Human Resource Management in Renault - Assignment Example

Management in Renault Task explain the 7 steps of the recruitment process and apply to Renault. (i) For the growth and development of an automobile firm, the contributory role of an automotive engineer cannot be overestimated. Today, Renault intends to hire more engineers for its car plants in Japan as part of its growth plans. It is the responsibility of an automotive engineer to make designs and conceptualize plans and process of a new vehicle manufacture. For the purpose of recruiting an automotive engineer I will be taking the help of an employment specialist. There will be different phase before actual recruitment. First I will find different methods to find suitable candidates for the required post. This can be done through posting advertisements on job and career websites. I can also look out for candidates in the automobile industry who have proven themselves experts in designing vehicles. In order to retain skilled engineers, Renault can offer satisfactory pay, perquisites and job security. Currently, there is a dearth of skills of international caliber in Japan and it has been seen that Japanese employers are slowing down their recruitment process. One way to recruit and retain top talented international level automotive engineers is to make English a more common language in the workplace and giving them more responsibilities (Tanikawa, 2012). The seven steps of recruitment process can work effectively in this case. Firstly, it is important to understand the nature of job and which group would fit what kind of job or portfolio. The main problem was the designing of well advanced products and hence the company required either skill upgradation or new engineers. After identification of the purposes of different jobs and goal set, second step would be to prepare the job and profile of the person. It is important to have people with innovative mindsets and modern degrees and certificates. It is important to figure out a set of skill and personal attributes which the human resource manager would be looking forward to. The third step would comprise of finding the appropriate candidates through referrals from staffs and collecting resume databanks by consulting agencies or advertising. The hiring committee should be formed and the databank of CVs should be arranged according to requirements. The members of the hiring committee or interview board should be chosen with care as per their ability and knowledge regarding the job profile and requirements. The fifth step is very important as it is about selection process. This comprise of general interviews, competency based interviews, role play and finally presentation. All these stages need to uphold the basic need of the job inline with the goal, i.e. in this case innovating new product designs which would appeal the market and meet the demand. The sixth step would be to make the appointment of employees with the right contract and checking of their documents and putting them through necessary examinations. The seventh step would be induction of the employees where proper training and explanation of their role/job requirements. They should be motivated rightly and included wisely into the team. (ii) Renault strives to maintain and abide by all legal considerations of employment practice, and at the same time attempts to highlight ethical and environmental conditions for the well-being of their employees. In the context of recruitment or giving opportunities for promotion and salary hike there is no discrimination made based on race, nationality, gender, religion or any kind of physical disability. All employees get the equal opportunities when duties are assigned to them or responsibilities are bestowed on them. Similarly, every employee is given the right to demand disciplinary action against any kind of harassment in the workplace. Renault takes particular care so that no individual who is below the minimum working age of 15 allowed by the law is employed in their workplace. Also, Renault does not enforce obligations on its employees to continue their service and has given the right to leave their jobs. Renault being a multinational automobile company takes care to abide by all the laws in every country and region where it has its activities in the context of minimum wages, overtime, wage deductions, and bonus or other rewards. Similarly, Renault follows the legal rules of all countries and regions in the context of deciding the working hours of employees including their overtime hours, and schedules leaves and annual vacations. Renault also recognizes the rights of every employee based on the laws of each country or region of operation. Renault also gives high importance to maintenance of a safe working environment to ensure health and safety of its employees, and makes every effort to prevent occupational accidents (Renault-Nissan – CSR Guidelines for Suppliers, 2010, pp.6-7). Task 2 (i) There are some basic and important qualities and skills that are required in a person who will take up leadership position in a multinational company. First is that the person needs to have a multicultural approach, i.e. the person should be able to adaptto changing environment as it will be different from his or