University: MG411 - Nissan HR Report on Leadership, Training & Talent

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Nissan Motors' human resource practices, focusing on leadership and management, training and development, and talent management. The study reveals vulnerabilities in Nissan's leadership, highlighting a lack of visionary skills and decisiveness among managerial positions. While the company excels in training facilities, the report recommends increased funding for infrastructure improvements. Furthermore, the analysis emphasizes the need for enhanced rewards and work-time characteristics to retain talented employees effectively. The report evaluates Nissan's operational context, applicable theoretical models, and offers strategic recommendations for improvements in each HR area, ultimately aiming to enhance the company's performance management through these key human resource interventions. The report is based on the MG411 course and addresses the assignment brief's requirements.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary:
The paper is based on Nissan Motors, a Japanese Automaker. The paper is focused on three
different aspects of the human resources of the company such as Leadership, Talent
management along with training and development. The study shows that the managerial
position holders of the company lacks decisiveness along with visionary leadership skills.
The company is able to develop strong training facilities, however, the same requires
substantial funding for the infrastructural improvement. Other than this, the company requires
to put strong emphasis on rewards and work time characteristics for retaining the talented
employees in a professional manner.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Area 1: Leadership and Management:.......................................................................................3
Operational Context:..............................................................................................................3
Applicable theoretical models:...............................................................................................5
Recommendation:..................................................................................................................5
Area 2: Training and Development:...........................................................................................6
Operational Context:..............................................................................................................6
Applicable theoretical models:...............................................................................................7
Recommendation:..................................................................................................................8
Area 3: Talent Management:......................................................................................................8
Operational Context:..............................................................................................................8
Applicable theoretical models:...............................................................................................8
Recommendation:..................................................................................................................9
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................9
References:...............................................................................................................................10

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Introduction:
The efficient management of the leadership, training and developmental activities and
talent management is observed to be the need of hour for majority of the mainstream
organizations. As per the comments of Mostafa, Gould‐Williams and Bottomley (2015), the
sustainability of the business actions conducted by the mainstream business organizations is
considerably dependent in the ability of the organizations in managing their human resources
in a professional manner. With such an understanding, the companies are largely focused
towards ensuring that the talented employees are retained in their workforces and along with
that, the efficiency and skill of the employees continuously increases. As per the esteemed
opinion of Yamao and Sekiguchi (2015), the establishment of effective training and
developmental facilities from the part of the contemporary business organizations has the
potential of enhancing the quality of service of the employees. Along with the service quality,
the training activities also contribute to the enhancement of the company's ability in meeting
the increasing demand of the market.
The study is based on one such topic and an organization named as Nissan. The study
evaluates three different aspect of the company's human resources activities which are the
leadership and management, training and development along with the talent management.
With a detailed understanding of the situation of the company in the above mentioned three
human resource interventions, the study also delivers some important recommendations for
the betterment of the company's approach in managing the human resource activities.
Area 1: Leadership and Management:
Operational Context:
With a close look at the business actions of the company, it is understandable that the
leadership and management of the organization is considerably vulnerable in nature. Due to

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the lack of vision of the company's leadership team, the organization had faced situations like
bankruptcy in past. In addition to this, the senior leaders of the organization also faced
criminal charges for inappropriate management of the finance at the company. As a result, the
company faced considerable amount of reputational damage in the automotive industry.
Being one of the top most Japanese automaker, one of the important requirement for Nissan
is to ensure that they manage their managerial and leadership interventions in a professional
manner (Thorpe 2016). However, the company repetitively failed in the same and that had
been a major point of concern for the growth of the same in automotive industry. With a
detailed consideration towards the leadership of the company, the reflection of the Japanese
culture is pretty prominent.
The managers believe in collective management of the business objectives and goals.
The leaders influence their employees to have informal and frequent communication with
executives and employees. Along with that, the relationship between the senior subordinate
employees are managed in a perfect manner for the development of a productive working
environment. Along with that, the emphasis of the senior managers in ensuring that the
employees become best in whatever activities that they are conducting, has the possibility of
increasing the job stress and work dissatisfaction amongst the employees (Nissan-global.com.
2020). Having said that, some of the point of concern for the company with their leadership is
inappropriate management of the company's vision, inaccurate intervention in ensuring that
the work life balance of the employees is maintained, inappropriate management of the local
stakeholders under the reigns of Ghosn (Bloomberg.com. 2020). Other than this, the
flamboyant nature of leadership under the reigns of Carlos Ghosn along with the
inappropriate knowledge of the taxation rules and country specific trade regulations had
shattered the hopes of the company of achieving a rapid growth. On the other hand, the
company faced continuous decline in the profit margin and sales (Bloomberg.com. 2020).

