Avneel Lal z3251874 Cathay Pacific

6.

Consider how the company may wish to build and motivate teams

in a contrasting market to that of their head office

Background Information

Cathay Pacific (Cathay) is an airline operator based in Hong Kong, which flies to 36 nations worldwide (including codeshare). However, it has rather neglected the African market, by only servicing South Africa to this point in time. Though recently Cathays CEO John Slosar is said to have been looking actively at the prospect of creating a presence in Lagos, Nigeria, due to the citys high employee traffic and cargo traffic and its growing ties with China (Sandaruwan, 2011).

Cathay operates in the service sector where quality customer service is the key to success. Cathay recognised this by launching a People and Service advertising campaign in 2010-11, with the catchphrase People. They make an airline. emblazoned on their promotional website. As such, Cathay is interested in understanding how to build and motivate teams involving Nigerians employees in anticipation of the following issues: Time is a critical factor in the airline service industry, and so all facets of the company, especially those that are customer facing, must perform to schedule. It is recognised that timeliness may be a factor which Nigerian employees may struggle with initially due to cultural attributes. Cathay prides itself internationally as offering a high quality of service, where employees are pushed to go that extra mile for the customer. Which motivators are required to ensure Nigerians pursue the same passion for their job as other Cathay employees

Current motivational instruments offered by Cathay Pacific

The following list of motivational instruments is derived from the Stakeholder Issues and Cathay Pacific Response Map (2010). Generous pay and leave entitlements Benefits for staff and family members Staggered working arrangement facilities Organised staff outings

Other team building and motivating tools, which are currently implemented by Cathay include: Consultative group sessions with management Intensive staff surveys conducted every 18months

Relevant Analysis

We will try to analyse the Nigerian context based on developed motivational and team building theory, and compare with results from recent studies.

The increasingly pervasive nature of western culture has created a cultural dichotomy within Nigeria, one identified with the western value system, and the other, indigenous. Research conducted by Ahiazu (1986) reveals that Nigerians working in westernized industrial organisations are perceived as less enthusiastic and uncommitted. Ibrahim (1989) believes that it is necessary to motivate employees in order to increase productivity and commitment of Nigerian worker to the organisation. This underlying commitment is essential for the airline sector, to ensure employees go that extra mile for customers.

A useful stepping-stone in understanding what motivates employees can be found in the two-factor (intrinsic-extrinsic) motivation hierarchy, which is based on Herzbergs (motivator-hygiene) theory. Although the hierarchy is not generally country-compatible (Gunkel 2006, p. 14) it is suggested by Machungwa and Schmitt (1983, p. 31-42), that cultures with high uncertainty avoidance, such as Nigeria may be motivated by extrinsic motivators such as pay, working conditions and fringe benefits. This idea is supported by

Nigerians voting for generous holidays and good hours as the most important work characteristics, in the World Values Surveys 1993-1997 (Phatak et al. 2009, p. 408). Nigerians highly value community life as suggested by Ogbonna (2010, pg. 10) furthermore, the collective Western African nations received a low individuality index in Hofstedes cultural analysis. This suggests that Nigerians enjoy the feeling of being a part of team culture, thus making Cathays attempts to build and motivate effective teams far easier, in a cultural sense. However, it is nave to suggest that Nigerians are primarily motivated by the greater good, as revealed in Palmer Johnnies (2007) study of two public sector organisations. The study revealed that Nigerians value promotion higher than other extrinsic motivators, outlined above.

Recommendations

The following recommendations should be taken aboard by Cathay when considering the processes involved with setting up in Nigeria. Cathays current employment package, which includes decent pay and leave entitlements, will be favourably looked upon by Nigerian workers. This conclusion was dually reached in Aborisade and Oblohas (2009, p. 154) study, which suggested good salary isthe most important factor that could generate the highest level of motivation in workers. o However remuneration and rewards should be linked to aims such as punctuality in order to motivate staff to improve on terms of tardiness. As family is highly valued in Nigeria, (Ogbonna 2010, pg. 11) the option to allow workers to stagger working hours upon consultation with management, would also be a highly motivating factor, and thus should be maintained in Cathays growth into Nigeria. Expat managers in Nigeria must develop close relationships with their Nigerian subordinates. This can be implemented by placing new

