From the case study, it can be very obviously deduced that the 'AlphaWay' is a decentralised management system that recommends their staff to "think like CEOs" for the betterment of their company. Decentralisation in business is when daily operations and decision-making power are delegated by top management to middle-and lower-level managers. Each work assignment and project given to their staff should be treated as a personal 'business', and Alpha has a metric system or tool to measure performance, i.e. the 'lifeblood' of Alpha. Nevertheless, I do agree with Alpha's philosophy where modern day working adults' motivation is not just fueled by monetary rewards, but also personal achievements. With the implementation of their HR philoshopy, and the 'AlphaWay', it would clearly boost work performance and motivation of staff members that share the same mentality.
However, having a decentralised management system brings about issues that laissez-faire management system would show. A decentralised organisation has a lot riding on the decisions made by many employees. This means that if some of those lower-level managers lack training, experience, education, or competence, it can damage the organization as a whole. This could also include not just their hard skills, but also their social and cultural understanding of clients from different countries.
As per the case study, we can assume that Alpha has been adopting a geocentric and polycentric approach in recruiting their employees. Geocentric staffing is when an organisation would either hire remote employees or relocating existing employees, whether bringing foreign talent into our parent country and relocating people to a new host country. Whereas, the polycentric approach to recruitment means that we hire locals to fill our positions in a host country.
'Alpha is committed to localize the workforce in its overseas offices to the extent possible but this effort is somewhat hampered by many reasons, such as the need for cost effectiveness in an offshored business model necessitating the bulk of project execution in India.'
It's good that Alpha intends to continue localising their workforce in their overseas office, but it is understandable that it maybe much difficult than being said. Other than the obvious reasons that India is currently the powerhouse for IT related services and skills; the cost of manpower is still cheaper in their Indian homeland as compared to hiring local talent offshore (taking in consideration of currency differences and local labour laws). However due to the issue of maintaining 'soft skills' and cultural adaptation for potential expansion and maintaining a stable footing in another country, it is obviously a better choice to localise their talent pool, and its good that Alpha strives to do so. The fact that Alpha prefers to hire a local as their Head of HR, for example in China, goes to show how they're willing to assimilate their offshore offices to adapt to local culture and laws.