Content

Abstract:........................ 2

Introduction:................ 2

Managing the prospectus of the Organization........................ 3

About the opted Location:.............................. 3

Location:................................................ 3

Logistics :.................... 4

Design Proposal for the new structure:.................................. 4

Organizational communications:.................................. 5

Changes as the organisation grow:................... 5

Evolving of a Separate Company as the business expands:.............. 6

Managing People:.......................... 7

Recruitment, Selection and Induction:.................. 8

Performance management System:............ 9

Motivation and Reward:................. 12

Bibliography.................. 13

Abstract:

A Chinese construction company is planning to setup a head office for itself in U.K, with clear intentions of expanding their business in the U.K and plans to expand further. The following report discusses about the two most important aspects of setting up a office in a foreign land which in this case is U.K, the two aspects are

Ø Managing the prospectus of the Organization

Ø Managing the People involved in this project

This discussion involves the various factors that will be required for understanding to plan the above aspects as intended. While understanding the organizational prospectus in the U.K , it is also clear that the Chinese Construction company wants to expand its reach into the European market by converting the branch in U.K into a separate entity altogether to handle the clients from the U.K and the other European countries. In relation to Managing the people aspect, this report will discuss about Recruitment, performance management, Reward and Recognition factors.

Introduction:

Construction Industry as predominantly understood includes the management and governance of a multi facet skill set backed with rigorous research and analysis of the market conditions for the various Realty requirements. The U.K Government has clearly emphasized more on use of newer and efficient methods of construction. Any foreign national company that enters into the U.K construction market will have to adapt to the various standards and regulations as described by the Government. Hence it is important to understand wholly all the legalities that are involved while venturing into the U.K market especially the construction industry. Unlike the Asian countries, U.K' climatic conditions also need to be studied before planning on to take up any projects.

Managing the prospectus of the Organization

About the opted Location:

For a construction company to relocate or setup a new office, it is very important to identify the most suitable location based on the construction business needs and the intention for setting up an office. Primarily as for an office intended for the purpose of marketing, it is best suited to be placed in a commercially laden location so that it allows us to brand our Company amongst the other players and industries.


Name	East Midlands
Area	6,033 sq mi
Population	4,533,000 (2011)
GVA per capita	£17,698
European parliament	East Midlands

Location:
For our business needs of setting up a Head office in the U.K , East Midlands is one of the most suited and strategically correct place. The East Midlands is one amongst the nine official regions in England, It comprises of the eastern part of the established region of the Midlands and covers the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire. This region is one amongst the fast growing places in the U.K and has the potential to facilitate a prominent business center. Strategically for a construction company it is very important to identify and set base on commercially rich destinations for the benefit of the business.

Logistics :

The logistics available throughout the East midlands is worth a mention as nine percent of all the jobs in this region are related to logistics. Although the traffic has been increasing at a steady rate of 2% per year, yet it is beneficiary for our company to construct a head office because of all the practical benefits.

It has the largest of all Airports in the vicinity with over 4 million passengers commuting through it every year. The Railway transport too has been proficient as two of the mainline railways serve the region , with regular high speed service to the City of London.

Transport	Availability

Economy :

East Midland has a variety of Industries to feather its Cap starting from the Coal Mining, Steel Industries, Aero engines designing, Manufacture of Equipment for construction, demolition and agriculture. Many of the prominent Brands in various industries have their branches or head offices situated in this region for example JCB Power Systems, Tata Steel, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes GP and many more such companies. Considering the brand prominence of this location, it is undoubtedly a worthy investment and decision to start our expansion into the construction industry from this region.

Design Proposal for the new structure:

Being a construction company ourselves, it is very important for us to design our head office in the most extravagant fashion, primarily so that it becomes a symbol of our might and elegancy in the construction industry. The design structure that we build must speak of our experience in the construction industry at every stone that we cement on its walls. This structure must not just stand unique in the design aspect but also stands witness to our knowledge of the various intricacies into the construction industry.

It is very trivial to base our designs for the head office in the most exaggerated, elegant, beautified and traditional yet in a useful manner. This could be considered as an investment into a marketing gimmick that we wish to accomplish but the returns would be unfathomable if we were to prove our point of being a very sophisticated and highly experienced players in the construction industry to the onlookers.

