The company (TinD) uses many information systems that make its core. The three key ISs include Jidoka, Poke Yoke and T-WINS LS in relation to the identified situation. Jidoka’s purpose is to stop in a safely manner in case of normal processing. In addition, it enables the machine to detect the issue and stops automatically through andon (Toyota Motor Corporation, 2016). Moreover, the purpose of the Poka Yoke is to make issues visible and act as fuel for the Kaizen Teian (Obara & Wilburn, 2012). On the other hand, T-WINS LS helps to manage warehouse and logistics centers of the whole process, including receiving of goods, stocking, management of location and delivery. It also helps to manage people, goods and data along with elimination of the waste, unevenness and overburden (Toyota Industries Corporation, 2016).
Enterprise-wide IS used by TinD and its Advantages
The company uses one of the key enterprise-wide IS that enables it to make better decisions i.e. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). The IS transforms the transactional data into effective information (Parthasarthy, 2007). Furthermore, it gathers the data to be analyzed to make effective decisions. There are many advantages of the IS, but the key advantages of the systems include:
It improves the efficiency and leads to integration of information for better decision making.
In addition, it contributes to quick response to customer queries.
Moreover, the IS leads to improved corporate image and goodwill, customer satisfaction, flexibility and improved analysis and planning abilities.
Cost Leadership and Differentiation
A cost leadership strategy refers to the strategy that identifies an organization’s approach of how to compete in the market successfully based on the low costs and prices. For example, Wal-Mart, Dell computers and Southwest Airlines focus on cost cutting by implementing cost-leadership strategy. On the other side, differentiation strategy is based on the value and differentiation as how to offer valuable and differentiate products to customers. For instance, Hewlett-Packard and Gucci focus on the differentiation by implementing differentiation strategy (Balakrishnan, Sivaramakrishnan & Sprinkle, 2008). In relation to TinD, the company should adopt both cost leadership and differentiation strategy to target customers give preference to low cost and differentiation and value respectively. It will enable the company to focus on product innovation (R&D) and larger market segmentation with cost advantage.
Data Protection Act
If the data within TinD gets stolen or compromised, the situation would fall under the UK data protection act. They key three aspects of the data protection act 1988 identified by Information Commissioner’s Office (2016) are as follows:
The personal data in the organization needs to be processed in a fairly and lawfully manner, especially it should not be processed unless
At least one factor is not applied mentioned in Schedule 2, and
At least one factor is not applied in Schedule 3 in relation to sensitive personal data.
Personal data needs to be gathered only for lawful aims and should not be processed in case of no compatibility with the purposes.
The personal data should be accurate and up to date.
Factors related to Purchasing or Building Enterprise System (ES) in-house
There are certain factors that can help the company in deciding whether the need for a new ES would be satisfied by purchasing it or building it in-house. One of the factors is budget. If the company has enough budget, it should go for building custom software as extensive costs are linked to the building of custom software, according to specific needs of the organization. However, in case of limited budget purchasing from vendor is a good option. Second factor is the technical proficiency. If the company has high level technical proficiency i.e. effective IT team to build custom software then it should build software in-house. Nevertheless, in case of no professional IT team with certain skills the company should move to purchasing of software. Time is another factor that provides a notion of meeting the need of the company. However, having longer time span enables the company to build the software in-house. Last but not the least, technology as a competitive edge is another factor. If the company’s competitive advantage is based on the technology then in-house development of software is important (Cohn, 2014).
The advantages of leasing an ES include no need of extensive budgets and IT team and readily available IT solutions to the issues. As there is no need of capital investment or financing and leases are lower than renting. On the other hand, the disadvantages of leasing include penalty in case of termination of the lease and high prices of leases than purchasing of software (Cohn, 2014).
Types of the Organizations
Open System: An organization can be a system of groups of elements that interact with each other. The elements are interdependent on each other to achieve a common goal. The open system has feature of solving the issue of harmonization of the relationship between individual, organization and environment (Charles, Drenth & HENK, 2013).
