Question:
Discuss About The Strategy Formulation Process For Australia?
The strategy formulation of Toyota Australia is affected by various levels of external environmental factors. It takes into account the effect of globalization for making better strategy decisions. Toyota has the power to influence the future status of the political, economic, social and the various technological statuses from its business (Zhang, Chen and Gao 2017). The company has made strategies for management of their employees and the manufacturing process. The various strategy formulation processes for Toyota is outlined below-
Determination of organizational objectives- The organizational mission is to deliver excellent products as well as services pertaining to the automobile sector and enrich all the stakeholders of the company (Gage 2015). The company engages in enhancing the basic standards of the products so that there can be more number of sales (Zhang, Chen and Gao 2017). The strategy formulation is done in accordance with the organizational strategies.
Evaluation of the organizational environment- Toyota engages in evaluation of the industrial as well as economic environment where the company has its primary operations. It engages in performing a qualitative as well as quantitative review current automobile range of the company.
Setting up of quantitative targets- Toyota engages in setting up of quantitative targets for the company such as number of customers gained, revenue generation and others (Zhang, Chen and Gao 2017). They calculate the various contributions that can be made for the different product zones.
Performance analysis- Toyota involves in the analysis of the gap between the desired performance and the current performance (Elnaga and Imran 2013). If there is a huge gap in this process, the company should undertake suitable strategies for converting the performances into desired levels.
Selection of strategy- This is considered as the ultimate level of the strategy formulation process in which the best “course of action” is being selected (Zhang, Chen and Gao 2017).
Toyota involves in the strategy of the operational stability in which it strives to maintain a uniform workload. At each level of work in the organization, there is specific indication regarding the various attributes of the job (Zhang, Chen and Gao 2017). The company also has formulated plans for outbound logistics and aims at collection, storage as well as distribution of the products to the buyers.
Toyota Australia has created a successful automobile revolution during 1937 (Toyota.com.au 2017). The top management of the firm has introduced some of the most vital informal values that help in the strategy implementation. In the past, the company had faced several cultural issues prevented the company to implement suitable strategic plan as per their working conditions (Wangwacharakul et al. 2014). This has compelled the company to incorporate some cultural standards for the purpose of appropriate strategy implementation (Wangwacharakul et al. 2014). This policy was developed by the top management of the firm in which there is a detailed guide regarding the employment conditions in home country or in any foreign country. The management makes it clear to the employees about their major job duties and makes sure that they are subjected to proper orientation process. The company expects the new employees to add value to the organization. This has made the company to implement an excellent training and development manual in which the employees are being provided adequate opportunities to hone their knowledge, skills and expertise (Wangwacharakul et al. 2014). The HR uses leadership continuity in the strategic implementation of different business policies. The leadership continuity has given proper solutions to the various problems being faced by the company.
The company has devised compensation and benefits policies for the employees such as bonuses, salaries, pay, insurance of the workers so that they can be motivated (Ben 2014). This makes them sure that the talented workforce retains with them for a longer period of time (Wangwacharakul et al. 2014). The hiring manager makes sure that all the conditions of the employment are being explained to them and the compensation breakup is being explained to them in a clear manner.
Toyota relies on the lean manufacturing strategy when it comes to the recruitment and the selection. The company strives to minimize the redundant cost during the production process and they hire only employees possessing unique traits (Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener 2014). There are three skills that the company looks for in the recruited candidate- studious, enthusiasm and social communication (Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener 2014). The candidate should be able to perform team work, cooperation, being inclined to new things and should have consistent powers of decision making. Toyota looks for employees who can give more value to the organizations rather than their normal job responsibilities (Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener 2014).
