Effective management of employees is critical to the success of an organization since the human resource is the most critical resource possessed by a company. Well managed employees have a high morale, feel motivated and their productivity is soaring. Teamwork, innovation and creativity are high and the company’s profitability is encouraging. Toyota is the leading automobile manufacturer in the world with a pool of highly experienced, skilled and innovative employees. The company’s corporate culture facilitates the creativity process and the company has maintained the top position in terms of revenue from vehicle sales. In the past three years, the company’s quality control department has been performing under par and this has led to many vehicle recalls because many vehicles were not subjected to correct quality assessment process. This has considerably hurt the company’s reputation in the highly competitive automobile industry worldwide (Lauby, 2005).
An internal analysis of the department has revealed a de-motivated workforce; swift action is required to overhaul the current situation and enhance the department’s performance. Previously, employees’ input on the decision making process was never valued leading to making of decisions that were less popular with the employees. A review of other excellently performing departments has revealed that they value employees’ contribution before resolutions are made. Strategies are already in place that will factor in the department workers’ input in the decision making process. Secondly, incentives to innovate and teamwork were lacking thus the department lags behind in creativity. Incentives such as financial rewards, promotions and appreciation in company meetings have been put in place to enhance creativity. These are short term goals that will facilitate the department’s gradual productivity improvement and ensure the department effectively plays its role in the company (Bruce & Pepitone, 1999).
The department organizational structure or chain of command has too many layers of management that makes the decision making process cumbersome. Similarly, it makes it hard to communicate decisions already made by the management. The organizational structure is too rigid and stiff thus stifling the innovation process that would improve the department’s efficiency. There is need to remove at least two layers of management to make the organizational structure flatter, enhance communication and consequently, the overall output. Furthermore, there is little coordination among the various divisions due to lack of clear roles to be played by every division and the point of interaction. Some divisions such as material and manufacturing quality have overlapping roles and conflict has been reported on the division responsible for some manufacturing mishaps (Williams & ebrary, Inc., 2002).
The department’s employees need systematic training on the need for teamwork as it was previously non-existent. There is also need to train the workers on how to use the advanced IT quality control system that will be installed. The company’s IT system is interconnected thus even employees in other departments will have to be trained on the usage of the new system. Moreover, workers will have to learn the simplified organizational structure such that any issue will be reported and handled by the appropriate person. Managers and inspectors will also require training on how to execute their new roles (Williams & ebrary, Inc, 2002).
Executing change is one of the most taxing affairs because there is likelihood of resistance from employees who may find it hard to adapt to the change environment. Initially, it is expected that the department’s management will receive low support from a considerable number of employees who prefer the status quo to remain. Secondly, the proposed changes are challenging the department’s culture and tradition that has contributed to low productivity. Maintaining the momentum of change will also be a challenge; the change process will take a maximum of ten years and it is easier to lose the impetus in the process. Stereotypes in analysis and misjudgments may also occur as the pressure to perform increases (Williams & ebrary, Inc., 2002).
All directors in the departments must prove their competence, commitment to attaining the set objectives and servant leadership. The directors must be ready to plan and execute strategies that improve the department’s productivity i.e. delivering beyond words-strategies are executed in a unique way that endears the director to his juniors. Similarly, commitment to accomplishing departmental and company’s objectives is crucial; junior employees view senior personnel as their role models and if the managers are committed to success, employees emulate them. Leadership is serving and all directors will be expected to be servants of their followers. Regular forums will be held to educate the directors on leadership qualities (Marques, 2007).
References:
Bruce, A., & Pepitone, J. S. (1999). Motivating employees. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Lauby, S. J. (2005). Motivating employees. Alexandria, Va: ASTD Press.
Marques, J. (2007). The awakened leader: One simple leadership style that works every time, everywhere. Fawnskin, CA: Personhood Press.
Williams, L. C., & ebrary, Inc. (2002). Creating the congruent workplace: Challenges for people and their organizations. Westport, Conn: Quorum Books.