Human Relations Type: Human relations model of the organization focuses on the importance of the human factor in the organizations. Productivity is linked to the social factor. In addition, the model is associated with the social and non-economic rewards. Dysfunctionality is linked to high level specialization and the focus is on the communication and leadership (Neugeboren, 1991).
Process Oriented: Process-oriented organization refers to the organization based on customer focus and strategic business processes characterized by use of information technology as a main enabler (Sharma, 2015).
Goal Focused: Goal-focused organization theory indicates that the organizations are collections of efforts by individuals to get desired goals that cannot be achieved via individual efforts (Donaldson, 1995).
TinD primarily falls into the category of process-oriented model of organization. The main reason is that the organization is linked to systems, processes and premises. It focuses on the things and processes (Riezebos & Van der Grinten, 2012). In addition, the company is process-oriented because the company learned through experience about what process is best for the company to be successful (Liker, 2004).
Factors that limit the Effectiveness of MIS
Management centralism is one of the organizational factors that reduces the effectiveness of the MISs as lack of self-contained activities and poor horizontal communication system lead to poor performance of MISs. Moreover, issues in quality of the MISs is a factor that limits the effectiveness of MISs. Another factor is the accessibility problem of MISs. Accessibility issues contributes to ineffective MISs and poor performance. Another factor is the culture of an organization to technology as resistance to change limits the effectiveness of MISs (Sepp & Frear, 2011).
Issues in relation to Cultural Mix
The four key issues in relation to cultural mix of staff in TinD include communication, resistance to change, conflicting norms and diversity. Communication issues are related to language barriers between UK and Japan employees. In addition, resistance to change is the issue as Japanese avoid to take risks and show high level resistance in comparison to UK employees. Moreover, UK and Japanese employees have different cultural norms and believes along with diversity issues. These issues can be resolved by implementing three strategies. One of the strategies is the team building. Team of diversified individuals will help to reduce cultural barriers, increase the level of communication and enable individuals to focus on common norms. Moreover, training and development is the strategy to reduce the issue of resistance to change. Another strategy to reduce the issues is to develop a diversified culture and vision.
Purpose of CRM and Usefulness of CRM
The purpose of the CRM is to improve the activities of marketing and its results. In addition, it increases the value of the business by retaining existing customers and acquiring new ones by building mutual beneficial relationships (Baran, Galka & Strunk, 2008). CRM can be useful for the TinD in a way that it helps to develop continuous relationship with the customers. In turn, the company can maximize the value to deliver to customers over time. The company can track the changing needs of the customers and develop innovative products to retain and acquire existing and new customers respectively. It will help the company to monitor, control and associate all functional activities related to marketing and delivery of the products.
Factors linked to TinD
In relation to social aspect of external environment, the consumers in the UK (Derby) are more inclined to the purchase electric and hybrid cars as the consumers in UK focus on environment and value for money (Murray, 2016). However, in relation to employment perspective there is an ambiguity among the people. It is due to the fact that Toyota is concerned with the UK’s decision to leave EU as it will increase the challenges for the company. In turn, there is a risk of reduction in the operations in UK (Derby) that means decrease in the employment opportunities. The main reason is that the company chose the country for free access to European market and skilled workforce (Baker, 2016). With respect to culture, the consumers in the UK have moved to green vehicles because of changing attitudes to lower costs and high level efficiency (Nicholls, 2015).
Work Practices
The company can practice the continuous learning process to enable the employees to cope with the new technologies to get individual and organizational goals. TinD will be able to equip its employees with latest knowledge with time. The company can develop an e-learning environment as online courses and training will help the company to increase the capabilities of the employees. In addition, the company can implement succession and career planning. It will enable the company to have pool of skilled labor. Last but not the least, the company can develop a culture based on the innovation to reduce resistance to change and achieve competitive edge.
UK as Major Stakeholder
General public in UK are the major stakeholders of TinD in my opinion. The main reason is that despite the fact that company deliver the cars to car dealerships, individual customers are the main sources of revenue and value maximization. The company addresses their needs of innovative products with high level efficiency based on which the customers are ready to pay high prices.
