Overview of Toyota Motors and its HR subsystems
Human resource management is an essential system that functions in the organization in order to manage the employees work there. It is required by the company that they need to conduct effective HR practices at the workplace so that the employees can be retained in the organization. Toyota Motors is one of the companies operating in the automobile industry. It is the firm that aces several issues in the department of HR system. HR basically has 3 subsystems (Liker & Hoseus, 2009).
- Training and development
- Hiring
- Performance assessment
First is performance assessment subsystem that deals with the evaluating the performance of the employees to provide them with the relevant rewards and pay. Another subsystem is training and development (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright, 2007). It is the most important subsystem that allows the employees to get trained regarding the processes they need to work in. The last one is hiring which is another important part of HR system.
Various stakeholders of the company that gets affected by its functioning are:
- Employees: These are the basic asses of the company as employees are the one who performs all the task and functions.
- Shareholders: Shareholders are the stakeholders who invest in the company and earn the shares.
- Customers: Customers are the most important stakeholders because they are the one from whom the company exists and performs.
The company like Toyota Motors has been selected to understand the issues in HR subsystem and their impact on the other systems of the company. There was a time when Toyota was known for its quality products (Yang, Yeh & Yang, 2012). When the recall of the Toyota vehicle started, it was a shock to all. Everyone was thinking that what has happened that resulted in such a recall. Slowly and steadily, it has been identified that it is not only the bas quality of the process but the critical HR issues that generated in the company was the reason of such recalls.
The major system that needs to be developed in Toyota is performance assessment. It has been analysed that increasing amount of dollar and decree in export demand resulted in the retrenchment of the company (Koplyay, Lloyd & Mako, 2014). The company started downsizing and assessing the work of the employees with the average performance level. This has resulted in firing of many employees. To maintain the balance, the company has increased the pressure of performance benchmarks. This resulted in increased work pressure and decreasing quality of the products manufactured. This is because work load of the people have increased and they were not getting the pay according to that (Liker & Hoseus, 2009). It is required by the company to bring some of the changes in the organizational processes and HR practices are that the workforce can be retained in the organization. It has been analysed that quality workforces very important for the organization as it not only affect the HR practices but affect the overall functioning of the organization. All the workings of the organizations depend on its workforce only. If the workforce of the company is not effective then it is impossible for the company to achieve its organizational goals.
Subsystem that needs to be changed
TATA motor is the company that operates in the similar industry as Toyota motors. Both the companies have different HR practices. On one hand, where Toyota has been criticized for its HR practices and especially the performance assessment and appraisal function, TATA motors has been analysed to have best HR practices in the industry. This is because the company focuses on maintaining the quality amongst the workforce and provide them appropriate pay so that they can be retained (Tata.com, 2017). As far as the performance management and appraisal system TATA motors is concerned, it focuses on half yearly appraisal system that allow the employees to be appraised two times a year according to their performance. Self-assessment system for the employees has also been introduced in the company. In this system the employees themselves set their own goals and assess so as to rate their own performance. It has been analysed that this practice develop the individuals and make them realize that where they stand and what is their position in the company. This helps them to realise the gap between their set goals and their actual performance level so that the improvement can be done in their performance. The company timely review the performance of the employees and try to develop the performance so that more and more incentives can be earned by the employees.
It has been analysed that all the subsystem of any of the department of the company is reacted to each other. Changes in one of the department or the subsystem bring about some of the changes in another related subsystem as well. As far as HR department of the company is considered, it has majorly three subsystems. One of the subsystems of HR department is training and development (Storey, 2007). If the company bring changes in this system them the quality of the workforce increase thus affects the practice of target setting and performance appraisal and also set the standards for hiring the employees. As per the above case, changes need to be implemented in the system of performance assessment. If the performance needs to be measured timely and the people realize their gaps then this develops requirement of training and development department. According to the gaps identified, the training session needs to be designed, this justifies that change in performance appraisal system affect the training and development system as well (Bratton & Gold, 2012). improvements in the performance appraisal techniques and system also attracts more and more people towards the company and makes it easy for the HR hiring department to hire the employees.
Comparison with a similar successful organization
It has been analysed that changes in the performance appraisal method and system directly affect the employees of the company. This brings positive changes and outcomes for them. Other stakeholders like customers can get quality products if the efficient workers are employed in the company (Boxall & Purcell, 2011). As far as shareholders are considered, it has been analysed that effective performance management system helps in efficient workforce and thus achievement of organizational gaols. One of the gaols of every organization is to earn profits and thus shareholders of the company also get their part.
Recruiting and hiring effective and quality workforce, it is required by the company to attract the candidates first. The effective HR policies of the company attract the candidates to work for that company (Losey, Meisinger & Ulrich, 2007). HR planning is the basic practice that needs to be conducted in the company so that proper system and practices can be planned to attract and recruit the employees. HR planning results in identifying the requirement of the company in terms of number of employees and the type of skills required in them (Dowling, 2008).
Development of the workforce is directly related to the training and development practice of HR department (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). It has been analysed that provision of training to the employees according to the gap analysed in their performance is very necessary in order to develop the workforce and make the efficient in their work. Training and development department works closely with the system of performance assessment. This is because performance assessment system analysed the gap between the actual and the expected performance level of the employees. The gap that has been identified act as the basis to frame the training programs for the employees. It has been analysed that conduction of training programs results in better quality workforce.
Quality of the workforce is the basic requirement of any of the company. It has been analysed that various methods can be implemented in the company in order to maintain the quality of the workforce and retain them. The first method that can be used is work life balance. This is the basic need of any of the employee these days (Daley, 2012). This is because it is required by the employees to maintain the balance between their personal as well as professional life. The company needs to provide some of the flexibility to the employee such as flexi hours, work from home, casual leaves etc.
Conclusion:
As per the report, it has been concluded that HRM is the basic function of any of the organization. It is very much required for the companies like Toyota to improve their HR practices because fault in these practices affect the overall functioning of the company. As per the case it has been analysed that bad HR practices of the company resulted in ineffective performance of the company whereas TATA motors have better HR practices and thus having quality workforce in their company.
References:
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Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2011). Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2012). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
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