The International Journal of HRD: Practice Policy and Research

Special Issue: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of human resource development and management

The journal is sponsored by a partnership between the World Federation of People Management Association (WFPMA), the University Forum for Human Resource Development (UFHRD) and the European Association of People Management (EAPM).

October 2021 Vol. 5(2)

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ABOUT IJHRDPPR

The International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy & Research is a new peer-reviewed journal which seeks to bring together international

practitioner and academic expertise to promote and support the understanding and practice of Human Resource Development.

Much is discussed about bridging the academic practice divide. It is in many ways a false distinction but a challenge nonetheless. Critically, the International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy & Research seeks to approach this challenge from first and foremost a practice perspective. It is a practice centred journal which nonetheless provides the opportunity to synergise practice with theory to develop further insights to inform both disciplines. It offers the critically reflective professional practitioner insight, ideas and understanding on the contemporary issues and challenges facing HRD, its impact and influence. The types of contribution sought are described in more detail in the Contributer Guidelines on our website. Interested contributors are welcome to contact any of the Editorial Board to discuss their ideas.

The journal is sponsored by a partnership between the European Association of People Management, the University Forum for Human Resource Development (UFHRD) and the World Federation of People Management

The journal is sponsored by a partnership between the World Federation of People Management Association (WFPMA), the University Forum for Human Resource Development (UFHRD) and the European Association of People Management (EAPM).

Associations. The European Association for People Management (EAPM) was founded in 1962. The Association forms an umbrella body of national organisations which represent HR professionals.. It is an experience exchange organisation without profit-related objectives. The EAPM has, in total, 36 members from 36 European countries. Formed in 1999 the UFHRD is an international association for universities, reflective practitioners, and learning oriented organisations. The Forum’s mission is to create, develop and inform leading–edge HRD theories and practices by promoting professionally-focused qualifications, co-operative research initiatives and consultancy interventions. The WFPMA is a global network of professionals in people management. It was founded in 1976 to aid the development and improve the effectiveness of professional people management all over the world. Its members are predominantly the continental federations which are made up of more than 90 national human resource associations representing over 660,000 people management professionals.

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CONTENTS

From the editorPage 3

Key priorities for human resource development and human resource management professionals in supporting both the firm and staff through the COVID–19 pandemicPadmasiri RanawakaarachchiPages 4 - 10

Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on China’s belt and road initiative infrastructure projects due to lockdowns and travel restrictions on workersMajueran KugathasanPages 11 - 18

Developing front-line employees to manage negative customer to customer interactions in the retail industry: Lessons for human resource development in responding to COVID-19Alex Kay & Catharine RossPages 19 - 30

Impact of HR policies and practices on organizational justice, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemicUdaya Priyasantha RathnayakePages 31 - 51

2020 HKIHRM topical study: Survey on HR challenges in the new normalThe Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource ManagementPages 52 - 54

Assessing the success or failure in international assignments: A Mexican multinational company exampleAlejandro Vázquez RiosPages 55 - 64 Nonprofit organizations and volunteer leadership development: A narrative review with implications for human resource developmentAmin Alizadeh, Bhagyashree Barhate, Tamim Choudhury & Khalil DiraniPages 65 - 78

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The impact of COVID-19 is unprecedented in terms of the scale of its impact around the world and its reach in all aspects of life. While the priority is to minimise mortality and ill health by ensuring people are protected from the virus, the economic and organisational impact directly and indirectly due to the pandemic has been equally immense. To gain further insight into the impact of the pandemic, we issued a call for papers on the subject and the response has been encouraging. In this issue we bring you a combination of papers from the call and also regular contributions from our community.

The first paper is from Padmasiri Ranawakaarachchi, who shares with us his experience in responding to the pandemic from a human resource development and management perspective. He provides a number of useful guidance from his context in Sri Lanka. We then have a paper from Majueran Kugathasan who provides a more targeted and nuanced account of the impact of COVID-19 on China’s belt and road initiative infrastructure projects.

Our third paper is from Alex Kay and Catharine Ross addresses a phenomenon arising from the pandemic involving customers and front-line retail staff. They share with us some compelling insights and suggestions on how organisations are able address these issues. Our fourth is a quantitative paper from Udaya Priyasantha Rathnayake who presents his study on the impact of HR policies and practices on organizational justice, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our fifth paper in the issue is from the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management, who shares with us a number of challenges

faced by human resource management professionals in Hong Kong.

Next, we have our non COVID-19 related articles. Drawing from insights gained from a Mexican multinational firm, Alejandro Vázquez Rios who contributes an article that provides a number of insights that shapes the success (or failure) in international assignments. Last but certainly not least, we have a review paper from Amin Alizadeh, Bhagyashree Barhate, Tamim Choudhury and Khalil Dirani that explore the volunteer leadership development and nonprofit organizations.

Thank you and we hope you enjoy the issue. Take care and all the best

Professor Mark Loon (PhD, DBA, CSci, CMgr, FCMI, PFHEA)Research Chair of Management and Organisation Studies, University of Northumbria at NewcastleVisiting Professor in Strategy and HRM, Université d’Aix-Marseille

From the editor

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Key priorities for human resource development and human resource management professionals in supporting both the firm and staff through the COVID–19 pandemicPadmasiri Ranawakaarachchi

AbstractThis paper presents the Sri Lankan experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in respect of human resource development and human resource management. Although Sri Lanka is a developing country, it has not recorded a growth in economy especially during the last few years. The COVID-19 pandemic has deteriorated the economic conditions further and caused immense hardships to each and every institution in all aspects. Organizations are faced with numerous challenges due to lockdowns and isolation of areas to contain transmission of the coronavirus. Conventional Human Resource (HR) policies and practices are not adequate to address issues and challenges caused by disruption. HR professions, being the link between management and the staff, have a vital role to play in supporting both the firm and staff through the pandemic. In this regard identification of key priorities is a prerequisite as issues and challenges are numerous.

IntroductionToday we are faced with the worst pandemic in the history of mankind and COVID-19 has not spared almost

any country in the world from the giants, USA, China, France, Italy, and India to the poorest countries such as Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, and Niger. As reported in numerous articles written by economists and others it is difficult to make predictions of the impact of COVID-19 globally, because it will depend on the spread of the disease and the measures respective countries will take to fight against the deadly pandemic. With regard to the South Asian situation, according to the latest BBC News update more than 100,000 cases are reported in a single day (Menon, 2021), which is higher than the daily peak during last year’s initial coronavirus wave. It is not a surprise that the main contributor is India which has a population of 1.3 billion. Indian Virologist Dr Shahid Jameel says that one of the reasons for a sudden surge in India may be the recently reported presence of a “double mutant” variant, which might make the virus more transmissible. Nevertheless the situation in Sri Lanka will also be similar to that of other countries, or may be even worse than some of the developing countries. Apart from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sri Lanka’s economy has not been in good shape in the recent past. As such, Sri Lanka has a

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daunting task ahead which requires collective effort from all stakeholders where HRD and HRM professionals have a significant role to play.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Sri Lankan economyThe budget deficit is a serious economic concern for Sri Lanka. The end of 30 years of separatist war in 2009 generated a surge of optimism about the economic prospects for Sri Lanka and it was expected to improve the economic situation substantially in the country. However it has remained very much the same with a budget deficit in the range of 6 to 8% GDP during the last decade, rising to 9.6% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The GDP growth rate was also not significant. A widespread drought, which impacted agriculture in 2016 and 2017, drove economic growth downwards during the above period. Sri Lanka recorded a GDP growth of 3.3% in 2018, down from 3.4% in 2017, driven by subdued performance in industrial activities including construction. Growth was hindered further during 2019, recording a year on year growth of only 2.3%. The services sector led by tourism, retail, and financial services declined by 4.6% in the backdrop of the Easter Sunday attacks on churches and tourist hotels by an extremist group of Muslims in April 2019, compared to a growth of 5.7% in the previous year. The economic crisis of Sri Lanka was well presented by KPMG Sri Lanka in their publication of ‘Impact of COVID-19 on the Sri Lanka Economy’ in April 2020 (KPMG, 2020). According to their view, the potential impact from COVID-19 is unlike that faced by any other

country, and the economy is likely to face a contraction in 2020 due to many sectors being at standstill.

With regard to containing the transmission of COVID-19, the Sri Lankan Government has brought the situation under control to a certain extent though the spread of the disease could have been controlled further had a few decisions been taken much earlier. Nevertheless we cannot blame authorities as we have seen that even countries like Italy and USA are facing repercussions about the delay in making such decisions or not taking them at the correct time. It may be due to the fact that none of us have encountered such a calamity in the recent past and had not expected the outcome would be of this magnitude.

In this regard, Sri Lankan policy makers’ immediate concern should be containing the spread of COVID-19, while adopting correct economic policies for recovery and growth in the long-run. Policies should address the fundamental weakness of the economy and be pragmatic and realistic. While law makers are addressing those issues at the macro level, HR professionals have a huge responsibility in supporting both the firm and staff through the pandemic.

Issues and challenges faced by firms and employeesIn order to identify key priorities for Human Resource Development (HRD) and Human Resource Management (HRM) professionals, it is essential to understand the issues and challenges faced by both the firm and staff during the pandemic situation. The author, being a member of the

Issues/Challenges faced by firms Issues/Challenges faced by employees

Reduced business activities / Loss of businessesLockdowns, less buying power, low demand

Health and safety riskTravelling & public transport, moving with other staff, third party contacts, handling of goods & documents

Financial constraintsDecrease in revenue, cost increase, cash flow, restrictions of foreign currency out-flow

Uncertainties of jobScale down, excess work load, reskilling

UncertaintiesRapid spread of disease, cancellation of orders, import/export restrictions

Financial constraints:Reduction of wages/salary/allowances, increase of cost of living, debt burden

Unexpected competitionPrice war, new entrants, product substitutions, disruption of the supply chain

Changing working conditions:Work from home, change of working hours, limiting social interaction with others

HR Paying full salary, health and safety of employees, maintaining employee morale, retaining key employees, re-skilling

Social issuesFamily pressure, limited social interaction, monotonous lifestyles

Table 1Issues/Challenges faced by firms and employees

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COVID-19 Task Force1, has the opportunity to meet all stakeholders, Government, employers, and employees, regularly from the date of forming the Task Force in March 2020 and get first-hand information relating to the pandemic and its impact on the business environment. Among many issues discussed at the meetings, a few of the key issues/challenges faced by both firms and employees are identified in Table 1.

Challenges faced by the governmentThe government of Sri Lanka is faced with numerous issues/challenges due to the coronavirus outbreak and some of them are listed below in Table 2.

Table 2Issues and Challenges faced by the Government

i. Containing the spread of pandemicii. Providing subsidies for daily wage earners due to

lockdownsiii. Cost of establishing COVID-19 treatment

hospitalsiv. Cost of maintaining quarantine centersv. Cost of PCR Testingvi. Cost of COVID-19 vaccinesvii. Bringing home stranded migrants abroadviii. Loss of revenue such as duties and taxesix. Subsidies for financial moratoriumsx. Loss of foreign exchange earningsxi. Closure of government institutionsxii. Closure of schoolsxiii. Repayment of foreign debtsxiv. Social unrest & communal tensions

Since the economy of Sri Lanka very much depends on tourism, apparel, trading, and inward remittances by migrant workers, the government needs to take drastic measures to stabilize the economy in the short-run and pragmatic policy decisions as long-term strategies. As these issues are at macro level and beyond the control of organizational level, they are not addressed in detail unless in situations where there is a direct impact on our discussion.

Key priorities for HRD/HRM professionalsIt was in March last year that Sri Lanka first experienced COVID-19 and it is now in the second wave of the

1 Tripartite Task force established by the Minister of Labour to address

employment related issues.

pandemic at 3(b) level of ‘small group of clusters’ as per the World Health Organization (WHO) classification (WHO, 2021). Like other countries we too have come to terms with the fact that we have to continue our life including all economic and social activities under ‘New Normal’ conditions as the coronavirus is not likely to go away in the near future. In such a situation not only will HRM professionals have to play a crucial role in the organization, but the evolving future of the HR function will be more challenging for them. Considering the unique situation that Sri Lanka is faced with and the daunting task ahead of all of us, the following have been identified as the ‘Key Priorities’ for HRD/HRM professionals in supporting both the firm and staff through the pandemic.

Table 3Key Priorities for HRD/HRM Professionals

i. Being familiar with the issues and impact of COVID-19

ii. Playing a strategic business partner roleiii. Building confidence in both management and

staffiv. Ensuring Health and Safetyv. Educating and up-skillingvi. New HR policy for remote-workingvii. New communication channels for employee

engagement

Being familiar with the issues and the impact of COVID-19As a general rule, one should be thorough with the subject and armed with facts before advising or providing any supportive role in that regard. The importance of abiding by that principle and adequate preparation need not be overemphasized in a pandemic situation of COVID-19 magnitude. It is well known that COVID-19 is the most deadly and threatening pandemic the world has experienced in the last hundred years since the ‘Spanish Flu’ pandemic way back in 1918. It is so complex that neither an organization nor a person was able to find a formula to prevent the spread of the virus. No country could completely control it even one year after its initial appearance. There are thousands of research articles, publications, and case studies on the impact of COVID-19 on health, economy, and the society covering all aspects of human life from infant to elder and rich to poor. In the ‘Information Era’2 of today everyone has access to information and the decision makers should have all the information at their fingertips. Even though one could not master such a complex issue within a short span of time, and it may not be possible at all, still a reasonable

2 An era where information is the main strategic resource upon which

individuals, organizations, and societies rely for their growth and development

and also called information millennium.

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knowledge on the issue should be acquired and especially familiarity with issues one’s particular organization is faced with. This is the most important and the first priority of any HRM/HRD professional before embarking on any supportive role.Playing a strategic business partner roleThe HRM profession has undergone many changes and transformations during the past few decades from a mere administrative function to a business supporting function. It has been recognized at the highest level and even allocated a seat in the boardroom in some organizations, especially in multi-national enterprises (MNEs) (Caldwell, 2011). However, in Sri Lanka this transformation is very slow. The importance of recognizing the HR function at the strategic level has been stressed in much of the literature. A place in the boardroom is often considered a necessity, if not, sufficient access for HR directors to exercise strategic influence on business decision-making is required. It is often said that HR need to deliver value to the business to earn a place in the boardroom. The writer is of the opinion that this is the right time for HRD/HRM professionals to perform that strategic role and earn their long-awaited position in the boardroom.

In today’s COVID-19 pandemic situation organizations should apply innovative evaluation methods in assessing both the external and the internal business environment. The level of disruption being experienced across all business is such that the effectiveness of the conventional approach to crisis management is not adequate to address the present situation. A holistic approach with the active participation of all functional heads at the highest level is the requirement of the day. In this context, HR management and development should play an advisory role in addressing immediate issues such as right-sizing of the organization, flex employee levels with the scale down levels of operation and meeting the requirement of social distancing stipulated by the health authorities, and enhancing the employee morale and the long term issues such as developing new policies in remote working and up-skilling of employees. HR professionals should not only support the management in the pandemic situation, but grab the opportunity with both hands to justify their presence at the boardroom level as a strategic business partner.

Building confidence in both management and staffDuring the initial stages of the coronavirus outbreak there were a lot of uncertainties for both parties. In a very unpredictable situation like the present pandemic nobody can exactly forecast how the future would be. In such a situation everyone needs to face those challenges with a lot of confidence. The management should have the confidence that they can assess the situation on its merit and the assurance that they can handle the situation in

a very professional manner especially in respect of their valuable asset of human resource.

Similarly employees are also concerned for their security in all aspects. Employees tend to feel the importance of the caring aspect more in crisis situations. Confidence is your trust or belief in something. During uncertainties, confidence is lacking and you need external support to believe in your future. The role of the HR function in any organization is twofold and basically HR is the link between the management and the staff of the organization. In the above situation both parties would look up to HR professionals for their involvement and advice if they have confidence in HR. In this connection HR should have earned that credibility over the years. While advising the management in HR related issues, HR professionals should enhance the morale of employees. It is the responsibility of the HRM professional to provide that support and it becomes one of their key priorities.

Ensuring health and safetyKofi Annan, Former UN Secretary General said that “Safety and health at work is not only a sound economic policy - it is a basic human right” (Takala, n.d.). In a pandemic situation ensuring health and safety becomes more important and draws everybody’s attention. Be that as it may, it is the responsibility of the authorities including legislators and employers to take appropriate measures to ensure the health and safety of the general public and the workers. In the organizational perspective, the benefits of ensuring health and safety in the workplace are many fold; it ensures the health and safety among employees and builds confidence in them. Another benefit is that it builds confidence in other stakeholders of the organization especially the customers and results in more patronage. Once health and safety is ensured, the organization will be able to continue its operation without any disruption due to virus infection and compulsory quarantine etc. Even though there would be an initial cost it is really an investment for the organization’s well-being.

Apart from normal health and safety precautions there are several prevention measures to be adhered to by all concerned. The Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine of Sri Lanka issued operational guidelines for employers to avoid the possible transmission of the virus in the workplace. Some measures to be implemented immediately are wearing of face masks, washing hands, wearing personal protective equipment, social distancing, disinfection and sanitation of workplaces. In this context, ensuring health and safety in the workplace is another priority for HRM professionals.

Educating and up-skillingThe pandemic has not only disrupted human life in all aspects, but paved way for significant behavioural changes in everyone. The term ‘New normal’ became the buzz word in all COVID-19 prevention campaigns. The much

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discussed ‘Future of work’3 in many international forums and the transformations in the workplace became a reality sooner than expected (International Labour Organization, n.d.). ‘Technological Innovations’ were one of the topics discussed under future of work and how organizations should transform their workforce by re-skilling, up-skilling, and redeployment. Most of the organizations were not ready for the change due to various reasons including financial constraints and resistance to change by employees. Nevertheless, under the new normal situation, organizations were compelled to introduce radical changes to their operations such as scaling down their operations, temporary closure of offices, flex employee levels, and facilitate remote working etc. It is inevitable that there would be skill gaps to be addressed. Still, organizations are in the recovery process and need to develop staff to cope up with challenges in this new age of work. IT literacy has become the most important skill for everyone not only for organizational life, even for private life as well. During the pandemic situation social media platforms became very active and even ordinary citizens had to use their smart phone to order their essentials online. Therefore HRM professionals should take initiatives to re-skill and up-skill employees to be comfortable in their new working environment. Training and development and the learning environment has been completely changed and e-learning platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Classroom have taken over from the conventional classroom type face to face training methods. Although they have been extensively used in developed countries, a developing country like Sri Lanka has enormous challenges in applying new technology. IT literacy, financial constraints, infrastructure facilities, and attitudes of people are the main constraints in adopting technological changes. In this connection, HR has to first enhance the IT literacy of employees where necessary and then train and develop them to bridge skill gaps created due to new working environment in the pandemic situation. This may vary from place to place according to the nature of work; service or industry. Attitudinal change in employees at all levels too cannot be overlooked. Irrespective of the status of the organization HRD professionals have a very important role to play in educating and up-skilling employees.

New HR policy for remote workingThe concept of remote working has had much prominence due to the pandemic and it can be considered as a silver lining in the dark cloud. It seems that remote working would continue even after the pandemic ends. Remote working has changed the working environment drastically and affected the employer-employee relationship significantly. For certain sectors this is a much anticipated change and a blessing in disguise. Organizations in the IT industry and

3 International Labour Organization (ILO) Centenary Declaration for

the ‘Future of Work’ adopted by the ILO conference in 2019 identified four

pillars; technological innovations, demographic shift, environmental and climate

change and globalization, that would change the nature and future of work.

service sector have made use of the remote working facility and were able to continue their operation without much disruption. Similarly employees in those sectors were less affected and more comfortable in carrying out their work from home. This is one of the technological advancements that would change working conditions and may encourage women to continue their professional career after marriage and giving birth to children. Nevertheless neither legislators nor employers are ready with laws, policies or procedures to facilitate a smooth transition of work from office to home. Until legal enactments are in place, which would most probably take some time, it is the responsibility of the HR professionals to develop policies and procedures in this regard and it would be another key priority of HR professionals.

New communication channels for employee engagementSri Lanka has a unique culture where there is a strong bond within the family and among neighborhoods. Similarly even in the workplace, a very close relationship and strong bonds among fellow employees exist. Frequent social interaction between fellow workers within the workplace and outside is a very common feature in organizational life. It has also been observed that some employees need regular interaction with their superiors and seek their advice very often. Some prefer to work in isolation with less supervision whereas the others feel the other way around. In the present pandemic situation one important health guideline is social distancing. Organizations are required to get down to only 50% of the staff just after lockdown and isolation situations due to space constraints and transport problems. Even in factories production lines have to be rearranged in such a way to maintain the social distance of one metre between two personnel. Simultaneously, the workload has been increased and the supporting roles of colleagues and superiors are not readily available. This has affected employees and the workplace harmony in several ways resulting in lowering employee morale and engagement. There is a need to establish a continuous rapport with the staff and among employees. HR professionals are required to find new ways and means to communicate with the staff and create a platform for employees to communicate with each other to ensure their engagement with the organization.

ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense hardship to every country irrespective of whether rich or poor and big or small. At the time of writing this article, the total reported COVID-19 cases are 136 million and deaths were almost three million. Some countries especially in the west are locked down for the third time. Nobody can exactly assess the loss or damage to the global economy as the pandemic pushed all economies into lockdowns. All are eagerly looking forward to the success of vaccinations and

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awaiting their turn to get it as early as possible. No country has yet fully completed the vaccination programme. There are a few bad experiences as well. Countries producing the vaccine cannot meet the total demand of the world. It may not be a reality for developing and poor countries and some will have to wait for a long time. As such, everyone has now come to terms with the pandemic and are adjusting their lifestyles to live in the ‘New Normal’ situation.

In a crisis situation all issues and challenges require urgent attention and become priorities. However in a pandemic situation like COVID-19, one should take into account the health and safety guidelines specified by authorities more than financial and other constraints. The physical and mental wellbeing of employees and other stakeholders takes precedence over other priorities. HR professionals being the link between management and the staff have a vital role to play in survival of the organization and supporting through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The challenges are very much similar in our region as well. In an interview with Economic Times HR World.com (Uppal, 2020), Chetna Gogia, Head of Human Resources, Policybazaar.com. said,

The challenges that HR faces vary with their company’s location, sector, and size, but most organizations will have to tighten their belts. Companies are seeking alternate corporate strategies, such

as using technology to support work-from-home or reviewing costs to stretch the budget. Crisis management and business continuity planning remain the top challenges faced by HR during the COVID-19 outbreak. The list of priorities also includes managing flexible work arrangements, employee communications to increase awareness, addressing employee concerns on workplace policies, implementing preventive measures, and reviewing current welfare policiesIn a conversation with ‘People Matters’, Nidhi Marwah,

Managing Director - South Asia at The Executive Centre said that,

The pandemic has definitely shifted business priorities around. Organizations are now looking at enhancing people centric policies while simultaneously sustaining their businesses. There has been a significant shift in the HR policies over the course of COVID-19. Employee safety and well-being has continued to remain the top-most focus for companies across the globe. Strategic adoption of flexible working policies has redefined the workspace and HR landscape of companies. This trend is here to stay as organisations have now adapted to this new arrangement of working (People Matters, n.d.).The above expert views in relation to the impact of

COVID-19 on HR issues with especial reference to our South Asian region corroborates what was discussed in the article.

