Human resources project

Benchmarking on HR Practices used by MNCs working in India

Submitted By:Hitesh Bharti

EPGDIM 12-14Human Resources Project

Automotive Industry: The changing skill sets

Volkswagen Group Human Resources Practices

Honda Motors Human Resources Practices

Toyota Human Resources Practices

Automotive Industry: Solutions to close the skills gap

References

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Table of Contents

The changing skill sets

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The auto industry was once a bastion for the unskilled worker with only a secondary-school education seeking a decent salary and a stable, predictable (if routine and manually repetitive) job. Today, there is no such thing as “predictability” or “unskilled labour” in the auto industry. Most repetitive tasks have been automated, the product has become highly complex and manufacturing processes now require different skill sets.

The globalization of the industry has also put pressure on traditional workforce skills. Auto companies are redistributing resources to high-growth, low-cost regions. They are also looking to emerging markets as significant areas of sales growth. A full 32 percent of auto employment today is by international automakers, and it is estimated that number will reach 43 percent by 2016.

New capabilities are required to succeed in this environment. Production workers, for example, need to work in cross-cultural, autonomous global teams and must be capable of problem solving, working with computers and making decisions on the front line. Engineers and technicians—two increasingly important groups that, taken together, are becoming a larger proportion of the auto workforce as companies compete more on innovation—also need more computer skills as the electronic components of vehicles become more complex. Even top leadership needs a host of new skills to manage a more global and constantly changing technological environment.

Automotive Industry

Volkswagen Group

Human Resources Practices

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As of 31 December 2011, the Volkswagen Group employed around 500,000 people.The company believes that in order to survive in the face of international competition, it must have a top team, characterised by a high level of competence, dedication, inventiveness and fitness.

Basic PrinciplesVolkswagen Group hires employees who enthusiastically give their best. A good balance between demands and ability (the so-called "flow channel") is the basic precondition for optimum performance and results. For this reason, the company does not want its employees to be overstretched, but also not under stretched, so that they are able to deliver top performance and advance the success of our company.

Leading by example The management assumes a decisive role in this entire process. The company’s principle is to be "Lead, Demand and Promote". The Group believes that it will only be able to achieve its goals with exemplary leadership and constructive cooperation between management and workforce. This includes both targeted and continual personnel development and work organisation, which it continues to develop with the so-called "Volkswagen Way".

Volkswagen Group


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Active involvementA standard survey of employees across the Group was introduced in the form of the so-called "mood barometer". The "mood barometer" gave the employees the opportunity to anonymously voice their opinion and so to become actively involved in the organisation of the company. The results form the basis for continually developing our strengths and for exploiting potential that was brought to light. The high rate of participation showed that employees had positively accepted this instrument as an expression of their esteem. In this way, they made a contribution to the continued development of the company.

Promoting development potential Volkswagen Group focuses to recognise and uphold the performance and learning potential of each and every member of staff, and to promote all employees in line with the company strategy and in accordance with their personal development potential. Personnel development measures range from technical seminars in automotive engineering and automation technology, IT, quality management and productivity, through supervisor development programmes for the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, to interdisciplinary training in subjects such as self management and communication. In addition, the Volkswagen subsidiaries Volkswagen Coaching GmbH, the Audi Akademie and the Volkswagen Bildungsinstitut GmbH are able to offer a broad and diverse range of seminars. These include, for example, modules dealing with personnel management, leadership competence or international development programmes. Volkswagen Coaching GmbH is one of the largest providers of vocational and advanced professional training in Germany, and is active not only for the Volkswagen Group but also on the open market.

Honda Motors


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An approach based on On-the-job trainingHonda's approach to personnel education is based on On-the-job training is building specialized skills and professional capabilities through direct experience. Honda has established on-the-job training programs for each job description, setting qualitative and quantitative targets for the knowledge and skills to be acquired. These programs provide with an opportunity for associates to acquire specialized skills and managerial capabilities while helping supervisors assess and foster the aptitude of the associates they manage. To supplement these on-the-job training programs, Honda also offers off-the-job training designed to provide associates an opportunity to enhance their careers by developing new specialized skills or management capabilities. To support associates who wish to take the initiative to learn new skills, acquire knowledge, and cultivate themselves in order to fully realize their own potential, Honda offers opportunities for language learning, distance education, and inter-industry exchanges.

Principal off-the-job training programsHonda provides a combination of on-the-job and off-the-job training to its associates' aptitudes and aspirations in an effort to help them improve their abilities. Its off-the-job training program is divided into three main areas, with separate training programs for each level. Self-improvement training (career development) Work performance training (skill development) Management leadership training (management training)

Honda Motors


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Honda Motors


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Associate development and evaluation through two-way communicationReflecting Honda's emphasis on two-way communication with supervisors in associate development and evaluation, all associates have at least three interviews with their supervisors each year. During the first interview in April, associates describe the future in their own words (including aspirations, personal objectives, etc.) and clarify their vision for the future and their direction going forward through their supervisor's advice. They then work out their individual role based on the organization's business goals for the fiscal year in question. During interviews in June and December, supervisors evaluate associate performance during the preceding six months, explain the reasoning behind their judgments, and share an assessment of each associate's strengths and weaknesses. By facilitating a discussion of subjects such as future objectives and career directions, the interviews pave the way for associates' skill improvement.

Improvement suggestion system Honda has a system for encouraging all associates to

make proposals as to how the company's operations could be improved, whether in large ways or small. Launched in 1953, this initiative is one way Honda seeks to encourage a spirit of independence and innovation, fostering the growth and refinement of skills and capabilities. Each year, some 170,000 suggestions are received, of which about 90% are implemented.

