organization’s productivity can be achieved where increasing the work productivity of the company is the main requirement for the company to ensure the survival or operations of the company.” Human resources have an “important role in an organizational environment because it has an impact on organizational performance The current era of information and globalization forces organizations to be able to compete in the world market while an organization’s success is greatly supported by the state and quality of its human resources Employees are an important key in facing competition and maintaining an organization's survival The unique talents of employees, superior performance, productivity, flexibility, innovation, and abilities are essential elements for increasing an organization's   competitive position Employees are key in managing relationships and interrelationships activity across functions and organizational external relationships.” Generally, at Sinotrading Ltd, this employee engagement issue may occur soon due to the unclear job demands After seeing the condition of job demands there, I think the company should realize the crucial role of employee engagement in the workplace The importance of the recruitment strategy The recruitment “strategy contributes to building a unique position on the job market Each company wants to hire the best talents, but they are not in the unique position The job applicants tend to favor organizations, which seem attractive to them The smart recruitment strategy differentiates the company from competitors The different recruitment approach promotes the creativity of the organization on the job market The recruitment strategy is a part of the complex war for talents The company with the defined recruitment strategy has the advantage The company knows what recruitment sources are key pipes delivering job candidates to the organization.” 30 The well-organized recruitment function is about a deep knowledge of competitors on the job market All companies want to hire the same people They want to offer the best career opportunities They want to build a competitive advantage based on the skills and competencies of the best candidates.” The recruitment is an expensive external service Many organizations spend enormous budgets on hiring talents from the job market They have no clear vision about their position on the job market, and they have to use specialized recruitment companies to deliver the candidates The organization with a clear recruitment strategy has a sharp allocation of the recruitment budget to the recruitment sources bringing sustainable long-term benefits.” The recruitment strategy saves time The HR recruiter does not spend time researching the recruitment sources, which are not attractive for the organization The HR recruiter is fully dedicated to several recruitment sources and benefiting from the deep knowledge of the recruitment sources and the quality of candidates After observing what happens at Sinotrading Ltd, the HR team is struggling with the recruitment process as they don’t have an exact and effective strategy for recruiting They waste time for arguments which are unnecessary And it will be a giant problem if they are still unable to have an oriented strategy Therefore, it is very remarkable that the recruitment strategy should be noticed and developed The importance of job requirements in the workplace At Sinotrading Ltd, the recruitment process also has difficulties with the job requirements It makes the process slow and difficult to be successful So, job requirements are equally important for both employers and job seekers Their main goal is to let candidates know what is required of them before they apply For employers: For an employer, job requirements are a way of preselecting potential candidates They are used to communicate the employer’s expectations from job seekers By laying out clearly defined job requirements, employers can attract the right type of candidates Over or under-qualified candidates will be turned away from applying, thus saving employers a lot of time and money in the long run For job seekers: For job seekers, job requirements are a crucial part of job postings (job ads) Job requirements section of the job ads should clearly state what an employer is looking for That way, potential candidates can know what is required of them before applying If they match all the job requirements criteria, it means they are a good fit for a job and they have a chance of actually getting it On the other hand, if they don’t match the job requirements criteria, they probably shouldn’t waste their time applying, because they have a little chance of getting the job 31 The importance of procedures for personnel selection At Sinotrading Ltd, there are no personnel selection procedures in the recruitment process They even didn’t apply to any assessment centers which are common tests in the process Moreover, the members in the HR team have their different opinions towards the recruiting method It needs to have in-time procedures for personnel selection if they don’t want to lose talented people For any organization, success is dependent on the quality of personnel that are selected for the job So, the selection procedure is a very significant function of an organization’s management The significance of selection can be seen from the following factors: Procuring skilled workers- personnel selection helps in hiring only the desirable candidates Reducing the cost of training – proper personnel selection reduces training cost because the qualified candidates will be good at grasping the techniques of work Personnel problems can be solved – proper personnel selection means workers will be satisfied with their work and hence personnel problems in the organization can be reduced The importance of final decision-making.  