Assume that you serve as a senior human resource executive for a large multinati
ID: 343846 • Letter: A
Question
Assume that you serve as a senior human resource executive for a large multinational firm with individual plants in Malaysia, Thailand, and Pakistan and with suppliers in Asia. A new CEO has been hired who is an advocate for rights of foreign workers, staking his personal reputation on the ethical and humane treatment of the company’s and suppliers’ employees.
As the senior human resource executive, you conducted an inspection of international operations and became concerned with less positive treatment of foreign workers in one of the company’s plants and in a supplier’s factory. You communicated these concerns to the CEO, who asked that you delay taking any action until after an upcoming shareholders’ meeting, to avoid a possible stock price drop and negative impact on senior management bonuses (including your bonus).
Questions (List question and ans
4. What would you do?
Explanation / Answer
I would handle this situation very tactfully by first accepting what the CEO is saying so that he feels that his word is respected. Simultaneously I will explain him in detail what all tasks has the entire HR team conducted in last 2 quarters so as to make him explain that we were not having any spare time to handle this issue as the priority list was huge and we have given our 100%. This way he will get an idea of what exactly went wrong and why this issue was not popped up earlier.
Next I would frame a strategy and a formal document to ensure that such unfair treatment is not conducted in future and strict guidelines would be made. Before implementing the above I will ask the concerned branch to ensure that such behavior is stopped immediately and fair treatment is given to foreign employees as well. Lastly compensation for those employees would be increased a little bit so that they stay motivated and would make the CEO believe that a separate cell would be made from the HR department itself to take care of such issues. Also we will start a monthly report that would be sent to all employees to see what all work is done on that last one month in this area.