Management approach for subsidiaries and SMEs

For an SME or a subsidiary, the most useful approach is to bring decisions closer to the people doing the work without losing sight of shared goals. Clarify the manager’s decision-making authority, the issues to discuss with senior management, and the role of prevention.

My answer in brief

To lead a subsidiary, keep a shared direction, adapt the arrangements to local realities, and clarify who makes the decisions, connecting strategy, pay policy, compensation, and culture with the local context.

The right decision is not a choice between centralisation and adaptation. Distinguish shared priorities from arrangements that need to be adjusted locally, then allocate the roles: who prepares the adaptation, who decides, and who makes the final call? The key question is: who has the final say?

The simplest approach is a shared framework, with local decisions clearly allocated. For strategy, pay policy, compensation, and culture, factor in local legal and cultural adaptation from the outset. HR advice should cover this adjustment, not just implementation.

What management approach is right for an SME or subsidiary?

An effective approach in an SME or subsidiary brings decisions closer to the people doing the work, while making clear what the manager can decide and what falls to senior management.

In small businesses, room to act and short decision-making processes can coexist with time, resource, and training constraints that limit the attention given to prevention, according to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. These constraints make it important to clarify responsibilities and decision-making.

The best approach is neither constant oversight nor autonomy without a framework: define the issues the manager can decide and those that require discussion with senior management. For each situation, specify whether the manager should decide, prepare a proposal, or refer the issue for a decision.

For a subsidiary, the right approach is to translate the strategy from headquarters and adapt it locally so that it remains legally and culturally viable, rather than applying it as is.

The framework should remain clear.

How can a group strategy be translated to local realities?

To translate a group strategy, keep its shared goals and adapt the arrangements to local realities. The choice is not simply between uniformity and full adaptation.

A study of South Korean and Japanese multinationals suggests that global integration and local responsiveness can be pursued at the same time, rather than treated as incompatible options, according to the study on global integration and local responsiveness.

To translate the strategy, separate the shared direction from practices that need adjustment: employee needs, legal and cultural realities, and the local labour market. The same study points out that this does not mean automatically adopting existing local practices, as explained in its analysis of local responsiveness.

A strategy from headquarters or another market cannot simply be applied as is in France: it must be translated locally, or it remains a document. For me, the key is to support its implementation and adaptation, taking account of overall pay policy, compensation, and culture so that it is legally and culturally viable.

The overall direction remains shared. The best decision is to keep the goals aligned, then adapt the arrangements to local realities, rather than applying the same practice everywhere or leaving each entity to set its own direction.

What is the difference between a manager’s position and their approach?

A manager’s position refers to their formal and legitimate place in the organisation. Their approach is how they carry out their role in interactions, which can influence how they perform it day to day, according to a study of frontline managers.

To distinguish the two in a management situation, keep the responsibilities attached to the role separate from how the role is carried out in interactions. When clarifying expectations, start by specifying the scope of the position, then explain how the person is expected to interact. This helps distinguish what belongs to the role from how it is performed day to day.

The test is simple. If the question concerns responsibilities, look at the position. If it concerns how people interact, consider the approach. Do not expect one concept to replace the other.

Which hats should a manager wear, depending on the team’s needs?

Involve managers in implementing prevention policies. The employer retains overall responsibility for health and safety at work, according to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

When preventing psychosocial risks, managers help identify problematic work situations and define actions for their area. The process should also take account of their own exposure to these risks, notes the French National Research and Safety Institute for the Prevention of Occupational Accidents and Diseases (INRS).

How can you adapt your management approach for local and international teams?

To adapt your management approach, keep a shared direction while adjusting local practices. Openness, inclusion, and consideration of multiple perspectives are part of the cultural sensitivity described in a study on cultural sensitivity published in Frontiers in Psychology.

The best decision is to distinguish what needs to remain shared from what calls for adaptation. Keep the shared direction clear. Then decide how to present and implement it with each team, rather than applying the same rule everywhere.