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Applicable theoretical models:
With a close look at the business actions of the company, it is understandable that the
company is largely affected by the incapability of the leaders in thinking creatively. The
business leaders managed the company for these many years, had their thought process
limited to the present and that in accordance to Rawlinson (2017), is a major block for any
automotive company when it comes to maintain their sustainability and survival. With an
economic turmoil at the global stage, the automotive companies have the necessity to develop
strong future plans which they can use for the better management of their business actions in
future. The company horribly failed in creating alternative future plans for managing the
uncertainty of business environment. As a result, the lack of creative thinking abilities of the
senior management is pretty prominent.
Other than this, the senior management under the reigns of Ghosn was incapable in
considering the best interest of the local stakeholders. The senior managers of the company
under the reigns of Ghosn were unable to understand the importance of local culture as well
which certainly highlight their inadequate knowledge on cross cultural intelligence
(Japantimes.co.jp 2020). As a result, the leaders were incapable in building an optimal
workforce and productive team under the reigns of Ghosn. Ghosn was more focused in
making the company a great success at the global stage, however, Ghosn missed the trick at
the local stage and the company started to go down in an aspect that is regarded as one of
their success factor and that is the development of a productive working environment.
Recommendation:
With a close look at the condition of the company and the style of leadership followed
in the organization, it is obvious that the leaders of the company must participate in the cross
cultural training activities for enhancing their cross cultural intelligence.

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Other than this, the business leaders of the organization are in need to participate in
the creative thinking activities to enhance their ability in thinking creatively or in a visionary
manner. This will certainly place the business entity in a better position when it comes to
improve their ability in managing the frequent changes in the business environment and for
preparing for the future in a professional manner.
Area 2: Training and Development:
Operational Context:
The training facilities of the company is considered to be a major success factor. In
spite of the lack of visionary leadership from the part of the managerial position holders at the
company, the organization is able to develop strong training facilities for their employees.
The company ensured that the employees are provided with different forms of training
services for new graduates, next executives along with the talent groups. The leadership
programs are specifically focused towards the development of the skills such as leadership
essentials, business acumen, trust building along with the management of the organisational
change (Nissanmotor.jobs. 2020). Other than this the company is able to classify their high
performing employees and ensured that their developmental requirements are also
professionally managed.
As a result, the company provided the scope to the high performing employees in
participating in the multi day workshop training which not only enhances the ability of the
employee in managing their present day operational activities, but also enhances the capacity
of the employees in meeting the future skill demands as well. Other than this, the skill
development programme are designed in such a manner that the employees have the scope
following up their progress with the assessment, feedback from the coaches and mentors
(Nissanmotor.jobs. 2020). Along with that, the senior management of the company are

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observed to put strong emphasis on the development of cross functional teams and also
created the facilities to educate the members of the cross functional teams regarding the
topics such as the Supply Chain Excellence maintenance, monitoring and management of
quality along with Monozukuri. The members of the cross functional teams are taught about
the techniques to be applied for the management of the tools, processes and principles of
Nissan's V up or Six sigma type programme (Nissanmotor.jobs. 2020).
Applicable theoretical models:
With a close look at the excellence of company in managing their training facilities, it
is understandable that the service brilliance of their employees is one of the main remedies
for the company in overcoming the business competition in the automotive industry.
According to the comments of Alshmemri, Shahwan-Akl and Maude (2017), the Herzberg
two factor theory clearly specifies the necessity for the managers in meeting the
developmental needs of the employees for motivating them to enhance the level of their
performance. With a close look at the Tuckman's team development theory, Crunk (2018),
mentioned that the significance of the training or developmental interventions from the part
of the managers of any company is notably high for the employees operating in the same.
Other than this, a close look at the company's recent business actions and corporate
level restructuring, it is evident that the senior managers have substantial need of ensuring
that the developmental needs of the employees are managed in an accurate manner so that the
employees achieve greater ease in managing their operations activities as the change agents
in situations like small, medium and large scale organizational changes. Having said that,
Lytovchenko (2016), highlighted the necessity of the companies in developing academies for
managing their training activities. The success of the companies such as Walmart with
Walmart Academies for enhancing the technical and non -technical skills of the employees
can be cited for example (Corporate.walmart.com 2020). Along with that, the availability of