The final decision-making at Sinotrading Ltd is so complicated since the members have problems with the judgement biases That results in a mess of opinions towards choosing the best candidates To find potential candidates, they should have a standard criteria of final decision-making And that is why the importance of final decision-making must be prepared carefully and early Making effective and sound decisions is an art that is learned through life experience “The decision making impacts all business processes Unlike what was earlier believed, HR is truly a business partner now Its decisions have a direct implication for all the businesses that the company operates in All HR decisions have a direct and deep-rooted link to organizational goals The role of HR is becoming more complex and critical in both small and big firms Companies understand the importance of recruiting highly skilled workers and retaining them One of the ways that establishments can reduce costs is by avoiding employee turnover The productivity of an organization also depends on its staff In an era when there is heavy demand for highly skilled people, HR officials must perform their duties most efficiently That is the reason why the final decision-making of the HR team is really important in working places.” II Skills The importance of teamwork At Sinotrading Ltd, the teamwork is not fluent because of cross-cultural differences They don’t have an agreement on the language to talk that leads to some barriers mainly affecting the workflow They are unable to share, express their opinions to each other well Moreover, the HR team doesn’t divide tasks among all the 32 members detailedly which makes the recruitment process slow As a result, they should realize these shortcomings in teamwork and fix them in time without making any unwanted arguments They can have a meeting to unify the language and the methods for working with a view to functioning the process fluently As we know, a strong teamwork will make the tasks be done well and boost the productivity and also the development of the company to the max level People have a famous sentence when talking about teamwork that is: “One tree cannot amount to anything, three of them together can look like a mountain” The importance of language Hoffmann - a very smart 27-year-old German in this multinational company also faces a problem with language barriers from the way of working to the contract When working, the HR team can not fit her well due to different languages Moreover, she had signed a contract written in English, which she received via e-mail in Germany And after weeks, she received a new contract in Chinese with the request to sign it It is necessary for us to have a comprehension of languages, especially the language used in the workplace So, knowing languages will be a useful tool and helps us in some situations related to workplace and contract so as to limit the unwanted risks as much as possible III Attitude when working in a multinational company Working in a multinational company requires a lot of necessary elements from talent, studiousness and crosscultural differences like in Sinotrading Ltd… Attitude is supposed to be a sharp tool determining the success of the career A good attitude will make the surrounding environment become comfortable and easier.  In this case study, Hoffmann is likely to be the member who meets many difficulties when working in a foreign country like China She has to be accustomed to the working style in China. As we can see, Chinese people don’t work with steoreo-types or normal formats and their formats are not similar to others in the world Their job is like that, if employees agree, so just begin and if not, they can find another company to work They work based on sensibility All the decisions are made by the leader Hoffmann also experienced new things like arbitrary power - a major source of a supervisor’s authority, the employee’s loyalty to the boss, protocols After that, she still remains a positive attitude though there are some questions in her head because she knows they are normal things in China and she has to acknowledge them One remarkable situation that emphasizes the importance of attitude when working in a multinational  company is that Jiao Li came to Hoffmann’s office showing her new bag because she helped Li with the arrangement of applications Hoffmann ignored it However, Li stated: “With your German attitude you will not feel comfortable here You have to adapt You are in a different culture I know all of that from my experience in Australia If you not follow the Chinese rules, you will get lost” Working in a cross-cultural 33 difference place, we have to change our attitudes so as to get on well with new people and new contexts no matter how difficult at first, we still try hard without missing any great chances 34 PART SELF-REFLECTION First and foremost, I am very happy and honored to be in your International Human Resource Management class - Lecturer Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang During the time studying with you, I received lots of useful knowledge related to the HR field through group tasks, videos, case studies and presentations Despite studying online, I can fully feel your enthusiasm towards teaching Thank you so much for being my lecturer and hope you will have great memories when teaching at UEH University Question 1: Success and failure of your group work, your experience working online in these times?  - Success of my group work: The most successful thing of my group work is likely the in-time submission for all the deadlines When divided tasks, my group is always converted into small teams such as research team, content team and design team Because we think that when there is the tasks’ division, each team will have responsibility for their tasks and their best so as to receive good results Especially, we feel happy when we get the 10-point for the first case study’s presentation - Recruiting for a multinational enterprise in China.  That is really a great motivation for us to later tasks - Failure of my group work: In fact, there is hardly any failure in my group task because we are second year students and we experienced many things in the first year And after learning these mistakes in the past, we feel that it is not worth having arguments, especially conflicts since we limit them as much as possible Moreover, my group members are close friends and we know each member’s characteristics So, we work fluently and come up with special and great ideas If I have to mention a failure in my group work, I think that we should make the group meeting more relaxing because it is quite strict I know when we work, a strict meeting will be more effective This failure is just my point of view, however I think this is not a big problem and it is normal to have a strict meeting like my group Change or not doesn’t matter to us - My experience working online in these times: I think it will have aspects: both advantages and disadvantages + Advantages: As you know, we are all in the second year, so there are so many plans and private activities outside besides university’s tasks Members belong to different clubs and organizations such as BELL CLUB, KQM, AIESEC…That leads to a problem is that the time for gathering together to discuss the tasks is so difficult It is not like the first year, we can have a lot of time Working online is still the optimal decision no matter how we work in normal or COVID-19 times We usually choose Google meet and pick 21PM later to meet all members I think this is so convenient because using this platform, we can whatever we like 35 without going outside late, which is not safe and wasting money for coffee… Technological advances everything and connect us together.  + Disadvantages: I think when it comes to my experience working online, there are more disadvantages than advantages The urgent situation of COVID-19 changes totally the way we learn at the university Studying offline is still the best option for education However, we have to accept and justify it In normal times, we have to go to the university to learn but now we learn at home which results in many issues.  Firstly, the effectiveness of our education is low though we still have interactions together And our ability to comprehend the lessons is also low, too The connection of the internet sometimes makes us angry, even in some cases, we can be disconnected from the class At the university, there are useful tools helping us to approach the lessons easier like the smart library or direct advice from lecturers.  Secondly, when we have presentations directly in front of the class, it will boost our public speaking skill and confidence Moreover, the way we talk will be more fluent I remembered vividly the time my group presented the case study when the internet connection was so crazy because we talked one way and the slides’ movement was another way That likely made you and the class feel quite hard to understand Question 2: And if there is one thing you can change/improve regarding your group work, what would it be? The progress and improvement of each member will contribute to the success of the group work So, if there is one thing I can change/improve regarding my group work, I suppose that I will definitely improve my speaking skill so as to make the group presentation more attractive Because I am assigned a mission on the on-air day to present the summary, in my opinion, it is a small task in a big group work And with your comment on the day of presenting the 1st case study, my pronunciation is not really good compared to the two members left though it is loud and clear It is my motivation to be better in the future with a view to have an appealing presentation All the other tasks of the group work were done well and members did tried all their best In general, from my perspective, the group work will be perfect if I can improve my speaking skill Because I think this improvement is mainly coming from me rather than other members Question 3: Individual contribution to group work? What you learn from working teamwork? - Individual contribution to group work: I am the person who tries to remind the team of the time to gather and the deadline 36 + During the class: I prepared and answered the first question on the first day of this course because members were not ready and the time for gathering to discuss was not enough With some group tasks in class, I researched the materials for the issues and wrote the content for them with the support and new ideas from members And I was also responsible for submitting on the LMS platform.  + In the first case study’s presentation: I had a mission to summarize the case study and present it Because the tasks were divided clearly, I finished mine well and just gave small opinions regarding the color of Powerpoint, the font + In the second case study’s presentation: I tried a new mission that made the full version of Powerpoint This was really challenging to me since I was not good at designing, however, I still chose it to develop myself and see how I grew up after year studying at the university And I also presented it on that day - What I learn from working teamwork: Unity is likely the most important thing I have learned I know how to ignore unnecessary stuff to get on well with members and finish the tasks well I learn sympathy when doing group tasks because in some cases, some members are busy with something planned before and that can’t be cancelled We have meetings and discuss thoroughly, then talking later to the absent member about how the tasks will be done I learn how to be flexible in many missions, for example, in this group work, I the content but in other ones, I am responsible for designing the slides All members accept an exchange to try new fields and experiences The advantage of working in a group is that we can learn together to get new knowledge Take an example, when referring to an issue to solve, each member will have their own opinions and the ways to address So, I can collect new lessons to expand my knowledge which sounds so cool and great I also know how to arrange the elements in one slide like just having main colors… and make the slides on Canva Working teamwork is really fantastic and great to me since I can have a chance to make close friends.  37 PART CONCLUSION HR or Human Resources can be considered as the heart of an organization All the primary employee-centric needs are taken care of by HR They make sure that the workflow stays smooth and everyone stays updated with the organization's policies and requirements Moreover, HR plays a significant role in developing positive business culture and improving employee engagement and productivity The HR function also takes the lead on employee wellness and personal development Particularly “nowadays, the coronavirus pandemic has forced us to re-evaluate the way we business As part of this, the HR function is taking center stage Companies are being increasingly measured by the decisions they’ve taken and the way they treat their staff What’s more, the impact of ongoing economic uncertainty, remote working and an all-too-real impact on employees’ mental health are forcing businesses to place human resources at the heart of their operation From supporting managers with remote management skills through to sensitively communicating the consequences of a downturn in business, HR is crucial to the effective management of a business during a pandemic or other significant event.” In general, at Sinotrading Ltd, the HR team still lacks experience in the recruiting process due to the unstable orientation of the CEO and company The number of employees is good or not mainly based on the HR’s selection The company should investigate them more by modern methods in recruitment and nursing so as to find the best candidates.                                                     38 REFERENCES Arslan Shah, 2020 Case study Recruiting for a MNC in China, pdfcoffee.com, [online] Available at: [Access on 01/11/2021] Anja Zojceska, 2018 Job Requirements: The How, Why and What, talentlyft.com, [online] Available at: [Access on 03/11/2021] Decision Making in Human Resource Management [Access on 03/11/2021] (Dr Christine Maheu & coworkers, 2014) Job analysis, cancerandwork.ca, [online] Available at: [Access on 02/11/2021] (Dr Christine Maheu & coworkers, 2014) Assessing job demands, cancerandwork.ca, [online] Available at: [Access on 05/11/2021] Joe Caccavale, 2020 What is contrast effect? And how it impacts recruitment, beapplied.com, [online] Available at: [Access on 04/11/2021] Kendra Cherry, 2020 Autocratic Leadership Key Characteristics, Strengths, and Weaknesses of Autocratic Leadership, verywellmind.com, [online] Available at: [Access on 05/11/2021] Laura Sands, 2021 Why is Human Resources (HR) is important?, breathehr.com, [online] Available at: [Access on 02/11/2021] Mrinmoy Rabha, 2021 Importance of HR in Today’s Growing Organization, blog.vantagecircle.com, [online] Available at: [Access on 02/11/2021] 10 Joe Caccavale, 2020 What is contrast effect? And how it impacts recruitment, beapplied.com, [online] Available at: [Access on 04/11/2021] 11 Personnel Selection 39 [Access on 04/11/2021] 12 Recruitment Strategy Importance [Access on 03/11/2021] 13 (Suhardoyo & Siti Nurjanah, 2021) The Impact Of Job Demands And Job Resources On Employee Work Engagement In The Industrial Area Of Bonded Zone North Jakarta, pyschologyaneducation.net, [online] Available at: [Access on 02/11/2021] 14 What is Leadership? [Access on 05/11/2021] THE END 40 ... useful information and comprehension in the early age at the university plays a pivotal part in orienting my ideal job in the future.  After analysing the case study: ? ?Recruiting for a multinational. .. To find potential candidates, they should have a standard criteria of final decision-making And that is why the importance of final decision-making must be prepared carefully and early Making... following case study: ? ?Recruiting for a multinational enterprise in China? ?? which displays all aspects of Human Resource for students to understand through main issues in the recruitment process and