When a disagreement arises, ask people to explain their points of view and restate the issue without assuming that the same words express the same expectations. Separate the goal, the means, and how the decision is explained. This helps identify what calls for a shared or local response.

In a French subsidiary of a foreign group, it is also worth having a local HR presence: someone recognised as the HR contact, reachable in French and present locally. The role includes advising on how to translate headquarters’ direction locally, not just implementing it.

For strategy, overall pay policy, compensation, and culture, consider what should remain shared and what requires local adaptation, so that decisions remain legally and culturally viable.

What signs suggest it may be time to change your management approach?

To spot signs that your approach may need to change, start with day-to-day work and regular conversations with the team. The difficulties people encounter offer a starting point for reviewing prevention measures.

Being present in day-to-day work and having regular conversations are useful indicators. According to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, on the role of managers in addressing psychosocial risks, managers who maintain these practices may be better placed to identify difficulties and limit their effects on health.

Keep the conversations regular. To make sure they do not become a routine check-in, revisit the difficulties people have encountered and consider with the team which prevention measures need to be reviewed.

To update the assessment of psychosocial risks, the INRS says to take account of how effective existing measures are and to involve employees. Make both of these, employee participation and the effectiveness of measures, explicit topics for discussion.

The best approach is to make these conversations a point of reference for management: review the difficulties with the team, compare them with the measures already in place, and decide which ones need to change.

How can you take working conditions and mental health into account?

Look at work organisation and the social and occupational context rather than treating psychosocial risks as individual vulnerability. They can arise from the design, organisation, and management of work, according to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work also says that psychosocial risks can be addressed in a structured way when they are treated as an organisational issue rather than individual fault, as explained by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

According to the INRS, the health effects of sedentary postures are linked to the length of uninterrupted periods and their total duration over the day. Exposure is also associated with mental health effects, such as anxiety or depression.

For a group discussion, I offer the workshop une fresque pour parler de la santé mentale au travail, for groups of 6 to 16 people, lasting 3 hours, from €1,000.

What should you expect from an HR consultant based locally?

Expect an HR consultant based locally to provide advice suited to the context and a clearly identified point of contact.

The role is about more than implementation. I believe the advisory aspect matters: company strategy, pay policy, compensation, and culture benefit from being adapted to local legal and cultural realities rather than adopted as is.

For teams, choose a clearly identified HR contact who is reachable in French and present locally. This point of contact matters as much as the support provided for company decisions.

When developing a proposal, the CIPD guide to evidence-based practice recommends combining professional expertise, scientific literature, organisational data, and stakeholder views to help limit bias.

When is a part-time HR assignment not the right fit?

Part-time HR support may not be a good fit when the needs, resources, or urgency do not match the situation, or when trust and contact with employees are lacking, according to a review of HR outsourcing.

The review lists internal capabilities, resources, urgency, and operational needs among the decision criteria. It also says that a lack of trust can disrupt information flows and coordination, then lead to conflict between organisations, in its analysis of HR outsourcing issues.

Contact matters too. The review identifies a lack of psychological contact with existing employees as one of the common barriers to adopting HR outsourcing, in its analysis of barriers to this approach.

The right decision is to define the contacts, the expected exchanges, and the level of proximity sought. I also believe the role should include advisory support on strategy, overall pay policy, compensation, and culture, adapting them locally so that they remain legally and culturally viable, as well as providing a local HR contact who is identifiable and reachable in French.

Frequently asked questions

What are the 3 hats a manager wears?

A manager’s three hats are coach, commander, and leader, according to Actionco. The leader role comes from balancing the first two.

What are the 5 signs of a bad manager?

The five signs are a lack of transparency, clumsiness, high demands, excessive enthusiasm, and a management style described as ‘decisive’, according to a qualitative study of managers and employees at Dutch hospitals.

What I take away

Before your next decision, distinguish between decisions that can be made at the site and those that need discussion with senior management. Then compare the proposed arrangements with the shared goals and local realities. Involve employees in discussions about working conditions and prevention, and clearly distinguish the manager’s role from the HR function’s role.