Apart from the attractiveness of the structure we must also emphasize our design on the traditional aspects that we are rooted from. Although our emphasis is going to be on the elegance and uniqueness of our design, we must ensure to keep our Chinese business culture and ethics well intact and personified into our building and the practices that we wish to follow. This would not only allow us to identify ourselves as a Chinese based Construction Company, but also provide an opportunity to the people of U.K to be introduced to Chinese business cultural and ethical values when the subject relates to interacting with our clients and the strategies that we wish to follow to make their investment or project a successful deal with use of our cultural business practices.

Organizational communications:

It is important for us to understand and substantiate the fact that China as a country had once been under the British rule for years and had been exploited of its valuable resources. The idea of a Chinese Construction company setting up a Head office in the heart of U.K may not be accepted readily by the people of England. But if we acknowledge and understand the intricacies involved in this whole matter it would surely be possible for us to turn the situation around in a more positive and profitable manner to both parties.

Every human appreciates and accepts a good craftsman, be it coming from any Age, Region or Religion, the people of U.K are well known for their ability to readily recognize and appreciate such talents in the most courteous manner. As a construction company it is very crucial that we communicate our designs and ideas to our clients in the most professional and responsive manner. We must be accommodating to the fact that Chinese culture is very different from the culture of U.K and we should be flexible and ready to modify and suggest changes to the designs and plans as per the client’s requirements and interests.

We must also ensure to study the legislations that the U.K government holds towards the construction guidelines and carefully plan our projects keeping them in mind. It could be quiet tricky and difficult for a Chinese construction company to adapt its process to the processes and standards that are followed in the U.K, however it is an intelligent choice of time and investment into understanding the client market and practices.

Changes as the organisation grow:

The Organizational structure undergoes changes to keep up with the growing business demands and in U.K especially the Organizational structure is carefully studied by everyone in the ranks to understand even the slightest of a change in their organization patter, as it allows them to realign their working strategies as per the new Chairman.

Organizational changes in the construction industry are imminent to happen because of the fact that the projects in the construction industry last for the period of construction alone. This allows people form one position to move to another through identified channels.

In view of the expanding nature of the construction industry, it is appreciable if the management is well prepared for a change in the organizational structure allowing even the local employees of U.K to grow up in ranks and take higher positions in the WCI Company.

Evolving of a Separate Company as the business expands:

As per the foreseen vision into the future of our Construction Company and the expansion strategy that is on the table, it is very crucial and logical for us to plan our strategies and business model in alignment to our future goals. We must present our skills and capabilities into the construction market of U.K in the most efficient and unbiased manner so as to open doors for opportunities in the vicinity and expand into larger reach of its neighboring countries in Europe. Our strategies must be in line with the government goals for its citizens in terms of the Design capabilities, modern methodologies, raw materials or even the Tools and equipments that we plan to use.

For expansion into other countries we must first concentrate on the local construction market of U.K and implement projects that would bring faith of the people into our company’s prospectus. Handling Government funded projects may be a far off goal to pursue, but no one can argue the fact that such assignments will surely bring laurels to the company and allow more opportunities from the Government and other private players to be in our project basket. With a planned and a well calculated approach WCI group could steadily be a noteworthy company into the group of elites in the region and further lay foundation for a separate entity WCE (World Construction Europe) to be formed in the near future.

Managing People:

The study of people and their behavior has in itself formed a separate subject for many a syllabus, in spite of which the human mind and its traits cannot be finalized into one motive. Although a lot many generalized opinions have paved their way through the Human Resources departments of corporate firms, not sparing the construction industry either. People management and skill acquisition requires an experienced and watchful department of dedicated people especially trained to do this. Employees from such departments are expected to constantly obtain review feedback and the pulse of their employees so as to take necessary action or corrections wherever required.

But in spite of the study into various techniques to handle and retain people in a company, there is very little difference that can be plotted on scale that depicts that the employee would stay on in the same firm for than a specific amount of time. Construction industry has always been the top victim of such attrition due to the nature of work that associates itself with it. Mostly contractual in the pay rolls of a construction firm. People are recruited as contractors for the period for which the construction is expected to run and then if there are no other projects in the pipeline the Contractors are more or less let go. Such a fluctuating job requirement had left a scar on the face of job security and construction workers starting from the laborers to the Engineers all are watchful of the management and its motives on a regular basis.

Such attrition tends to cause a negative effect into this domain and leads to price rise in the construction emporium. From the start to the end these are certain factors that span the employee’s subsistence in a company or to be more subjective - in a construction industry.