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As discussed, the role of HRM/HRD professionals is of paramount importance to ensure all workers are employable and productive in the new world of work. This is the opportunity HR professionals have been awaiting for a long time, especially in our region of the world, to justify their credentials and should be grabbed with both hands to be an important member of the boardroom.

ReferencesCaldwell, R. (2011). HR directors in UK boardrooms: a search for strategic influence or symbolic capital? Employee Relations 33(1), 40-63.Dhawan, S. (2020). Online learning: A panacea in the time of COVID-19 crisis. Journal of Educational Technology Systems. 49(1), 5-22.Gautam, P. (2020, October 10). Advantages and disadvantages of online learning, retrieved from; https:// elearningindustry.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-online-learning International Labour Organization (n.d.). The Future of Work We Want: a global dialogue. International Labour Organization. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---cabinet/ documents/publication/wcms_570282.pdfKPMG (2020). Impact on Covid 19 on the Sri Lankan Economy. KPMG. Retrieved from: https://home.kpmg/lk/ en/home/insights/2020/04/impact-on-covid-19-on-the-sri-lankan-economy.htmlMenon, S. (2021). Coronavirus in South Asia: Where are numbers going up again. Retrieved from: https://www.bbc. com/news/world-asia-53420537People Matters (n.d.). The future of workspaces will be defined by flexibility: the Executive Centre MD – South Asia. People Matters. Retrieved from: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/strategic-hr/the-future-of-workspaces- will-be-defined-by-flexibility-the-executive-centre-md-south-asia-26438Takala, J. (n.d.). A safety culture that can save lives. International Labour Office. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/ legacy/english/protection/safework/worldday/oped_eng.pdf University of Ruhuna Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. (2020). COVID-19 The Socio-Economic Impact on Sri Lanka, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka.Uppal, S. (2020) Covid-19 has allowed HR to demonstrate the importance of HR strategies for mitigating people’s risk: Chetna Gogia, Policybazaar. Retrieved from: https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/trends/leadership/covid-19- has-allowed-hr-to-demonstrate-the-importance-of-hr-strategies-for-mitigating-peoples-risk-chetna-gogia- policybazaar/76141697World Health Organization (2021). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic. World Health Organization. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

About the authorDr. Padmasiri Ranawakaarachchi is a management/HR consultant and trainer with more than 35 years of experience in the field of management in Sri Lanka. He was the former General Manager of Lanka Ceramic PLC. He has an MBA from the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka and read for his PhD in Buddhist Studies at MCU Thailand. He is a Fellow of the Sri Lanka Institute of Training & Development, a Chartered Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management, Sri Lanka and a Life Member of the Organization of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka. He is the Managing Director of the Management Consultancy and Labour Education Institute (McLei) and the President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Training and Development. He also provides his services as a resource person for various institutions and functioned as a visiting lecturer in graduate and postgraduate studies in universities. The author can be contacted via email; dgpadmasiri@gmail.com

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Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on China’s belt and road initiative infrastructure projects due to lockdowns and travel restrictions on workersMajueran Kugathasan

AbstractThe construction industry plays an important role in the economy by providing numerous employment opportunities for workers. The industry faces a significant shortage of skilled workers and this has been identified as one of the challenges of the construction industry. Therefore, countries are allowing foreign workers to work in the construction industry. Some construction companies also prefer to employ foreign workers instead of local workers as they are better trained and cost effective. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a transcontinental long-term policy and investment programme which aims at infrastructure development and acceleration of the economic integration of countries along the route of the historic Silk Road. As part of the BRI, China is massively investing in infrastructure development projects in Belt and Road countries. The Chinese companies investing in these projects are helping to build domestic industrial capacities and creating job opportunities for the local communities. However, there are a considerable number of Chinese workforces employed in BRI projects. Due to the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus, many countries have enacted complete lockdowns, quarantine, and travel restrictions, this has delayed the return of a large number of Chinese workers to their construction sites. Due to this, there have been slowdowns and postponements of some of the BRI infrastructure projects. However, BRI projects are gradually getting back on track despite challenges related to lockdown and worldwide travel restrictions.

Construction industry workforce The construction industry plays an important role in the economy. It provides numerous employment opportunities, not only in on-site construction but also in construction-related professional services and the supply of materials and components (International Labour Organization, 2015). In the construction industry, the workforce is the most indispensable and significant asset to the execution of a construction project as construction is a labour-intensive industry. Construction workers play critical roles in executing the project. The construction industry is heavily dependent on the adequate supply of a skilled workforce. Having skilled and productive workers has been pivotal to the construction industries’, growth and performance (Chang-Richards, Wilkinson, Seville & Brunsdon, 2017). Construction workers require new technologies and construction techniques to play critical roles in the success of every construction project, from its beginning to its end. A skilled workforce is of paramount importance in construction projects (Gudienė, Banaitis, Banaitienė, & Lopes, 2013). All of the construction process is largely reliant on a skilled workforce (Mackenzie, Kilpatrick, & Akintoye, 2000), therefore any skill shortage can negatively impact on construction projects.

There are two kinds of workforce involved in the construction industry, skilled and unskilled (Hussain, Xuetong & Hussain, 2020). Workers are the main fuel for the successful running of the construction industry and skilled workers are the heart of construction. A minimum

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working experience is very important to becoming a skilled worker in the construction sector (Ahmed, Hoque & Sobuz, 2017). Working experience increases the productivity of a worker, reduces the rate of error in working procedures and makes a worker an essential asset to the company (Quińones, Ford, & Teachout, 1995). Based on Hussain et al.’s (2020) study, unskilled workers

have a lack of knowledge, lack of construction skills, lack of expertise, and poor workmanship that can cause a significant negative impact on a project’s performance. Further, the study’s findings revealed that skilled workers have a significant positive impact on project performance during the execution of the project.

Shortage of skilled workforce The construction industry faces a significant shortage of skilled workers and this has been identified as one of the challenges of the construction industry (Deloitte, 2020). McKinsey & Company’s (2020) survey also highlighted the skilled labour shortage as one of the main issues in the construction industry. About 82% of the construction industry experience a shortage of skilled workers (Makhene & Thwala, 2009). An especially acute shortage of skilled local candidates is in higher-level management or technical positions (Russel & Berger, 2019). For example, the construction sector in the UK is experiencing a prolonged skills shortage, while the shortage hit its worst recorded level in early 2018, it is expected to worsen over the coming years (Murphy, 2019). The labour force availability can cause substantial construction delays in the U.S. construction market (SNC-Lavalin, n.d.). The data released by the Construction Service Development Board of Indonesia in 2015 showed that 10% of construction workers in Indonesia are skilled workers, 30% are semi-skilled workers, and 60% unskilled workers (Dardiri, Sutrisno, Kuncoro, Ichwanto & Suparji, 2017). Bangladesh needs another four million skilled workers in the construction sector by 2021 to meet the requirements of the growing economy (Murshid, 2016). The labour shortage in the Malaysian construction industry can be seen with the escalating number of foreign workers on construction sites (Salleh, Mamter, Lop, Kamar & Hamdan, 2014). Emerging economies in Asia face severe construction labour shortages, and across Asia there is a high demand for skilled workers (Uponor, 2019). According to Farmer (2016) the shortage of construction workers is a global problem

Foreign workforce Nowadays, foreign workers are to be found in construction sectors across industrialized and industrializing nations (International Labour Organization, 2016). Foreign

workers are the indispensable workforces that have become part of the lives and economy in many countries. The employment of foreign workers as construction workers is now considered to be a trend. This is mainly due to the skilled and unskilled labour shortage in many countries. Therefore, countries are allowing foreign workers from neighbouring countries and beyond. Construction

companies also prefer to employ foreign workers instead of local workers as sometimes they are cheaper to employ, they face problems in finding local labourers in remote areas, or there is an unsuitable local work ethic. Foreign workers also tend to be non-unionised. Some countries employ foreign workers as they are better trained and cost effective. Furthermore, foreign workers are a mobile labour force that is also flexible and expendable in times of economic decline (International Labour Organization, 2016).

Belt and road initiative infrastructure projects China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an ambitious programme which promotes co-operation among countries and regions in areas of policy co-ordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bond (State Council the People’s Republic of China, 2015). Currently, more than 150 countries and international organizations have signed agreements on Belt and Road co-operation with China (National People’s Congress of China, 2019). The BRI focus on connectivity is a vital part of advancing co-operation, since the infrastructure is considered the bedrock of connectivity, the lack of infrastructure has held up the development of many countries (ADB, 2012). According to PwC (2016), BRI is expected to involve over US$1 trillion in investments, largely in infrastructure development for ports, roads, railways, airports, power plants, oil and gas pipelines and refineries, and Free Trade Zones, etc in the ten years from 2017. China has already invested a cumulative total of USD 814.3 billion in global construction projects (mainly infrastructure) from 2005 to 2017 (OECD, 2018).

The BRI is generally popular in the developing world, where most of the countries face infrastructure deficiencies. Some of the notable projects include (Center for Strategic and International Studies, n.d.);

• The Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway – Ethiopia• Entebbe-Kampala Expressway – Uganda• Nairobi-Mombasa rail line – Kenya• Memve’ele hydropower project – Cameroon• Abuja-Masaka light rail – Nigeria• Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Rail – Indonesia

About 82% of the construction industry experience a shortage of skilled workers

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• Colombo Port City and Hambantota port – Sri Lanka• Piraeus Port – Greece• Temburong Bridge – Brunei• Padma Bridge – Bangladesh• Punta Sierra Wind Farm – Chile• Yamal LNG Project – Russia• China-Belarus Great Stone Industrial Park – Belarus• Djibouti International Free Trade Zone – Djibouti• Budapest-Belgrade High-Speed Railway – Hungary/ Serbia• China-Maldives Friendship Bridge – Maldives• China-Myanmar Oil Pipeline – Myanmar• Dhaka Elevated Expressway – Bangladesh• East Coast Rail Link Project – Malaysia• Gwadar Port - Pakistan

Job creation There is no doubt that BRI has created numerous job opportunities in partner countries. According to Economist Intelligence Unit (n.d.) Chinese companies helped to build domestic industrial capacities and created job opportunities for the local communities related to these BRI projects. The overseas economic and trade co-operation zones which have been built in BRI partner countries have created about 300,000 local jobs (State Council Information Office of China, 2019). In 2017, Chinese firms had contributed about 180,000 job opportunities along the project routes (Githaiga, Burimaso, Bing & Ahmed, 2019). The Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), mentioned that the BRI would play a part in addressing Africa’s problems in infrastructure and job creation and BRI will positively affect hundreds of millions of people in different countries, and create job opportunities that are pressing issues on the continent (Tabuchi, 2019). According to Pakistan’s Minister of Planning and Development, at least 300,000 jobs have been created by China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) thus far (Chen, Joseph, & Tariq, 2018). Likewise, the Padma Bridge Rail Link project in Bangladesh has created more than 5,000 direct jobs and tens of thousands of indirect jobs for local residents (Feng, 2020). About 1,600 workers including Chinese were involved in the construction work in the Colombo Port City project as well (Fernando, 2020).

The majority of workers employed in BRI projects are local workers. For example, 81% of the workforce in state owned Chinese firms operating in Africa are local workers, and 85% of the workforce within the construction sector (private and state-owned) are local workers (Morris, 2019). The number of Chinese workers in Africa by the end of 2019 was just 182,745, according to official Chinese sources, further there is a continuing trend of declining numbers of Chinese workers in Africa, down from a peak of 263,659 in 2015 (China Africa Research Initiative, n.d.). Likewise, in Pakistan’s CPEC projects, although thousands

of Chinese workers have been assigned to construct the railways, pipelines, and roads, most construction workers are locals (Chen et al., 2018). In 2020, there are roughly 7,500 Chinese migrant workers employed in Sri Lanka, and yet the absolute number of Chinese workers working in Sri Lanka remains quite small and accounts for roughly 0.1 per cent of Sri Lanka’s labour force in 2019 (Wignaraja, Panditaratne, Kannangara & Hundlani, 2020). Until now there have been no complaints from the Gulf States that Chinese employees are saturating local labour markets, perhaps because they have long hosted large numbers of expatriate workers (Oxford Business Group, 2020). The increase in Chinese investments to ASEAN has greatly contributed to economic growth, job creations in ASEAN countries as well. (China International Import Expo Bureau, 2019).

Chinese workforce Chinese official policies accompanying BRI also speak of “win-win” economic projects that create jobs for host-country residents (Halegua, 2020). Further, Jianping (2020) articulates that Chinese companies are mostly involved in project contracting, infrastructure construction, and investing in the projects. The decision on the number of Chinese employees who can work at a project, including workers and managers, is decided by the BRI host country. Furthermore, BRI projects have proven to be an important means to drive up local economies and employment (Zhang, 2020).

However, a considerable number of Chinese workforces are employed in BRI projects. There have been some criticisms that BRI projects have involved a high proportion of Chinese workers over locals. Some say BRI

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projects rely heavily on imported Chinese labour (Hillman, 2018). The use of Chinese workers in the BRI projects abroad has faced some criticism and has become politically controversial as well. From an economic standpoint, limited use of local labour lessens a project’s local benefits. Smith and Zheng (2016) acknowledge that this characterization may sometimes be exaggerated, but confirm that importing Chinese workers may be an explicit strategy for certain firms because it brings several benefits: Chinese workers obediently follow Chinese company rules; they are more focused on work than local employees; as migrants living in company-based industrial dormitories, they can be tightly controlled and will submit to compulsory overtime; and they are less able to organize and voice concerns collectively. In 2018, nearly one million Chinese workers were working overseas. Among the 492,000 workers sent abroad in 2018, approximately 227,000 undertook foreign contract projects (where Chinese enterprises sent their workers abroad for contracted projects operated by these enterprises in other countries) and 265,000 were involved in foreign labour service co-operation projects (which involve special recruitment agencies authorized by the Chinese government dispatching Chinese workers to overseas employers) (Zou, 2019).

Statistics show the Chinese labour minimum wage levels continue to grow. The average minimum salary level in China is US$216 per month in 2020 (Devonshire-Ellis, 2020), which covers 98 different cities and regions in China and the minimum wage levels applicable in each. However, in 2020, Shanghai continues to have the highest minimum wage in China, at US$358 per month, followed by Shenzhen and Beijing, both at US$318 per month (Zhou & Zhang, 2021). According to China Briefing, “minimum wage” in China is misleading, because employers have to contribute an additional 50 percent in overhead mandatory expenses on top. Yet the minimum wage levels in each of the countries and territories that have signed up to the BRI have an average minimum wage of US$273 per month which is higher than the China national average in 2020 (Devonshire-Ellis, 2020). However, this average outcome has been influenced by some fairly wealthy nations, such as New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, and several European countries. Therefore, there is no requirement for a Chinese company to entirely employ Chinese workforce for BRI projects instead they can employ available low-cost local skilled workers in many BRI host countries.

Impact of COVID-19 As countries work to contain the global spread of COVID-19, some are taking more drastic measures than others, including closing borders, banning travellers, quarantining foreigners, and rejecting cruise ships from docking at their ports. Many countries have enacted complete lockdowns, quarantine, and travel restrictions in response to the spread of COVID-19. The goal of the lockdowns and travel restrictions was to slow the spread of COVID-19 and prevent health systems from becoming

overwhelmed. Although such measures might have saved lives, they have come at a heavy socioeconomic cost. The World Bank’s projections point to the deepest global recession since World War 2, with millions of people falling into unemployment and poverty (World Bank, 2020). Due to this pandemic, businesses in every industry face the unexpected challenges of a global pandemic. While some industries have thrived during these difficult times, others have suffered trade restrictions, drastic drops in demand, and reduced availability of goods, services, and workers.

Impact of lockdowns and travel restrictions on the construction industryThe construction industry is a sector that has been hit particularly hard by COVID-19, with government guidelines putting a stop to construction work earlier in 2020 (CHAS, n.d.). The effect on the construction industry will vary in the different countries of the globe. Country-by-country variances in government regulations and travel restrictions relating to the pandemic have exacerbated these challenges. Social distancing rules are becoming increasingly important as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The construction industry experienced delays in various projects resulting from the lack of construction materials and workers. Travel/transport restrictions have had the biggest impact on the construction industry. Travel/transport restrictions were introduced during lockdown, preventing travel even between different towns and cities. The lack of workers was generally caused by the reduced mobility of local and foreign construction workers. The closed borders make it clear just how dependent the construction industry in some countries is on workers from other countries.

According to the ILO sectoral brief (ILO, 2021), depending on the severity of the public health crisis, as well as the timing and strictness of confinement measures, lockdowns impacting the construction sector have varied widely by location and project type. Further it says that in some countries, construction activities were deemed essential, for example timely construction of emergency facilities and hospitals was crucial in China and Italy. In South Africa, the maintenance of the country’s national roads was declared an essential service. In Eritrea, the construction sector, along with other major sectors deemed essential, was exempt from national lockdown. Where construction sites had been shut down, they were among the first to re-open in the early phases of reactivation plans after the first wave, such as in Austria, Barbados, and the Russian Federation. In other countries, containment measures involved total or partial shutdowns of construction sites. For example, the construction sector in the Maldives has been adversely affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic and one of a number of reasons was the suspension of works on sites for a number of weeks and shortage of workers (Adam et al., 2020). Construction sites in Kathmandu and other urban centres of Nepal came

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to a sudden halt after the lockdown due to disruptions in labour supply and other problems (Asia Foundation, 2020).

Impact due to lockdowns and travel restrictions on Belt and Road Infrastructure Project

Since the start of 2020, there has been a dip in BRI related activity due to the lockdown and then more recently, due to COVID-19 spread across the world. The COVID-19 pandemic is causing a slowdown in BRI investments, postponements in project timelines, and in some cases, suspension or even cancellation of projects due to local government spending curbs (Ellis, 2020). In June 2020, the director-general of the Foreign Ministry’s International Economic Affairs Department, revealed that 20% of BRI projects had been “seriously affected” by the virus, with up to 40% being “somewhat affected” (Shehadi, 2020). The General Manager of Liebherr Group, which is one of the largest manufacturers of construction machinery in the world, said that since the outbreak of the pandemic, several projects have been delayed due to lockdowns (Srinivasan, 2020).

A large number of Chinese engineering-technical personnel and labourers who returned to their homeland to celebrate the Chinese New Year prior to the COVID-19 outbreak were unable to go back to their construction sites due to travel and entry restrictions imposed by the countries along the Belt and Road (Hong, 2020). As borders closed and lockdowns were imposed, progress stalled on a number of major BRI infrastructure developments. The restrictions on the flow of Chinese workers also has become a contentious issue in some nations and has been cited as factors for project suspensions or slowdowns in Pakistan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Malaysia (Oxford Business Group, 2020). About 1,600 workers were involved in the construction work in the Colombo Port City but due to the COVID-19 pandemic the work was limited to 500 employees (Fernando, 2020).

The construction of Senj wind farm in Croatia has been delayed due to a delay in supplies, however, with hard work between Chinese and Croatian employees, 50 per cent of the contract value has so far been completed (Xinhua, 2020). Despite a brief delay, construction work on the China-Laos High Speed Railway resumed at the end of April 2020 (Freitas, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has inevitably delayed the Peljesac Bridge project in Croatia as production of steel box girders was halted, while international travel restrictions left it understaffed. However, to get back on schedule, the China Road and Bridge Corp even arranged a direct charter flight for its welders (China Daily, 2020). Montenegro’s Highway Bar–Boljare project also delayed, since large numbers of Chinese workers could not travel from China to Montenegro following the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (Jahns, Emmerich, Stojiljkovic, Jelisic, Rink, & Löffler, 2020). Indonesia’s high-speed railway project connecting

its capital Jakarta to the city of Bandung will be completed about two years later than initially scheduled due to labour challenges caused by to travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic (Diela, 2020).

This, however, is considered only a temporary setback as there have been no projects cancelled up to now (Srinivasan, 2020). The Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on 18th December 2020 at the 2020 Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing “Many [belt and road] projects have kept running without laying off employees during the COVID-19 pandemic on the premise of strictly controlling the epidemic situation. A number of new projects have been launched” (Zhang, 2020). Further, Wang said that China has increased investment in its flagship Belt and Road Initiative in 2020, and the country’s outbound direct investment along the belt and road route rose 30% in the first three quarters of 2020, up from 2019. Wang continued saying that Beijing would further promote fast tracks to ease the exchange of personnel and goods with belt and road partners to counteract the impact of the pandemic and also maintain supply chain security. Despite countries continuing to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are signs of stabilization in global construction markets and expected infrastructure-led recovery in 2021 (RICS Economics, 2020).

Conclusion Taken together, it is reasonable to assume that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused substantial delays in construction projects including BRI infrastructure projects due to lockdown and travel restrictions, put in place by many countries to curtail the coronavirus. There is also significant evidence that Chinese workers are deployed in many BRI projects in host countries due to workforce shortage and convenience. Further, the travel restrictions are interfering with construction works in many of the BRI projects. The current travel restrictions and social distancing measures are predicted to continue for some time. In the short-term, it is likely to result in a slowdown and postponements in the project timelines of the BRI infrastructure projects. However, BRI projects are gradually getting back on track despite challenges related to lockdown and worldwide travel restrictions.

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About the authorMajueran Kugathasan (Maya) is a PhD Doctoral Student at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. He is carrying out research on China’s Belt and Road Initiative implications on Sri Lanka’s Maritime Logistics Sector Human Resources Development in Becoming Logistics Centre in the Indian Ocean. He is an associate member (AMCIPM) of Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), Sri Lanka. Maya currently serves as a Director of BRISL, a Sri Lankan think tank focusing on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). He has extensive experience in support functions in the Humanitarian Aid sector. Maya can be contacted at: mayalk2000@gmail.com

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Developing front-line employees to manage negative customer to customer interactions in the retail industry: Lessons for human resource development in responding to COVID-19Alex Kay & Catharine Ross

AbstractThis paper addresses how Human Resource Development (HRD) practitioners can support front-line retail employees in managing negative interactions between customers arising as a result of COVID-19. Drawing on research into front-line supermarket employees’ management of customer-to-customer interactions undertaken pre-COVID-19, it identifies the limitations of existing HRD interventions focused on customer to employee interactions and the provision of scripts, and recommends development specific to the management of customer-to-customer interactions. In particular, it highlights the need for HRD practitioners to draw upon evidence from front-line employees when developing such interventions, and to empower front-line employees to adapt and develop responses appropriate to the specific interaction encountered.

