What are the ways to achieve Leadership and Organizational Strengthening?
Hay Group, the global management consulting firm, held the HR Seminar for Japanese Companies (JCS) 2013 at Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Center at Central World. In the seminar, experienced consultants at Hay Group shared their ideas, experiences, and researches about approaches to leadership and organizational strengthening. The honorable guest speaker, Mr. Shingo Hosotani, President at Summit Auto Group, also shared his experiences in leadership learned from being in the car dealer industry.
Currently, many Japanese companies are aiming to strengthen global expansion and are considering Thailand as a venue for investment as economic growth is on the rise. It is essential that Japanese companies understand how to manage their talents within the Thai context. According to Hay Group’s research, the main challenge for Japanese companies in Thailand is exercising leadership to attract, retain, and develop the potential of local employees, specifically in the areas of learning development and compensation structure. During the seminar, Hay Group shared approaches on leadership and organizational management of human resources in the future.
Leaders are the key drivers to creating engagement and increasing discretionary effort in their employees. Hay Group’s research found that most leaders rely on a single leadership style and create de-motivating climates for their employees, resulting in ineffective organizational performance. Effectiveleaders display a variety of leadership styles depending on different circumstances. They adapt their leadership styles and with the broad range of styles they use, they create a high performance climate.
There are six styles of leadership which can be used to achieve the greatest impact on the work climate and it is important to adapt the style to the situation.
- Directive Style: Focuses on immediate compliance, “Do it now!”
- Visionary Style: Not authoritarian, instead communicates a compelling vision
- Affiliative Style: Focuses on creating harmony
- Participative Style: Focuses on getting consensus and buy in
- Pacesetting Style: Focuses on getting tasks done to a high standard
- Coaching Style: Focuses on long-term professional development of others
Another factor that affects organizational strengthening is compensation. Hay Group’s research shows that in Thailand, a wage gap exists between management and operation employees, with middle management receiving much higher compensation than operational employees, whereas in Japan the difference in compensation between the levels is minimal. In fact, operational employees may receive higher compensation than middle management. In addition, different industries have different gaps in compensation and in developed countries, the market is more competitive with each industry more clustered. However, the study also reveals that more than 80% of the organizations would like to pay at market average or slightly higher.
As Thailand becomes increasingly popular to invest in, companies will need to rely on their talent pool to differentiate themselves from their competitors to develop and grow in Thailand. The challenges in organizational management for both Japanese and Thai leaders are sourcing for talent, leadership and talent development, employee engagement and having a competitive compensation system as the aging demographics result in a shrinking talent tool. These are essential to help organizations achieve high performance and success.
Hay Group is a global consulting firm that works with leaders to transform strategy into reality. We develop talent, organize people to be more effective, and motivate them to perform at their best. With 90 offices in 50 countries, we work with over 10,000 clients across the world. Our clients are from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors, across every major industry and represent diverse business challenges. Our focus is on making change happen and helping people and organizations realize their potential.