SHRMcasestudy:

‘Soft
Games’ Trading inEurope.

The case studyisadapted
fromAnaloui,F.(2007)’StrategicHuman ResourceManagement’.

Thomson Learning,UK, pp 93-94.

lnstructionslnthetime allowed,readthefollowing case studyandanswer
the three

questionsbelow.Note Q2isworthmore
than Qs1
&3.

Not longago,uponjoining the EuropeanUnioneconomic
market,more
companiesbeganto

recruitandhirebilingual
employeesin
theUnitedKingdom.Trading acrossEurope meant

that the companieshadto
dealwiththeFrenchand German languageson adaily
basis.
The

primaryreasonsfor
recruiting bilingual employees, especiallyinthe
medium-sizedelectronics

industry, were: (1)agrowing
demand for software, especially games that could beusedin

different languages,(2)many
international competitive enterprises,especiallyfrom thelndian

sub-continentand theAsia
Pacificregion,
weremovingtoenterthe
European market,and
(3)

mainland Europe provideda poolof potentialrecruitswith competitivecomputergames

knowledgeandskills.
Thesefactors werenecessaryfor expanding operations andsales,

especially overseas, whichrequiresemployees to speak anotherlanguage.

The situation at one electronic games producer, Soft
Games,had
changedconsiderablyover

thelastfew
yearsas
thefollowing quoteshows.

“Overthepastfiveyears wehavewitnessed agreat dealofinterest inbilingual

employees fromourcompetitors.
We werenot quick offthemarkandour

operations have sufferedto alargeertent./suppose
you couldsay we werenot

paying enough attentiontothe changes toour market”,Angela Brooks,Headof

RecruitmentandSelection
at’SoftGames’explained.

“We’refindingthatmorecompanies are becominggtobal and thattheEuropean

boundaries are viftually disappearing.Wefindourselvescompetingwithnot only

European companiesinterms ofrecruitment oftheprogrammers
andsoffuvare

speck/isfs,butalsowithsmallerfirmsfrom the lndian sub-continent andtheAsia

Pacific regionwhoprovide
multilingual products-
with varyinglevelsof qualityas

farasthe
translation is concerned”Angelaexplained.

DrWise, the Chairman ofSoftGames,
explained,

“Moreoverarecent
survey showsthat
the demand forourexistingproductshas

fallen steadityby 24% whereas our competitorsseem tobedoing allright.We have

nof accessto theirmarketing data but alltheindications arethat themarketis

changing andwe
haveto changewith
it”.

CASESTUDY

‘SoftGames’ Tradingin Europe.Studentsanswer
all threequestions.
Total: 40marks.

CriteriaMarks

Question1.

Discussion and analysis oftheSHRM reasons forthedecline of

demandfor ‘SoftGames’products. (Theanswermust
focuson the

Strategic-people
reasons,nottheproductmarketingreasons).

Approx.500 words (10 marks)

Question2.

Discussionofa SHRMstrategy
that ‘Soft
Games’ coulduse to

reverse thedeclinein demandforitsexistingproducts. 2 marks each for:

-Introduction

-Recruitment

-Selection

-Retention

-Shorter-term
staff
training

-Longer-termstaffdevelopment

-Rewards

-Compensation

-Promotion

-Conclusion

Approx.1,000 words (20 marks)

Question3.

Discussionofimportance ofdiversityinstrategic
HRMforany

organisationusing ‘SoftGames’asinexample.Approx.
500 words (10
marks)