Riordan Manufacturing Gap Analysis

Riordan Manufacturing is in the process of opening up a new production facility in Hangzhou in the Province of China, but they are running into some issues with finding employees to fill their employee requirements because of local competition, dealing with multicultural issues from hiring employees of different cultural backgrounds, and making sure that they avoid the issues their other Chinese plant is going through. Riordan wants to create a culturally sensitive work environment, and they want to address the installment of the workforce and the ongoing relations of the staff for the long-term (University of Phoenix, n.d.).

Contained within this paper is a discussion on the Riordan Manufacturing simulation provided by University of Phoenix, the class readings, and external sources. This paper will study the problems and issues that Riordan Manufacturing could face with the integration of diverse cultures in their new manufacturing plant, will address who the stakeholders are, will state what the end-state vision will be, and will do an analysis of the gap between the current conditions and the end-state vision. By the end of this paper, readers should have a clear understand of the issues that the company is facing and will face as the leadership of the company navigates through this plant opening.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Riordan Manufacturing is opening up a new manufacturing location in Hangzhou. A shortage of available, skilled Chinese labor exists because of local competition. They will have to rely on the labor in the form of Pakistanis, Indians, and Koreans. Each of these different groups will be motivated by different factors based on their culture, values, and upbringing. When discussing the effect of Culture on Motivation, Dr. Karine Schomer says, "When it comes to motivation, no one strategy works for everyone �€" even within one culture. Across cultures, it is even more difficult" (Schomer, n.d., para. 8). Because of this, the management team will have the opportunity to learn about these different cultures to learn what drives and motivates them because with the opening of this new plant, Riordan does not want to experience any delays like the ones they are experiencing with their other plant.

When there are employees with different cultural backgrounds and cultures working together in a closed environment, this could create conflict, especially for the manager of the plant. The different employees may not have been exposed to each other and so they might not be aware of what offends the different groups. Employees could focus on their differences as opposed to coming together to accomplish the job duties. Because other cultures are coming into what used to be a Chinese dominated field, this could also lead to conflict between the Chinese workers and the other groups. The management team would have to figure out ways to encourage the employees to put their loyalty to the company over whatever differences might exist between the different groups or to at least learn to work together and leave their issues at home.

The Hangzhou plant will be Riordan Manufacturing's second plant in China, and they are experiencing difficulties with filling their employment ranks because of the local competition. Even though there are other cultural groups to fill from, the difficulty presents itself when they have to find skilled employees who would be a good fit for the company and might not be accustomed to working for foreign companies. The difficult also presents because Riordan is used to dealing with Chinese employees and has no experience dealing with these other cultural groups. The management team will have to expand their knowledge base and skills concerning international management to manage effectively the diverse groups. They will also have to know the local employment laws and regulation affect these different cultural groups and look to provide them compensation fair with the Chinese employees.

With the existence of Chinese, Pakistani, Indian, Koreans, and American employees, whoever is put in charge of the Hangzhou plant will need to have knowledge of these different groups to figure out ways to motivate them, ways to facilitate good working relationships, and things to avoid to avoid causing offense. Currently, there is no official training program in place for their overseas assignments or to educate the employees about each other so there is an opportunity to develop a cultural awareness and sensitivity program to give to the employees so that they learn about each other and learn to work together. This will also provide the manager with the training needed to succeed at this assignment.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

Shareholders want to see a return on their investments and they want to receive dividends. Because they want to be financially stable, they want to see the company grow over time because this would mean that their investments are growing. The dilemma comes into play when companies become profitable by cutting corners and not behaving responsibly. The dilemma also comes into play when the means by which the company becomes profitable conflicts with other stakeholder groups (for instance, if the company cuts jobs to lower costs).

Customers want to receive their high quality goods but they want to pay the lowest price. They also want their goods to be safe and reliable. They have a stake in the company continuing to provide their goods at a reasonable price but they do not want this to occur at the expense of companies not behaving in a socially responsible manner. Customers also have to afford the products that are sold so it helps if they are employed (which is another ethical dilemma of customers). If Riordan Manufacturing keeps shipping jobs overseas but selling their products in the United States, they will not reach their sales targets if the customers cannot afford to buy their products.

Employees "contribute their skills and knowledge in exchange for wages, benefits, and the opportunity for personal satisfaction and professional development" (Lawrence & Weber, 2008, p. 9). Employees want to have a stable work environment, in which they do not have to worry about the possibility of losing their jobs. They also want to be fairly compensated for their contributions. The ethical dilemma comes into play because employees want to see the company grow and succeed but they do not want to do it at the expense of their jobs if job cuts will cause the company to become more profitable.

Leaders and managers of the company are responsible for making the decisions that will affect the growth and development of Riordan. The leaders and managers of Riordan