Toyota Motors


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Toyota seeks to develop human resources through the activity of making things. Toyota believes that the development of human resources requires the handing down of values and perspectives. The company is building both tangible (a new learning facility) and intangible (course content) structures relating to team member development that ensures a secure and steady flow of qualified human resources to conduct its global business in the 21st century.

Toyota conducts systematic company-wide and divisional training and assignments for training purposes with an emphasis on On-the-job training (OJT) to ensure that associates can fully utilize their abilities.

Toyota has defined the required qualifications of "professional staff"1 for office and engineering positions, and "T shaped human resources"2 who are able to perform day-to-day activities and expand their skills in technical positions. Company-wide training is conducted based on employee qualifications, as well as specialized training for individual divisions, language training, and special knowledge and skill training.

In October 2002, Toyota created the booklet "Toyota — Developing People" and distributed it to all associates to create a common understanding that "the source of Toyota's competitiveness is human resources development" and to promote the creation of workplaces where personnel development takes place at all sites and at all levels.

Toyota Motors


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A Shared Toyota Way

In April 2001, Toyota adopted the Toyota Way 2001, an expression of the values and conduct guidelines that all employees should embrace. In order to promote the development of Global Toyota and the transfer of authority to local entities, Toyota's management philosophies, values and business methods, that previously had been implicit in Toyota's tradition, were codified. Based on the dual pillars of "Respect for People" and "Continuous Improvement," the following five key principles sum up the Toyota employee conduct guidelines: Challenge, Kaizen (improvement), Genchi Genbutsu (go and see), Respect, and Teamwork. In 2002, these policies were advanced further with the adoption of the Toyota Way for individual functions, including overseas sales, domestic sales, human resources, accounting, procurement, etc.

Toyota Institute

In January 2002, the Toyota Institute was established as an internal human-resource development organization that aims to reinforce the organic integration of global Toyota companies by way of sharing the Toyota Way as well as to promote self-sufficiency. The purpose behind the Toyota Institute's establishment is to promote the human resources development of global Toyota in order to promote true globalization and to realize the advancement of Toyota's core values. TMC President Fujio Cho is the Toyota Institute's first president, with 16 full-time associates managing the business.

Within the Toyota Institute, the Global Leadership and the Management Development Schools constitute the specific content of the training programs.

In 2002, the Toyota Institute conducted training programs targeting global leadership candidates from TMC and overseas companies and for middle management personnel to enhance understanding of the Toyota Way, enable best practice sharing and drafting of action plans, as well as contribute to the creation of a global human network.

Toyota Motors


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Toward Promotion of Women's Participation

In 2002, based on the principle of respecting diversity and with the aim of reforming management throughout the company, Toyota set its sights on women's participation, reviewing its arrangement with regard to female employees, and taking steps to put a better environment in place. In order to promote the creation of an environment more conducive to participation by motivated female employees, Toyota has made a three-pronged effort to:

Help enable women to work and raise children at the same time

Assist in women's career building

Reform the working environment and employee awareness.

Toyota has also introduced flexible working arrangements and constructed child-care facilities at business sites.

Outline of Training Programs

Automotive Industry

Solutions to close the skills gap

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Today’s economic realities demand that auto companies have a flexible workforce that can constantly learn and refresh its skills. Here are some suggestions for how auto companies can improve their human capital practices to create a workforce with the skills needed to support growth.

Create a more flexible workforce-planning process

Advanced analytical techniques, such as predictive modeling using both HR and business data, can be used to help executives understand and predict the demand for critical skills today and in the future. Analytics can also help managers make much quicker decisions about individual employees—focusing on high performers and those with critical skills—enabling companies to more flexibly adjust available skills to marketplace demand.

Leverage rapid learning design to retrain workers

In some cases, companies must train existing workers in new skill sets. For example, when AD&D Technology—a powertrain testing and vehicle development supplier based in Ann Arbor, Michigan—decided to diversify into batteries and more fuel-efficient electric motors as gas prices soared, the company had to retrain a full 40 percent of its workforce.

Redesign jobs

One of the big challenges in the industry today is achieving the flexibility needed to produce increasingly complex products that draw on a portfolio of skills—skills that may not be simultaneously in use at any given time. To meet that need, jobs can be broken apart in terms of tasks currently in demand and the skills needed to complete them, and then those roles can be filled as needed.

Automotive Industry

Solutions to close the skills gap (Cont’d)

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Create an internal skills market

Organizations must improve their ability to compile data on their employees’ skill sets to determine what aptitudes, interests and competencies each employee currently possesses. An internal skills-matching market can then be created, enabling a company to move capabilities more swiftly to where they are needed. Having better data and an inventory of skills, organizations can identify a new business need, identify workers with capabilities or aptitudes related to that need and fill in the gap with learning for the rest.

In addition, knowing what skills your people possess means you don’t waste time and money training people in things they already know how to do. Companies can improve the return on their investment in learning by giving training only to those individuals who have a need, or who already have an aptitude or interest in learning a new job or role.

Make learning new skills an ongoing process built into the work itself

Instead of taking employees away from their work environment for retraining, identify workers in your organization who already have the required skills and encourage them to share their knowledge with others through peer-to-peer learning vehicles like blogs, wikis or corporate social media platforms. Or pair them up with others who can learn from them on the job—even people from other companies engaged through worker exchange programs.

Learning can also be woven into work itself by offering bite-sized electronic learning components—short videos, simulations, games, podcasts, web-based learning and more—that can be targeted to individuals based on demand.

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References

www.honda.comwww.volkswagen.comwww.toyota.comwww.accenture.com

Human resources project

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