Impact of Technology on Organizational Structure
The technology positively affects the organizational structure as it leads to flexibility in organizational configuration to meet the uncertain environment (Farhanghi, Abbaspour & Ghassemi, 2013).
In addition, technology contributes to high level openness to learning of best practices to achieve competitive edge (Farhanghi et al. 2013).
Technology also increases the collaborative decision making with the assumption of authority as well as responsibility (Farhanghi et al. 2013).
Moreover, it enables an organization to become learning organization (Farhanghi et al. 2013).
Adverse Effects on Employees
Technology put negative effects on the employees as it contributes to job elimination that increases the stress level of employees (Rotman, 2013).
Technology also contributes to polarization of job quality as it provides benefits to skilled labor, but is not beneficial for the unskilled labor (Rotman, 2013).
Technology sometimes demotivate the employees as layoffs due to technology lead to demotivation of existing employees (Rotman, 2013).
In addition, technology contributes to dependence and lack of value of human resources, especially in the industrialized societies (Rotman, 2013).
References
Baker, E. (2016). Would Brexit damage the British car industry? The Telegraph. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/comment/would-brexit-damage-the-british-car-industry/
Balakrishnan, R., Sivaramakrishnan, K., & Sprinkle, G. (2008). Managerial accounting. USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Baran, R. J., Galka, R. J., & Strunk, D. P. (2008). Principles of customer relationship management. USA: Cengage Learning.
Charles, D., Drenth, P. J. D., & HENK, T. (2013). A Handbook of Work and Organizational Psychology: Volume 4: Organizational Psychology (Vol. 4). USA: Psychology Press.
Cohn, C. (2014). Build vs. Buy: How to Know When You Should Build Custom Software Over Canned Solutions. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckcohn/2014/09/15/build-vs-buy-how-to-know-when-you-should-build-custom-software-over-canned-solutions/#43e814e74849
Donaldson, L. (1995). American anti-management theories of organization: A critique of paradigm proliferation (Vol. 25). USA: Cambridge University Press.
Farhanghi, A. A., Abbaspour, A., & Ghassemi, R. A. (2013). The effect of information technology on organizational structure and firm performance: An analysis of consultant engineers firms (CEF) in Iran. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 81, 644-649.
Information Commissioner’s Office. (2016). Data protection principles. Retrieved from: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/data-protection-principles/
Liker, J. K. (2004). The toyota way. USA: Esensi.
Murray, J. (2016). UK demand soars for electric and hybrid vehicles. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/07/uk-demand-soars-for-electric-and-hybrid-vehicles
Neugeboren, B. (1991). Organization, policy, and practice in the human services. USA: Routledge.
Nicholls, L. (2015). Green vehicle demand revs up as UK electric car sales quadruple. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/08/green-vehicle-demand-revs-up-uk-electric-car-sales-quadruple
Obara, S., & Wilburn, D. (2012). Toyota by Toyota: Reflections from the Inside Leaders on the Techniques That Revolutionized the Industry. USA: CRC Press.
Parthasarthy, S. (2007). Enterprise Resource Planning: A Managerial & Technical Perspective. USA: New Age International.
Riezebos, R., & Van der Grinten, J. (2012). Positioning the brand: an inside-out approach. USA: Routledge.
Rotman, D. (2013). How Technology Is Destroying Jobs. Retrieved from: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/515926/how-technology-is-destroying-jobs/
Sepp, J., & Frear, D. (Eds.). (2011). The economy and economics after crisis (Vol. 4). BWV Verlag.
Sharma, C. (2015). Business process transformation: The process tangram framework. Springer.
Toyota Industries Corporation. (2016). Information Systems. Retrieved from: http://www.toyota-industries.com/product/indv/lf/buturyu04.html
Toyota Motor Corporation. (2016). Toyota Production System. Retrieved from: http://www.toyota-global.com/company/vision_philosophy/toyota_production_system/