IntroductionThe COVID-19 worldwide pandemic has drawn attention to the need for Human Resource development (HRD) practitioners to support employees in managing negative customer to customer (CCI) interactions in retail environments. Mainstream media has highlighted COVID-19 as a trigger to physical contact and fighting between customers as a result of panic buying behaviour, and customer irritation with fellow customers who do not follow government guidelines with regard to wearing masks (BBC, 2020b), or fail to follow supermarket social distancing rules (Guardian 2020). Such interactions have a negative effect upon the customer experience (Lovelock, 1994; Bitner, Booms & Mohr, 1994; Harris & Reynolds, 2004; Berry & Seiders 2008; Verhoef, et al., 2010) which is pivotal for achieving competitive advantage and satisfied customers (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2015; Bolton et al.,

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2014; Verhoef et al., 2009). Managing these incidents may also cause stress for front-line employees (FLEs) (Nicholls & Gad Mohsen, 2019), employees often leaving their workplace upset after trying to convince customers to follow government guidance around COVID-19 when negative CCI occurs (BBC, 2020a).

Although Baker and Kim (2018) found that customers perceive the service organization to be responsible for recovering negative CCI, and literature has mentioned the role of FLEs in managing it (Nicholls & Gad Mohsen, 2019), little research has focused upon this (ibid.). Literature on HRD to support FLEs in managing customer interactions has focused upon interactions between customers and FLEs rather than CCI, for example by giving FLEs ‘scripts’ or prescribed responses to manage customer to employee (C2E) conflict (Tansik & Smith, 1990). The negative CCI witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic however has further highlighted the need to equip FLEs to manage CCI as well. Through analysis of critical incidents recalled by FLEs this paper seeks to fill this gap and identify ways in which HRD may support FLEs in managing CCI.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:• What development is provided to supermarket

employees to support them in managing CCI?• How effective is this development from the employee

perspective?• How could the development be improved?

Importance of CCIIn recent years there has been a strong focus by researchers on examining the customer experience due to the competitive nature of the retail environment, Puccinelli et al. (2009) stating that understanding customer experience is vital to service workers. Research has highlighted many factors that influence the customer experience, such as the physical servicescape (Bitner, 1992) and ambience (Caldwell & Hibbert, 2002; Morin, Dube, & Chebat, 2007).

Much research has also been devoted to the C2E interaction and how it can be managed (cf. Bitner, Booms, & Tetreault, 1990; Harris, Baron, & Parker, 2000; Harris & Reynolds, 2004). However, there is another form of interaction that occurs that shapes the evaluation and perception of the service firm, the interaction with fellow customers (Martin & Pranter, 1989). The CCI literature has identified many different ways that customers interact, such as spoken conversation (Parker & Ward, 2000; Harris

& Reynolds 2004); pushing in whilst queuing (Grove & Fisk, 1997); and even violence between shoppers (Dorsey, Ashley & Oliver, 2016). CCI can have a positive (Harris et al., 1997; Wu, 2007) and negative (Lovelock, 1994; Bitner et al., 1994; Harris & Reynolds, 2003; Berry & Seiders 2008; Verhoef, et al., 2010) effect on the customer experience and satisfaction in the service environment, and Pranter and Martin (1991) therefore suggest that attention paid to CCI management would be as fruitful as attention historically devoted to C2E relations.

Management of CCIAlthough the impact of CCI on customer service is well documented (Grove & Fisk, 1997, Nicholls, 2010; Heinonen, Jaakkola & Neganova, 2018), the management of CCI is seldom explored. When managing CCI is discussed, two main forms are identified (Nicholls, 2010): CCI strategy, which focuses on the broader organization perspective and management of the customer profile (Martin & Pranter, 1989; Martin 1995; Baron et al., 1996), and those dealing

with the tools and techniques for managing CCI. However, although the FLE role in managing CCI at this non-strategic level has ‘frequent mention in the CCI literature, it has received minimal research consideration’ (Nicholls & Gad Mohsen, 2019, p. 801). This is despite the fact that the literature suggests the potential of using FLEs to deal with CCI, and provide a new means of competitive advantage (Nicholls, 2005). Instead, as indicated above, most research focuses upon equipping FLEs with the tools and techniques to manage C2E interactions.

Nevertheless, these tools and techniques for managing C2E interactions may be transferable to CCI, and so merit discussion. A key technique identified is the use of scripts (Tansik & Smith 1990). Scripts are ways to standardize employees’ responses when dealing with customers, in theory giving a more consistent service response (Nguyen et al., 2010). They provide a control mechanism for organizations when dealing with heterogeneous FLEs through setting out logical steps and actions to follow, for example when customers require assistance. However, the use of scripting for C2E interactions is contentious. Humphrey and Ashforth (1994) cited in Hartline and Ferrel (1996, p. 55) provide evidence that employees who ‘mindlessly’ follow a service script are less likely to meet the needs of the customer and more likely to make mistakes. Hartline and Ferrel (1996) identify that

The variety of potential CCI interactions from the great diversity of customers may for example

make it even more difficult to develop standardized scripts, and thus require HRD professionals to adopt different approaches to employee development.

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managers committed to service quality should instead utilize behaviour-based evaluation when training their employees, empowering service workers to make their own decisions in regard to management techniques where scripts are not always useful. Certainly, studies into the techniques FLEs actually use has indicated that they often find it necessary to adapt formal scripts (Gatta, 2009), with more experienced employees developing their own more detailed scripts (Solomon et al., 1985).

The need to involve FLEs in developing scripts chimes with calls from evidence-based management (EBM) literature to involve a range of stakeholders including employees in developing management techniques (Briner, Denyer & Rousseau, 2009). Certainly, given that FLEs are those that are most likely to see customer interactions, using their experience as EBM suggests would allow organizations to gather vital information to inform employee development.

Moreover, not only may scripts be inappropriate, but FLEs may not feel they have the authority to deviate from them even when they recognize their inappropriateness (Bitner et al., 1994). A lack of self-efficacy, defined as ‘beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the course of action required to produce given attainments’ (Bandura, 1997, p. 5) may also prevent FLEs from adapting scripts and managing the CCI effectively. Service workers’ increased self-efficacy in relation to managing customers and clients has been associated with enhanced performance (Kim et al., 2018; De Simone et al., 2018), reduced turnover intention (ibid.) and a reduction in employee burnout (Jeung et al., 2017). Unlike some other individual characteristics, however, it is modifiable (ibid.). This raises the possibility of it being increased or decreased by the development offered, for example through training which shows managers’ belief in FLE’s ability to manage customer interactions (Kim et al., 2018). Conversely, a failure to seek FLE input when deciding how to manage interactions may reduce FLE self-efficacy by suggesting the opposite.

The lack of research into the FLE experience of managing CCI is therefore a key problem for HRD practitioners seeking to support the management of negative CCI arising from COVID-19. The development given to FLEs to manage C2E interactions, even if appropriate in those situations, may not be appropriate where more than one customer is involved. The variety of potential CCI interactions from the great diversity of customers may for example make it even more difficult to develop standardized scripts, and thus require HRD professionals to adopt different approaches to employee development. In line with EBM approaches, therefore, this research explores FLE perceptions of the development provided to them to manage CCI and its effectiveness, and uses this to develop recommendations that service organizations can use to enhance this important aspect of HRD.

MethodsNumerous techniques have been utilized to capture customers interacting that include questionnaires (Baron, Harris & Davies, 1996); in-depth interviews (McGrath & Otnes, 1995); observations (McGrath & Otnes, 1995); and ethnographic studies (Harris & Baron, 2004). Within the services industry, previous studies have successfully used a method named the critical incident technique (CIT) to explore phenomenon related to customer interactions (Grove & Fisk, 1997; Harris & Baron, 2004; Baron et al., 1996). Critical incident technique is a ‘story telling’ method that ‘provides a rich source of data by allowing respondents to determine which incidents are the most relevant to them for the phenomenon being investigated’ (Gremler, 2004, p. 66). Nicholls and Gad Mohsen (2019) identified in their study that FLEs could accurately recall CCI utilizing CIT and were able to provide management techniques. This is therefore the method adopted in this study, which also found that FLEs were able to provide rich data and scenarios involving CCI and the use of scripting for dealing with multiple customers.

The study occurred across three stores (of a well-known supermarket chain) in the West Midlands region in the UK as part of a larger CCI study. Access was granted to the company via a single gatekeeper who had worked for the company for 17 years. There were 22 employees interviewed across three stores and they were recruited via purposive, homogenous sampling that focused on a sub-group of employees (the front-line employee) rather than the entirety of supermarket employees. The following traits were present across the sample group: • FLEs had completed all mandatory staff training.• Staff training was signed off by management.

The interviews were conducted across a 12-week period from Spring 2018 to the middle of summer 2018 in the store cafeteria or employee meeting rooms. Interviewees were in the age range 18-63, which is representative of the age range of the organization. There were 14 females and 8 males interviewed, which corresponds to the gender weighting of the organization’s FLE demographic breakdown, with more female front-line employees across the company nationwide. There were wide and varied roles of FLEs, all of which deal with customers or are in a position to witness CCI. These roles ranged from cleaners and bakery assistants, through to managers and car park attendants. The most common role was cashier assistants, which is representative of the most common role within the company. The range of experience was also representative of the company, with one FLE who had six months of experience (the minimum amount of time required to pass the training) and an employee who had been at the company for 26 years.

Customers were recruited at the main entrance as they entered or left the store and interviewed in the customer cafeteria or meeting room provided by the organization. The interviewer explained the study, assured them of confidentiality and then offered the opportunity to participate. Around 1 in 4 customers agreed to the

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interview, the main reason for declining being time restrictions. Interview questions were based on previous studies and used Flanagan’s (1954) CIT techniques to help gather uninterrupted rich stories from both customers and employees, the first question asking the participant to recall a time they had interacted with another customer or witnessed CCI. A full breakdown of the interview process and questions for customers can be found in appendix 1.1. Employees were recruited in the staff cafeteria and were either interviewed in the staff cafeteria, or in the customer cafeteria for added privacy away from their colleagues and managers. The interviewer had a desk in the staff café and approached employees either during their break, before their shift or after their shift. The process involved explaining the research interests, screening the employee to make sure they fit the sample criteria and arranging a time for the interview to take place. The interviews occurred at the most convenient time for employees, which was quite often during their break or after shift. A full breakdown of the interview process and questions for customers can be found in appendix 1.1. On average, each interview lasted between 10 and 30 minutes for both customers and employees.

Interviews were transcribed and analysed utilizing Braun and Clarke’s (2013) 7 steps of thematic analysis:

1. Transcription2. Reading and familiarization3. Coding – complete; across entire dataset4. Searching for themes5. Reviewing themes6. Defining and naming themes7. Writing – finalizing analysis

Utilizing the 7 steps, thematic analysis allowed for patterns and trends to emerge from the data and address the research questions. Familiarization of the transcripts occurred via initial scanning and reading of the documents, following by complete coding and annotation before grouping the themes together. Once the codes had been placed together with similar attributes and contents, the themes were then labelled appropriately and written up in a more comprehensive manner. Themes were conceptualized through scrutinizing and choosing the most significant ones based on frequency and conviction, in line with the study’s aims. The final stage involved actively reviewing themes to refine and streamline, removing any data that was not relevant to the study. The themes were then written up and those relevant to this paper are presented in the findings below.

FindingsOverall, three main themes emerged relevant to FLE development in relation to CCI. The first theme focused on the development of CCI training; the second, the lack of empowerment for employees to develop their own scripts, and third, the need for EBM to inform development.

Lack of development around CCIOut of 22 employees interviewed, 16 of them said they did not receive training for specific CCI scenarios. The other employees suggested that the official training focused on general C2E scenarios that had relevance to CCI, rather than specific techniques that focused on CCI. For example, employees frequently stated that ‘they receive training for dealing with one customer, but certainly not two’.

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The training that they did receive for C2E encounters revolved around standardized scripting techniques, where there are ‘step by step processes to go through’, such as always offering alternatives to customers. Employees note that these techniques had to be adapted for CCI because ‘we don’t receive training for that sort of thing’. For example, during C2E encounters employees identified that they were always told to ‘provide alternatives when the item was sold out’, ensuring that customers were left with different options if their original choice was no longer available. However, employees adapted this technique to satisfy CCI scenarios, such as when customers have been hording items or taking the last product in stock. Employees suggested they perceived it to be a successful technique as they often phrased it to suggest they were giving the customer a better deal. For example, an incident involved a customer who was unhappy that another customer took all of the reduced products from the discount section. When confronted with the agitated customer, the employee offered different choices to the customer:

‘I offered him an alternative and was quite positive I might have even said ‘that stuff is reduced for a reason let’s get you a better one’ and then showed him a few options.’

The employee stated that customer was happy with the alternatives provided and suggested that the C2E training was adaptable for these simple types of situations where the essence of interactions is similar to C2E.

However, although C2E can be adapted at times, employees identified that this was not possible in all situations. When the CCI interaction was similar in nature to a C2E scenario, they could utilize their scripting techniques. However, C2E training could not be utilized when examples were more complex such as customers arguing or cutting in front during queues at the checkouts. Employees indicated that when these situations occurred, they would often ignore the situation because they ‘did not know what else to do’. One employee, for example, identified that they overheard an argument between customers, and ‘just tried to play a deaf ear and act like I can’t hear them’ because they ‘didn’t have a solution to the problem’. This was a common theme throughout – that employees simply disregarded the CCI if their original C2E training could not be adapted. Employees indicated they would speak to if spoken to, but try and ignore the situation, even walking away:

‘I’m not ignoring them if they speak to me ... I always respond but when I hear two customers with a problem talking I don’t always intervene because that’s a solution I don’t have. When they’re complaining about something I can’t help I don’t see the point in me responding I just ignore it or walk away.’Another employee stated they would ‘just try and ignore

it … pretend to be busy or something’, actively trying to discourage customers from drawing them into the situation.

In fact one employee suggested that using the scripts given for C2E could make some CCI situations worse:

‘The situations given in training are quite standard and nothing like this (CCI). Asking the customers ‘if there is anything else I can help them with’ just seems totally pointless and like I would agitate them.’

One type of CCI for which C2E scripts were often found to be inappropriate was when the CCI involved customers becoming aggressive towards each other. Employees indicated that during their training for C2E, they were told to get support from other employees when a customer became aggressive towards them. ‘One of the first things we’re told about is getting supervisors or managers involved if you feel intimidated or are being abused because they have the authority to refuse service and ask them to leave with security.’ When CCI involved customers becoming aggressive towards each other

some employees stated that they ‘followed [C2E] training protocol’ to inform security and

senior management as ‘soon as possible’ to deal with the incident.

However, this is not necessarily an appropriate strategy for aggressive CCI situations. Fetching a manager or fellow employee for an aggressive customer during C2E is possible because the customer is waiting

for the employee to return and should not cause additional

harm. Yet, during an aggressive CCI situation the situation could

escalate between customers if they are left unattended. Employees stated that the origin

of this script is a concern for the safety of the employee and involves employees getting support from security and senior members of staff, however, during CCI the safety of fellow customers’ needs to be taken into consideration. Employees therefore sometimes reported deviating from the provided script because standard training left them underequipped. For example, a drunken customer caused a disturbance to another customer by shouting loudly. The C2E solution provided by the training was for the FLE to call for security and have him escorted off the premises, however, this employee adapted their script to keep the customer safe, using their discretion to change the script process:

‘One man came in very drunk and was being loud in the alcohol section and even a young lady said to him I don’t think you need anymore, so I got the lady to go and get security whilst I waited with him to make sure he didn’t cause a scene.’

Although security was called, the employee adapted the training received and used another customer to help manage the situation. The location of the incidents also affected the relevance of the C2E scripts provided.

One type of CCI for

which C2E scripts were often found to be inappropriate was

when the CCI involved customers becoming aggressive towards

each other

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Employees indicated that CCI incidents often occurred in areas of the store that were not covered in their C2E training, such as in the aisles, front of the store and at the end of the aisles blocking walkways, whereas their training focused on dealing with C2E in locations such as the checkouts or customer service desk. The fact that CCI interaction locations were much more diverse and occurred throughout the store often left FLEs feeling unprepared.

Lack of empowerment for employees to develop their own scriptsIn spite of the fact that the scripts provided during C2E training were often inappropriate for CCI, many employees identified that they did not feel empowered to adapt the scripts and instead, as indicated above, often ignored CCI when it needed to be managed. Some employees felt compelled to use scripts even though they were inappropriate. A café assistant, with 21 years’ experience noticed a positive interaction being interrupted by an employee because the training indicated they should:

‘My son came in here and whilst I was tidying up to finish my shift, he took a tray over for an elderly couple. A colleague took the tray off him and helped the customers.’

When asked why the employee intervened when a positive interaction occurred the employee suggested it was universal training and general policy not to let customers carry a tray if they are struggling, further highlighting that scripting for C2E is not always suited to CCI. The interruption during the positive CCI incident was bad for the customer experience, but followed the protocols of the company set out via the training provided.

Given the wide variety of CCI possible within the service environment providing detailed scripts for every possible CCI encounter is not only highly unlikely, but not desirable for service firms. Small details, such as the demographic of the customer, may alter which is the most appropriate script or technique to use. However, many FLEs felt they were not empowered to make adaptations. If FLEs did not feel able to adapt C2E scripts, they found CCI situations a source of anxiety, stress and even embarrassment, with responses indicating it was ‘the least favourite part of the job’. In contrast, employees who did alter their scripts viewed CCI in a much more positive manner. In fact, the employees who indicated they did not enjoy CCI, were the employees who did not adapt their scripting techniques and were left feeling helpless, whereas employees who felt empowered to change their scripts identified that they often ‘enjoyed the challenge’. Interestingly, there were no obvious training differences between employees who felt empowered to change the script and those that did not, suggesting that other factors such as pre-existing skills sets, personality, and level of self-efficacy may be relevant.

The need for EBM to inform FLE developmentEmployees who did feel empowered to deviate from scripts and techniques given during training or to develop their

own, drew upon their previous experience to do so. Some FLEs reported finding distracting customers from the initial CCI situation to be an effective way of managing the situation. For example, a customer was blocking an aisle with their trolley and was going to block other customers from passing around them. This situation could be heightened due to the COVID-19 pandemic where customers do not want to touch a fellow customer’s trolley due to spreading of the virus, whereas employees could step in with disinfectant spray. In this example, an employee did step in and physically move the trolley out of the way but tried to distract the customer by asking how their day was and if they were ok, hoping they would not notice they were being moved out of the way for other customers. When prompted further the employee stated:

‘I just quite politely ask them to move and make a light-hearted comment about something in their trolley or about something in general. That sort of gets their trust and then I say ‘you don’t mind If we move this trolley or have this conversation at the end of the aisle do you?’ and they always don’t mind or apologize it is just a better way of doing it than ‘can you move.’

In this instance the distraction technique did not actually manage an existing CCI but rather prevented a potentially negative CCI from occurring. As well as managing existing CCI, more experienced employees were therefore also able to spot potentially negative CCI and had developed techniques to prevent it. In addition to the distraction technique identified above, experienced FLEs also prevented negative CCI by educating customers. For example, one FLE reported that:

‘If people are taking too long with their cards and money and there is a big queue I will actually start to call out down the line that “can you have your cards and money ready please to save time” and that sort of speeds the process up and prepares them so its quicker.’

The study found no evidence, however, of the organization following EBM and drawing upon the evidence gathered by experienced FLEs to develop others. Given that CCI often occurred in locations usually only visible to FLEs, this failure to use their experience to inform HRD not only left other less experienced or confident FLEs ill-equipped to manage CCI, but also made it difficult for HRD practitioners in the organization to evaluate the development that had been provided.

Discussion The study revealed that, not only has the management of CCI been largely overlooked in the past in the academic literature, but also in the practitioner sphere by at least one major supermarket chain. Reflecting the academic literature’s focus on C2E interactions (Bitner et al., 1990; Harris, Baron & Parker, 2000; Harris & Reynolds, 2004), the study showed that HRD in the supermarket chain pre-pandemic had focused upon the management of interactions between the FLEs and individual customers. This is despite the academic literature having recognized

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the impact of CCI on customer service (Grove & Fisk, 1997, Nicholls, 2010; Heinonen et al., 2018) and employee well-being (Nicholls & Gad Mohsen, 2019). In line with literature suggesting that negative CCI might cause employee stress (Nicholls & Gad Mohsen, 2019), FLEs who felt unable to manage CCI reported it to be one of the worst elements of their job. However, the study also found that those who felt able to manage it found it one of the most rewarding, pointing to the potential for HRD in relation to CCI to increase FLE job satisfaction, with potential effects on engagement, retention, and performance (De Simone et al., 2018).

Developing De Simone et al (2018)’s findings that job satisfaction, engagement, and self-efficacy were positively interrelated, the study revealed that FLEs found managing CCI rewarding when they had a high level of self-efficacy, i.e. believed that they had the capacity to select the appropriate action. Conversely, it was those FLEs who lacked self-efficacy in relation to CCI, indicating that they felt ‘helpless’, who reported its negative effects.

This finding is particularly problematic for retail organizations facing increased negative CCI as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the study supports existing academic literature in revealing HRD’s reliance upon providing scripts for FLEs to manage interactions with customers (Tansik & Smith, 1990). Moreover, and again in line with the academic literature, these scripts were mostly developed to manage C2E interactions. Not only did the provision of scripts therefore potentially undermine FLE self-efficacy which other forms of development might have enhanced (Kim et al., 2018), but also were often reported by FLEs to be inappropriate for most CCI situations, reflecting the criticisms previously levelled at script-based

development (Hartline & Ferrel, 1996). CCI situations were reported to be more varied; more complex (because of the multiple customers involved); found in a wider range of locations; and affecting the well-being of a wider range of stakeholders than C2E interactions, and therefore required FLEs to use different and more varied management techniques to enable them to respond successfully to the specific situation faced. Lacking self-efficacy, however, many FLEs reported that they avoided managing CCI or used scripts which they knew to be inappropriate. Given the severity of some of the CCI reported as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the reluctance of FLEs to manage negative CCI, or the decision to manage it inappropriately, could have severe consequences not only for the customer and employee experience but also potentially their health and safety.

Conclusions and implications The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened attention to the existence of CCI and its potential impact upon customer and employee experience in retail organizations. In relation to our first research question, the findings of this study reveal the limited development given to FLEs pre-pandemic to manage such interactions in one supermarket chain, and highlight the importance of HRD practitioners in retail organizations developing interventions to support FLEs in managing CCI as well as C2E.