The company has introduced strict recruitment process for making sure that they get the best employees. This is the reason they have implemented multi-layered recruitment process in which interpersonal communications plays an important role in judging the candidates (Xiang and Lindquist 2014). They hold the interviews with the candidates where the interviewers judge their ability to gauge the characteristics of the candidates and decide if they would be able to fulfill the vacant organizational position (Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener 2014). The company is interested in hiring candidates having strong work ethic and who are able to perform hard work (Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener 2014). The job role such as group leader and team leader involves that the incumbent should have sufficient leadership capabilities and should be a strong trainer. This is because of the fact that the team leads would be required to train their team members for achieving higher organizational performance.
The HR manager plays an important part in the strategic implementation of the HR department. Toyota believes in the fact that the carefully selected employees who are being developed over a period of time would continue to engage in process improvements, which would lead to greater competitive advantage as well as mutual prosperity (Allen 2014). The HR manager has played a major role in the implementation of lean management in the organization. The manager makes sure that the company has highly developed people as well as deeper trust system in the mass-production system (Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener 2014). The lean method relies on the concept of “just in time” in which there is considerable reduction in the organizational wastes, hence the employees need to be developed according to this requirement (De la Vega-Rodríguez et al. 2018). The HR manager ensures that the people are trained effectively so that they are able to solve the problems that arise periodically. This not only ensures that there is an increase in the employee production, but it also ensures that there is overall strengthening of the system.
The HR manager plays an important role in the training and development process of the employees (Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener 2014). For example, the employees of Toyota are instructed to use the andon (light) system as well as pull the cord when they notice any particular deviation from the pre-determined standard (Matsuo 2015). The manager makes sure that the employees are well trained in the problem solving aspects of the organization. This would ensure that the system would have the production running and hence they would be able to identify the root causes of the problem.
The HR manager plays a major role in the recruitment and selection process of the firm (Gamage 2014). The manager performs a gap analysis in which it determines the number of manpower required in particular departments. It also performs a detailed manpower mapping, which helps them to determine the areas in which there is a shortage of manpower. This mapping is being shared with the senior HR executives, who determine the number, frequency and the deadlines for recruiting new manpower in the vacant areas (Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener 2014). This forms the foundation of their recruitment and selection activities. The senior employees preferably the department heads are free to form the manpower requisition form and send it to the HR department, which would ensure that they get suitable manpower within stipulated time frame.
HR department plays an important role in Toyota. The company believes that the human resources are the basis for achieving organizational culture. This is the reason Toyota always define the competencies that should be possessed by the prospective employees (Keisler and Romar 2016). The company looks for essential traits such as attention to detail, teamwork, work ethic, problem solving ability, job-fit motivation, integrity, good communication and others. HR hires provides lean systems trainings for all the employees. The HR plays an important role in the high performance of the employees by communicating the values as well as including them in the performance management system. The HR department also plays an important role in the coaching of the individuals who plays hindrance in adopting high performance culture of the organization (Keisler and Romar 2016). OJT or On the Job Training is one of the key aspects of the organization and ensures that the employees get job specific skills which would help them to perform their daily work responsibilities in a better manner.
Toyota believes that the health and safety of the company is considered as one of the most important business activities in which it plays major importance in the well-being of the employees (Ito 2016). It ensures that the employees are given a safe and secure work environment in which they are able to deliver optimum performance.
HR also ensures that the performance appraisal process in the company focuses on the system efficiency rather than the individual efficiency (DeNisi and Smith 2014). The company encourages the variation within different work processes and the structure in which the value-adding employees are able to focus on their own tasks and they are not distracted by other issues. The company also places utmost importance to the evaluation of performances in the organizations (Keisler and Romar 2016).
The HR is responsible for enhancing the workplace diversity in a better manner. The organization aims to provide certain educational programs to the employees who can further take in the path of the career progression (Keisler and Romar 2016). This way the organization tries to create an environment of enthusiasm and vigor.