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the training facilities in both online and offline forms is seen to be significant in delivering
top quality skill development interventions. In order to develop such effective training
facilities, the organization requires strong financial support from the part of their
shareholders.
Recommendation:
The shareholders and owners of the organization are recommended to increase their
funding for the improvement of the infrastructure in the company. The enhancement in the
budget allocation is much required for developing the training facilities in both online and
offline forms and it will be significant in raising the flexibility of the organization's initiatives
dedicated for the improvement of technical and soft skills such as communication, ethics and
leadership.
Area 3: Talent Management:
Operational Context:
The organization is able to achieve the desired success in retaining their talented
employees through enhancing the quality of their training activities. The organization is
successful in identifying the high performing employees and has the ability to provide
extensive training facilities to the employees (Nissanmotor.jobs. 2020). Apart from this, the
organization is able to develop hierarchy based salary plan and at the same time, the salary
plan is formulated as per the industry standards. Having said that, the success of the
organization in formulating an attractive reward plan and in creating an appropriate work
time characteristics is observed to be bit limited.
Applicable theoretical models:
The ability of the companies in developing an industry standard compensation plan
for the employees has the ability to contribute to the management of their basic needs as per

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the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Along with that, the companies that have the ability to meet
the training needs of the employees is also an important factor in ensuring the successful
retention of the employees in an organization. In addition to this, Guthrie et al. (2015),
mentioned that the success of the leaders in developing an attractive rewards plan and in
formulating a work time characteristics that maintains the work life balance of the employees,
is crucial for retaining the talented workforces.
Recommendation:
The company is in need to develop an attractive incentive plan with precise inclusion
of the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.
Along with that, the company requires to develop provisions for the work from home
and the employees are in need to be supported with an industry standard work time
characteristics which will enhance their work life balance.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it is understandable that the company is one of the largest
automaker in the Japanese automotive industry. The company had faced a series of
challenges in previous years where it underwent from bankruptcy to criminal charges against
the members of senior management. The organization is able to develop a strong training
facilities for their employees, however, it requires improved funding from the part of the
shareholders for enhancing their infrastructure of training. Along with that, an improved
rewarding plan and the provision of an improved work time characteristics is observed to be
much required for the success of the company in improving their ability in retaining the
talented employees.

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References:
Alshmemri, M., Shahwan-Akl, L. and Maude, P., 2017. Herzberg’s two-factor theory. Life
Science Journal, 14(5), pp.12-16.
Bloomberg.com. 2020. Bloomberg - Are You A Robot?. [online] Available at:
<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-01/nissan-s-new-ceo-takes-over-with-
long-list-of-problems-to-fix>
Corporate.walmart.com 2020. Walmart Training Academies. [online] Corporate - US.
Available at: <https://corporate.walmart.com/photos/walmart-training-academies>
Crunk, J., 2018. Examining Tuckman's Team Theory in Non-collocated Software
Development Teams Utilizing Collocated Software Development Methodologies (Doctoral
dissertation, Capella University).
Guthrie, J., Dumay, J., Massingham, P.R. and Tam, L., 2015. The relationship between
human capital, value creation and employee reward. Journal of intellectual capital.
Japantimes.co.jp 2020. Nissan's Leaders Will Be Put To Test | The Japan Times. [online] The
Japan Times. Available at:
<https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2019/10/11/editorials/nissans-leaders-will-put-test/
#.Xnj4z3LhXIU>
Lytovchenko, I., 2016. Corporate university as a form of employee training and development
in American companies. Advanced education, pp.35-41.
Mostafa, A.M.S., Gould‐Williams, J.S. and Bottomley, P., 2015. High‐performance human
resource practices and employee outcomes: the mediating role of public service motivation.
Public Administration Review, 75(5), pp.747-757.

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Nissan-global.com. 2020. [online] Available at:
<https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/DOCUMENT/PDF/SR/2015/SR15_E_P079.pdf>
Nissanmotor.jobs. 2020. Nissan Training. [online] Available at:
<https://www.nissanmotor.jobs/amie/eu/life-training.html>
Rawlinson, J.G., 2017. Creative thinking and brainstorming. Routledge.
Thorpe, R., 2016. Gower handbook of leadership and management development. CRC Press.
Yamao, S. and Sekiguchi, T., 2015. Employee commitment to corporate globalization: The
role of English language proficiency and human resource practices. Journal of World
Business, 50(1), pp.168-179.