In relation to the second question, the findings indicate that the development given to FLEs focused upon C2E interactions rather than CCI, and upon the provision of scripts which were not only often inappropriate for the wide range of CCI encountered but also reduced FLE

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self-efficacy to manage CCI more effectively. In relation to the third research question, therefore, the findings suggest that rather than focusing upon provision of scripts which may be inappropriate, HRD should seek to empower FLEs to make their own decisions about the most appropriate way to manage the specific interaction encountered. While others have called for organizations to be explicit about the requirement for service workers to engage in C2E and assess for relevant C2E skills in recruitment and selection, for example through realistic job previews (see for example Costakis & Pickern, 2018), we suggest that they also need to incorporate the need to manage CCI into this. In order to achieve this, however, HRD would need to follow EBM’s advice to gather evidence from FLEs, as they are the ones most likely to witness CCI and are often the only ones present in the locations where much CCI occurs. EBM would also enable more experienced FLEs to suggest more appropriate techniques to those FLEs who may be less experienced or have lower levels of self-efficacy.

In addition to recruiting FLEs with the necessary skills to manage CCI the study suggests that HRD practitioners in retail organizations should also seek ways of developing FLE self-efficacy, so they feel able to make decisions in relation to the management of CCI. EBM could again contribute here as it would indicate managerial and HRD confidence in the ability of FLEs to identify appropriate strategies, in contrast to the current practice of providing scripts which is more likely to undermine FLE self-efficacy. The evidence from experienced FLEs could also be used to develop role play scenarios which again could increase FLE self-efficacy in dealing with CCI. In summary, our study suggests that many retail FLEs are likely to have been under-prepared to deal with the CCI arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; our hope is that by adopting these recommendations HRD practitioners will ensure that FLEs are better prepared in the future.

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Limitations and future researchCIT is a retrospective technique, which can lead to recall errors by participants (Zhang et al., 2010). This study relied on participants’ recollection of incidents that may not have been accurate or truthful, especially from the FLE perspective if they felt their competence of their role was in question. Additionally, there is a potential for a biased sample due to the sampling method used when recruiting participants. Martin (1996) identified that some customers are more likely to engage and interact with fellow customers, which indicates this could occur with self-selection regarding interviews and CIT. The findings within this study are exploratory in nature and in line with other studies for the number of interviews collected (Gremler, 2004; Saunders & Townsend, 2016), however the study may not be generalizable to other locations within the U.K and in other countries. Although the GDP of the area is in line with national average, a wider spread of locations across the country would have enhanced the study and understanding of CCI. Although there were three different locations, they were all within a 50-mile radius and in the West Midlands.

Future research could address some of these limitations by utilizing alternative methods such as observations, and extending the research to a wider range of locations. Researching CCI in a wider range of companies would also enhance the generalizability of the findings as different retailers may have different customer demographic profiles. Finally, given the suggested role of self-efficacy in the effective management of CCI, it would be useful to measure the impact of different HRD strategies on FLE self-efficacy in relation to this important role.

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AppendicesAppendix 1.1 - Interview plan: Customers

As the interviews are semi-structured the questions are just a guide and varied among participants.

Before the tape

- Introductions- Thanks- Explain project including anonymity- Any questions

Start tape

Data that is collected at the start - Age- Gender

General background questions- How frequently do you visit this supermarket?

Personal CCI Incidents- Can you tell me the last time you interacted with a customer in the supermarket? - Can you please describe the incident in as much detail as possible?- How did you feel?

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- Do you actively seek out other customers to interact with or try keep yourself to yourself ?

Location of CCI incidents- Where have you interacted with other customers?

Employees role in managing CCI- Has a member of staff ever intervened when you have been interacting with another customer? If so, can you describe what happened?- If no, would it have made a difference if an employee intervened? - What could they have done?

Thank you very much for your help I really do appreciate it. Anything else you would like to add?

Stops tape.

Appendix 1.2 - Interview plan: Employees

As the interviews are semi-structured the questions are just a guide and varied among participants.

Before the tape

- Introductions- Thanks- Explain project including anonymity- Any questions

Start tape

Data that is collected at the start - Age- Gender

General background questions- What is your job role at the company?- How long have you worked at the company? Did you work elsewhere in retailing? - If so, how long have you worked in retailing?

CCI Incidents witnessedThe following shall only be used if the participant is unsure about the phrase ‘incident’ or ‘interaction’. An incident is described as one that makes a significant contribution, either positively or negatively, to an activity or phenomenon. In terms of this research, an incident will be a time where an interaction occurred between two customers).

An interaction is classified as times you have witnessed customers interact such as face-to-face conversations, spoken about products, communicated whilst in a queue or asked about information on certain products between themselves etc.

Questions (and probes) for employees

Identifying and explaining the incidents1. Can you describe a customer-to-customer interaction you witnessed?- Did it seem a negative or a positive experience based on what you heard or their body language?

2. Did you become involved? How?- Can you remember how you felt whilst managing the incident?

3. If they think they do not witness any incidents – is it because interactions between customers do not occur, or if they are not trained in spotting the incidents?

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About the authors

- If they do notice CCI occurring but do not intervene, I ask them why?’

Personal experience and training1. Can you recall any training for CCI management?

2. Has this helped you to manage CCI? - Why/ Why not?

3. Has previous experience helped you to manage CCI? - If yes, in what ways?

4. How do you feel whilst negative CCI occurs?

Thank you very much for your help I really do appreciate it. Anything else you would like to add?

Stops tape.

Alex Kay is a Lecturer in Sports Business Management at Hartpury University, with research interests in services marketing, fan engagement and the customer experience.

Catharine Ross is a senior lecturer in Human Resource Management and Programme Leader for the PhD at Worcester Business School, with research interests in human resource development, diversity management and business ethics.

Impact of HR policies and practices on organizational justice, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

Udaya Priyasantha Rathnayake

AbstractOrganizational justice, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviour are emerging topics in the business world. Human Resource Leaders must play a vital role in any organization while managing employees. Employees are an essential asset for organizations. COVID-19 has interrupted the business results of organizations and created many challenges within the business world. There is a situation in many organizations where they need to adjust HR policies and practices or implement new policies and procedures to manage employees and control costs.

The study aimed to investigate the ways of modifying HR practices to face the COVID-19 business challenges and, identify the possibility of enhancing organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) through organizational justice and job satisfaction when modifying or implementing HR policies and practices.

A quantitative method was used to collect data from 115 HR leaders from 115 companies in Sri Lanka. Nine hypotheses were identified, and they were tested by using SPSS statistical software, SOBEL Test, and Baron and Kenny approach.

The results indicated that HR policies and practices, procedural justice and job satisfaction are positively related to OCB. In addition, the relationship between HR policies and practices and OCB was mediated by procedural justice and job satisfaction (sequential mediation). A mediation analysis was done to test the mediating effects. The results show that procedural justice is fully mediated between HR policies and practices and OCB; procedural justice is fully mediated between HR policies and practices and job satisfaction; and job satisfaction is fully mediated between HR policies and OCB.

Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed. Also, this study will help organizations and managers including HR leaders, to enhance organizational citizenship behaviour while enhancing organizational justice and job satisfaction when implementing HR policies and practices within organizations.

The study used organizational policies, procedures, and practices to determine organizational justice, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviour, and checked only HR leaders’ perceptions. Future studies can consider other factors and non-HR leaders’ perceptions.

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IntroductionOperating businesses while facing the global pandemic of COVID-19 is quite challenging. More than 200 countries worldwide have a significant impact on their economies and societies due to the pandemic. Perhaps the pandemic has also affected the day-to-day lives of the general public. Thus, people’s income level is going down, inflation is going up, and the ratio of job losses is also going up. Meanwhile, A variety of conversations are taking place about the impact of COVID-19 and its implications for workplaces, working methods, and Human Resource Management (HRM) (Rathnayake, 2020b). After and during the pandemic, the business firms became more challenging, and most of them are struggling to maintain the business results. Hence, now it is necessary to think differently and implement or revamp policies and practices to face the challenge. HRM has a responsibility to get an additional commitment from the workforce tactfully. They should feel that an organization is fairly treating its employees. Having fair policies and practices is very important to boost employees’ job satisfaction and get

their maximum contribution towards achieving company goals and objectives. When employees feel job satisfaction, they are willing to engage more in their work (Sehunoe et al., 2015). Employee engagement is defined as a positive, motivational state of work-related wellbeing that is fulfilling and effective (Bakker et al., 2008).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the staff and companies are experiencing many challenges. The companies cannot run as previously, especially during the outbreak, as work culture and work patterns have been changed and modified. The business impact of COVID-19 may remain for a couple of years. Still, there is no strong indication as to when the pandemic will end and businesses can normalize the business and business results. Hence, it is necessary to modify current policies and practices. Employees are more concerned about organizational justice, job satisfaction and expect fair treatment from their beloved organizations during this situation. Without keeping them happy, it is difficult to get an extra commitment from them. If they feel that the company treats all the employees fairly and struggles to keep the business up, they will commit to the company. Therefore, employees who are engaged experience positive emotions and work towards the goals of the organization. The perceptions of psychological contract violations by employers and belief that promises made had not been met were likely to result in lower trust, poorer job attitudes and reduced job performance (Robinson, 1996).

It leads organizations to provide quality customer service and ensure that the organizations’ objectives are met

more efficiently. Organizational Citizenship Behaviour is another concept that helps organizations to get additional commitment from employees without any cost. Therefore, this study is significant for every organization to boost employee and organizational performance. Also, especially in the COVID-19 outbreak, it will help to maintain the business results.

Organizational behaviour is one of the various factors that contribute to the success of a business. It is important to consider the behaviour of the people inside the organization because employees play a significant role in the business’ day-to-day operations. In the past, Dennis Organ and his colleagues coined the term “Organizational Citizenship Behaviour” (OCB). Organ (1988) defined OCB as individual behaviours of the employees outside of their required tasks and does not directly influence the formal reward system. Moreover, these behaviours could collectively contribute to the effective functioning of the organization. OCB is considered as an essential factor that significantly contributes to the survival of an organization in the long run. Many organizations, though, considered

OCB as small voluntary acts of the employees which sometimes do not matter at all. They have underestimated these simple actions of the employees in the organization, and many organizations do not value them.

During the COVID-19 situation, employees are facing many social and economic difficulties. Therefore, organizations have a responsibility to look after their employees well. If the employees feel they are being treated fairly by the organization, it leads to positive attitudes among them to put in extra effort to better the organization. But, for that, HR should ensure that the company is practising fair treatment for employees and confirming the organizational justice. It indicates how the company puts in effort to get an extra commitment from employees. It shows additional voluntary commitment, and it interprets the Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB). The OCB upholds a positive organizational culture that reinforces employee engagement, employee commitment, employee motivation, and job performance (Basu et al., 2017).

Purpose of the study and problem statementSome research has been conducted on how this COVID-19 pandemic affects business firms and the relationship between organizational justice and employees’ job satisfaction. Most of the studies (Biswas et al., 2013, Malhotra et al., 2020, Strom et al., 2014) proved that

It is important to consider the behaviour of the people inside the organization because employees play a

significant role in the business’ day-to-day operations.

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there is a positive relationship between organizational justice and job satisfaction. Also, after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, some studies have taken place and identified which ways affect business results. But there are minimal studies about how this outbreak impacts Human Resources Management and how HR would be modified to face the current and expected challenges. The researcher did not find any study regarding how HR practices affect organizational justice and how the organizational justice affects job satisfaction and OCB due to fair HR practices. This study investigates how HR practices would be modified to face the COVID-19 business challenges and how HR practices can establish organizational justice to enhance job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour. This study analyses Human Resources professionals’ perceptions identifying new HR trends in the industry.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, Human Resource Managers are facing many challenges. Most organizations are struggling to maintain their business results. With the seriousness of this pandemic, businesses are in a problematic zone as they are having difficulty affording some of their basic expenses. Due to business drop, some of the organizations retrenched some of the employees as they are not in a position to pay employee salaries. According to labour law in Sri Lanka, employee reduction is not always possible as most of the employees are in the permanent cadre. Hence, it is necessary to look after them while getting extra commitment without maintaining the business results. It is now necessary to modify the HR policies and practices as more convenient to face COVID-19 with maintaining employee health and minimizing the impact for organizations. Most of the companies are struggling to adjust the company policies and practices with balancing staff and business results. Therefore, this study will guide HR practitioners to minimize the impact from Human Resources Management perspectives and look after staff members by satisfying them and getting their extra effort to normalize the company’s business results. The following are the main and other research questions of the study.

• What is the relationship between fair HR policies and practices and Organizational Justice in organizations?

• How does organizational justice affect enhancing job satisfaction when implementing fair HR policies and practices?

• What is the relationship between Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour?

• How can organizations face the challenges of COVID-19 while strengthening fair HR policies and practices?

Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study are:• To examine the relationship between fair HR

policies and practices and organizational justice in organizations, HR Leaders perceptions

• To identify how organizational justice can enhance the job satisfaction of employees in organizations.

• To identify the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour in organizations.

• To examine the possibility of enhancing job satisfaction and OCB to face challenges of COVID-19 while strengthening fair HR practices through organizational justice.

Literature reviewCOVID-19According to current information, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) started from Wuhan City, China and engulfed the entire world, and was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020. Currently, medical specialists recognize that the disease causes respiratory illness (like the flu) with symptoms such as a cough, fever, and in more severe cases, difficulty breathing. This pandemic has badly affected many countries, including Sri Lanka. The worst thing is that this situation has impacted economy and society in different ways. At the time of writing (04/07/2021), there have been 183,271,983 confirmed cases reported and 3,966,551 deaths in the world (https://news.google.com/covid19/map), while 264,057 confirmed cases and 3,191 deaths have been reported from Sri Lanka (https://covid19.gov.lk/covid-19-stats). The outbreak has created severe economic consequences worldwide, and it seems it has affected almost all countries. This not only has implications for the economy; all of society is affected, which has led to dramatic changes in how businesses act, and consumers behave (Donthu & Gustafsson, 2020). Hence, it has been discovered that there should be justifiable strategies in place to manage the economy and care for the community while facing the pandemic (Rathnayake, 2020a).

HR policies and practices towards organizational justice When having discussions with a couple of HR leaders, they have confirmed that they have adjusted some HR policies and practices to face challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic while managing the cost of the organizations. As per previous research, organisational justice is a tool that shows the fairness of the practices of organizations. Organizations depend on policies to reduce injustice and guide decision-making (Sitkin & Bies, 1994), but creating policies does not ensure that employees will accept them as fair. Managers can be biased when applying policies to different employees, but it is harmful to the organization. When implementing and applying policies and practices, it should be justified to prove fairness to all employees. Unfair treatment leads to less co-operation with co-workers and decreases the quality of collaboration (Greenberg, 1987). Organizations must have fair practices related to hiring, performance appraisal, reward systems, and reduction of conflicts, resulting in improving employees’ perception of

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the organization (James & Cropanzano, 1994). In addition to that, Brown et al. (2010) conducted a study on “The importance of policy in perceptions of organizational justice, with 164 trade union members taking part as respondents”, and identified that (a) individuals make judgments about the fairness of policies that are distinct from other forms of justice, (b) perceptions of policy justice predict variance in behaviours beyond other forms of justice, and (c) perceptions of policy justice interact with distributive and procedural justice to predict behaviours.

Organizational justice Organizational justice is a trendy subject among Human Resource Management professionals who drive people towards business goals in organizations. According to Greenberg (1982), Organizational Justice is employees’ perception and reaction about fairness in an organization. To get employees actively involved, it is necessary to ensure the organizational justice. People who believe that someone has mistreated them can experience a range of negative consequences, such as anger, isolation, and stress (Cortina & Magley, 2009, Harlos & Pinder, 2000, Paul & Riforgiate, 2015, Tripp & Bies, 2010). If employees feel that they are experiencing unfair HR practices, it may create many more issues and complications. Organizational Justice indicates equity, norms, values, ethics, fairness, rules and regulations etc. Organizational and HR policies and practices interpret organizational justice.

As organizations face many challenges due to this pandemic, it is necessary to look at all the possible ways to reverse the business results to normal. Enhancing organizational justice is a greater way to encourage employees to get their extra commitments while satisfying them about how organizations are looking after them during the pandemic. Organizational justice has become a key predictor of employees’ job satisfaction in management and organizational behaviour. Organizational justice

can be defined as employees’ perception about fairness within the organization (Greenberg & Colquitt, 2013). The perception of fairness an organization holds towards the outcomes of rewards and punishments, how they are received, how these outcomes are distributed among employees, and the interpersonal treatment they receive while receiving outcomes (Folger & Cropanzano, 1998). Organizational justice comprises four dimensions; distributive justice, procedural justice, interpersonal justice, and informational justice. This study will be defining how organizational justice influences fair HR policies and practices. Hence, it is more focused on procedural justice as it directly affects making and implementing fair policies within organizations. According to Greenberg (2011), Distributive justice states that employees’ perception of fairness in terms of how employees feel about the organization are about how rewards, recognition, pay are distributed. Procedural justice refers to how fair the procedures are that have been used to determine these outcomes: interpersonal justice and informational justice are defined as Interactional justice. Interactional justice refers to employees’ perception of fairness in terms of the interpersonal treatment they receive from their authority figures.

The concept of organizational justice was discussed by Adams (1965) based on equity theory. The theory assumes that a person makes judgment of equity or inequity based on an assessment of employee contribution to the organization through knowledge and effort, and their outcomes in contrast to others. They receive the outcome as pay and recognition. Initially the OJ was consisted of distributive justice only. Greenberg (1987) was the first person who invented the term organizational justice to describe the behaviour of the organization and the corresponding behaviour of employees to feelings of justice or injustice. Bies and Moag (1986) identified key aspects of the Interactional Justices, and it highlights how employees

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are being treated when procedures are implemented in the organization. It refers to way people are treated in an organization (Cropanzano et al., 2007). The way organizations treat people can be identified from four scales: truthfulness, respect, propriety, and justifications (Baldwin, 2006).

Procedural justiceBies and Moag (1986) specified that organizational justice goes beyond fairness of the job outcomes as explained by distributive justice and fairness of organizational procedures related to procedural justice. The researcher looked at how organizational justice interprets fair HR practices. Hence, this research is more focused on procedural justice than distributive justice and interactional justice. The key principle of procedural justice is that a voice in the development of an outcome enhances the perceived fairness in the workplace independent of the effects of its implementation (Greenberg, 2002). Procedural justice indicates why employees are concerned about the policies used to take decisions and the fairness and favourability of their outcomes (Kurian, 2018). In addition, as per Nabatchi et al. (2007), procedural justice states employees’ perceptions about the fairness of rules and procedures. The procedural justice can be categorized into voice principle, consistency, neutrality, accuracy, correctability, representativeness, and morality and ethicality (Leventhal et al., 1980). The researcher has identified that most research on organizational justice has focused on procedural justice characteristics, which emphasize introducing and implementing policies and practices. Leventhal (1980) proves that while introducing six aspects of procedural justice; (1) consistency in application across individuals and over time; (2) freedom from bias on the part of the decision-maker(s); (3) accuracy and completeness of information used to make the decision; (4) the opportunity to appeal an outcome; (5) the opportunity for those impacted by the outcome to voice their views and feelings; and (6) upholding ethical and moral standards of the individuals affected by the decision. In addition, organizational employees determine their work as fair or unfair through policies (Schminke et al., 2002). Therefore, procedural justice plays a unique role when introducing HR policies and practices within the organization.

• H1 There is a significant impact of HR Policies and Practices on Procedural Justice

• H2 Procedural Justice mediates the relationship between HR Policies and Practices and OCB

Procedural justice is independence, voice, or opportunity to be heard, and grounds for decisions (Bayles, 1990). Procedural issues such as neutrality of the process (Tyler & Lind, 1992), treatment of the participants (Bies & Moag, 1986, Lind &Tyler, 1988), and the trustworthiness of the decision-making authority (Tyler & Bies, 2015) are important to enhancing perceptions of procedural justice. Extensive literature supports procedural justice theories of satisfaction. The research suggests that if organizational policies and practices are perceived to be fair, employees

will be more satisfied, more willing to accept the resolution of that procedure, and more likely to form positive attitudes about the organization (Bingham, 1997, Tyler & Lind, 1992).

• H3 There is a significant impact of Procedural Justice on Job Satisfaction

• H4 Procedural Justice mediates the relationship between HR Policies and Practices and Job Satisfaction

Job satisfactionJob satisfaction has been extensively studied over the last 20 to 30 years in organizational and management researches. Also, job satisfaction has attracted a considerable amount of interest from researchers. Job satisfaction is a very famous and important topic for most organizations. Without employees remaining happy, organizations may find it difficult get their maximum outcome. Similarly, according to Rathnayake (2015), employer-employee relationships have changed dramatically, yet organizational strategies have not evolved with employee needs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping employees’ morale up while managing their satisfaction is necessary as they expect maximum productivity. According to Ouedraogo and Leclerc (2013), there is a direct relationship between job satisfaction and organizational performance. Job satisfaction is an employee’s feeling about their job and different characteristics of their jobs (Brief, 1998, Spector, 1997). According to Mangkunegara and Agustine (2016), job satisfaction consists of two factors: personal factors and job factors; personal factors mean causes that arrive from the employee to fulfil job satisfaction. The personal factors include intelligence, personality, emotions, tenure, mindset, job attitude, education, employee work perception, age, gender, and physical condition, and job factors include job, rank, position, promotion, organizational structure, work relationship, quality of supervision, and social interaction. Job satisfaction is how employees think about receiving income, workplace safety, campaign possibilities, appreciation and recognition, and participating in the decision-making process (Al Mehrzi & Singh, 2016). When an organization introduces and implements the benefit of fairness among employees, the employees measure organizational justice, leading to enhanced job satisfaction. Gelens et al. (2014) stated that there is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and procedural fairness.

Further, when employees are enjoying procedural and distributive justice within their workplaces, they assume that the company is applying policies and procedures impartially while rewards and punishments are also distributed fairly, and this enhances job satisfaction (Pieters, 2016). In contrast, job satisfaction goes down when having unfairness on procedural justice (Jahangir et al., 2006). Job satisfaction is associated with organizational citizenship behaviour (Kim, 2006, LePine et al., 2002, Oplatka, 2009). Similarly, Chahal and Mehta (2010) confirmed a significant relationship between job satisfaction and OCB. It is proved

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by many studies that having staff who are satisfied about their job shows higher OCB (Mohammad et al., 2011, Pavalache-Ilie, 2014, Qamar, 2012).

• H5 There is a significant impact of Job Satisfaction on OCB

• H6 There is a substantial impact of HR Policies and Practices on job satisfaction

• H7 Job Satisfaction mediates the relationship between HR Policies and Practices and OCB

Organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB)In recent years, OCB has become more popular among the business world. Nowadays the business world is more competitive and challenged. After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, every organization expects positive behaviour and extra commitment from employees to beat the challenges. Most researchers and organizations are more concerned about OCB, as having a committed and positive attitude is more comfortable to achieve business results. OCB is defined as supportive and discretionary behaviours displayed by employees beyond standard work requirements (Organ, 1988). Further, Organ stated that OCB represents individual discretionary behaviour, which is not directly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization. Studies on OCB have focused more on its antecedents including job satisfaction, interpersonal trust, organizational commitment, and employee mood (Bateman & Organ, 1983, Podsakoff et al., 1990). Additionally, it is more helpful for performance, customer service and satisfaction, sales revenue and financial efficiency (Podsakoff et al., 2000). Organ (1988) introduced five antecedents: altruism, conscientiousness, courtesy, sportsmanship, and civic virtue. As per Podsakoff et al. (2000), the concept of OCB has been used for many studies since it consists of five variables; altruism, generalized compliance, sportsmanship, courtesy, and civic virtue.