recruits into groups of roughly 10 people who work within the same field. This will help to ensure that the Nigerian employees feel a part of something, which is key given their communal culture. Expat managers, would work as leaders of these teams which would meet regularly on a weekly basis for the first 6 months, in order so that all employees and managers have sufficient time to create deeper, paternalistic relationships, which extend past Cathays operations. In Palmers study (2007, pg. 27) an affectionate working relationship between manager and worker, was voted as the 4th most important motivational technique out of 21 options. However, managers should remember to maintain control over their subordinates in terms of decision making as is expected in a culture with a high power distance. This is important, because role ambiguity surrounding the subordinates job may tend to demotivate employees. To cater to the vast majority of Nigerians who value promotion at work, Cathay should develop a Talent Management facility in Human Resources, which especially caters to the training needs of Nigerian employees. Talent management would be responsible for setting goals for Cathays aspirational employees, which are aligned with Cathays values of customer service. This mechanism provides a two-fold benefit in that it motivates staff to seek training and perform, whilst propagating the homegrown culture of quality service. Finally, Cathay should gradually aim to decrease the power distance between management and staff through a process of group/one-onone interviews, where management can receive customer specific information and ideas for improvement. This would encourage staff to take ownership of the companys brand on a day-to-day basis. Although it may be difficult initially, management could select an idea of the week, and recognise the relevant contributor in order to increase the subordinates willingness to communicate.

These recommendations, aim to reward staff for increasing their commitment to the Cathay organization, thereby establishing the workplace as a significant

community which the Nigerian employee is part of. Once this is achieved, Cathay will find that Nigerians will take more pride in the work and thus will be willing to go that extra mile for the customer.

Reference List

Aborisade, R. and Obloha, E. E., 2009, The Role of Motivation in Enhancing Job Commitment in Nigeria Industries: A Case Study of Energy Foods Company Limited, Ibadan, Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 149-154. Ahiazu, A. I, 1986, The African thought system and the Work behaviour of the African industrial man, International Studies of Management and, Organization, vol.16, no. 2 pp. 6-27.

Cathay Pacific, 2010, Stakeholder Issues and Cathay Pacific (CX) Response Map 2010, business release, viewed 25 September 2011, < http://downloads.cathaypacific.com/cx/aboutus/sd/2010/ourBusiness/overview 2010_stakeholder.html>.

Gunkel, M. 2006, Country compatible incentive design a comparison of employees performance reward preferences in Germany and the USA, Wiesbaden, pg. 14 Herzberg F. 1987, One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?, Harvard Business Review, vol. 87, no. 5, pp. 109-117, cited in Phatak, A. V., Bhagat, R. S. & Kashlak, R. J., 2009, International Management: Managing in a Diverse and Dynamic Global Environment, New York, McGraw-Hill Irwan, p. 400 Hofstede, G., 2001, Cultures Consequences, 2nd ed., Thousand Oaks, California. Ibrahim D 1989, Productivity Improvement in Nigeria in the 90s, Nigeria Institute of Management Journal, vol. 25, no. 6 pg. 55

Inglehart, R. et al., World Values Surveys and European Values Surveys, 1981-1984, 1990-1993, and 1993-1997, (Ann Arbor, MR: Institute for Social Research, 2000) sourced in Phatak, A. V., Bhagat, R. S. & Kashlak, R. J., 2009, International Management: Managing in a Diverse and Dynamic Global Environment, New York, McGraw-Hill Irwan, p. 400.

Machungwa, P. D. and Schmitt, N., 1983, Work Motivation in a Developing Country, Journal of Applied Psychology, pp. 31-42, cited in Phatak, A. V., Bhagat, R. S. & Kashlak, R. J., 2009, International Management: Managing in a Diverse and Dynamic Global Environment, New York, McGraw-Hill Irwan, p. 400

Ogbonna, C., 2010, Cultural issues about doing business in Nigeria: Case study for Thurmo Oy, Degree thesis, Central Ostrobothnia University of Applied Sciences.

Palmer, J. B. 2007, Motivating the Nigerian Worker A Study of Two Public Sector Organisations, Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 24-31.

Phatak, A. V., Bhagat, R. S. & Kashlak, R. J., 2009, International Management: Managing in a Diverse and Dynamic Global Environment, New York, McGraw-Hill Irwan

Sandaruwan, M, 2011, Cathay Mulls Africa, South America Flights, blog, 8 September, Flightglobal, viewed 24 September 2011, < http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-networker/2011/09/cathay-mulls-africasouth-america-flights.html>.