HRM: FINAL REPORT

Student Nguyen Trung Kien 10180250

Module Human Resources Management
Lecturer Mr. John M. Andre
Tutors Mr. Nhan
Date submitted 8/7/2019
Word count 1479

(excluding administrative sections, references,

appendices, contribution forms)

Contents

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 3
I. Company overview........................................................................................................ 3
II. Company’s perception of HRM......................................................................................3
MAJOR FINDINGS...................................................................................................................... 4
I. How does the company work well?................................................................................4
II. Improvements................................................................................................................4
III. Future risks.................................................................................................................... 4
IV. Things least relate to the firm.........................................................................................5
V. 3 most important points (related to HRM).......................................................................5
VI. 3 most important points (unrelated to HRM)...................................................................5
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................. 5
REFERENCE LIST...................................................................................................................... 5
INTRODUCTION

I. Company overview

TOPICA (Topica Edtech Group) is a multinational education-technology group that provides

user education solutions; including bachelor’s degree program, English speech tutoring courses

and MOOC (massive online open courses). TOPICA is founded in Hanoi, Vietnam and after 11

years of constant growth, it has reached Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the

United States. The scale of TOPICA is quite massive with over 1000 instructors and 1800 full-

time staffs worldwide operating with the standard organizational structure of Board of Directors,

Departments: Finance, Human Resource, Accounting, Marketing. The mission of TOPICA is to

fulfill the studying needs of their students with state-of-the-art facilities. TOPICA’s work involve a

major part of paper work, hence, most employees work in an office, teachers may be working

from home or come to the class with fixed schedule.

II. Company’s perception of HRM

TOPICA is an international organization with operating offices in many parts of the world,

therefore, every culture can appear inside TOPICA, and that is why Human Resource

Department plays an vital role in managing and neutralizing the differences in the company.
MAJOR FINDINGS

I. How does the company work well?

From 11 previous workshops research about TOPICA, there are some big advantage of this

company comparing to other competitors (ILA, Apollo English…). Initially, TOPICA is an

educational – technology company, which mission is to deliver the state-of-the-art facilities to

English learners. Unlikely to other competitors, TOPICA methods involve technology and that is

what make them stand out from the others. By implementing the online infrastructure, TOPICA

has shown effectiveness in their business. “Learning by using technology in a group of two or

more can be very beneficial.” (Lynch, 2017). Thousands of teachers and lecturers are working

from home, which significantly reduces the amount of money put into office and classroom.

Moreover, speaking classes are available 16 hours a day, hence, they can maximize their

workforce and this benefits the company more than ever. Students are also benefit from these

always-available classes since they can be more active in their learning process. Furthermore, 1

versus 1 classes allows student to have full attention from the teacher, these classes may be

expensive, but rather suitable for businessman and entrepreneurs who seek for express classes

with native speakers that no other company offers. In short, TOPICA know their customers, they

have every kind of classes from MOOC (massive open online courses) to TOPICA Native VIP,

bringing so many options to the students is a significant advantage comparing with other

competitors. “MOOCs are more effective. At least in developing countries.” (Kedia, 2017) and

smaller classes significantly improve performance. “All else being equal, lowering class sizes

will improve student outcomes.” (Mathis, 2016)

III. Improvements

In stark contrast, every company has its weaknesses, for TOPICA, is to bring balance into the

diversity of the company. TOPICA is an international organization with hundreds of cultural

differences, hence, maintaining balance between every employees and managers could be a

difficult task. “The people from varied backgrounds are more effective at working together than

those who are from similar backgrounds” (Page, 2007).