“Altruism is helping behaviour; Sportsmanship is the tolerance of irritations on the job as an example, when employees endure impositions or inconveniences without complaint; Courtesy is the act of touching base with others before taking actions or making decisions that would affect their work; Civic virtue is the active participation and involvement of employees in company affairs and includes activities such as attending meetings, responding to messages and keeping up with organizational issues” (Basu et al., 2017).

Similarly, Rathnayake (2017), identified that getting involved in a decision making process is the best reward to enhance their commitment and satisfaction. Organizational justice leads to enhance OCB. Organizational citizenship behaviour is largely encouraged by perceived organizational justice (Organ & Ryan, 1995). In addition, Lambert and Hogan (2013) identified a strong connection between procedural justice and OCB. OCB is included with being helpful, offering voluntary assistance, assuming further responsibility, maintaining efficiency in working, showing tolerance, uncomplaining, polite, behaving carefully,

participating actively as an employee, and being active in the organization (Organ, 1990). OCB helps organizations to achieve business results. Hence, it is necessary to ensure employees’ preference to HR policies and practices of organizations.

• H8 There is a significant impact of HR Policies and Practices on OCB

• H9 There is a significant impact of Procedural Justice on OCB

Methodology Theoretical frameworkConsidering the existing literature, Figure 1 presents the research framework of the study. This research framework is a descriptive model, and it indicates the nine hypotheses of the study. It is worth stating that the two mediating effects (Sequential mediation) of procedural justice and job satisfaction on OCB will be investigated as proposed in the research framework.

Figure 1Theoretical Framework

Figure 1 shows dependent and independent variables of the research. Procedural justice and job satisfaction are moderating variables between HR Policies and Practices and OCB.

Study procedureThis study’s key objective is to examine how HR policies and practices affect organizational justice, job satisfaction, and OCB to face current and upcoming challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study has adopted the quantitative method. The hypotheses have been verified by collecting and investigating quantitative data gained from the applicable respondents to identify the impacts and relationships among the variables.

Sample and data collectionPrimary data for this study were collected via an electronic questionnaire from 115 HR leaders in Sri Lanka, who are representing 115 companies in Sri Lanka. The researcher identified that COVID-19 has affected all the industries of businesses. The 115 companies represent almost every type of industry. Five Likert scales are used for research

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questions. The respondents may feel more comfortable when replying to sensitive questions on personal matters, such as their perception of HR policies and practices and organizational justice, rather than in a face-to-face interview. The study collects the HR leaders’ personal opinions about HR policies and practices, how the policies and practices are applying to all levels of employees, and the level of support received from top management when introducing and adjusting policies in the COVID-19 situation. The questionnaires were developed based on previous research studies.

MeasuresDemographic variablesIn line with previous studies, employees’ gender, age, and organizational tenure were selected as control variables (Cropanzano et al., 2003, Lee & Allen, 2002). To identify the industry, it was coded 1 to 20 including all the types of industries. Gender was coded: Male = 0 and female = 1. Age was coded: 1 = Below 30 years, 2 = 31–40 years, 3 = 41–50 years, 4 = 50 years and above. Organizational tenure was coded: 1 = no more than 5 years, 2 = 6–10 years, 3 = 11–15 years, 4 = 16-20 years, 5 = 21-25 years, and 6 = above 25.

HR policies and practices, and usage of HR policies and practices during COVID-19A specific scale was developed to assess the HR policies and practices and how they were flexibly adjusted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The scale was helpful to identify the HR leaders’ perception about the policies and practices and identify how employees are adhering to the policies and practices within organizations. The scale consisted of five Likert scale items. There were another two questions to assess how COVID-19 affected the businesses, and how many employees were affected due to COVID-19. Also, the questions about HR policies and practices, and how they were amended to manage and look after employees and businesses were measured.

Procedural justicePerceptions of procedural justice were measured with a scale developed by Niehoff & Moorman (1993). Respondents replied to each item using a five-points Likert scale. In order to measure the procedural justice with HR policies and practices, and other variables, the researcher modified the elements in the scale. When modifying them, it was specially considered that the study respondents are only HR leaders, gained HR leaders perceptions, how the organizations managing employees and business results during the COVID-19 situation, and existing literature. Eight questions were included in the scale considering all the situations. The alpha coefficient for this scale in Western studies was 0.90, Niehoff and Moorman (1993), the reliability Cronbach’s alpha for distributive justice in this study was 0.92.

Job satisfactionA standard job satisfaction questionnaire Fernandes and Awamleh (2006) was used to assess job satisfaction among the HR leaders during COVID-19 and how they feel other employees’ satisfaction was when responding to the management. The researcher assumed that HR leaders can ensure other employees’ job satisfaction when monitoring their reactions and behaviours. This questionnaire has ten items on job satisfaction. It was decided to use a five-point Likert scale to measure the responses to each item. The scale was modified by identifying the most relevant questions to the study. But the content of the questions was not changed. The alpha coefficient for this scale in Western studies was 0.87, Rad and Yarmohammadian (2006), the reliability Cronbach’s alpha for job satisfactions in this study was 0.92.

Organizational citizenship behaviourThis scale was developed by Podsakoff et al. (1997). There are five dimensions in the scale: altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy, and civic virtue. Responses to the items are based on a five-point Likert scale. Based on the scale, the researcher picked most relevant ten items to measure the OCB as suitable to this study. The questions were re-defined to make it appropriate to the study.

ResultsDemographical variablesThe demographical data analysis is shown in Table 1. It shows that of 115 respondents 60% (69) were Male and 40% (46) were female. The table also illustrates the respondents’ ages. Most of the HR leaders are in the age of 31-40 (67 = 58.3%) while 24 (20.9%) of them are in 41-50, 12.2% (14) of them are below 30, and 8.7% of them are above 50. Regarding the respondents’ HRM experience, 27.8% of employees have 6 to 10 years, and another 27.8% of employees have 11 to 15 years of experience. Whereas only 5.2% of employees have 21 to 25 years of experience as the lowest category.

In addition to above demographic details of the respondents, the researcher checked that the respondents are representing sectors / industries. According to that, the highest number of the HR leaders are representing the Manufacturing sector as 34 (29.6%) out of 115 participants, and others are from different industries as per Table 2.

HR Policies and practices, and usage of HR policies Out of 115 organizations, 101 companies have available written HR Policies and procedures. However, 14 companies still do not have available a formal written HR manual, which means they have HR policies and practices but not written or formal, and those are verbal or understandings. 94.8% (109) of respondents confirmed that they need to discuss and obtain approval from Top Management / Board of Directors when amending any HR policy or practice.

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COVID-19 impact and amendment of HR policies and practicesTable 3 shows that most of the business sectors in Sri Lanka have been interrupted by COVID-19. According to the responding HR leaders in Sri Lanka, COVID-19 has influenced largely the FMCG, Engineering / Constructions, Plantation, NGO, Aviation, Transportation and Agricultural industries.

In addition to the above, the study identified that most of the companies found COVID-19 positive employees from their organizations. 31.3% of companies found 1 to 5 COVID-19 patients, and simultaneously, 6 to 10 employees from 10.4% of companies, 11 to 15 of COVID-19 positive employees from 4.3% of companies, 21 to 25 employees from 0.9% of companies, and above 25 COVID positive employees from 13% of companies. But, there were no reported COVID positive employees from 40% of companies. However, the COVID-19 situation around the country has disrupted the smooth business operations and business results.

Furthermore, many of the companies believe that it is necessary to amend some of the company HR policies and practices in order to minimize the COVID-19 impact to their organizations. As a result of that, 86.1% (99) of companies amended their HR policy and practices (one or more) to face the current and upcoming challenges due to COVID-19 pandemic. It has been found that most of the 78.6% (66 out of 115) companies amended Attendance and Leave policy as they couldn’t operate it normally during this time. Also, the demand and necessity of employee wellbeing and health and safety has gone up. Hence, they had to amend the HR policy of Occupational Health and Safety, giving more priorities. Other policies were also amended as mentioned in Table 4.

The study also revealed that 51.3% of the companies amended the policy / policies according to the companies’ discretion, whereas 48.7% of companies modified the policy / policies at the request of employees.

Reliability analysisThe main purpose of the reliability test is to check whether data is consistent or not. It refers to a degree in which the items that make up the scale are consistent with each other. The reliability of the items in the questionnaire is investigated by using Cronbach’s Alpha. According to Pallant (2010), the coefficient of a scale should be at least 0.7 for good research, and 0.70 and above is good, 0.80 and above is better, and 0.90 and above is best.

As shown in Table 5, the reliability test results indicate the Cronbach’s Alpha is 0.954 which is an excellent indication. It means there is no problem with these instruments to proceed with the research, and measured scales are highly reliable and consisted with each variable.

Reliability analysis for each variableTable 6 shows the Cronbach’s Alpha values of each variable of the questionnaire, and it indicates that all variables are at a satisfactory level.

Normality testNormality was analysed through skewness, and histograms. HR policies and practices, Procedural Justice, Job Satisfaction and OCB were normally distributed, which shows in the Table 7 as results are normal. According to George (2011), values for skewness between -2 to +2 are acceptable to prove the normal distribution.

Table 8 shows that the correlation matrix identifies that significant positive with each variable. It is indicated that the coefficient of Pearson’s correlations was wide-ranging (r = 0.44 to 0.85, p < 0.05) across all variables in the sample. It means HR leaders’ perception of HR policies and practices with other three variables were significant and high. In particularly, the strongest correlation was between HR Policies and Practices and Procedural Justice (0.85), whereas the lowest correlation was HR Policies and Practices with OCB.

Regression analysisA regression analysis was conducted to examine the hypothesized relationship between independent and dependent variables. Linear regression analysis is applied in order to explore the direct effect of all independent variables on dependent variables. This section is divided into three steps. In the first step, the linear regression is used to support the hypothesis. In the second step, moderation and mediation analysis are conducted by applying the Baron & Kenny method and SOBEL test. Table 9 shows regression analysis of Hypothesis 1, Hypothesis 2, Hypothesis 3, Hypothesis 4, Hypothesis 5, and Hypothesis 6.

As displayed in Table 9, HR policies and practices and OCB results indicate that HR policies and practices significantly and positively influence the OCB (R2 = 19%, p < 0.05). The p value for the beta coefficient of HR policies and practices is 0.000. It means Hypothesis 1 has been supported according to the results, which describes that there is a significant impact of HR policies and practices on OCB. Regression analysis of HR policies and practices and procedural justice show that HR policies and practices significantly and positively influence the procedural justice (R2 = 73%, p < 0.05). This is the highest impact among other variables. This implies that HR policies and practices affect to enhance procedural justice by 73%. It proves that Hypothesis 2 also has been supported as HR policies and practices significantly and positively impacts to procedural justice. Hypothesis 3 checked how HR policies and practices impact on employees’ job satisfaction. The regression analysis result on these two variables (R2 = 31%, p < 0.05) shows that there is significant and positive impact of HR policies and practices on job satisfaction. According to that, Hypothesis 3 has been also supported. Then the impact between procedural justice and job satisfaction was checked. The result of the regression analysis of the variables is (R2 = 39%, p < 0.05), and it confirms that procedural justice positively and significantly impacts on employee job satisfaction. In this, procedural justice acted as the independent variable. Based on the result, Hypothesis 4 is also supported. Next the influence of job satisfaction on

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OCB was checked. The regression analysis result of these two variables evidence (R2 = 43%, p < 0.05) that in this situation also, there is a significant and positive impact of job satisfaction on OCB, and Hypothesis 5 is supported. In Hypothesis 5, job satisfaction was the independent variable while OCB was the dependent variable. Hypothesis 6 checked the impact of procedural justice on OCB, and the regression result (R2 = 21%, p < 0.05) confirms that there is a positive and significant impact of procedural justice on OCB. Hypothesis 6 has been supported by the result.

Mediation analysisIn this study, the researcher has identified three mediating hypotheses to add more value this research. The widely used high scale analytical techniques to test the mediate effects of Hypothesis 7, Hypothesis 8, and Hypothesis 9. Hierarchical regression was used to test the hypothesis and comprehend the variance contributed by the mediator and independent variables. R. M. Baron and D. A. Kenny’s process was followed by investigating the mediating effects of job satisfaction on the relationship between HR Policies and Practices and OCB (Hypothesis 7), the mediating effect of procedural justice on the relationship between HR Policies and Practices and OCB (Hypothesis 8), and the mediating effect of procedural justice on the relationship between HR Policies and Practices and Job Satisfaction (Hypothesis 9).

To check Hypothesis 7, Table 10, Figure 2 and Figure 3 show the results of SOBEL test, and computing the results of SOBEL test of mediation for the Baron and Kenny approach. These figures confirm that job satisfaction significantly and fully mediates within the relationship between HR policies and practices and OCB. In the Figure 3 calculation, 76.6% of job satisfaction as a mediator enhanced total impact of HR policies and practices on OCB. These findings supported Hypothesis 7.

Through the details of Table 10, it is identified that there is significant and full mediation in Hypothesis 8 also. After putting the details to the SOBEL calculation as Figure 4, and it is also identified that there is a significant effect. Figure 5 shows the computed SOBEL test results of mediation for the Baron and Kenny approach, and it is revealed that there is 63% of procedural justice as a mediator increased total impact of HR policies and practices on OCB. These findings supported Hypothesis 8.

From the data analysis for Hypothesis 9, it is also found to be significant and there is a full mediating effect. Table 10 in H9 and Figure 6 prove the significant and full mediating effect. It indicates that procedural justice significantly and fully mediates the impact of HR policies and practices on job satisfaction. The mediation results proposed that effective procedural justice plays its significant role to boost the effect of HR policies and practices on job satisfaction. In the calculation in Figure 7, the impact is 80.7% which a quite higher proportion than other variables.

As mentioned by Baron and Kenny (1986), if c and c’ sig. values are 0, there is a significant and partial mediation; if one of the values of c or c’ is insignificant, there is a

full mediation affect. According to the above data analysis, it is confirmed that Hypotheses 7, 8 and 9 are significant and fully mediated. However, according to the analysis of Process v3.5 by Hayes (2009), the researcher identified the following model as the best result-oriented way.

According to the data analysis and testing of hypotheses, the researcher would suggest the model of Figure 8 as the best way to enhance job satisfaction and OCB. It shows that HR policies and practices help ensure procedural justice, and then procedural justice will help enhance job satisfaction while increasing the OCB within the organization.

Discussion The study discovers the impact of organizational justice, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour on HR policies and practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, most of the organizations are struggling to achieve their business results. While facing the current challenges, and expecting upcoming challenges, it is necessary to adjust HR policies and practices. However, if HR leaders fail to give employees’ enough contribution when adjusting the policies and practices, the organizations may face many more challenges. Therefore, the study checked how the organizations can implement or adjust HR policies and practices to achieve organizational citizenship behaviour by ensuring organizational justice and employee job satisfaction. This study explains that organizational justice and job satisfaction are very important to get extra output from employees when managing HR policies and practices within organizations. Previous studies on organizational justice indicate that employees’ perception on the fairness of procedures, rewards and interpersonal treatment are related to employees’ attitudes and behaviours (Greenberg, 1990). Hence, when implementing fair HR policies and practices, it will lead to organizational justice. This study proves that having procedural justice helps to enhance job satisfaction, and then it increases employees’ organizational citizenship behaviour. This method is more ideal for any organization to reverse back their business results while beating challenges and making employees happy. The study results have implications for organizations, policy makers, HR leaders and managers. This study is not limited to the COVID-19 situation. This is helpful to every situation as organizational citizenship behaviour is very important for organizational performance also. Organizational citizenship plays a critical role in the overall organizational goal accomplishments and successes (Allen & Rush, 1998).

ConclusionIt is clear that HR leaders have to ensure the practice of organizational justice when making policies and practices, it will lead to enhance job satisfaction, and then for enhancing employee organizational citizenship behaviour. This is very important to realize business results in business

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Variables Categories Frequency Percent % Cumulative percent %

Gender Male 69 60 60

Female 46 40 100Age Below 30 14 12.2 12.2

31-40 67 58.3 70.441-50 24 20.9 91.3Above 50 10 8.7 100

Experience in HRM

Less than 5 22 19.1 19.1

6-10 32 27.8 4711-15 32 27.8 74.816-20 15 13 87.821-25 6 5.2 93Above 25 8 7 100

Table 1Demographic characteristics of the participants

Appendices

firms, while winning the business challenges. The study used organizational policies, procedures, and practices to determine organizational justice, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviour, and checked only HR leaders’ perceptions. Future studies can consider other factors and non-HR leaders’ perceptions about organizational policies, procedures, and practices.

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Industry/sector Frequency Percent %

Manufacturing 34 29.57

Tourism and hospitality/hotels

10 8.7

Education 10 8.7Banking 9 7.83FMCG 9 7.83Health care/Hospitals

9 7.83

Engineering/Construction

6 5.22

Insurance 4 3.48Government 4 3.48Consultancy 4 3.48Plantation 3 2.61

NGO 3 2.61Telecommunication 3 2.61Aviation/airline 2 1.74Transportation 2 1.74IT/BPO 1 0.87Agriculture/farming 1 0.87Other 1 0.87

Table 2HR leaders’ industries

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Industry Responded Companies

Affected Not affected Affected %

FMCG 9 9 0 100Engineering/Construction

6 6 0 100

Plantation 3 3 0 100

NGO 3 3 0 100

Aviation/ Airline 2 2 0 100Transportation 2 2 0 100Agriculture/ Farming

1 1 0 100

Manufacturing 34 31 3 91.18Tourism/ Hospitality/ Hotels

10 9 1 90

Eduction 10 9 1 90

Health Care/ Hospitals

97

2 77.78

Banking 9 7 2 77.78

Government 4 3 1 75Consultancy 4 3 1 75Telecommunication 3 2 1 66.67Insurance 4 2 2 50IT/ BPO 1 0 1 -Other 1 0 1 -

Table 3COVID-19 impact to businesses in Sri Lanka

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HR Policy Frequency Percent %Attendance and Leave 66 78.6Occupational Health and Safety 54 64.3Employee Communication 44 52.4Recruitment and Selection 40 47.6Training and Development 34 40.5

Rewards and Compensation Management

31 36.9

Performance Management 26 31Employee Relations 23 27.4Grievance Handling 22 26.2

Employee Disciplinary Procedure 16 19

Table 4HR policy amendments during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cronbach’s Alpha N of Items

0.954 33

Table 5Overall reliability for independent, mediating, and dependent variables

Variables Cronbach’s Alpha N of ItemsHR Policies and Practices 0.836 5Procedural Justice 0.923 8Job Satisfaction 0.925 10Organizational Citizenship Behaviour

0.876 10

Table 6Reliability analysis for each variable

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Variables Mean S.D SkewnessHR Policies and Practices

19.71 3.7 -0.829

Procedural Justice 30.25 6.48 -0.787Job Satisfaction 37.82 7.67 -0.822Organizational Citizenship Behaviour

35.78 5.84 -1.002

Table 7Descriptive statistics and indicators of normality

HR Policies and Practices

Procedural Justice

Job Satisfaction OCB

HR Policies and Practices

1.00

Procedural Justice 0.85** 1.00Job Satisfaction 0.56** 0.62** 1.00OCB 0.44** 0.46** 0.66** 1.00

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 8Correlations analysis

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# Hypothesis Result B SE b t Sig.

H8 There is a significant impact of HR Policies and Practices on OCB

Supported 0.346 0.067 0.439 5.188 0.000

H1 There is a significant impact of HR Policies and Practices on Procedural Justice

Supported 0.935 0.053 0.855 17.51 0.000

H6 There is a significant impact of HR Policies and Practices on job satisfaction

Supported 0.581 0.081 0.561 7.199 0.000

H3 There is a significant impact of Procedural Justice on Job Satisfaction

Supported 0.590 0.070 0.622 8.441 0.000

H5 There is a significant impact of Job Satisfaction on OCB

Supported 0.499 0.054 0.656 9.246 0.000

H9 There is a significant impact of Procedural Justice on OCB

Supported 0.333 0.060 0.462 5.540 0.000

Table 9Regression analysis

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# Hypothesis Result B SE b t Sig.

H7 Job Satisfaction mediates the relationship between HR Policies and Practices and OCB

Significant and Full Mediation

Step 1 - HRPP and OCB (c ) 0.346 0.067 0.439 5.188 0.000Step 2 - HRPP and JS (a) 0.488 0.053 0.855 17.51 0.000

Step 3 - HRPP and OCB (c’ ) 0.081 0.067 0.103 1.204 0.231

JS and OCB (b ) 0.499 0.054 0.656 9.246 0.000H2 Procedural Justice mediates

the relationship between HR Policies and Practices and OCB

Significant and Full Mediation

Step 1 - HRPP and OCB (c ) 0.346 0.067 0.439 5.188 0.000Step 2 - HRPP and PJ (a) 0.935 0.053 0.855 17.51 0.000Step 3 - HRPP and OCB (c’) 0.128 0.127 0.162 1.007 0.316PJ and OCB (b ) 0.333 0.060 0.462 5.540 0.000

H4 Procedural Justice mediates the relationship between HR Policies and Practices and Job Satisfaction

Significant and Full Mediation

Step 1 - HRPP and JS (c) 0.581 0.081 0.561 7.199 0.000Step 2 - HRPP and PJ (a) 0.935 0.053 0.855 17.51 0.000Step 3 - HRPP and JS ( c’) 0.112 0.147 0.108 0.761 0.448PJ and JS (b ) 0.590 0.070 0.622 8.441 0.000

a) raw regression coefficient for the association between independent variable and mediatorb) raw coefficient for the association between the mediator and the dependent variablec) direct and indirect effect of coefficientd) mediating effect on direct and indirect effect

Table 10Regression analysis (Baron and Kenny approach) for mediating variables

Figure 2 SOBEL test for Hypothesis 7

Figure 3Computing SOBEL test of mediation for Baron & Kenny Approach (Hypothesis 7)

Figure 4SOBEL test for Hypothesis 8

Figure 5Computing SOBEL test of mediation for Baron & Kenny Approach (Hypothesis 8)

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Figure 6SOBEL test for Hypothesis 9

Figure 7Computing SOBEL test of mediation for Baron & Kenny Approach (Hypothesis 9

Figure 8Modified model based on the data analysis

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About the author

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Udaya Priyasantha Rathnayake is a Human Resources Management Professional with over 12 years industry experience. He is currently a visiting lecturer in HRM and a research supervisor and reviewer. He is also a writer for English and Sinhala Newspapers in Sri Lanka. He is currently completing a PhD in Business / HRM (Reading) from the University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

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2020 HKIHRM topical study: Survey on HR challenges in the new normalThe Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management

AbstractThis topical study takes an in-depth look at flexible working arrangements and the challenges they pose. It brings to light how HR professionals are manoeuvring the new normal by fortifying workforce planning.