her home country. It is also imperative that the leader needs to have an open mind so that he can absorb new things from variety of sources, and it is possible if a leader carries a positive approach towards learning new things. Moreover, a leader should focus on deriving successful activities from his team and should not emphasize on the success of any one individual (Pflug, 2014, p.6). As an effective leader in a multinational company like Renault I need to bear qualities that will encourage and motivate people towards change. My focus should also be on establishing an amicable relationship between employees by promoting emotional bonds. It will also be my prerogative to develop people for future responsibility. As a leader in a multinational company I need to learn the limitations of my cultural norms and should prepare myself so that I can adopt and adjust to the cultural environment of the host country, in this case it is Japan. As a leader it will be responsibility to create vision for the company and paving the way for future success through the efforts of employees (Rentfrow, 2007, p.1). (ii) Management essentially means organizing the environment for the purpose of getting things done by others. A competent manager needs to implement strategies to make the employees of the organization to perform their duties efficiently and with minimum errors as possible and to make the production workers produce things at competitive cost. Management also means to inculcate a sense of responsibility among the employees. A manager needs to supervise that there is effectiveness and efficiency in the functioning of the organization with minimum time, cost or waste. He should see that the tasks accomplished are according to customer satisfaction (Williams, 2010, pp.7-8) In essence, there are five specified tasks of a manager. Managers “set goals, organize activities, motivate and communicate, measure performance, and develop people.” (Daft, 2011, p.5) There are different approaches to management. Some of the most influential ones are classical approach, the human relations approach and contingency approach. Each approach offers valuable insights for practicing managers in their efforts to define management problems and opportunities, and to develop ways to deal with them. The basic difference between leadership and management is that while the former creates vision and motivates the employees to pursue the vision the latter plans routines to accomplish the vision (North house, 2012, p.13). When Carlo Ghosn became the CEO of Nissan in the year 1999 the first hurdle that he faced was becoming the leader of two different automobile companies from two different countries. As a leader he realized that Japanese employees do not appreciate a leader who tends to dictate. By dictating conditions Carlo ran the risk of deflating the morale of the employee and if he became too lenient then the employees cannot be motivated to bring about changes in the company. One major drawback that existed in Nissan culture was that employees were inclined to blame other departments for any crisis and employees did not agree to accept the responsibility of any failures. Carlo introduced the concept of cross-functional teams wherein people from different departments like engineering, finance, sales, and manufacturing can work together. Although Carlo initially experienced resistance from the employees since they were not ready to accept such changes, he managed to convince them that cross-functional teams can positively affect the overall benefits. (iii) Japan is a country where dictatorship kind of leadership is not appreciated in a company. This cultural aspect has been the first thing that Carlo noticed when he became the CEO of Nissan which is a Japanese automobile manufacturing company. He therefore adopted a leadership style by which he encourages the employees to work in coordination with every department so as to achieve maximum benefits for the company. Although his concept of cross-functional teams was initially not welcomed by the employees he managed to convince them of its benefits. Carlos believed that it natural human tendency to resist any kind of change but he also believed that people can perform better only by accepting positive changes. According to ShiroTomii who is the Vice President of Nissan, “He (Carlo) establishes high yet attainable goals; makes everything clear to all roles and levels of responsibility, works with speed, checks on progress; and appraises results based on fact”. One major aspect of Carlo’s leadership is his listening quality. He makes the effort to listen what the employees have to say and helps them take participation in decision-making processes. He also stressed on making face-to-face conversations with employees rather than using the impersonal approach like emails. In spite of the natural reluctance of the Japanese to express their viewpoints, Carlo encouraged them to do the same since he believed that employees are integral part of a company and hence more than him the employees will know what will be most beneficial for the company. Carlo recognized the Japanese culture of individual contribution and so while he stressed on teamwork in France at Renault, in Nissan he emphasized on individuality. Carlo