Goes deeper into diversity is multiculturalism, which requires every employee to have respect

each other on the term of privilege, inclusiveness and ethnicity. This is exactly what TOPICA is

looking for in their system. A company with hundreds cultural differences may experience

impossibility in adapting to the culture of every employee, thus, TOPICA has to create an

environment where the employees have to slowly adapt themselves with the company. “The

more diverse the company is, the greater are the profits.” (Cedric Herring, 2006)

As workshop 2 research pointed out, TOPICA only values the outcome, not gender nor

nationality. Nonetheless, when I came upon two teachers of TOPICA, they have shown some

differences in their teaching methods, one goes with the original way of teaching (with the

Lesson Plan), one with personal method (improve student by practice, improvise with each kind

of students…). If these two types of teacher are teaching in a similar class, the students may as

well hard to catch up with the information and drop out eventually. For managers and

employers, it is their job to bring all these teachers into one consecutive teaching pathway that

could affect the student in a good way.

IV. Future risks and recommendations

People’s demand in learning English is rising more than ever, although equipped with the

needed tool to satisfy the market, TOPICA Native is founded in 2014, therefore, it is still in the

stage of market research. The expectation of the customers is rising by the second, require the

market research team of TOPICA to work constantly to adapt TOPICA with the change in the

market. To resolve this problem, TOPICA should invest their time into finding and recruiting

talented, creative employees who is capable of making breakthrough in their work. “Employee’s
creativity is most important if the firm wants to maximize its revenue in less efforts.” (Siddiqi,

2016).

One more difficulty is to always maintain the infrastructure in the best condition. For example,

TOPICA Native started to imply Google Glass into their program in the first days, and to

preserve their thousand dollars’ glasses in the best condition through many course is rather

hard. And each piece of equipment in TOPICA is worth a lot of money, hence, damaging it could

be count as a risk to the company. For this issue, stock managing is important, every stock

manager have to be precise in their work to assure no equipment is damaged. “Using good

technological equipment in Science is important as it builds self-confidence, creates belief in the

concepts you are teaching, and leads to greater innovation and cooperation.” (Borrey, 2016).

V. Things least relate to the firm

In my point of view, the most insignificant factor that HRM influenced on TOPICA is ‘Safety”.

“Occupational safety is important as it affects the well-being of organizational members and its

visitors” (Noraini, 2013), this research indicates that safeness affects directly into the health of

the firm. However, to TOPICA, an educational company in which most of the job involve

paperwork, I believe that safety is not really a major problem. Although petty accidents with

staplers can occur, nevertheless, trivial.

VI. 3 most important points (related to HRM)

To manage a system of human and diversity, I believe that every aspect is important, even the

least could make such large impact on the company. Nevertheless, to gather three-most

essential factors that influences the efficiency of TOPICA, it would be recruitment (1), training

and development (2) and communication (3):

 “A successful hiring procedure is the core to legitimacy and proficiency of the company.”

(Sherzay, 2015). Having an efficient hiring process can reduce significantly the amount

of money and time to train the employees, therefore, the company can stockpile the

budget to hire more quality employees.

Training and development are the keys to keep the company running smoothly, since

each employee has a great deal of value. “It has been suggested that replacement of an

employee who is paid $8 per hour can range upwards of $4,000.” (Paiement, 2009).

Having the right pathway to develop their skills can bring those value to the company.

Moreover, after a training and developmental course, employees can grasp the chance

to be better at their job and possibly taken over others’ whenever needed. “Develop

cross-professional skills in order to allow individuals to not only improve efficiency in

their respective industries, but also stay in demand while changing industries.” (Balliester

T., 2018).

Communication is vital in every business. For employers, it is the ability to listen carefully

to employees to understand their needs and then give proper respond to compromise

both sides. For employees, it is to use communication to adapt to the working

environment. Therefore, without proper communication, there is a great chance that the

company cannot work at its best performance.

VII. 3 most important points (unrelated to HRM)

Working intensively in the group of 3 for the last 4 – 5 weeks surely brought me

unforgettable experiences. Constant efforts with the workshops and gathering

information from a company may be difficult, nevertheless, I experienced improvements

in my soft skills.