IntroductionConducted from July to August 2020, the HKIHRM’s topical study HR Challenges in the New Normal interviewed a total of 133 Institute members and other HR professionals, whose completed questionnaires were factored into the analyses. The survey’s objectives are to understand current practices and challenges of flexible working arrangements; to explore workforce planning post-COVID-19; to understand how organisations are rebuilding staff morale and relationships; and to find out how HR practitioners are coping with the changing work environment.

Organisational readinessIn stark comparison with Q1 and Q2 of 2020 when COVID-19 erupted, 91% of the respondents said they were well prepared or quite well prepared in tackling the problems induced by the outbreaks in July/August 2020. This showcased workforce resilience in the Face of the public health crisis.

Flexible working arrangementsCOVID-19 triggered the popularisation of flexible working arrangements, with 95% of the respondents saying they had arrangements put in place in July/August 2020 amid the third wave of outbreak. This documented a significant increase compared with pre-COVID times.

To cope with the challenges presented by COVID-19, the top measures introduced by the majority of the respondents were working from home (81%), flexible working hours (75%), and rotating periods of office and home working/split teams (60%) respectively.

Figure 1Types of flexible working arrangements

Working from home

Among the responding companies with work from home arrangements, the maximum proportion of their workforce working from home amid the outbreaks recorded an

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average of 60%. 33% of them stated that more than 80% of their staff worked from home at the peak of outbreaks. Although the measure of working from home has successfully mitigated the risk of exposure to COVID-19, it has had a negative impact on workforce productivity. More than half of the responding companies with staff working from home admitted that their productivity has taken a turn for the worse, thanks to working from home arrangements.

How could we mitigate challenges brought about by remote teams? For the responding companies with workforce working from home, the top three measures to surmount these challenges were equipping employees with suitable tools and technology (66%), ensuring access to shared information (64%), and organising meetings/checkins regularly (56%) respectively.

Figure 2Challenges of managing remote teams

Staff morale

Among the responding companies, 40% admitted that staff morale has deteriorated since the onset of COVID-19. A mere 16% said staff morale has improved.

Challenges and priorities post- COVID-19To brace for upcoming challenges, reviewing remote/flexible work arrangement (45%), reskilling/upskilling employees on new ways of working (30%), and staff morale (30%) topped the priority lists of responding companies for the next 12 months.

We can all agree that change is the buzzword under the influence of COVID-19. For responding companies, critical workforce competencies that are change-oriented proved most important in the near term, with change management (32%), adaptability/flexibility (30%), and crisis management (25%) emerging as the top three.

Figure 3Critical workforce competencies in the near term

Figure 4HR priorities in the near term

ConclusionAccording to responding companies, the top 3 critical competencies for HR professionals in the next 12 months will be change management (37%), crisis management (34%), and adaptability/flexibility (23%). These were aligned with the top 3 critical competencies for the general workforce, suggesting that going forward, the HR function can lead their staff in navigating the new normal by boosting their own abilities to confront change and turn crisis into an opportunity to better the workplace.

The Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (HKIHRM) is the most representative human resource management professional body in Hong Kong. Established in 1977, the Institute has a membership close to 5,300, of whom over 500 are corporate members.https://www.hkihrm.org/

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About the author

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Assessing the success or failure in international assignments: A Mexican multinational company exampleAlejandro Vázquez Rios

AbstractIn a global context where talented executives have become an increasingly scarce resource, multinational firms have found moving employees across borders to be a pivotal contributor for enabling global growth. However, most companies have not yet adopted formal practices that improve the alignment between expatriation programmes and talent management goals. Consequently, these organizations, which promote international assignments as a pathway to enhance performance, may be endorsing no more than a hollow promise.

This paper offers managers an overview of the implications and common challenges faced when including international assignments as part of their business model. The paper explores the importance of and the elements considered when assessing the success or failure of such practice. Accordingly, I present and discuss the international assignment cases developed between 2012 and 2013 within the multinational Mexican company Cinépolis, as an example to validate DeNisi & Sonesh’s (2016) multi-dimensional model, originally proposed as a tool to manage and assess international assignments.

IntroductionMergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and alliances are business operations that are frequently used to help firms compete in the international market. Adopting these forms of strategies increases the pressure within organizations to attract, develop, and retain key talent that allows them to capture and exploit the benefits of working with highly-skilled employees, in order to better understand and adapt

the organizations’ operations to more mature markets and diverse cultural conditions.

Today, global competitiveness is one of the essential requirements for multinational companies to be sustainable in the long run. Accordingly, traditional talent attraction processes appear to be insufficient. According to Bouquet et al. (2009), the new corporate and individual profile to succeed needs to be formed by two essential building blocks: on the one hand, developing a strong “global mindset”, which means expanding thoughts, ideas, and frameworks; on the other, “international attention”, which indicates managerial action and behaviour. Consequently, multinational companies are challenged to learn and move at a fast pace to deal with the increased scarcity of talented executives, given that this talent shortage is trending toward the new normal.

According to Douiyssi and Aldred (2017) in the 2016 Global Mobility Trends Survey (Brookfield Global Relocation Services), moving employees across borders

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has become a key contributor to enable global growth, even though most companies have not yet adopted formal practices that improve the alignment between expatriation programmes and talent management goals.

Among the most relevant findings, the 2016 survey shows that 73% of the respondents do not maintain a candidate pool for future international assignments, and only 23% have a specific process for career planning from assignment acceptance. Promoting international assignments as a pathway to improve performance can become a hollow promise if companies do not have the right career management practices in place to support employees.

This paper offers managers an overview of the implications and common challenges faced when including international assignments as part of their business model. The paper is structured as follows: First, I provide a literature review related to the importance of international assignments and the elements considered when assessing the success or failure of such assignments; Second, I offer an explanation of the multi-dimensional model proposed by DeNisi and Sonesh (2016), which we consider to be a useful tool for practitioners to assure the success of managing expatriation; Finally, I present and discuss a Mexican multinational company’s expatriate programme to illustrate each dimension of the model. The paper concludes with the managerial implications and future research opportunities.

BackgroundThe literature on international assignments has evolved significantly during the last 50 years, going from international aspects of human resources management to the more modern concept of talent management. The literature has shown a notable increase in the countries where researchers are from and where they conduct their studies. This reflects the internationalization of business practices and a willingness to consider introducing practices from other parts of the world (Cascio & Boudreau, 2016).

The economic environment has also evolved from a product-based market to experiential value propositions, demanding smarter efforts from organizations to distribute resources to satisfy the needs of a real-time informed customer who has access to several suppliers around the world.

The globalization of businesses has forced organizations as well as executives to look for opportunities beyond the borders of their home country (Krishnan & Kirubamoorthy, 2017); according to Rosalie Tung, the evolution in talent management research is a result of what she calls “the war for talent and brain circulation” (Tung, 2016, p. 142). Thus, organizations must think global but act local, adapting their practices and management style to

diverse and multi-cultural settings. This will allow them not only to reach more customers but also to attract candidates with specialized knowledge and skills, people that will need later training in order to maintain their capabilities adapted to reality.

Apart from the aforementioned, many researchers have endorsed the importance of international experience as a fruitful way to gain competitive advantage and benefit the organization, arguing that sending managers and specialists across borders can enhance coordination, control, and know-how transfer between headquarters and subsidiaries (Doherty & Dickmann, 2009; Holtbrügge & Ambrosius, 2015).

However, despite the positive theoretical view of international careers, empirical examples have shown that these desired outcomes are often not easily achieved (Holtbrügge & Ambrosius, 2015). It is still difficult for companies to decide who is the best person to manage their subsidiaries’ operations - a local executive, a parent country native, or a third country native - and to achieve the company’s expected goals (Lenartowicz & Johnson, 2007).

Resulting from the difference between expectations and real outcomes, the focus

of research on international assignments has shifted from expatriate adjustment

models to a broader approach, which considers the individual’s experiences (Doherty & Dickmann, 2009). Adding complexity to the managerial responsibility, executives leading multinational

companies are called on to understand the global environment

on two different levels. First, being aware of the implications that changes

could have in their industry (Bouquet, Morrison, & Birkinshaw, 2009); Second, being

conscious of the urgency of having a dynamic talent strategy to tackle risks and take advantage of opportunities.

As mentioned before, individual experience matters because it is necessary to recognize that expatriate executives play different roles during the international assignment. They could act as agents of direct control, assist the socialization of subsidiary staff, develop social capital, perform important knowledge transfer activities, act as agents to transfer the corporate culture to develop subsidiary employee’s perceptions toward headquarters, or all of the above (Chang, Gong, & Peng, 2012; Welch, Steen, & Tahvanainen, 2009).

If expatriates are so important due to the multi-faceted role they perform, it is logical to assume that organizations devote significant resources to their management. According to Welch et al. (2009), firms actively seek ways to develop and retain staff with demonstrated international experience and competence, at least until they recoup their return on investment.

However, although organizations invest considerable

Today, global

competitiveness is one of the essential

requirements for multinational companies

to be sustainable in the long run.

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time and money, only a few companies track executives’ repatriation and possess adequate information by which to assess any return on their investment (Doherty & Dickmann, 2009). This lack of information could later translate into enormous losses of opportunities to gain the long-term benefits of the international assignment.

An important question arises from the misuse of expatriation: do international assignments represent real value for organizations? Doherty and Dickmann (2009) respond in two different ways. Their first answer supports the notion that managers’ perception of international mobility and assignees’ perceptions of their experience influence a subjective recognition of the value of the assignment. Based on this, we can conclude that the lack of a corporate strategy and formal procedures may result in a symbolic (or subjective) underrated or overrated value of the international experience. Their second answer consists of the opposite. When organizations carefully consider their talent needs and set clear goals, it is possible to align understanding between the expatriate and the company about the career value of the international assignment, especially in terms of human capital (know-how) and social capital (know-who). This alignment could result in identification between the individual and the organization in terms of values and interests (know-why) (Dickmann, Doherty, Mills, & Brewster, 2008; Dickmann & Harris, 2005).

Traditional corporate-sponsored relocation is being reduced, to be complemented with self-initiated expatriates who relocate for work or career reasons on their own initiative. Often, these are people that really value learning and the experience of living and working in a different country even though their efforts may not be supported or recognized by their organization (Baruch, Altman, & Tung, 2016). So, the nature and origin of international assignments have been changing to a more individual level, adding more players at different levels of analysis where several factors influence mobility decisions.

The literature demonstrates a lack of interest in determining the value of an international assignment; one possible reason could be that it is difficult to isolate the multiple elements to be measured (Welch et al., 2009).

Dickmann et al. (2008), as part of their findings from a survey, present 28 factors that influence the decision to accept an international assignment. Those factors are classified into three levels: individual factors, family factors, and organizational factors.

The value of the expatriate experience depends on the goals pursued by the organization and by the individual; from the corporate perspective, it is possible to follow five different and distinct strategies to manage international assignments (Baruch et al., 2016, p. 859):

1. The first strategy consists of the Global Organization, employed by large companies where international assignments are part of the executive’s career path, representing an essential step to progress in the firm.

2. The second strategy is labeled Emissary, characterized by a robust organizational culture; in this case, the assignment relies on the dissemination of the firm’s way of doing things.

3. The third, Professional type, is commonly practiced when a company prefers to use expatriates because of the unavailability of local talent.

4. Peripheral is the fourth strategy; its propensity may be found in smaller countries as well as small companies competing in niche markets, in an environment where the value of crossing borders is high.

5. The fifth, Expedient, occurs in the absence of a strategy; the firm does not have experience as a global player and tends to opt for trial and error practices.

Thus, the nature of expatriation-repatriation is dynamic, because of the interaction of multiple actors (Baruch et al., 2016, p. 845). And considering that the “new business normal” is volatile, unpredictable, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA), all international assignments should be managed as an ecosystem based on a deep understanding of the interdependence among the individual interests, the corporate strategy, and the national context.

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The right candidate for global mobility

Summarily, the complexity of individual and family circumstances and the different strategies an organization could follow, create a fertile environment for failure. Much prior research has examined expatriate staffing without attending to the right expatriate characteristics (Chang et al., 2012).

There are several ways to make the wrong decision and be exposed to different risk levels. The assignee and family could fail to adapt to the foreign country, and the challenge to achieve good performance increases due to the lack of support mechanisms typically available at home. At the personal and family level, the experience can result in isolation, loss of social networks at home, and relocation to less-developed locations. For the firm, the risk pertains to lost business opportunities, loss of ROI, and loss of talented people (Baruch et al., 2016).

Just as Douiyssi and Aldred (2017) conclude in the 2016 Global Mobility Trends Survey (Brookfield Global Relocation Services), the main two reasons for failure in international assignments are family-related issues and poor candidate selection; 80% of the companies do not formally assess the adaptability of candidates.

The identification of the right profile to be good candidate sounds logical and based on common sense, especially if organizations consider this process as a critical tool to achieve the development of global leaders (Dickmann & Harris, 2005). Therefore, human resources practices should be aligned to create the best assignees, with the ability to take full advantage of the experience. Training and assessment become essential activities in order to send the right person and achieve the expected results. Preparation programmes should be based on cross-cultural training or diversity training to equip individuals with knowledge, skills, and attitudes such as awareness of cross-cultural differences, appropriate behaviours when working with people from different cultures, and communicative ability in local languages (Kok-Yee, Dyne, & Soon, 2009).

The Economist has pointed out the importance of learning in one of its special reports (Palmer, 2017), explaining that as continued learning becomes a corporate priority, it is quite challenging for firms to screen employees based on curiosity, which is why more data-driven approaches are being tried to score individuals on their learnability. To remain competitive and offer employees the best chance to succeed, organizations should provide training and career-focused education throughout employees’ working lives. Also, to gain ROI from training, they must focus on providing the right capabilities, not just by spending more money on more programmes but also spending wisely.

Adaptability, especially cultural adaptability, is mentioned in several articles (Meyer, 2014, 2015; Molinsky, 2015) as a critical element to succeed in an international assignment. Organizations and individuals should realize

that having professional skills and paper qualifications are not sufficient to tackle the challenges of international assignments (Krishnan & Kirubamoorthy, 2017). The profile of the right expatriate is more complex and rarer.

Just as Erin Meyer (Meyer, 2014, 2015) affirms, what gets you to “yes” in one culture gets you to “no” in another. It is really easy to reach erroneous conclusions and act in ways that could jeopardize the pursued goals. So, an essential tip for expatriates is to learn how to “read” emotions the same way they would learn a second language: starting with some key phrases (Molinsky, 2015).

However, emotional intelligence and cultural adaptability are just one part of the equation on how to harness an expatriate’s real potential. In the next section, we present our perspective on three additional factors that influence the success or failure of an IA.

Headquarters – assignee – host country, and vice versaInternational assignment programmes need a “perfect trio” alignment for success. The interests, goals, capabilities, and strategies of headquarters (HQ), the assignee, and the host country must concur, in order to produce a fruitful experience for all parties.

Headquarters and the host country must ensure the right training for the assignees from the first moment. An adequate onboarding process should be developed in order to explain local do’s and don’ts to the assignee regarding labour relations, human rights, and compliance. This should reduce the risk of misbehaviour from the assignee in terms of local regulations. Furthermore, the headquarters could coordinate meetings between people who have already been through an assignment with new assignees to accelerate the learning and adaptive processes.

On the other hand, the assignee should be able to do their research about the host country in terms of political, economic, social, and cultural elements prior to the assignment. Moreover, the assignee should try to get involved in further activities within the headquarters and interview residents and local workers to get a broader perspective on how he or she is going to add value to the company.

Absorptive capacity is a crucial element of the trio alignment. Chang et al. (2012) define this component as the extent to which received knowledge benefits performance. Organizations dealing with global mobility projects should work on strategies that bolster absorptive capacity development, both at their subsidiaries level and in corporate offices. This could benefit the organization at both levels by taking advantage of the know-how transference between headquarters and host countries, which could result in the development of new business ideas and the adoption of best practices from other regions. According to Flatten, Engelen, Zahra, and Brettel (2011), researchers have shown that increasing absorptive capacity may result in growing business performance, innovation, intraorganizational transfer of knowledge,

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and interorganizational learning. In addition, cultural intelligence, defined as the “individual capability to function effectively in culturally diverse contexts” by Kok-Yee et al. (2009, p. 512), represents an important attribute that influences the extent to which the assignee is willing to learn during the assignment.

At the end, a tri-directional relationship exists, and the difference between failure and success depends on the provision of valuable resources among the main actors in the international assignment, such as sociability, trust, and cooperation (Chang et al., 2012; Dickmann et al., 2008; Dickmann & Harris, 2005; Meyer, 2015), powerful building blocks to manage the assignment.

The multi-dimensional modelAs a result of a literature review on how success and failure for international assignments have been defined, DeNisi & Sonesh (2016) propose a multi-dimensional model to help practitioners by clarifying the different dimensions that should be considered to deal with this managerial

practice (Figure 1). Their integrative model consists of three levels: Pre-requisites, Dimensions of overall success, and Requisite KSAOs (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics). All the elements of the model are considered vital and somewhat interdependent, and they are all part of the definition of success. Nevertheless, the authors recognize that for certain types of assignments, some of the dimensions of success may be more important than others. Just as an example, Baruch et al. (2016) listed 20 variants of assignments, including flex-patriation, in/im-patriation, secondments, and globetrotting, contained in the extant literature.

Pre-requisites1. AdjustmentNotwithstanding there is no consensus as to what is meant by adjustment, the concept encompasses adaptation to work, interactions with host country nationals, and the environment out of work.

This capacity goes beyond the assignee level; the adjustment of the assignee’s spouse or partner and family is also critical in carrying out the rest of their responsibilities. Thus, multinational companies need to revisit their selection processes; soft skills must be included, not only superior technical skills (Baruch et al., 2016; Chang et al., 2012).

2. Absorptive capacityThis capacity is crucial for effective knowledge transfer. Recipients of information should be able to analyze and absorb the most relevant data they acquire throughout the assignment. Chang et al. (2012) concur when explaining four components of absorptive capacity: identifying and recognizing external knowledge, processing and understanding it, combining it with existing knowledge, and applying the new knowledge to the business.

In accordance with Camisón and Forés (2010), four dimensions cover the domain of absorptive capacity: acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and application. These four dimensions are classifiable into two components: potential absorptive capacity (acquisition and assimilation) and realized absorptive capacity (transformation and application). In their study, the authors propose a Likert-type self-evaluation scale to measure managers’ perception of “the strength of their firm’s capacity to value, identify, acquire, assimilate, transform, and apply new external knowledge”, as compared with competitors in their industries.

Considering the four dimensions proposed by Camisón and Forés (2010), multinational companies should develop mechanisms to measure their absorptive capacity not only at an organizational level but also at an individual level, in order to better assess possible assignees’ absorptive capacity and make the best decisions on who should be sent on an international asignment.

Dimensions of overall success1. Task performanceSeveral different duties could be considered as tasks to perform when someone is sent abroad. These may include acquiring information from the subsidiary, understanding the local market, introducing new technologies or processes, and transferring the corporate culture. Therefore, the assignee’s objectives, the way these objectives will be assessed, and how externalities will be managed, should be clarified from the beginning to avoid misunderstandings and negative surprises.

2. Relationship buildingAnother important aspect of a successful assignment relies in establishing positive relationships with people in the subsidiary. However, this dimension surpasses the company boundaries and is more related with the identification of local talent and building a network that can be used for future business projects. According to Doherty and

Companies must be conscious that the assignee will return with three kinds of learning outcomes:

affective, knowledge, and skill-based.

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Dickmann (2009), the networks built by the assignee could bring legitimacy as well as a significant capital increase for a managerial career.

3. Contextual performanceThe best example of this dimension consists of being a good corporate citizen: representing the corporation in a proper manner by helping and supporting others, and volunteering in other projects in order to achieve their objectives.

4. RetentionThe last success dimension is the homecoming of the assignee, where learnings from the process should be shared so that the company can reap the full benefits of the assignment. The assignee must feel identified with the firm and perceive career opportunities in order to be interested in returning and sharing.

Companies must be conscious that the assignee will return with three kinds of learning outcomes: affective, knowledge, and skill-based. Every assignee will change his or her motivations and attitudes. Therefore, the gain for the firm will lie in taking advantage of the new repertoire that assignees have, in order to respond effectively to different and specific situations while maintaining their integrity and credibility (Kok-Yee et al., 2009).

The following section examines the history of the multinational company, Cinépolis, which has been following a global expansion strategy supported by international assignments. We will analyze and discuss such strategy and its outcomes through DeNisi and Sonesh’s (2016) multidimensional model.

Cinépolis, the Mexican multinational companyFounded in 1971 as “Organización Ramírez”, Cinépolis is the largest cinema chain in Latin America and the fourth largest worldwide. As a result of an organic expansion strategy during the late 1990s and an acquisition strategy during the current decade (the 2010s), Cinépolis acquired companies such as “FUN Cinemas” in India, “YELMO Cines” in Spain, and “Cines Hoyts” in Chile. The company closed 2016 operating 4,917 digital movie theaters across 13 countries, with a global audience of 317 million viewers: 214 million in Mexico, and 103 million in the other regions.

This expansion represented a challenge in terms of talent allocation, distributed among 99 cities across Mexico, 12 cities in Central America, 20 cities in the Andean region, 32 cities in Brazil, 11 counties in the US, 17 provinces in Spain, and 27 cities in India.

Since 2011, the company has been managing expatriation as a source of talent for its operations in different countries. Such strategy could be divided into two stages: from 2011 to 2014, and from 2015 until today.

During the first period, the process consisted of individual negotiations without formal documents and

procedures, where various adjustments were made based on experience, learning, and some initial problems. For example, in some cases, the assignee’s family decided to stay in Mexico, and, in other cases, the company decided to shorten the duration of the assignment. Between the years 2012 and 2013, eleven assignments were managed from Mexico to different regions, three in Brazil, three in Costa Rica, two in Colombia, two in India, and just one in the United States. More details of these eleven assignments are included in Table 1.

All the assignees were considered strategic leaders and functional experts with an average of 10.7 years of seniority. All of them were Mexican nationals. In nine cases, the objective was to fulfill a key position in the host country; in two cases, the goal was to develop a specific project. According to Sandra Huertas1 , Cinépolis Global Mobility Manager, all eleven cases were successful because the stated goals were achieved. However, some risks were identified, given that the company considered the main drivers for the executives to accomplish the assignment were based exclusively on two components: first, a reliable identification with the company after years working there, and second, the high compensation package they received during the assignment.