maintained transparency in every phase from planning to execution so as to lift the morale of the employees. The leadership style of Carlo was based on “value and motivation”. He took the effort to motivate his employees and then he gave the power to perform according to their abilities. (iv) Include how Carlos motivated the Renault staff in your answer! Carlos had motivated his employees by trying to create the right kind of interesting environment for work. He tried to empower them and motivate them for work. He implemented the western style of management and included them in decision making process. Being the manager of Renault my main focus is to motivate the employees so that they can give their best performance to the company. As a manager my goal is to create satisfaction among employees who work under me, encourage them to perform efficiently, make them feel an integral part of the organization, thereby motivating them to enhance their productivity. In short my job is to create an all round employee satisfaction to extract optimum performance from them that will benefit the organization in respect to its aims and objectives. This can be achieved by creating a cordial relation between the employees and the management so that communication and exchange of views and ideas are done in an easy and convenient manner. I have applied the Human Relations theory of management which is based on the concept “satisfied workers will give more work” (Daft &Marcic, 2010, p.30). The concept of this theory is to integrate skilled and quality performance with motivation aspects. The objective is to prevent daily job seem like monotonous, dehumanizing and de-motivating by implementing strategies to extract full potential and attention of workers (Daft &Marcic, 2010, p.30). I do not only limit my activities to recruiting skilled people, but I also create training schemes to enhance their skills and increase their adaptability towards the constant technological change in today’s world. I attempt to identify people who are giving extraordinary performance and reward them accordingly. I try to make them feel their importance in this organization by encouraging them to participate in policy making processes, and also by aligning their performance with the objectives of the organization. I make employment benefit schemes to garner their interest in their work, and I also manage the workplace in a way that workers will not feel their job as monotonous. Task 3 (i) Since becoming the CEO of Renault in April 2005 he stressed on working in a team. He introduced the concept of cross-functional teams so as to encourage people from different departments to work in coordination so as to achieve the best possible results for the overall benefit of the company. Since Renault is a French company, the culture in this company appreciated teamwork. It is the nature of people to interact with others and so working in a group can enhance this quality. Every individual who works in a team can derive benefits from it depending on the coordination between the team members. There are several benefits in teamwork. People can feel the sense of belonging and will therefore feel motivated to deliver his or her best. Also, by being a part of a team people can feel that they are contributing towards the success of the company and this can stimulate them. Moreover, workload can be reduced when people are working in a team (Butterfield, 2010, p.50). In Nissan the concept of cross-functional teams had a major positive impact on the employees. In Japanese culture, employees tend to blame other departments for any errors instead of accepting own mistakes. By working in cross-functional teams, people learnt to own up responsibility whenever something went wrong. (ii)What were the problems of the teams within Renault and how did Carlos Carlos solved it. Include a discussion of Woodcok theory of team effectiveness in your answer. In spite of all the advantages of working in a team there are certain difficulties in teamwork. Essentially teamwork is defined as “people working together cooperatively to accomplish established team goals and objectives” (Masters & Wallace, 2010, p.147). However there can be individuals who do not have the mindset to work in cooperation with others. These people can perform best when acting alone. Moreover people who give more priority to personal goals may feel reluctant to work in a team since management will recognize the team effort than any extra effort made by any individual. There are also technical problems like working in a team calls for meetings which can be wastage of time. Finally, negative approach of an individual can demoralize the entire team (Masters & Wallace, 2010, p.147). According to Woodcock’s theory, for effective teamwork the members should have clear set of goals which all should consent unanimously. People need to be honest and open and adequate support and trust should be achieved. Also team members need to cooperate and resolve conflicts among themselves. However effective leadership is also essential in a team alongside regular review, individual development and proper relations among the members (Walton, 2014). In Renault challenges were resolved by making it a requirement to submit plans for attaining