Changes in Human Resource Management at BMW Company - Essay Example

Changes in Human Resource Management at BMW Company Introduction Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) is renown as the only automobile and motorcycle manufacturer worldwide. Its line of concentration is entirely on premium standards and outstanding quality for all its brands (Bolton 2007).The company traces its origin back to Germany and according to history it was found in the 1990s.Its headquarter is located in Munich Germany. History The company was established as a business entity in1917.This came after the restructuring of the aircraft manufacturing company. Later in the 1950s the automotive unit of BMW experienced financial constraints that almost made them to be bankrupt. There was an urgent shareholder meeting to decide on the fate of the company (Brewster 2008,p.99). It was then decided that the company would forge ahead no matter their situation .The company then bought the rights to manufacture the Italian Islo sletta vehicle (Debroux 2003,p.92). This vehicle was powered with an engine that had been manufactured by the BMW Company previously. This move proved successful in the market as it consequently led to the improvement in the company finances thus helping the company out of their situation. By 1990s, BMW was ranked by Forbes magazine as the first most reputable company (Oliver 2008,p.580). This was based on the willingness of people to work buy and recommend their products to other people. Production BMW Company has two manufacturing groups mainly the Mini and Rolls-Royce and it has been documented that they produced more that 1.3 million vehicles in 2006. Reports further indicate that by 2010, the company stepped up its production to more than I.4million vehicles (Oliver 2008,p.576). It was found that the company had settled on the production of motorcycles after the completion of the First World War and later advanced into the production of vehicles. Human Resource Policy With the era of improved business, BMW has changed its strategy to accommodate their customers as they have applied one that focused on serving their customers. In the last decade the company has developed to be more practical and willing to accommodate change that is customer oriented (Dessler 2000,p.81). The organizational structure has been rearranged in that it can be able to handle new operation styles. The culture that exists in the company has helped a great deal in the implementation of the new strategies that have been put in place and thus ensuring the success of the strategies (Gilmore & Williams 2009,p.83).This is an indication that the human resource policies have played a vital role in the good performance of the organization. Due to the pressure emanating from competition between BMW and other companies as well as the national economies, the organization has had to undertake several changes especially in the management of their human resource so as to be able to beat competition at the international market. BMW just like any other company requires human capital and therefore this calls for the need of people to be responsible for the recruitment, appraisal, and development of the human resources so as to achieve organizational success (Mathis & Harold 2003,p.74).The culture at the company has been found to be non-discriminative against gender as it offers its employees with an equal chance within the organization. In fact more support is given to young female executives and they are given chance to have an inner understanding of the technological world .It also offers its employees an equal chance for on job trainings that come up and it has been found that these trainings provide the employees with additional benefits in addition to their salaries. (Bolton 2007,p.77) The staff at BMW are looked at as critical elements required to steer the success of the organization and not as people who cause the organization to incur expenses. They are referred to as associates as they are part of the company (Oliver, 2008,p.570). The human resource policy at the organization states that any policy that does not take into account the interests of its employees will eventually lead to negative effects in the long run. Being a company that aims towards the future, it is always open to change especially on the management of the human resource as they form an integral part of the corporate .This is because its policies are major determinants of the strategic and operative decisions (Parry & Lazarova 2013,p.98). Changes in Human Resource Management The human resource managers at BMW introduced a programme that shifted from the traditional ways of production and laid more emphasis on a team based approach. During the early seventies, the company suffered a poor reputation that resulted from the disputes that were a common thing at the organization (Brewster 2008,p.67).The organization then adopted a change in their strategies in order to fit to a rapidly changing market. This made them to embrace technology and more emphasis is being placed on the management of teams that have been formed to handle managerial functions (Bolton 2007,p.69).With the adoption of this strategy, it has helped to bridge the gap that existed between the employees and the management. In the past the workers viewed themselves as not being part of the management thus this resulted to communication problems and their reluctance to change. The human resource managers then rearranged its workforce into teams of about eight to fifteen people that were capable in making management decisions (Brewster 2008,p.93).This proved successful as the staff felt that they were part of the management since they had an upper hand in the decision making processes as contrary to the past hierarchical system. This move saw an increase in the production of the organization. The human resource management also introduced a policy that required the teams to meet once per fortnight whereby the teams could be able to air their suggestions, ideas among others for the management to consider for implementation. This proved to be economical on the part of the company since these teams could easily identify the areas that needed adjustments and improvements because they were the same people on the ground (Debroux 2003,p.97). This change impacted positively on the organization as the management could accommodate and work on the ideas that were brought forth by their employees. It was also noted that the production targets had exceeded by two thirds this could be attributed to the fact that the workers felt more important to the organization as they had not been alienated. This was thought as being the driving factor that led to the success of the organization. The success caused by the change in the management of human resources led the organization to receive an award from the chartered institute of professional development due to the increase in production (Gilmore & Williams 2009,p.74). Aspects of Human Resource Involved in the change in Human Resource Management One aspect involved in the change was the use of quality circles. The application of quality circles in their system gave those in charge of production a chance to contribute to the decision making process on issues that affect their job, output, and the success of their operations (Oliver 2008, p.569). This helped to prove to the employees that they were considered important in terms of the continuity of the company. This was one way of motivating the staff so that they could offer their services willingly without holding onto their expertise .It was also a means of empowering their staff since in this way they felt that they were obligated to ensure the success of the organization as it belonged to them as well (Brewster 2008,p.74). This therefore prompted them to work extremely hard in order to achieve success. With the introduction of this strategy into management, the organization was affected positively as there was an improvement in production that saw the company being awarded eventually. The employees on the other hand were motivated thus this made them work hard to ensure that the organization was successful. This can be proved from the fact that records show that with this change BMW has incorporated eight thousand ideas from its staff, the organization has saved approximately 6.3 million pounds and its production target exceeded by two thirds (Dessler 2000,p.54). This is because their workforce is more cohesive as compared to that in the past. The second aspect of change adopted by the human resource managers at BMW was the espousal of improved technology. This was considered as having both advantages as well as disadvantages some of which are outlined as follow. On the brighter side technology helped to increases the production at the company (Bolton 2007,p.85). This is because technology entails the adoption of machines in the production process that are able to handle more work as compared to the use of human labor .This helps to produce more with minimal use of resources. Technology also provides organizations with a platform to exchange ideas that increases collaboration that is essential for the success of an organization (Dessler 2000,p.91). On the contrary, technology is detrimental to the human resources. This is because it acts as replacement that offers the same functions that the human capital can offer .The adoption of technology at BMW saw some of the employees laid off from work (Parry & Lazarova 2013,p.88). This is because the machines provided the services that the human resources offered and thus their services were no longer required. This was a huge setback at the company as it was against their previously stated policy. However with the adoption of technology into production, it meant efficiency and more production that are key to attract more customers and consequently result to the success of the BMW organization (Gilmore & Williams 2009,p.76). Implications of these changes to the wider human resource management practice The changes that have taken place in the human resource management field have resulted to human resource managers functions being more specialized as well as being more concentrated on shared services. The professionals apart from being tasked with recruitment, conducting appraisal among other duties they need to focus on the needs of their employees .Therefore they should put policies into place that advocate for the wellbeing of their employees (Brewster 2008,p.71). With the adoption of less bureaucratic organizations, human resource managers need to play a critical function of managing the initiative leader position. This will be essential so as to manage the projects that are assigned to the different teams responsible for the different units of production (Mondy, et al. 2005,p.62).This is to break the old tradition of strict bureaucracy that lays more emphasis on the hierarchy of the organizations. These hierarchy levels do not allow for communication to flow from bottom-up but adoption of the less bureaucratic will enable communication to move from top bottom as well as the vice versa (Mathis & Harold 2003,p.96) . The