The second period, from 2015 until today, presents a critical evolution. A formal process was established in 2015, defining three possible purposes of the assignment: covering a strategic position, knowledge transfer, and talent development. Clear selection criteria became essential. The first step consisted in posting the international assignments to employees who had (1) high potential, and (2) a demonstrated level of high performance. If the employees fulfilled both requirements, their application was considered and evaluated in a three-stage process: first, the application was assessed in order to considerably reduce the number of candidates; second, selected candidates were invited to a round of interviews; finally, the successful candidate received a job offer.

Another critical difference was that Cinépolis categorized the duration and objective of the assignment into one of four groups, aligned with four candidate profiles. For example, a young apprentice can be considered for an assignment of a maximum of six months with the objective of developing capabilities such as tolerance and objectivity when working with different cultures. A summary of the alignment between profile and assignment is presented in Table 2.

DiscussionConsidering the classification of strategies by Baruch et al. (2016), it is possible to affirm that Cinépolis started with an Expedient strategy from 2011 to 2014, gaining experience as a global player, and learning by trial and error. The second stage of their international assignments, since 2015, demonstrates a significant improvement thanks to learning from their experience and the adaptation of

1 The researcher interviewed Sandra Huertas on March 7th, 2017.

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their practices. Today, it is possible to affirm that they are following both a Professional and Emissary strategy, disseminating the firm’s processes mainly through the use of Mexican expatriate managers.

Under the multi-dimensional model by DeNisi and Sonesh (2016), we can state that Cinépolis is managing the adjustment pre-requisite adequately, filtering candidates based on potential and performance, and selecting the assignee through assessments and interviews. These mechanisms allow the assignees to develop robust experience as expatriates, including strong technical knowledge and skills, complemented with soft skills.

An interesting opportunity to explore in the future could be to expand the assessment and interviews through the inclusion of the assignee’s spouse or partner to be sure that both have high motivational and behavioural cultural intelligence (Kok-Yee et al., 2009) to support each other and succeed.

The degree of required cultural intelligence would vary depending on the differences between Mexico and the host country. For example, if we consider how confrontational and emotionally expressive nationalities are (Meyer, 2014; 2015, p. 108), Cinépolis’ executives may realize that Mexican assignees could find more similarities working with Brazilians and Indians because the three nationalities tend to be emotionally expressive

and prefer to avoid confrontation. The USA and Spain represent a more significant challenge for Mexicans, since the American culture is less emotionally expressive and a little more confrontational, and the Spanish style tends to be much more confrontational than the Mexican culture.

The second pre-requisite, absorptive capacity, is partially covered in the selection process, which considers only the candidate and not the host country. Some actions could be implemented to improve the subsidiary capacity to absorb knowledge, such as job rotation from subsidiaries to the headquarters and training host country employees on multiple skills and a second language (Chang et al., 2012).

The company’s procedures consider the accomplishment of the four dimensions for overall success: task performance, relationship building, contextual performance, and retention (DeNisi & Sonesh, 2016). On the one hand, young apprentices and future stars are strongly focused on task performance; the short assignment is an excellent opportunity to test their soft skills and train them to improve their adaptability for future and longer assignments (see Table 2). On the other hand, functional experts and strategic leaders are more focused on transferring knowledge, building relationships and networks, and representing the corporation in the whole local market and environment.

Figure 1An integrative model of success for international assignments (DeNisi & Sonesh, 2016)

NoteKSAOs. Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other characteristics.HCNs. Host Country Nationals

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Table 1International assignments 2012-2013

Host country Seniority (years) Objective

India 15 Become the country head

India 13 Become the country headBrazil 12 Become VP for AmericasBrazil 10 Become the financial head

Brazil 7 ProjectCosta Rica 9 Become operations manager for Central AmericaCosta Rica 5 ProjectCosta Rica 8 Become the financial head for Central AmericaColumbia 7 Become the financial headColumbia 26 Become the country head

USA 6 Become the country head

Note.: All the assignees were MexicansSource: Cinépolis Global HR Director and Global Mobility Manager

A feasible complement to support the achievement of the four dimensions of success could be the designation of mentors for the assignees in a holistic way, not only from the home or host country but a combination of both (Holtbrügge & Ambrosius, 2015), since mentors can facilitate knowledge creation and sharing. Former assignees could be considered as mentors, or in some cases, strategic leaders and functional experts could guide young apprentices and future stars.

Managerial implications and future research opportunitiesIn order to succeed, any multinational company must invest effectively in expanding executives’ global mindset, capabilities, and cultural adaptation, opening their sources to hire talent, redesigning their training programmes to build new soft-skills, and exposing executives to stretch assignments, regional projects, expatriation periods, and tours of duty.

Assignees must be able to understand and adapt to cultural differences in issues such as leadership, empowerment, training, and performance evaluations. Also, they should be conscious of how autocratic or participative they should be as leaders, and how candid feedback should be to improve performance while avoiding personal conflicts and demotivation.

The criteria to make a sound selection decision should be based not only on the cost of sending executives as expatriates, but on the importance of the subsidiary to the headquarters operations, the need for control/coordination, and how cross-culturally competent the executives need to be to perform the international assignment effectively.

The authors accept that this paper is limited in terms

of data collection. The ‘sample’ is very modest and is not selected to be representative, but rather to provide a real example of one company’s experience of international assignments and the application of the multi-dimensional model by DeNisi and Sonesh (2016). Thus, this work provides a starting point for further research on the managerial tools and decisions required to accomplish the use of the model. We encourage scholars to use alternative research designs that allow for the inclusion of wider samples and additional sample countries.

In addition, more research opportunities come up in different fields and directions. The literature mentions the need, for example, to explore the accumulation and utilization of the capital generated from the international experience (Doherty & Dickmann, 2009), to examine what facilitates knowledge transfer from subsidiaries to headquarters (Chang et al., 2012), to develop longitudinal studies taking into account expatriates’ skills before and after the assignment (Holtbrügge & Ambrosius, 2015), and finally, examining what career consequences are associated with different types of global mobility (Baruch et al., (2016). How does gaining a global perspective affect attitudes toward multiculturalism and the rise of anti-immigration policies? How do “third culture kids”2 compare to young people without such experience? These would be valuable contributions to enrich the managerial response to global circumstances.

2 Children of expatriates who have spent substantial portions of their

lives abroad.

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High potential profile

Duration Objectives

Strategic Leader(Manager and Director level)

Five years maximum

Perform a critical business necessity.Deliver strategic business results.Align the local strategy with the Corporate strategy.Transfer best practices to the local market.Integrate acquired companies.Implement Cinépolis culture.Develop local talent and leaders.Add value immediately with positive and evident business results.

Functional Expert(Manager and Director level)

Three years maximum

Provide technical knowledge to the host country.Solve the lack of local specialized talent.Transfer of best practices to the local operation.Changes in the operation of the host country to achieve profitability.Cultural and administrative integration of a new operation.

Future Star(Any hierarchical level)

One year maximum

Cover a particular business necessity.Develop or reinforce specific abilities such as multicultural communication, understanding of the local customer, effective multicultural collaboration.It is the source of future Cinépolis leaders.

Young Apprentice(Any hierarchical level)

Six months maximum

Participate in a business project.Training for the host country, the assignee, or both.Develop capabilities in early career stages: adaptability, tolerance, and objectivity to work with people from different cultures.

Table 2Summary of Cinépolis Global Mobility Characteristics

Source: Cinépolis Global Mobility Strategy

References

Baruch, Y., Altman, Y., & Tung, R. L. (2016). Career Mobility in a Global Era. Academy of Management Annals, 10(1), 841-889. doi:10.1080/19416520.2016.1162013Bouquet, C., Morrison, A., & Birkinshaw, J. (2009). International attention and multinational enterprise performance. Journal of International Business Studies, 40(1), 108-131. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/ login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=36430047&site=ehost- live&scope=siteCamisón, C., & Forés, B. (2010). Knowledge absorptive capacity: New insights for its conceptualization and measurement. Journal of Business Research, 63(7), 707-715. Cascio, W. F., & Boudreau, J. W. (2016). The search for global competence: From international HR to talent management. Journal of World Business, 51(1), 103-114. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2015.10.002Chang, Y.-Y., Gong, Y., & Peng, M. W. (2012). Expatriate Knowledge Transfer, Subsidiary Absorptive Capacity, and Subsidiary Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), 927-948. doi:10.5465/amj.2010.0985DeNisi, A. S., & Sonesh, S. (2016). Success and failure in international assignments. Journal of Global Mobility, 4(4), 386-407. doi:10.1108/JGM-12-2015-0060Dickmann, M., Doherty, N., Mills, T., & Brewster, C. (2008). Why do they go? Individual and corporate perspectives on the factors influencing the decision to accept an international assignment. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19(4), 731-751. doi:10.1080/09585190801953749Dickmann, M., & Harris, H. (2005). Developing career capital for global careers: The role of international assignments. Journal of World Business, 40(4), 399-408. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2005.08.007Doherty, N., & Dickmann, M. (2009). Exposing the symbolic capital of international assignments. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(2), 301-320. doi:10.1080/09585190802670664

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Douiyssi, D., & Aldred, G. (2017). Breakthrough to the Future of Global Talent Mobility, 2016 Global Mobility Trends Survey. Brookfield Global Relocation Services, 21, 24. Retrieved from http://globalmobilitytrends.bgrs.com/#/ aboutFlatten, T. C., Engelen, A., Zahra, S. A., & Brettel, M. (2011). A measure of absorptive capacity: Scale development and validation. European Management Journal, 29(2), 98-116. Holtbrügge, D., & Ambrosius, J. (2015). Mentoring, skill development, and career success of foreign expatriates. Human Resource Development International, 18(3), 278-294. doi:10.1080/13678868.2015.1071989Kok-Yee, N., Dyne, L. V., & Soon, A. (2009). From Experience to Experiential Learning: Cultural Intelligence as a Learning Capability for Global Leader Development. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8(4), 511-526. doi:10.5465/amle.2009.47785470Krishnan, S., & Kirubamoorthy, G. (2017). Cultural Intelligence and Cross-Cultural Adjustments: Impact on Global Mobility Intentions. American Journal of Economics, 7(1), 25-28. Lenartowicz, T., & Johnson, J. P. (2007). Staffing managerial positions in emerging markets: A cultural perspective. International Journal of Emerging Markets, 2(3), 207-214. Meyer, E. (2014). The culture map: Breaking through the invisible boundaries of global business (P. Affairs Ed.).Meyer, E. (2015). Getting to Sí, Ja, Oui, Hai, and Da. (cover story). Harvard Business Review, 93(12), 74-80. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth &AN=111098795&site=ehost-live&scope=siteMolinsky, A. (2015). Emotional Intelligence Doesn’t Translate Across Borders. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2-4. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rollins.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct =true&db=bth&AN=118666827&site=ehost-live&scope=sitePalmer, A. (2017). Lifelong learning is becoming an economic imperative. The Economist, 12. Tung, R. L. (2016). New perspectives on human resource management in a global context. Journal of World Business, 51(1), 142-152. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2015.10.004Welch, D., Steen, A., & Tahvanainen, M. (2009). All pain, little gain? Reframing the value of international assignments. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(6), 1327-1343. doi:10.1080/09585190902909855

About the author

Alejandro is currently Head of the People Management area at IPADE Business School in México. He received the Doctoral degree from Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College in the USA, and conducts research in talent management practices and corporate governance. Alejandro is Board Member at the Mexican Association of HR Management (AMEDIRH) and is a visiting professor in different business schools across Latinamerica.

Nonprofit organizations and volunteer leadership development: A narrative review with implications for human resource developmentAmin Alizadeh, Bhagyashree Barhate, Tamim Choudhury & Khalil Dirani

AbstractDespite the growing support for the importance of volunteer leadership development activities across nonprofit organizations, little is known about volunteer leadership development in the field of human resource development. This narrative literature review highlighted the main challenges in running a nonprofit organization, emphasized the value of volunteer leadership development, and stressed the important role of HRD to develop more capable and trained volunteers. Due to the shortage of skilled volunteers, special efforts are needed to concentrate on volunteers’ development; proper guidance and assistance are required to do this effectively and efficiently. This study opens discussion on this topic and offers overall implications for volunteer leadership development. Our findings can help professionals design thoughtful leadership development programmes for volunteers and may provide a foundation for future research in the field of HRD.

IntroductionAccording to The World Bank (2018) report, half of the world’s population live in poverty and struggle to fulfil basic human needs, such as food and shelter. Poverty is a global phenomenon and is not just situated within undeveloped

and developing countries. In 2018, the United States’ official poverty rate was 11.8 per cent accounting for 38.1 million poverty-ridden Americans (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019, p. 12). The poverty rate and the economy’s overall health are directly correlated with higher economic growth creating more employment and income opportunities (Nilsen, 2007). Because of the high poverty rate, many

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Americans rely on social services and government aid to meet their basic survival needs.

The demand for all types of social services in the U.S. has grown beyond what governments, private sector, and nonprofit organizations can provide (Fuller, 2012). The good news is that many citizens volunteer their time every year to help bridge the gap between the increasing needs of individuals below the poverty line and the government. A volunteer is any person or a group that provides “service to the community given without payment” (Warburton & Terry, 2000, p. 249). Volunteers instinctively value their contribution, feel satisfied, and have fewer psychological disorders (Rook, & Sorkin, 2003). The feelings of fulfilment naturally lead volunteers to continued volunteer work involvement (Huang et al., 2020; Wilson, 2012).

Volunteers are critical to facilitate social services in the U.S., and the presence of volunteer leadership can make the difference in whether a neighbourhood or community will survive when hardship comes. The motivation to volunteer for a cause may arise from the volunteers’ different and complex needs (Nichols et al., 2019). In addition to volunteers’ significant role in making human services available to society, they positively impact the national economy (Independent Sector, 2015). Volunteers are also the main players for nonprofit organizations to achieve their goals by handling the organizational challenges related to resources and communications (Park et al., 2018). At the same time, nonprofit organizations are increasingly facing challenges to retain and train their volunteers (Hager &

Brudney, 2004; Hustinx, 2010; McCurley & Lynch, 2007; Saksida & Shantz, 2014; Stolle & Hooghe, 2005).

High turnover of volunteers in nonprofit organizations is mainly attributed to the lack of proper training programmes (Saksida & Shantz, 2014). Besides, the absence of a well-defined progression plan of volunteers within the organization and advancement to leadership positions poses a disadvantage to nonprofit organizations leading to increasing turnover (Van Winkle et al., 2002). Human resource development (HRD) research and practice helps individuals for the betterment of personal and professional life, and supports organizational changes to optimize performance within an ethics framework (Alizadeh, Dirani, & Qiu, 2020). Thus, it is critical to investigate the relationship between volunteer leadership training and retention through HRD’s interdisciplinary foundational lens.

Collecting knowledge from other related fields is part of being an interdisciplinary study. In this narrative literature review, we aim to explore the existing literature on volunteer-based organizations to identify their major challenges and highlight how HRD can contribute to reduce workforce related challenges. Research shows that nonprofit organizations are struggling with high volunteer turnover. In this study, we attempt to identify how HRD interventions, specifically related to effective leadership and leadership development, can help nonprofit organizations to overcome their main challenges.

Little is known about leadership development in

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nonprofits, despite growing support for the importance of leadership development research and practice (Hall et al., 2018; Morton, & Holden, 2018; Waite, 2018). Day (2000) affirmed that leadership development includes training individuals for roles and conditions beyond their current experience. Based on Day’s view, leadership development is involved with the advancement of collective institutional capacity. Bolden (2005) stated that leadership development is an “investment in social capital to develop interpersonal networks and cooperation within organizations and other social systems” (p. 12).

The purpose of this narrative literature review is to identify volunteer-related challenges faced by nonprofit organizations and explore the effects of volunteer training and leadership development activities on volunteer attraction and retention. The following questions guided our study:

• What are the main challenges faced by volunteer-based organizations that affect their volunteers?

• How can HRD contribute towards overcoming challenges in volunteer-based organizations?

• How do leadership development activities affect volunteer-based organizations?

MethodologyA narrative literature review best served to answer our research questions as the HRD literature has not yet explored volunteerism and nonprofit organizations. Narrative literature helps define the topic and audience, search, and research literature as needed, critically review searched literature, and describe the findings logically (Gregory & Denniss, 2018). This section describes our methods of searching and short-listing articles, data management, and analysis procedures through Gregory and Denniss’s (2018) description of conducting narrative literature reviews.

Defining the audienceNonprofit organizations positively impact the economy. Developing employees and volunteers within the nonprofit organization sector should become a part of mainstream HRD literature and conversation. This article evaluates the existing challenges in the nonprofit sector and understands how leadership development can provide volunteers with training and retention opportunities. While HRD professionals may rarely be employed in nonprofit sectors, this article is relevant to leaders within the nonprofit sector and even volunteers who are active participants in the nonprofit sector.

Searching literatureWe explored five main databases: ABI/inform complete; ERIC (EBSCO); Web of Science; Academic Source Ultimate; and Business Source Ultimate. We employed a combination of subject terms to search the databases such as: “nonprofit challenges,” “volunteer challenges,” “leadership,” “volunteer leadership,” “volunteer leadership

development,” “voluntary organizations,” “leadership development,” “volunteer retention,” “employee leadership development,” and “volunteer training challenges.” Our search results mainly came from nonprofit and leadership related journals, including VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, Voluntary Sector Review, and Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.

Although a narrative literature review does not require authors to specify stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria (Gregory & Denniss, 2018), we set parameters to manage our search and focus on making our article impactful and relevant. During our first attempt, we limited our search within a twenty-year period. Next, we limited our search to journals published in English and the context of the United States. This initial search resulted in 179 articles.

Table 1 provides a summary of database search results with the number of collected articles. In our first step, we collected any related results without limitation. In total, we identified 179 articles, books, conference proceedings, and reports. In the next step of selection, we limited the field’s subject area and collected scholarly articles and books with our keywords in the title or abstract.

Table 1Number of collected articles in two steps

Database First attempt Articles screened for review

ABI/inform 65 9

ERIC(EBSCO) 28 8Web of Science 34 12Academic Search Ultimate

38 20

Business Source Ultimate

14 3

Total articles 179 52

After collecting 52 related books and articles, we reviewed the abstract of each paper to see if they are related to the topic and collected relevant ones. During the skimming process, we identified that 4 out of 52 results have studied “volunteer leadership development” and their related challenges. This finding shows the gap in the literature in this area. Due to the limited number of articles, we did not restrict selection criteria for volunteer leadership development section by any generation, location, and journal.

FindingsIn the following sections we addressed three streams of burdens that nonprofits are facing to run their organizations: 1 - organizational challenges, 2 - paid staff related challenges, and 3 - volunteer related challenges. Scholars mostly noted that funding related issues, and

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discriminatory practices are the main concerns at the organizational level, while paying staff mainly deal with lower income (compared to for-profit sector) and lack of attention from managers. At the third groups of challenges we discussed volunteers’ related issues and our findings revealed poor volunteer management practices, shortage of skilled volunteers, lack of proper training and professional development activities, and high turnover are some of the main challenges that nonprofit organizations are facing. At the end of this section we addressed the opportunities that training, development, and volunteer leadership development activities can create to improve

nonprofits’ performance.

Organizational challenges‘Funding’ and ‘discriminatory practices’ are two important thematic issues faced by nonprofit organizations. However, it is increasingly challenging for nonprofit organizations to maintain an influx of cash to ensure smooth operations. While human resources training programmes are critical to improve organizational effectiveness and service quality in nonprofits (Chang, Huang, & Kuo, 2015; Riddoch, 2009), a consistent cash flow ensures the nonprofit’s ability to offer training and development for volunteers and invest in their leadership development. This section summarizes the nonprofit organization’s increasing challenges to acquire funding from government agencies or private donors.

FundingThere is an increasing debate on the government’s responsibility to financially support volunteer-based organizations (Cullen et al., 2007). For example, Tanner (2001) reasoned against government funding and claimed that nonprofits would become dependent on this source. He explained that “government funding shifts their missions from their moral values to competition” (p. 9) with other nonprofits for more money. Since nonprofit organizations are highly resource-dependent, they face increasing risks when dependence is on a sole financial source (Herman & Heimovics, 1989). Consequently, the whole idea of charity could become compromised.

Dilulio (2003) noted, there is discrimination in government funding between nonprofits; he claimed: “while some of the Catholic and Jewish nonprofits receive tens of billions of dollars from government grants there are many low-income nonprofits such as urban Latino and African American organizations, which are discriminated” (pp. 1276-7), with many religious organizations receiving little to no money from the government. Another research

by Garrow (2012) conducted in California illustrates race discrimination between nonprofit organizations. The research highlights, with the increasing number of African American population in a county, government funding towards nonprofit organizations decreases indicating an inverse relationship between poverty and government funding (Garrow, 2012).

Fundraising for nonprofit organizations has attracted research attention, and many recommendations for nonprofit leaders to increase funding have emerged through research. Nonprofit organizations are seeking innovative ways to attract donor attention. For example,

using sports events to generate funds and raise awareness (Wood et al., 2010) or crafting mission statements to induce emotion in donors to receive more donations and engage in emotional marketing (Paxton et al., 2020).

Discriminatory practicesMinorities experience discriminatory attitudes based on their race and gender during hiring and promotion in nonprofit organizations (Gibelman, 2000). For instance, national surveys have illustrated that the high-rank managers and executives are often not representative of the communities they serve in many nonprofits (Brown, 2015; Medina, 2017). At the same time, existing discriminatory practices impede minorities from progressing in the organizational hierarchy. The discriminatory practices and attitudes described below indicate an irony that nonprofits — which by and large support minority groups — themselves have organizational biases in hiring and promotion systems.

Hayes (2012) affirmed that only 14 per cent of leadership or management roles are non-white in nonprofits. There are 82 per cent white, 10 per cent African American, 5 per cent Hispanic/Latino, and 3 per cent other races among nonprofits’ paid staff. In some cases, minorities are hired as board members only to have diversity, not necessarily fairness (Musick, Wilson, & Bynum, 2000). Researchers also noted that 70 per cent of nonprofit organizations are women (Gibelman, 2000; Mesch et al., 2006). Women work in nursing, daycares, orphanages, and other social institutions that support the less privileged population. Women choose to work in nonprofit organizations due to the less demanding nature than for-profit organizations (Gibelman, 2000). Additionally, due to lower salaries, men prefer not to work in nonprofit organizations as “males suffer a huge wage loss by working in nonprofit organizations rather than for-profit sector” (p. 257). However, even in nonprofit organizations, women earn

Minorities experience discriminatory attitudes based on their race and gender during hiring

and promotion in nonprofit organizations (Gibelman, 2000).

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lower salaries than men. Gibelman (2000) found that among the seventy-four organizations included in her study, she found highly discriminatory practices against women. For instance, a) the number of males employed in upper-level management is twice that of female managers, b) organizations preferred to hire males than females, and c) women with a similar educational background to men earned lower salaries at all hierarchical levels.

