Global Human capital (case study) - Essay Example

HRM Policies and Practices: A Case Study of ITOCHU. Summary Having been founded in the year 1858, the ITOCHU hasrisen over time to become a general trading company (sogo sosha) engaging in different lines of business. It currently is engaged in both local and international trade with different product lines; communication and information technology products, textile, oil & energy products, machinery, chemicals metal, human food products and many others. Furthermore, the company made a diversified investment portfolio, with interests in construction, insurance, ware-housing, and finance etc.

This is a testimony of business success and strategic investment. As part of business strategy in the early 2000s, the company had to reduce the number of employees at its Tokyo based headquarters. The worker force was reduced above 5000 to the current number of 4,222. This is excludes all the employees on overseas assignments and those working for subsidiaries and offices abroad. A major success factor for the ITOCHU Company is the sound management, the robust organisational structure adopted and as well as the vast international network (Kishita, 2006).

Management strategy gives ITOCHU a competitive edge as the company is able to achieve operational efficiency post impressive financials. Guided by the mid-term management plan known as Frontier-2006 the company aimed at increasing profitability in a manner that is stable. It then moved on to implement another mid-term management plan dubbed, Frontier, 2008 who goals were enhancing corporate value on the international arena and increase investor confidence through aggressive management policies.

This saw the company post a net income of ¥218.6 billion in the financial period ending March 2008 and mark the fourth year of record earnings. These are fruits of the growth strategies and hikes in natural resources prices (Rowley & Benson, 2002).Question In the recent economic restructuring ITOCHU has implemented a number of changes in the area of employee resourcing. Taking advantage of the shukko and haken schemes introduced by government a number of employees have been relocated subsidiaries paving way for the company to externally higher people who are more capable and experienced under the new mid-career professional recruitment system.

The company’s HR retention policies have also been redesigned especially on the aspects of job allocation and training. A lot of focus currently is directed at specialisation as opposed to multi-tasking and job rotation (Ballo, 2002). Additionally ITOCHU has moved to attract young talents and foster long-term commitment to the organisation. To this end the company changed the ranking system and created room for talented employees to be put on fast track for early career promotions. The new system design prefers performance based promotion at the expense of seniority which has been practice.

HRM policy also now recognises the need for training and employee development as a strategy to develop skills and at the same time motivate commitment by employees to the organisation (Pudelko and Harzing, 2009). Common training practices include, orientation and on the job trainings that are both formal and informal. Core technicians and management staff are enabled to acquire further knowledge by enrolling with professional training centres and institutions. Finally, between 30 and 40 young workers are facilitated to train in the US every year (Benson, 2004).

References.1. Ballon, R. J. “Human Resource Management and Japan," Euro Asia Journal of Management, 2002, Vol. 12(1): 5-20.2. Chris Rowley & John Benson. “Convergence and Divergence in Asian Human Resource Management,” California Management Review, 2002 Vol 44, no. 23. John Benson. “The Changing Nature of Japanese Human Resource Management; The Impact of the Recession and the Asian Financial Crisis,” Int. Studies of Mgt. & Org., 2004,Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 32-51.4. Markus Pudelko and Anne-Willl Harzing.

“Japanese human Resource Management: Inspirations from Abroad and Current Trends of Change” International Human Resource Management in Japan, London: Routledge, 2009.5. Tetsuhiro Kishita. “The HRM of Japanese Firms in the Days to Come of Global Competition,” Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 2006, 14(1), 29-48. Available at: http://rphrm.curtin.edu.au/2006/issue1/japanese.html