NUST Business School

International Human Resource Management

Case Session 5
Assignment Title: Two Brothers, Two Methods Case

Submitted to
Dr. Kishwar Gulzar
Submitted by
Muhammad Talal Maqsood
MBA 2K19 section A
Date:15-12-2020

1|Page
1. Critically evaluate the “Happiness Index” and “Data Analytics” approach to
operations and organizational structure. Which system, in your opinion, is more suited
to US as well as India?

Ans.

Let us first take a look at the Happiness Index system of WCC company. It has been
mentioned in the case that the company tends to be more employee centric. It is true in the
manner that people of India tend to be more collectivistic in nature and hence due to his India
background and upbringing it seems Rajat, the founder of WCC seems to be appreciative of
the collectivist culture. That is why for him, human beings mattered more, and he instilled the
same kind of environment in his firm as well.
The Happiness index method of WCC company is something which if more concerned with
the people of the company. As mentioned in the case, there are not many KPIs which are
there in the company policy in order to measure the performance of the employees which in
my opinion is not something appreciable. Yes it matters that the employees are happy with
the company policy and the fact that most of the employees remain loyal to the company
makes sense but there is another argument in this case that WCC is paying more base salary
to its employees as compared to ARK solutions. Financial aspects are the key to employee
retention in my opinion and in a company where many of the employees are Indians
themselves it matters a lot as due to collectivist culture people tend to be more focused on the
family support aspect of their job.
The staff augmentation industry depends on a lot of key factors which shapes the decision
making of the stakeholders. Factors like Ability to retain and hire, availability of tight talent,
skillsets and specialization required in order to complete projects are the main reasons why
companies look for firm like WCC and ARK. If we look at the business environment of
WCC, they operated in the west coast of USA with clients belonging to non-government
sectors. Industry trends indicated a continuously changing environment and without any
doubt the industry is now quicker paced and receptive to innovations.
It’s worth mentioning the fact that WCC was not too much dependant on the implementing
and for the technological aspects they have given independence to the employees that they

2|Page
are free are to use tech. in whatever way they can and they incorporated some tech resources
as well but they are again not highly advanced. This is something which is highly risky in a
changing environment, thought it resonates the fact that Indian are fairly low on uncertainty
avoidance hence the company thought that its better to be more traditional and stick to their
aspect of human centric. This then creates and issue of standardization which is very
important in an industry in which they operate. Their clients may at some point require highly
technical people and they might have some work for them which requires the necessary
knowledge of current trends and since WCC was not much focused on training its employees
more rather they get experienced people but again lack of understanding of modern trends
and inefficient coping mechanisms for the current business problems due to insufficient
training of employees are some of the issues that can wreak havoc upon WCC.
Their philosophy of doing business is not a perfect fit for country like USA. They may at
some point face difficulty in operating due to their traditional methods and lack of
innovation. As US is culture is considered less pragmatic with a low score in Long Term
Orientation aspect of Hofstede Model while Indians are considered to be more pragmatic and
generally forgiving of malpractices like lack of innovation, traditional handling of business
and common mistakes. So WCCs environment and policy is more suitable for India than US

Now coming to ARK solution, the company is more centred towards analytics and data. They
tend to train their employees in order to make them more efficient and are typically focused
on standardizing procedures of their operations which in the dynamic environment of the
industry is vital. It is due to their focus and implementation of technology that they have
more data of talent sources than WCC corporation which is the edge they have on their
counterpart. Also the company implemented many performance management policies and
due to that I believe they will be able to maintain a high standard of services from their
employees since this will make employees more focused towards their tasks.

It is also noteworthy that it is also a flat organization like WCC but here the job roles are
more defined and well descripted ensuring the employees about their key roles and their
approaches to providing their services. They also made sure that their employees are well
equipped with the modern trends with a broader focus on training and development. If we
look at the Hofstede models of USA and India, it shows that US scored 91 and India scored
48 which means that US people are expected to be self-reliant and display initiative and with
a less power distant society this is a one key aspect in which when employees are perfectly
3|Page
trained , they will do their job more efficiently rather than in Indian culture which Is more
power distant and low on individualism in which people are more hesitant towards asking for
solution or guidelines from their employees in order to get to a solution.
But one thing should be kept in mind that since most of the employees on ARK are based in
India, their business practices are more aligned with the US culture hence they are more fit
for America as compared to India.

2. Compare and contrast the hiring and compensation practices of both companies i.e.
WCC and ARK Solutions. How do these two practices impact employee performance?

Ans.
a. WCC Hiring and compensation
WCC was more concerned with getting more experienced employees and due to
that reason, they also had to offer higher salaries to their employees In order to
retain them. Its true that the company focused on limited monitoring of their
employees but with less performance management measure and KPI’s there is no
way they can accurately measure the performance of their employee and get to
know that their policy of higher pay than their competitors is justified by their
employees or not. Since most of the employees are taken from India, they do have
a vast talent pool from which they can get more talented people but again this
policy of getting experienced people at a higher rate with no or very little training
for their current roles can be costly for the company in the long run.
They gave their employees independence in their operative procedures which
might work for some people but again for the whole organization it is something
not feasible enough since not all the people are at the same level even though they
hire experienced employees yet again with no standardized procedures, they may
lag behind their competitors in their performance, who are more equipped with
modern, relevant knowledge along with technology required to cope with the
dynamic industry.

b. ARK Solution Hiring and Compensation

4|Page
 extensive and relevant trainings and the tools required in order to perform their
job well. With the standardization process and clear communication of the job
roles and the KPIs to their employees, they have provided them enough room to
grow and perform well. This allows the company to not only track the employee
performance but also gave employees to get promotions on merit based on their
performance and even thought they get somewhat less salary than their
counterpart company WCC, the employees do have enough resources and
mechanisms to improve their performance on job and get promoted on merit.
In a tech savvy environment like the industry they are operating in, it is vital to be
equipped with the all the modern resources and this not only improves the skill set
of the people but also increases the motivation to do their work since tasks
becomes less complicated and productivity increases as a result of incorporating
technology. Hence the tech. focused approach of the ARK solution is up to the
mark of modern business needs.

5|Page