HR has a good separation policy in which the company is against the policy of “firing” employees randomly. The concept of lay-off is not encouraged in the company and it is against the lay-off of the employees (Mao 2015). This is ensured by the fact that the company only recruits the best available manpower and they encourage the employees to work a little harder in the difficult times (instead of terminating them from the organizations). For example, there was an employee in the organization in the assembly line that was injured and instead of terminating him, the company retrained him again and recruited him in an office job (Mao 2015). This behaviour of the employees made the employees to trust the company better and work harder.
The HR is responsible for fostering a positive organizational culture, in which it aims for greater loyalty from the employees (Epstein and Buhovac 2014). The aspect of team work is given sufficient importance and the employees are being taught the importance of various interpersonal relationships. They are motivated that the team work and mutual cooperation is the ultimate key to success (Mao 2015). The employees are encouraged to work in a competitive work environment, in which they have mutually enriching experience. The employees are also encouraged to practice the act of “empathy” in which they are able to place themselves in the shoes of other persons.
HR managers play an important role in providing a competitive edge for the company. HR should be involved in the process of value creation in which it should prove its worth and should be able to create innovative values for the firm (Lieberman, Garcia?Castro and Balasubramanian 2017). This would help in the creation of sustainable competitive advantage. It should come up with excellent human policies which would help the firm to retain its employees. In the 21st century, organizations are having a tough time dealing with the attrition rate.
HR department should be aware of the tactics about creating as well exploiting rare characteristics in the human resources of the firm (Lieberman, Garcia?Castro and Balasubramanian 2017). It should try to recruit unique skills and expertise, which would help in the creating of sustainable competitive advantage, as these unique skills would not be available to other organizations (Hansen, Güttel and Swart 2017). It is also advisable to retain the old employees as well as recruit talented professionals who would add improved value to the organization. The company should also try to attract experienced and talented individuals from the competitor companies by giving them better compensation and benefits. This would help the company to utilize the best skills in the organization and create competitive advantage.
HR should introduce innovative measures to carry out the performance appraisals in a better manner that would help in identifying the actual performances of the employees (Lieberman, Garcia?Castro and Balasubramanian 2017). There should be employee reviews where the senior employees as well as the external stakeholders are being asked to rate a person, based on the interaction between them.
There are many challenges for the human resources that they must solve in order to sustain in the competitive world. HR needs to have optimum relationship with the employees, customers, social entities and they have duties towards the sustainable human progress. The various challenges of HR in relation with the above entities are discussed below-
There can be issues with the employee satisfaction and employee productivity in the future (Olafsen et al. 2015). There would be large number of companies in which the employee would be able to willing to shift. This may pose serious issues in terms of attrition rate. There can also be issues with the employee motivation if they are not given adequate compensation or they are not given adequate benefits (Olafsen et al. 2015).
The customers would have changed requirements and product preferences in the future, which would force the employees to perform better (Kumar, Dalla Pozza and Ganesh, 2013). If the employees are not given proper training and the adequate skill enhancement, then they would not be able to satisfy the changed customer requirements (Olafsen et al. 2015).
The employees are the important stakeholders for the development of the CSR activities. There may be increased demands of the social entities for greater participation of the organization in the CSR activities (Park, Chidlow and Choi 2014). If the employees are not motivated or encouraged enough to participate in the CSR activities, then they would not be able to take forward the legacy of the firm in fulfilling its CSR responsibilities (Olafsen et al. 2015). If the employees are not allowed time and flexibility to carry on their CSR duties, then they would not be able to participate fully in the process.
Toyota may face challenges for continued employee progress. With time, the employees may feel the demand for climbing up the corporate ladder and they may demand the incorporation of skills and expertise (Buckingham and Coffman 2014). If they are not allowed to move forward in their career paths, then they would not be able to work in the organization. Such instances would cause a considerable increase in the employee dissatisfaction rates and low employee morale. This may hamper their organizational productivity and they would not be able to fulfill the organizational mission (Olafsen et al. 2015).
It is the duty of the organization to train the employees and take care of the changing needs so that they are happy enough to work in the workplace.
References
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