the optimal output and facilitating their participation in decision making process. As leader of the company I will first try to recognize the root cause of any conflict in a team before trying to resolve it. The first step I will take is to establish clear and concise communication with the people involved in the conflict. This will enable to see things from the perspectives of the employees and find solutions that can have overall benefits. Instead of making emotional decisions, my attempt will be to take practical measure to resolve conflicts. I can prevent conflicts by clearly defining the role and responsibility of every member in a team. (iii) Working in a team can be very effective in achieving the goals of a company. Each employee of a company has limited skills and experience, and his or her contribution can be limited to any one department of the company. Carlo has introduced cross-functional teams so that people from different departments can work in coordination with each other. This can benefit every department of the company. Also working in a team provides equal opportunities to all employees irrespective of their age, gender, race and religion. Any company that encourages teamwork can accomplish more than an individual’s performance, no matter how educated, trained or experienced he or she may be. Also, it is not practical to delegate all responsibilities of a particular project on an individual since work may get delayed caused by natural causes like illness or personal emergencies. In a group even if one person remains absent, other members can continue the work. Task 4: Explain the issues or factors to be covered in employee work assessment! (i) The merger of Renault and Nissan took place in March 1999 with the former investing $5.4 billion.During the 90s decade Nissan failed to establish its brand name and was losing $1,000 for every car it was selling in the US. Even though Nissan exported cars to Europe, Australia and Asia by the end of 1990s it continued to suffer loss which accumulated to $5.5 billion. After Carlo became the CEO of Renault in April 2005, he managed to increase net income from $2,386 million in 2005 to $3,376 million in 2006. However, since then profit has been declining. Carlo also changed the policy holding on to old suppliers. He encouraged new suppliers who can supply at low prices with discounts ranging from 20 – 30 percent. This was he managed to reduce number of suppliers from 600 to 1,145 thereby reducing the purchasing cost by 20%. Moreover with cross-functional teams, employers managed to give better performance under the leadership of Carlos. The employees’ work assessments involved mention of timing, plan schedules and their targets as well as levels of commitments and speed of work. (ii) Explain the steps in employee appriasals. It is important to assess the development need of employees. This will help in designing training programs according to the needs of the employees. In absence of proper assessment inappropriate training programs can waste money and time, and also the needs of employees will not be fulfilled. Assessment can be done by comparing the knowledge and skills of employees to determine the kind of training needed by them. By analyzing the past performance of individual employees, it is possible to understand their deficiencies and accordingly training can be structured to help the employees meet the required standard. Another way to assess the development need of employees is interviewing them or putting them to tests. First it is important to set attainable objectives, second communicate the roles and purpose to the employees effectively and following that works should progress with adequate speed. The manager needs to monitor the progress and based on the report of each employee appraisals should be done unbiased. References Butterfield, J. (2010) Teamwork & TeamBuilding, Cengage Learning Daft, R.L. (2011) Management, Cengage Learning Daft, R.L. & D. Marcic (2010) Understanding Management, Cengage Learning Masters, A. & Wallace, H. (2010) Personal Development for Life and Work, Cengage Learning Northouse, P. (2012) Leadership: Theory and Practice, SAGE Publications Pflug, K. (2014) Successful Leadership in a Multinational Chemical Company in China. China Chemical Reporter, Vol.25, No.9, pp.6-7 Renault-Nissan – CSR Guidelines for Suppliers (2010), nissan-global, accessed on December 17, 2014 from: http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/DOCUMENT/PDF/ SR/CSR_Alliance_Guidelines.pdf Rentfrow, T. (2007) Effective Leadership within a Multinational Environment. Leadership Advance Online, Issue X Tanikawa, M. (November 12, 2012) Japanese Firms Try New Hiring Strategies, The New York Times, accessed on December 17, 2014 from: http://www.nytimes.com/ 2012/11/13/world/asia/13iht-sreducjapan13.html?pagewanted=all UCR (2015), Recruitment & Selection Hiring Process, accessed on January 13, 2015 from: http://hr.ucr.edu/recruitment/guidelines/process.html#step2 Walton, J. (2014), PROMOTING GOOD QUALITY CARE THROUGH TEAMWORK AND EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP, NCERCC, accessed January 13, 2015 from: http://www.ncb.org.uk/media/522207/ncercc_teamwork.pdf Williams, C. (2010) Management, Cengage Learning Read More