Case 2 – Controlled expansion
Background
A Spanish luxury goods retailer had begun to set up direct
operations in Tokyo, Osaka, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. A small
team of expatriates, supported by qualified, local temporary
staff, were setting up the offices, attending to pre-existing
retail partners, and establishing their own personal lives.
Money was not a problem as much as time was. Moreover, the
human resources department was still in moving boxes and there
was no one with the specific responsibility for language training.
The regional vice president wanted
- as soon as possible, a smoothly running Asian network
with Spanish as the common language,
- happy and productive expatriates.
TOZAI’s support: Under a Total Program
Management agreement,
- Needs analysis clearly defined the company’s needs
and expectations
- Program Design primarily focused on language skills screening
of job applicants. Secondary
focus was on local language (Japanese and Chinese) acquisition
by the expatriates. The third focus was
provision for training of “special case” employees.
- Standardized testing for Spanish was established as a
screening procedure for hiring local staff.
As the company expected to receive large numbers of job
applicants, it decided to have the
applicants pay for the testing themselves. Those candidates
who scored below the target level were
rejected, unless other personal or professional qualities
outweighed their substandard language
skills. They were referred to as special cases.
- Standardized testing was used as a level check to set
a baseline for the expatriates’ Japanese or Chinese
ability.
- Instructor Search identified instruction providers with
suitable curricula and appropriately
experienced and priced instructors. As a perk for the expatriates
and their families, periodic
weekend “immersion trips” were arranged with
instruction providers. Once a month, instructors
would guide them around key tourist sites in the country
and re-enforce target language skills.
- Monthly training assessments, part of the Total Program
Management package, confirmed the
trainees’ progress in skills acquisition. Trouble
areas were quickly identified, and TOZAI’s
Spanish, Japanese and Chinese training directors supported
the instructors in finding additional ways to
teach the problem skills.
- Unified Reporting provided monthly attendance and progress
reports to all required staff in
Asia and at headquarters in Spain.
- Standardized tests were repeated after the decided training
periods to confirm progress and
results were reported to all stake holders.
Results: The two targets were met on schedule:
the initial local hires were well qualified, in terms of both
language and professional skills. Almost all of the expatriates
met skills targets for their local languages on schedule and
all studied in a culturally enriching method. In trainee feedback
surveys, those expatriates who did not meet their targets
usually acknowledged that external factors negatively affected
their learning.
Conclusion: The clear identification of
needs and alternatives is vital to effective solutions. Followed
up with regular progress updates and cooperative problem solving,
success is nearly guaranteed.
日本語版 / Japanese
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