Ø Recruitment, selection and induction

Ø Performance management system

Ø Motivation and reward

Recruitment, Selection and Induction:

From the beginning, in every employee’s career no matter what the stature, designation or position, these three terms Recruitment, Selection and Induction form a mandatory phase till he becomes a titled employee of a company. Recruitment in the construction industry is in most cases conducted for a job at the construction location. In the construction industry there are a varied level and nature of skill set required, not all the skill set involved in the construction have a certification to mark or grade their construction skills. Selection for the non engineers, helpers, masons could primarily be done from a known source of construction contract providers. In our case we would require to recruit skilled laborers from the local contractors who would provide us such laborers to work on our projects with a known percentage of payment.

The shortage in Construction laborers is primarily due to the fact that the demand for houses has risen and hence there is a shortage of supply of skilled resources. Also another factor that affects the availability of construction laborers for employment is that most of them turn out to become self dependant Workers. There will soon be a shortage of skilled construction laborers which needs to be a pressing factor.

Performance management System:

Performance management is a study that influences most companies be it in any industry. It is a very important study of how the employees are performing in a Firm and in what ways the hiring organization could improve the performance factor.

Performance management involves much more than just assigning ratings. It is a continuous cycle that involves:

ü Expectations and Goals clearly defined to plan work accordingly

ü Continuously monitoring progress and performance

ü Developing ability of an employee through Assignments and Training

ü Rating on a periodic basis to summarize performance

ü Rewarding Good performance

Performance management began more than 60 year ago to substantiate income justification and also to determine an employee's wages based on his performance all round the year. In those years such management helped Organizations to provide an algorithm for pay hikes or rise in designation levels. However such kind of Performance management only worked for employees who were driven more with financial rewards and on the contrary for the employees who were driven by the motivation to work and learn in their departments were highly de motivated and this followed like a pack of falling cards leading to increase in levels of attrition.

In the present generation as companies started turning to the international stature, more and more third party companies involving themselves in surveys claiming to help bigger organizations in their employee involvement have come up with a list of questionnaires that supposedly extracts the employee satisfaction levels.

Appraisals:

Appraisals when conducted over a yearly term have very little effect as compared to the periodic revisiting of appraisals, with the process of periodic appraisals it gives a sense of direction on a smaller term than a whole term of one year, which is a more practical approach and naturally did make a difference with employees coming back to the management at regular intervals to make necessary amendments and changes into their performance factors.

Human performance:

People and their aptitudes are indefinable assets of an organization. Every person is different from the other irrespective of which culture he/she belongs to. A fact that has to be accepted about performance management is these depend on the measures that are defined by the work statistics of the past and not the future. An asset of a Human is measured based on the following

Employment cost x individual asset multiplier _______________________________________

1000

Most of the people learn from their experiences in the past and with significant guidance from their seniors they are able to correct and rephrase their work culture in the direction of growth as defined by the Organization.

Performance management is primarily about attracting, motivating and developing brilliant individuals. Psychological patterns for humans change on a individual basis and complicates performance management furthermore. Especially the construction industry is labor intensive and it requires to periodically studying their labor motivations.

Performance factor:

Performance factor is falsely attributed to the monetary gains that an employee receives in his/her company, but in reality this is not true, Performance is driven by motivation towards the kind of work that is provided to the employee, a few factors in point that actually affect the performance or are considered to be affecting the performance of an employee are as below.

Factors	Increases Employee Performance	Comments
Higher Wages		Higher Wages are a temporary satisfaction that excite employees to shift companies which only lasts for a few days
Extra Perks and Gifts		Extra Perks have a momentary effect on the employee performance ,which shifts back to normal as gift wrappers fade away
Interesting work Motivates Employee		Interesting and motivating work are something which is the main driving factor for a employee to stay with a company

Performance Management varies from culture to culture and for us it is important to understand the performance management process that is practiced in the U.K or surrounding countries this will help us define our plans and goals for individual employees on a broader scale giving us an opportunity to interact and motivate the laborer or employee in performing better with good quality.

Motivation and Reward:

Recognition is a magnetic term that attracts any employee even if this attraction is meant to last only for a bubble reputation. Every employee irrespective of his designation or pay scale is motivated when he/she is recognizes by the higher authorities, also because human is a social ingredient and to survive in the social structure winning through competition is the first factor that still remains to have its effects from the time of Kings. In the construction industry too, the Reward and recognition provide a much needed boost to the concerned employees. This kind of motivation further strengthens the link between the employer and the employee in the means that the employer cares about the welfare of their dedicated resources and would rightly appreciate them in the form of cash or kind to acknowledge their hard work and sincerity.