ESSAYS

Essay on HRM Assignment Based on a Toyota Case Study

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The most commonly held definition of a green field site is as an undeveloped area in terms of infrastructure but one which is earmarked as having the possibility of continued urban expansion, (Grayson, 1990). A green field site can bring many benefits in terms to Toyota. Green field sites have the potential for larger scale factories to be built than sometimes can be possible within cramped urban areas, not only can the factories be larger but green field sites enable a holistic plan to be formed allowing for the development of specialist sites emphasizing research and development activities for example. Of course Toyota may still face opposition in the development of green field sites as a result to objections to planning or the cost involved should any Environmental Impact Assessment process be undertaken, (Caroll and Turpin, 2002).

Similarly while the development costs may be low for a green field site the actual amount of development which might need to be undertaken in terms of the development of infrastructure might make such a location an inefficient one for Toyota's needs. Critical for this then is the support offered by local and national political organisations for assistance in the development of infrastructure links or continued assistance with maintaining these infrastructures where they have already been put in place as part of a development scheme.

While these decisions need to be considered by Toyota both advantages and disadvantages also exist in the field of HRM. While relocation is an option it is one which could be fraught with opposition within the company from those who do not wish to relocate to a green field site. The social infrastructure of a green field site needs also then to be considered, while a site may provide excellent transport links, if no schools or amenities or a sufficient amount of these exist within close proximity then the utility of such a site can be question in terms of effective human resource management. This would be a problem faced in the recruitment of new staff as well as retention and relocation of any existing staff.

Q2

Pluralist theory views organizations as being composed by coalitions of interest groups which posses' potential for conflict (Hollinshead, Nicholls & Tailby, 1999). Unitary theory as well as pluralism is premised upon the existence of consensus. Unitarism stresses that employees' needs and interests are ultimately subservient to the needs of the organization as determined by management arguing that effective HRM is not about controlling employees but on winning employees' commitment (Pinnington & Edwards, 2000). The fact that Japanese companies operate as unitarist ones reflects to a large extent Japanese social and economic conditions.

First of all, it is obvious that team working is an indication of Japanese cultural perceptions towards persons both as an individual and a team member and this is in turn present within their HRM policies. Traditionally Japanese society has been group-oriented and employees have traditionally been fiercely loyal to the company and have had strong sense of cooperation and common knowledge of skills, a shared identity given by the company, (Fliaster, 2001).Also team work is important in Japanese companies because of the view that workers' participation and collaboration is the way in which Japanese companies can survive and thrive in this era of rapid technological development and global markets (Odaka, Ono & Adachi, 1988). For example in Toyota team-building is fundamental to the achievement of strategic goals through communication within and between teams.

Secondly, another feature in Japanese companies is the level of trust shown by employees in their managers and increased employee responsibility in elements of the decision making processes. Thirdly Japanese management practices value stability and operate interdependently with other elements of the company and therefore a strategy of union avoidance is common. In Toyota's case it selected one union to represent its employees as an external supervisor and internal part of Toyota Members' Advisory Board.

Q3

Japanese lifetime employment policies have traditionally been associated with large investments in human resource with a view towards reinforcing commitment to the company. Its success is shown by extremely low employee mobility out of firms compared with US companies and most western companies, (Debroux, 2001). It is believed that one of the most important factors which have led to Japan's competitive strength in a global context has been the attitude of Japanese engineers towards direct involvement in production, (Morikawa, 1991).

The performance of the Toyota Production system is dependent on the training and development required of individuals and the support of professional engineers who are able to resolve any difficulties in production on the ground. Furthermore collaboration between Japanese companies and universities has been a long term feature and this relationship provides new employees who have on job training and are equipped already with characteristics to add value to the company. This can be seen to be in contrast to British engineers originating from a research background who have difficulties adapting to a production based environment (Morikawa, 1991). It can also be argued that the national VET and training schemes in the UK have failed to deliver the skills base which companies need, (Stewart, 1999).

Successive UK governments have made efforts to improve the training system with mixed success. Until the late 1980s and early 1990s employees represented by various employers associations and trade union had an important influence on the government's attitude towards the development of the national training system. Also unlike Japanese managers UK managers tend not to invest in vocational training for employees due to the uncertainty of recovering costs and mobility of skilled employees. Therefore due to different lifework attitudes between Japanese and British employees the process of training and its approaches are different between the UK and Japan

Q4

An organization is composed of individuals who are organized in some way or form groups to achieve organisational objectives with some organizations stress team working and others individual working (Brooks, 2003). While the impact of global competition, increasing diversity within the workforce and the development of new technologies requires a more effective system of team working the need to innovative in knowledge based economies has meant that even Japanese companies have introduced western Individualist practices in order to encourage creativity and dynamism (Nonaka, 1988). Attitude towards organisational behaviour largely depends then it can be argued on the cultural context of an organisation.

For example in US companies the encouragement of individual innovation is due to the historical influence of American individualism and it is unsurprising to find then that there is a high dependent relationship among Japanese employees as a result of Japanese group-oriented culture. In identifying why there is a need to gather a group security and protection reasons of collective work can be seen as key (Brooks, 2003). In Toyota UK the organisational structure corresponds to the traditional Toyota system which encourages team working and sharing information and knowledge. In Toyota's case in order to achieve efficient team working the human resource strategy is based on the acknowledgement of the importance of people as the most important resource to the company. It is notable that despite it being a common motivational measured used in US and UK companies there is no bonus system either for individuals or teams.

Team working is the basis on which the efficiency of the Toyota Production System is built. Especially when difficulties occur team support mechanisms help the production line solve problems effectively. Training is about changing attitudes towards work and organisations therefore it can be assumed that the Japanese training and development culture to some extent has changed the attitude of local employees while at the same time local employees have had an impact on shaping Japanese human resource management style as well. For Toyota combining these methods is an integral element of its continued success.

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