The literature review highlighted that some nonprofit leaders are not aware of the potential benefits of diversity (Andrevski et al., 2014). Bond and Haynes (2014) declared that despite employee diversity challenges, leaders should embrace strategies for the inclusion of minorities due to its positive impacts on performance and organizational culture (Andrevski et al., 2014; Harris, 2014).

Paid staff related challengesPaid employees generally have lower incomes in nonprofit organizations than similar jobs in for-profit organizations (Faulk, Edwards, Lewis & McGinnis, 2012). Can we have a comparison between salaries in nonprofit versus for-profit? The wage gap between nonprofit and for-profit organizations is a leading factor to high turnover in volunteer-based organizations (p. 1,282). By filling the wage gap, nonprofits can maximize satisfaction, motivation, and retention among employees for increased organizational productivity (Faulk et al., 2012).

Whereas, for-profit managers put great emphasis on personnel issues, there is a lack of attention on paying staff in nonprofit organizations (Wilensky & Hansen, 2001). In particular, for-profit data illustrate “managers’ concern for succession planning and their tendency to reinforce their values by unconsciously promoting and grooming individuals who shared their beliefs” (p. 225), where values are weighed more than their technical skills. However, in nonprofits, paid staff are hired just for their knowledge. This difference between the two sectors led us to explore how nonprofits’ managers might view training and development.

Volunteer related challengesNonprofit organizations are increasingly relying on paid staff due to a yearly decrease in volunteer numbers (Hager & Brudney, 2004; Wilensky & Hansen, 2001). For instance, between 2006 and 2015, American adults’ national volunteer rate declined significantly (Raposa, Dietz & Rhodes, 2017). Poor volunteer management practices, lack of training, and lack of professional development opportunities lead volunteers to quit (Hager & Brudney, 2004; McCurley & Lynch, 2007). Lack of development opportunities affects volunteers’ work quality, making “volunteers feel incompetent and frustrated” (p. 3); consequently, they leave their roles. High turnover can have deleterious effects on volunteer programme management (McCurley & Lynch, 2007).

Volunteer developmentVolunteers are the most valuable resources for nonprofits;

they can lead to successful fundraising by talking from the heart to donors about their commitment and trust (Lysakowski, 2002). However, based on the literature reviewed we found that scholars have not studied volunteer development extensively, and nonprofit organizations are also not investing enough time in developing their volunteers. In a case study by UPS Foundation, it was found that two-fifths of volunteers had quit volunteering for the organization due to a lack of interest in volunteer development and management (Hager & Brudney, 2004).

Effective training programmes are vital for successful volunteer performance, and training programme effectiveness depends on training delivery methods and trainee attributes and characteristics (Huang et al., 2014). Although Morris (1999) claimed any training that nonprofits provide to “improve volunteers’ ability to do their voluntary work is not to be considered as a benefit” (p. 324), evidence shows volunteer training programmes have long-term benefits for nonprofits (Webb, 2017).

Volunteers need to have the knowledge and skills necessary to fulfil the organization’s mission. Scholars in this area mainly focused on the impact of volunteer training on volunteer satisfaction and retention, and their findings stated that training could reduce volunteer turnover (Van Winkle et al., 2002; Montgomery, 2006; McCurley & Lynch, 2007; Govekar & Govekar, 2008). Moreover, Van Winkle et al. (2002) noted that effective training programmes enable volunteers to develop skills, receive rewards, and experience social affiliation. By enhancing volunteers’ knowledge through training, nonprofits invest in developing key motivators that impact retention.

Volunteer training positively impacts a volunteer’s commitment to the nonprofit and its mission (Saksida & Shantz, 2014). Additionally, volunteer training a) improves volunteer’s emotional and mental wellbeing (Tang, Choi, & Morrow-Howell, 2010); b) improves volunteer engagement and satisfaction (Garner & Garner, 2010; Thomas, 2016); and c) creates a competitive advantage for nonprofit organizations by dramatically affecting volunteers’ quality of services and minimizing costs for nonprofits (Robideau & Vogel, 2014).

Volunteer retentionIn recent years, there has been a dearth of attention to volunteer retention (Walker, Accadia, & Costa, 2016). Lack of success in assigned roles leads volunteers to quit their volunteerism, that’s why nonprofit organizations need to properly train and prepare their volunteers in order to keep them (Bynum, 2013). Conversely, nonprofits are considered successful if they have high volunteer retention (Hager & Brudney, 2004). This relationship between retention, volunteer success, and organizational success is largely dependent on how organizations inspire long-term commitment among volunteers (Vecina, 2013). Volunteers’ high commitment to an organization can be achieved by providing volunteers with training materials or an orientation, building social contact, and understanding volunteers’ motivations (Vecina, 2013).

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McBride and Lee (2012) noted that nonprofits have higher rates of volunteer retention when they offer orientation, training, supervision, and professional development opportunities. Training programmes for paid staff are critical for volunteer development in nonprofit organizations, only nineteen per cent of large nonprofits provide training for their paid staff to work with volunteers or support volunteer needs (Cnaan & Milofsky, 2010). Paid staff do not have access to continuous training, impeding them from building trust and retaining volunteers, further affecting volunteers’ disengagement with the organization (Cnaan & Milofsky, 2010).

OpportunitiesVolunteer training and developmentTraining and mentoring programmes are two important aspects of leadership development in nonprofits (Guloy, 2015; Santora, Sarros, & Esposito, 2010). Training programmes focusing on developing leadership among volunteers have proven to enhance volunteers’ confidence, self-efficacy, and ability to fulfil their roles (Flage, Hvidsten, & Vettern, 2012; Jennings, 2009). Thus, leadership development programmes improve volunteer satisfaction, creating a positive work environment (Muyia & Kacirek, 2009). However, extensive research on the impacts of a formal leadership development programme on volunteer retention is lacking.

On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence on how nonprofit organizations’ engagement helps volunteers improve their leadership skills and abilities (Weinstein, 2008). By volunteering in leadership roles for nonprofit organizations, volunteers also become more civically engaged (Flage, Hvidsten, & Vettern, 2012). Nonprofits can significantly increase volunteers’ motivation, engagement, and knowledge of important organizational success areas (Caligiuri, Mencin, & Jiang, 2013). Thus, organizations that support, develop, and recognize their volunteers’ leadership skills generate positive consequences for themselves and their volunteers and clients they serve and ultimately for entire communities (Snyder & Omoto, 2008).

Leadership and volunteer leadership developmentThe concept of leadership can be defined in many ways. According to Ralph Stogdill (1974), Professor of Psychology at Ohio State University, “there are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept” (p. 259). Northouse (2007) declared that leadership is a process where individuals influence a group to understand what needs to be done and accomplish shared objectives. In recent years, leadership development has become a multi-billion-dollar industry. Many for-profit companies have invested in assessment tools, coaches, training, mentoring programmes, and action learning to improve high-potential individuals and have more effective leaders (McNamara et al., 2014).

Within the context of volunteer-based organizations, leadership ability has been identified as the knowledge and skills that are both helpful for impacting others and subject to enhancement over developmental activities (Gray, 2005). Lockett and Boyd (2012) noted that “building leadership skills in volunteers and having volunteers demonstrate leadership ability is a component of all major volunteer administration models” (p. 234). Several studies revealed that training leadership skills are critical for successful volunteer-based organizations (Lockett & Boleman, 2008; Lockett & Boyd, 2012).

Lockett and Boyd (2012) examined the process that people go through to obtain leadership attributes. They labelled the process of these skills as “leadership identity,” which is a “person’s leadership capacity or tendency to lead others over time” (p. 235). Morrow-Howell (2007) noted that volunteer programmes improve individuals’ leadership skills. Lockett and Boyd (2012) defined how leadership identity develops and changes over time and how that identity influences other people. They noted three primary categories of development that contribute to developing a person’s leadership identity. These categories include “Developing Self, Developmental Influences, and Group Influences” (p. 235). Lockett and Boyd’s (2012) study also explained that volunteer leadership programmes could improve individual leadership capacity in volunteers within the context of all three categories of developing self, developmental influences, and group influences. Some studies compared different leadership styles and found servant leadership is the best predictor of volunteers’ satisfaction, and intentions to stay (Schneider, & George, 2011; Smith, Montagno, & Kuzmenko, 2004), as it can create a positive atmosphere between the workforce and their organization (Dooley et al., 2020).

Snapp (2008) studied the seven leadership competencies noted by Northouse (2007) that theoretically should benefit volunteers in nonprofit organizations: “identifying problems, gathering information, solving problems in new ways, communicating effectively, understanding others’ roles in the organization, understanding others’ attitudes, and adapting behaviour” (p. 39). Although Snapp’s (2008) empirical study showed that over eighty per cent of nonprofit organizations expected their volunteers to have all seven leadership skills, none of the nonprofits had a leadership development programme for their volunteers.

Oyakawa (2015) illustrated that nonprofits that focus on leadership development for volunteers are more likely to have high-engagement levels than nonprofit organizations that do not. Oyakawa (2015) studied several faith-based community organizations with a leadership development process to empower ordinary people to participate in political action. Their successful leadership development process had three components: “1) one-to-one meetings, 2) week-long training, and 3) storytelling in meetings and public actions” (Oyakawa, 2015, p. 401). These techniques could help nonprofits improve volunteer commitment and transform “ordinary” volunteers into committed activists/leaders (Oyakawa, 2015).

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Meier et al. (2012) noted important leadership skills that are essential for volunteers: “networking, listening, communication, problem-solving, collaboration skills, as well as conflict management, strategic planning, grant writing skills, and personal time management skills” (p. 2). The study illustrated that developing personal time management skills can help volunteers learn other leadership skills, increase benefits from volunteerism, and improve volunteers’ overall satisfaction and effectiveness as community development members (Meier et al., 2012). Snapp’s (2008) study about volunteer leadership training also found that time management skills can positively affect how volunteers learn other leadership skills. He suggested by providing time management training programmes; nonprofit organizations can improve volunteer satisfaction and engagement. Interestingly, Cnaan and Milofsky (2010) stated that in some cases, leadership training programmes could have negative effects because “We know very little about the processes of leadership and managerial training that contribute to organizational performance” (p. 406). Cnaan and Milofsky (2010) described that it is very difficult for people to change their personalities after a short training course.

DiscussionWhile volunteer work increased over the years and volunteer population reduced, it is essential for nonprofit organizations to learn about HRD practices (Wilensky & Hansen, 2001). Most scholarly research related to volunteers is focused on “motives and characteristics of volunteers” (Studer & Schnurbein, 2013, p. 405) and volunteer management is still one of the most underdeveloped and least understood areas in volunteer research. Studer and Schnurbein (2013) declared only a “few studies have examined the efficacy of volunteer management” (p. 410) and development practices coming from the human resource perspective.

To overcome the volunteer shortage and create a more functional management system, nonprofits should adopt a culture of diversity to give minority members a feeling of equality and value in their organizations, instead of only hiring token minority members so that the board feels it has diversified. Quality of life for black Americans is lower, and they need more support from nonprofits than the majority white population (Musick, Wilson, & Bynum, 2000).

Training and volunteersTraining and professional development are the key volunteer management practices (Hager & Brudney, 2004). Scholars have suggested that preservice and in-service trainings are essential to improve volunteer retention (Hager & Brudney, 2004; McBride, & Lee, 2012). Several studies show that limited training and orientation is one of the main reasons for a high level of volunteer turnover (McCurley & Lynch, 2007; Skoglund, 2006; Walk, Zhang & Littlepage, 2019). It is also proven that volunteer training can increase volunteer commitment (Saksida & Shantz, 2014). However, why some organizations are not investing in training and developing volunteers remains a matter of conjecture.

Before volunteers start working in any nonprofit organization, they need to participate in volunteer orientation and training programmes (McBride, & Lee, 2012). Schneider et al. (2007) proposed that a volunteer training programme should educate individuals on what it means to be a volunteer, describe the benefits of being a volunteer, address the value of staff support, and encourage volunteers to remain engaged. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2005) provide some recommendations on how to train volunteers and that the training programmes should be:• Specific to the requirements of the volunteer position; • Geared to the skill level of the volunteer;

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• Ongoing;• Specific to the needs identified by both the volunteer

and supervisor; and • Periodically evaluated to determine if it is on track.

In their doctoral dissertation involving “volunteer leadership” Guloy (2015) treated “management” and “leadership” as equivalent to overcome the scarcity of literature within the volunteer leadership field. The literature review in this research study illustrated the seven leadership skills that should be beneficial for the volunteers of nonprofit organizations: “identifying problems, gathering information, solving problems in new ways, communicating effectively, understanding others’ roles in the organization, understanding others’ attitudes, and adapting behaviour” (Snapp, 2008, p. 39). Two studies defined these skills’ importance (Snapp, 2008; Meier et al., 2012), and they both suggested personal time management skills for volunteers can improve leadership skills.

Bynum (2013) noted that a leadership skill set is part of general skills that can help volunteers feel more confident, more committed to their organizations. In this study, we found many leadership skills such as communicating effectively, understanding others’ attitudes (Northouse, 2007), personal time management (Snapp, 2008), listening and networking skills (Meier et al., 2012) is not only beneficial for volunteers but also can increase the level of self-satisfaction and self-confidence in any individual. Having leadership development programmes for volunteers can keep them interested and committed to nonprofit organizations. Volunteers will benefit personally and professionally from a purposeful effort by improving their leadership skills.

Our research concludes that there is a lack of studies related to volunteer leadership development, volunteer leadership training, or employee leadership development in nonprofits. We believe leadership skills are not only for leaders anymore. While our life is changing in modern society, networked technologies and the virtual world have broken down hierarchies. Leaders are not the only decision-makers in organizations. They recognize the value of creativity and innovation in organizations; therefore, the flat organizational structure leadership has become broadly distributed in most organizations, and sometimes even basic level employees need to make decisions.

Implications for HRD researchAlthough access to training and lifelong learning is essential to personal development and community strength, international studies prove that organizations, in general, pay less attention to train and develop their volunteers. For example, the Australian study found that 59 per cent of volunteer-involving organizations did not have a manager or coordinator for their volunteer programme. Of those that did, only 50 per cent had provided any training programme (McCurley & Lynch, 2007).

Bynum (2013) noted that volunteer training should teach volunteers job-specific skills, social/organizational skills, and general skills to succeed and take full advantage

of the volunteer opportunity. Specific skills require teaching a volunteer how to do their job effectively. These are technical elements of what it takes to be successful in a given volunteer position. Social/organizational skills require social expectations that a volunteer must know to succeed in the organization. Bynum identified that general skills such as leadership training are also highly essential to retain volunteers. General skills may not be directly related to the volunteer’s day-to-day job but contribute to a volunteer’s overall development and improve performance (Bynum, 2013).

Schneider, Altpeter, and Whitelaw (2007) observed that volunteers should also understand the importance of evaluation and “recordkeeping.” They also noted that skill-building topics in communication should be included in volunteer training. Evaluation and communication skills must also be part of leadership skills (Hackman & Johnson, 2013). Schneider, Altpeter, and Whitelaw (2007) noted that volunteers who perform administrative duties should receive training in how to perform these duties, as well as evaluation practices. For direct service activities, volunteers should also receive an overview of programmes to be a participant. This provides background knowledge, so volunteers understand how to interact with clients (Schneider, Altpeter & Whitelaw, 2007). Volunteer training also allows volunteers to meet the staff who may support them during their time with an organization.

Thomas (2016) illustrated that to help all volunteers feel strongly committed to the organization, nonprofits can create leadership roles and allow volunteers with strong leadership capabilities to manage others. Another study found that volunteer organizations should invest in training by performing orientation programmes to help volunteers’ timely adjustment into their role. In addition, organizations should implement specific training programmes for the volunteer role throughout his/her tenure (Saksida & Shantz, 2014).

The scholarly works that we reviewed in this paper have provided a foundation for future research and can build significant implications for HRD research. We believe HRD has meaningful implications as a field of study and practice to make an individual’s personal and professional life better and ethically support organizational changes to optimize performance. The field of HRD will grow from further advancement of ideas related to human development studies by focusing on for-profit organizations and caring to grow nonprofits and their volunteers, who are one of the most valuable resources for the betterment of communities and nations. Identifying how different HRD practices can help nonprofits have more capable, trained volunteers would greatly add to the current knowledge body. It is also helpful to develop a deeper, wider research base by conducting qualitative and quantitative studies in various volunteer-based organizations (e.g., art, culture, health, animal, environment, educational nonprofits, and international NGOs).

This research looked at leadership development programmes related to volunteers and paid employees in

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nonprofit organizations. Participating in a leadership role can help in the professional development that volunteer-based organizations offer to individuals willing to donate their time and talent. Future research could look deeper at the topic and explore different leadership training programmes and their impacts on volunteers’ learning experience and their performance to identify the most effective training programmes. Future studies also can go further and define how HRD professionals might design different leadership practices by considering volunteers’ characteristics, beliefs, and values (based on the nature of nonprofits where they volunteer, e.g., animal or art charities) or considering different nonprofits’ organizational climate dimensions that can be used as proxies for volunteers’ values.

Studies can also look at nonprofits’ organizational culture and their culture change over time to develop innovative ideas for creative volunteer development programmes. As volunteer workers’ motives are not financial and humanistic values are the main underlying reasons for volunteering, HRD practitioners need to be more creative in designing volunteer training programmes. There will be a high demand for more creative interventions, and HRD practitioners play a significant role. HRD practitioners need to become more effective in maximizing their contributions to nonprofits’ effectiveness through relevant, effective evidence-based leadership training, volunteer leadership development, and organizational development.

ConclusionMost scholarly research focused on volunteer motives and characteristics to join a nonprofit organization. However, there is a dearth of literature on utilizing the volunteer motives and characteristics to manage them effectively. Volunteer management is still one of the most underdeveloped, least understood areas in volunteer research, especially from a human resource development perspective. When half of the global population struggles in poverty, volunteers for social services are a dire necessity; it is clear that the governmental and private sector resources are not enough to fill in the gap. When there is a shortage of volunteers to deliver social services, we have a significant problem. This is where quality professional development training comes into play. There is currently a chain effect, as lack of training makes volunteers feel incompetent, leading to frustration with the work and causing them to leave. We can halt this spiralling effect: HRD can intervene with designing professional development training — emphasizing leadership — that has a long-lasting impact. With proper training, volunteers can have the necessary knowledge and skills to further the organization’s mission. Not only will volunteers develop the skill set for the job, but they can also receive future rewards for great performances and experience a social affiliation. These are keys for retaining volunteers and leadership development. Also, the improvement of volunteers’ professional skills increases their motivation, thereby increasing engagement, leading

to organizational success. A committed volunteer intends to stay long-term with the organization, which benefits the group receiving services from the organization, as trained, dedicated volunteers deliver quality services.

Volunteer programmes already improve an individual’s leadership skills, so imagine how far the volunteer can go with the right leadership training. Training programmes designed to develop leadership skills among volunteers will pay great dividends in the long-term as volunteer-based organizations seek to grow and prosper with time. The critical shortage of volunteers cannot be ignored, and effective training that encourages volunteerism reduces turnover and creates advocates for the organization is crucial to develop current and future generations of volunteer-leaders.

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About the authors

Amin Alizadeh is a Ph.D. candidate and graduate fellow at Texas A&M University. His research interests include HRD’s role in building an ethical company, management and leadership development, and impacts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. For his dissertation, he studied the American retail industry to identify if employee trust can mediate the relationship between CSR and employee engagement.

Bhagyashree Barhate is a Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University. She acquired her Master’s Degree in Human Resource Development from Rochester Institute of Technology, NY. She received her Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from Nagpur, India. Her current research interests include career development and leadership development on women and Generation Z. She has published her research in Human Resource Development journals and has numerous conference presentations in Asia and the United States.

Tamim Choudhury is a public affairs specialist for an international development agency in the U.S. government. He holds a public administration master’s degree and bachelor’s degree in business administration, both from Texas A&M University. Having worked abroad as a technical writer in South Asia, Tamim’s research interest includes this region’s history and sociopolitical development.

Khalil Dirani is an Associate Professor and program chair for the Education & HRD program in the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development at Texas A&M University. Khalil’s research focus is on International HRD, transfer of learning practices and theories across cultures, and learning organizations in Lebanon and the Middle East region. He developed the Arabic version of the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (Watkins & Marsick 1993), which was implemented by Arab scholars in Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Dr. Dirani’s articles have appeared in both research and professional publications such as Human Resource Development Quarterly, Human Resource Development International, International Human Resource Management, Advances in International Management, and European Journal for Training & Development.

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Editorial team and board of directors

Mark LoonEditor in Chief

Editorial Team & Board of Directors

Professor, Bath Spa University

Rick HoldenEmeritus Editor

Editorial Team & Board of Directors

Gillian Lonergan Production Editor

Editorial Team

Kirsty FolanEditorial Assistant

Editorial Team

Bob MortonWorld Federation of People Management Associations

Board of Directors

Wilson WongEuropean Association

for People Management, Chartered Institute of

Personnel & DevelopmentBoard of Directors

Sarah FidmentUniversity Forum for HR

DevelopmentBoard of Directors

Trent BurnerWorld Federation of People Management Associations,

Society for HR ManagementBoard of Directors

Fiona RobsonChartered Institute of Personnel and

DevelopmentBoard of Directors

Bob HamlinEmeritus Professor, University

of Wolverhampton, UK

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Editorial advisory board Ramli Atan

Learning Specialist, PETRONAS Leadership Centre

Master’s in Curriculum & Instruction

Chantelle Brandt Senior Business Leader and Board

Member, DBA

Ajantha DhamasariDirector & Chairman of the

Postgraduate Institute of Management,

University of Sri JayewardenepuraPhD & MBA

Geoffrey ElliotProfessor of Post-Compulsory

Education, University of Worcester

Ruksana Osman Professor of Education, University of

the Witwatersrand

Berna OstinazChairman of the board, Peryön

MBA

Maria José SousaProfessor & research fellow,

ISCTE/IULPhD

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Hilary Claire-FraserInternational Organisation DirectorMaster’s in Audit Management and

Consultancy

Jorge Jauregui Corp. Director HR,

Americas Mining CorporationMaster’s in Organisational

Development

Allyson MacVeanProfessor of Policing and

Criminology, Bath Spa University

Marita Salo Executive Director, HENRY

Alexey VerbetskyDeputy Director, School of Public Policy and Management, RANEPA

Rob PoellProfessor of Human Resource

Development, Tilburg University, PhD

Marguerite EidNotre Dame University, Lebanon

MBA

Muhammad Shujahati PhD candidate, Knowledge

Management & E-Learning Lab, Faculty of Education of Education,

University of Hong Kong

Eduardo ToméUniversidade Europeia, Lisbon

PhD

83The journal is sponsored by a partnership between the World Federation of People Management Association (WFPMA), the University Forum for Human Resource Development (UFHRD) and the European Association of People Management (EAPM).