shifts in human resource are extensive in terms of speed and development towards technological advancements. The new strategies require new approaches to be employed when obtaining new staff, development and utilization of the human resource (Debroux 2003,p.79). Human resource management should therefore be geared towards looking for personal attributes in an individual rather than the specific role competencies. These will help managers to recruit employees that can embrace change positively (Gilmore & Williams 2009,p.65). With the improvement in technology, human resource managers should adopt these advanced technologies in their organizations. Instead of doing away with their employees, they should provide their employees with on job training to equip them with relevant skills that are consistent with the technological development (Gilmore & Williams 2009,p.102).This should be done so that in cases where they acquire the new technology they do not have to replace their workers with others who possess the skills. Human resource personnel should ensure there is a proper and effective communication channel. They should involve everyone in the decision making process. This makes employees to have a sense of belonging as they feel that they are part of the organization. This will make them own the company and work like it belonged to them as they feel they have an upper hand in the organization’s decisions (Parry & Lazarova 2013,p.75).They will work in line with the decisions that they made which will be in line with the organization’s objectives .For this reason they will not complain as they passed the decisions themselves. Improper channels of communication will discourage them as they will feel unimportant and frustrated, in the long run they will not be able to give their best in this way derailing the company (Bolton 2007,p.98). Human resource managers should advocate for strategies that take into consideration the ideas of their employees. For instance just as BMW adopted the team based approach that allowed the management decisions to be made at the group level, human resource managers should integrate the employees decisions in the overall management decisions (Debroux 2003,p.86). This is essential in the achievement of success in an organization .This is because in cases that the decisions of employees are given consideration, it makes them feel important as they will feel that the organization values them (Dessler 2000,p.87). This will motivate them and they will offer their services without any limits. Human resource managers should advocate for the delegation of duties. This helps to boost the morale of the workers since when duties are bestowed on them, it shows that the management has trusted them such that they can leave them with the responsibility of undertaking tasks. This will make the employees to work effectively as they will not want their abilities to be put in question and therefore they will work towards achieving the best. This will consequently result to the success of the business (Parry & Lazarova 2013,p.97). Human resource managers should lay emphasis on team based approaches in organizations. As the saying goes, “two heads are better than one” the teams will work together in ensuring the success of the organization (Bolton 2007,p.88). People are talented differently and this can be used to the advantage of the organization. They can put people with different abilities in the same group .Members of these groups can then use their different abilities to successfully accomplish the tasks given to them. The human resource managers can also introduce a policy whereby these different teams can meet oftenly to discuss on the issues that are posing challenge to them and suggest measures that should be taken to resolve the challenges (Brewster 2008,p.102).Through these platforms, ideas can be raised on how to improve the operations of an organization so as to ensure its success. Human resource managers should ensure that they offer their employees with job satisfaction. Some managers assume that when they reduce the levels of dissatisfaction on the part of their employees then they have offered them with job satisfaction (Bolton 2007,p.96).This is not the case in the actual scenario all the same the dissatisfaction levels should be maintained at minimum levels. The HRM should increase workers security, improve on their interpersonal relationships as well as put in place good policies at the company (Gilmore & Williams 2009,p.74). Human resource personnel should motivate their employees. They should put policies in place that aim at rewarding their best performing employees. This will motivate the workers that are hardworking to continue putting in more effort in the services they render in the long run improving the quality of the services they offer (Mathis & Harold 2003,p.63). This will also encourage those that are not productive to put in extra effort so as to have the opportunity of getting rewarded. Human resource personnel should also offer equal and fair promotion opportunities as well as training opportunities to their employees (Mondy, et al. 2005,p.82). This will prove to the employees that they are receiving a fair treatment thus they will not be discouraged to render services at their best as they are sure to receive a reward .This will help the organization produce at its best and thus will be able to achieve its set objectives (Debroux 2003,p.77). Reference Bolton, S. C., 2007. Searching for the Human in Human Resource Management. 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