With the interminable help from Mr. Andre and Mr. Nhan, I have learned a great deal of

knowledge and important skills generally speaking in life and specifically speaking in
 performing an academic work (to include literatures and bring out personal

recommendations).

Moreover, with the help of this module, I have overcome my difficulty in making a

confident presentation in front of many audiences. For this, I can never be thankful

enough.

CONCLUSION

In short, to investigate TOPICA in the perspective of human resource management, I have

pointed out their strength, weaknesses and given a proper recommendation to the extent of my

knowledge about the firm. Furthermore, Human Resource Management is a worth-learning

module where I can find my limitations in soft skills and work through it.

REFERENCE LIST

 Lynch, M. (2017). Using EdTech To Get Your Learners Motivated and Active!. [online]

The Tech Edvocate. Available at: https://www.thetechedvocate.org/using-edtech-get-

learners-motivated-active/ [Accessed 8 Jul. 2019].

 Kedia, A. (2017). How effective are MOOCs at teaching programming vs. in-person

learning? - Quora. [online] Quora.com. Available at: https://www.quora.com/How-

effective-are-MOOCs-at-teaching-programming-vs-in-person-learning [Accessed 8 Jul.

2019].

 Mathis, W. (2016). The Effectiveness of Class Size Reduction. [ebook] Available at:

https://www.google.com/url?

sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&ved=2ahUKEwiPmLmU2aPjAhVGUd4KHb

mCCIQQFjAIegQIAxAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnepc.colorado.edu%2Ffiles

%2Fpublications%2FMathis%2520RBOPM-9%2520Class

%2520Size.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1n0TPjlDHjiThm6GKOm8xw [Accessed 7 Jul. 2019].

 Page, S. (2007). A Review of Scott E. Page's The Difference: How the Power of

Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies. [online] Research Gate.

Available at:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46554036_A_Review_of_Scott_E_Page's_The

_Difference_How_the_Power_of_Diversity_Creates_Better_Groups_Firms_Schools_an

d_Societies [Accessed 8 Jul. 2019].

 Herring, C. (2006). Sage Journals. [online] Academia. Available at:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000312240907400203 [Accessed 8 Jul.

2019].

 Siddiqi, H. (2016). The Impact of Employees’ Creativity on the Performance of the Firm.

[online] Research Gate. Available at:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303896400_The_Impact_of_Employees'_Creat

ivity_on_the_Performance_of_the_Firm [Accessed 8 Jul. 2019].

 Borrey, M. (2016). The Importance of Good Technological Equipment in School Science

- Blog - Educational Infrastructure Services Australia. [online] Eisau.com.au. Available

at: http://www.eisau.com.au/blog/the-importance-of-good-technological-equipment-in-

school-science/ [Accessed 7 Jul. 2019].

 Norainy, N. (2013). Safety in the Office: Does It Matter to the Staff?. [online] Available at:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812032144 [Accessed 8 Jul.

2019].

 Sherzay, Z. (2015). The Importance of a Strong Recruitment Process. [online]

Lucaspsg.ca. Available at: http://www.lucaspsg.ca/the-importance-of-a-strong-
recruitment-process/ [Accessed 8 Jul. 2019].
 Paiement, Noel. (2009). "It will cost you $4,000 to replace just one $8 per hour, full-time

employee." Charity Village. Retrieved from https://charityvillage.com/Content.aspx?

 topic=it_will_cost_you_4_000_to_replace_just_one_8_per_hour_full_time_employee#.V

xkwufkrLX4 [Accessed 8 Jul. 2019].

 Balliester, T. (2018). The Future of Work: A Literature Review. (2018). [ebook] p.ilo.org.

Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/.../wcms_625866.pdf [Accessed 8 Jul.

2019].

COMPANY SURVEY
I have included 4 surveys in the next page with the following company order:
APP / CJC / CSC / DNP
In order to submit the file, I have to reduce the size of all pictures to lower the word file to the
limit of 5Mb.