Yellowstone: Human Resource Management StrategyYellowstone finally came up with a novel solution that was consistent with Yellowstone’sphilosophy of building on its internal resources. Aware that declining growth is often a signal ofcomplacency that can go unnoticed by people close to the situation, it decided to bring together ateam of Asian managers who would visit and examine Yellowstone’s operations in the UK. AsYellowstone in-siders, they would be familiar with the company’s mission, values, processes, andprocedures and thus would be able to feel at home in the store context; as outsiders in the UK, theycould see things differently from the British managers, thereby bringing valuable home-countryinsights and sharing best practices that had evolved in their local markets. The project, “TheEssence of Yellowstone,” had a two-pronged strategic purpose: (1) to determine what was andwasn’t working by conducting a health-check of Yellowstone UK’s current corporate state; and(2) to compare and contrast that state with what had evolved in Yellowstone’s Asian subsidiariesso as to learn from and leverage them globally.Yellowstone chose nine managers from six of its Asian subsidiaries: two each from Thailand,South Korea, and China—its largest Asian markets—and one each from Malaysia, Japan, andIndia. It brought this Asian project team to the UK; trained its members in skills needed to observeand make sense of organizational behavior, values, and assumptions (a kind of corporateethnography); and deployed them for a three-month period to observe and work in 52 stores acrossthe UK and Ukraine. The task of helping Yellowstone reinvigorate home operations was not easy;nor was it easy to find nine managers who could leave their jobs for an extended three- monthperiod. In the end, the main criteria stipulated that team members had to have worked forYellowstone for at least three years, have a working knowledge of English, and be store-levelemployees rather than country-level managers. The team was also assessed on various culturaladaptability skills needed to get by in a foreign environment, such as flexibility and openness,emotional resilience, and personal autonomy. Three of the project team members were completelybilingual, having lived extensively in English-speaking environments; in fact, one had actuallystudied in England and thus had a deep cultural knowledge of the UK. These three proved helpfulto the team, especially with such practical things as opening bank accounts, navigating the publictransportation system, setting up mobile phone contacts, shopping, and the like. The others hadvarying degrees of cross-cultural exposure and competencies in the English language. All werefrom collectivist, high-context cultures, a fact that allowed teamwork to emerge quite naturallyand ensured that the team would pay attention to unarticulated details—factors that provedinvaluable for seeing things in the stores that others from low-context countries might not notice.Team members’ natural perceptual ability helped ensure that they would be able to act asorganizational bridges between their home subsidiaries and Yellowstone UK.This journey of nine Asian Yellowstone managers across the United Kingdom took place at a timewhen many British cities were shaken by riots and store looting. Still, the team compiled manypages of observations to use in creating their analysis. Their exposure to British culture was intenseon many levels. Two of them were locked in a Liverpool store during a riot and, though frightened,were impressed by the store managers’ calm manner to handle the situation. The day-to-dayexperiences, though less exciting, were also very informative and gave rise to many comparisonsand contrasts in implementing such core company values as customer focus in the UK and thehome countries. In the case, Yellowstone’s Human Resource Strategy was mentioned.a. Based on the four (4) predictors (self- orientation, others orientation, perceptual ability, cultural toughness) of a manager’s ability to succeed as an expatriate asdiscussed in the course, discuss the relevance of each of these predictors based on whatwas addressed in the case as part of Yellowstone’s Human Resource Strategy.i. Relevant links to the case must be made when discussing the predictors. Please include in-text citations and references.
Yellowstone: Human Resource Management Strategy
Yellowstone finally came up with a novel solution that was consistent with Yellowstone’s
philosophy of building on its internal resources. Aware that declining growth is often a signal of
complacency that can go unnoticed by people close to the situation, it decided to bring together a
team of Asian managers who would visit and examine Yellowstone’s operations in the UK. As
Yellowstone in-siders, they would be familiar with the company’s mission, values, processes, and
procedures and thus would be able to feel at home in the store context; as outsiders in the UK, they
could see things differently from the British managers, thereby bringing valuable home-country
insights and sharing best practices that had evolved in their local markets. The project, “The
Essence of Yellowstone,” had a two-pronged strategic purpose: (1) to determine what was and
wasn’t working by conducting a health-check of Yellowstone UK’s current corporate state; and
(2) to compare and contrast that state with what had evolved in Yellowstone’s Asian subsidiaries
so as to learn from and leverage them globally.
Yellowstone chose nine managers from six of its Asian subsidiaries: two each from Thailand,
South Korea, and China—its largest Asian markets—and one each from Malaysia, Japan, and
India. It brought this Asian project team to the UK; trained its members in skills needed to observe
and make sense of organizational behavior, values, and assumptions (a kind of corporate
ethnography); and deployed them for a three-month period to observe and work in 52 stores across
the UK and Ukraine. The task of helping Yellowstone reinvigorate home operations was not easy;
nor was it easy to find nine managers who could leave their jobs for an extended three- month
period. In the end, the main criteria stipulated that team members had to have worked for
Yellowstone for at least three years, have a working knowledge of English, and be store-level
employees rather than country-level managers. The team was also assessed on various cultural
adaptability skills needed to get by in a foreign environment, such as flexibility and openness,
emotional resilience, and personal autonomy. Three of the project team members were completely
bilingual, having lived extensively in English-speaking environments; in fact, one had actually
studied in England and thus had a deep cultural knowledge of the UK. These three proved helpful
to the team, especially with such practical things as opening bank accounts, navigating the public
transportation system, setting up mobile phone contacts, shopping, and the like. The others had
varying degrees of cross-cultural exposure and competencies in the English language. All were
from collectivist, high-context cultures, a fact that allowed teamwork to emerge quite naturally
and ensured that the team would pay attention to unarticulated details—factors that proved
invaluable for seeing things in the stores that others from low-context countries might not notice.
Team members’ natural perceptual ability helped ensure that they would be able to act as
organizational bridges between their home subsidiaries and Yellowstone UK.
This journey of nine Asian Yellowstone managers across the United Kingdom took place at a time
when many British cities were shaken by riots and store looting. Still, the team compiled many
pages of observations to use in creating their analysis. Their exposure to British culture was intense
on many levels. Two of them were locked in a Liverpool store during a riot and, though frightened,
were impressed by the store managers’ calm manner to handle the situation. The day-to-day
experiences, though less exciting, were also very informative and gave rise to many comparisons
and contrasts in implementing such core company values as customer focus in the UK and the
home countries.
In the case, Yellowstone’s Human Resource Strategy was mentioned.
a. Based on the four (4) predictors (self- orientation, others orientation, perceptual ability, cultural toughness) of a manager’s ability to succeed as an expatriate as
discussed in the course, discuss the relevance of each of these predictors based on what
was addressed in the case as part of Yellowstone’s Human Resource Strategy.
i. Relevant links to the case must be made when discussing the predictors.
Please include in-text citations and references.
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