MG411: People Management Report on Nissan Motor Co. Ltd

This report provides an in-depth analysis of people management practices at Nissan Motor Co. Ltd, focusing on three key strategic areas: leadership and management, training and development, and talent management and performance management. It begins by outlining the operational context of Nissan, including its global presence, product lines, and core values. The report then delves into the company's leadership structure, highlighting its decentralized management approach and transformational leadership model, as well as its systems management theory. The training and development section discusses Nissan's methods, including induction programs, diversity training, and emphasis on employee well-being through flexible work arrangements and wellness initiatives. The talent management section examines Nissan's recruitment strategies, talent identification, and performance appraisal systems, including the use of 360-degree feedback. The report also identifies areas for improvement in Nissan's talent management model, such as aligning human capital with business strategy. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, highlighting Nissan's commitment to collaborative management, Japanese management philosophy, and the importance of employee development and performance.

Running head: PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author Note:

1PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
The Operational context of the organization..............................................................2
Discussion......................................................................................................................3
Section 1: Leadership and Management....................................................................3
Section 2: Training and Development........................................................................4
Section 3: Talent Management and Performance Management................................5
Conclusion......................................................................................................................6
Recommendations......................................................................................................6
References......................................................................................................................8
Bibliography.................................................................................................................10
Appendices...................................................................................................................11

2PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The paper aims to discuss about the strategic key areas of people management in an
organization. The three strategic areas chosen are the leadership with management, training
with development and talent management with performance management. Through these
areas, the paper focuses on the overall strategic human resource management functioning of
the organization. The recommendations to the managers in the relevant skills, knowledge and
abilities required to excel in these areas are provided.
The Operational context of the organization
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd being a Japan automobile company deals in the manufacturing
and selling of the automotive product features. The company operates with a vision of
enriching the customer’s lives and move in the direction of producing innovative products
and services that will provide great values to its stakeholders with its strategic alliance,
Renault. The global production volume of vehicles has seen decrease in 2018 to 5,362
thousand units, a little less than previous two years, where in 2016 it was 5,654 and in 2017 it
was 5,672. The premium products of Nissan being – Infiniti and Datsun which are made with
high innovative technologies and with high quality car expertise (Zhang and Gao 2019).
These are the star products of the company with global ownership. The major values on
which the company rests is diversity and inclusion. The diversity lies in global partnership
and recruitments of talents with diverse backgrounds irrespective of their race, culture and
backgrounds. The good workplace environment with career development opportunities
provide a better learning space (Garrahan and Stewart 2017). The diversity of culture is taken
as an important aspect. The training is imparted to all the employees from the diverse
communities and also the consumers from diverse regions and with varied tastes and patterns.
The various work styles of France, China, Germany and other countries are incorporated and
provided as a mixture of workplace training for the inter-cultural cooperation worldwide
(Furusawa, Brewster and Takashina 2016). Recently, Nissan has won the Pride Index award
twice in 2019 and 2018 in gold criteria. It has been recognized as the best diversity promotion
company through winning awards from Government of Japan, ‘Diversity Management
Selection 100’ by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and career support from Ministry
of Health, Labor and Welfare. The company also promotes gender diversity and gender
equality through the career opportunities and the promotion opportunities of both the male
and female employees. The manager ratio of female: male is increasing with the training

3PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
opportunities targeted for the women employees. The talent development of the female
employees are provided through coaching and mentoring sessions, nurturing their career for
succession planning. The global alliance with Mitsubishi and Renault has made Nissan sell
more than 1076 million cars worldwide and the strategic partnership operates in 122
manufacturing plants (Barmeyer and Mayrhofer 2016). In term of sustainability, the company
manufactures electrical vehicles through which it reduces the carbon emission footprint
worldwide and this helps in ecological balance. The corporate social responsibility goals are
aligned with the global sustainability goals of assistance in reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions, climate change and conservation of natural resources.
Discussion
Section 1: Leadership and Management
The leadership structure of Nissan follows the hierarchy of organizational structure,
where at the top of the organizational ladder is the group of board members who take the
strategic and programmed decisions - chairperson, vice-chairperson, chairperson of
nomination committee and the chairperson of audit committee with independent directors.
Then, in the second level the executive officers operate with president and Chief Executive
Officer in the top reporting position and informed by chief performance officer, chief quality
officer, chief financial offer and other corporate officers with senior and vice presidents from
each branches. Below the chain are the operational managers at departmental levels and the
staff team leaders. The management layout of the company has a decentralized structure. But
the senior leadership team takes the majority decisions. The leadership model followed in the
company is the transformational leadership. This leadership strategy states the overall
functioning of the organization in it’s internal as well as external environment to be directed
towards change collectively (David, Armanu and Afanan 2017). It emphasizes on the
flexibility and the transform the traditional approaches to new approaches of operation. The
leadership of change is brought with the joint efforts of collaboration among the employees,
stakeholders and the other members of the organizations. The planned models of change are
developed with the joint consultation of team representatives and implemented as per market
trends. The management theory of operations in Nissan is through systems management
theory. Through this theory, the company develops the base of success to be rested upon the
elements of synergy, creativity, interdependence and the conjoint relationships among the
sub-systems in the organization. Through this approach the company builds an inter-

4PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
connection among the system to join all the business unit, departments, sub-units and the
teams to collaborate and work together (Saga and Hanada 2016). This will create efficiency
in the system through joint efforts and productivity. The labor in the organization are given
due importance in terms of their career planning and development.
The management philosophy of the company follows the Japanese tradition
(Yamadori 2017) . The seniority of the labor workforce are valued the most. The hierarchical
structure is maintained with corporate discipline. The philosophy of properly organized plans
with a systematic implementation structure are carried out by the operational team. The risk
avoidance principle is followed where critical scrutiny of each activities through inspection
and audit are performed. The projects are budgeted with a long-term period due to the future
vision of developing more long-term success. The company believes in collectivism. The
group goals are nurtured more than individualistic vision. The relationship based on trust and
loyalty are the basic foundational elements for the company to frame the teams and the group
activities.
Section 2: Training and Development
The training and development area of Nissan follow both on-the job training and off-
the-job training methods to make its employees productive and excel in their career (Silvia
2019). There are induction programs for the new employees with the provision of training
materials related to information regarding the company background information, the general
policies and procedures with role description and clarification of goals as well as objectives
to fulfill within the time period of probation. The training to women and the men in the
employee’s level are given training. The diversity training through various mentoring and
coaching sessions in the workplace. The language training and interpersonal communication
skills are more focused on, along with skill-based training for each department. The training
is conducted with the basic focus on the learning and behavioral outcomes which are
measured by the Kirkpatrick’s model of training evaluation (Noe and Kodwani 2018). The
training needs are focused hugely on the organizational needs and the person needs. The
training methods to be adopted require organizational consultation and most of the training
programs are conducted on team and group basis. The training is given by external trainers
often. Not only there is inbound training programs, but also outdoor training in the form of
hiking and rock climbing sessions are done to give the employees a feeling of adventure as
well as bringing team support through collaborative workshops.

5PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
The development of the employees are given into proper consideration with provision
of flexible work timings and work-from-home policies to give them work-life balance.
Majority of the employees in this automobile sector go through massive stress and burnout.
The limitation of long working hours has been done through policy of digital workplace
where employees can communicate with their supervisors and managers through digital mode
of communication without being in office. The workspace is getting re-designed with more
innovative technologies of employee welfare in the terms of health – counselling sessions and
fun physical activities are performed to engage employees who are busy in work and forget to
maintain their health. There are child care services for the employees who have children to
give them quality time and productivity in work.
Section 3: Talent Management and Performance Management
The talent is recruited mainly through the top colleges and universities in the entry-
level positions and the recruitment is done globally. There are provisions for internships and
voluntary assistance programs. The talent is recruited with the principle of diversity in
gender, race, culture and communities. There is no biasness in remuneration and basic
compensation structure. The recruitment are mainly done internally through promotion and
transfer. There are certain room for improvement required in Nissan’s talent management
model. The human capital is seen to be not properly aligned with the organizational business
strategy with most of the senior leaders promoted for succession planning in the human
capital (Mc Donnell et.al 2017) . The junior level managers are not there in the succession
planning and decision making at the bottom level. The talent management is seen to be
holding most of the time the managers and the senior level executives to be responsible for
their direct reporting. The management of talent should not be to just recruit and fill the
vacant positions (Turner 2018). There should be an open communication channel with more
sub managers in the line rather than direct reporting. The demand decisions of labor are
mostly taken by the expert panel view and the top bottom approach where the top
management takes the major decisions of replacement planning and positions in succession
charts to fill, which is then communicated to the bottom level of departmental managers and
employees. The experts hold the survey from the managers and directors and come to the
analysis of most suitable decisions to be recommended. The supply of labor is analyzed
mostly through the procedure of Markov analysis and all the recruitment decisions are taken
with respect to the market labor trends, the government regulations of each country and the
economic environment where the branches of Nissan are set. The selection of the labor is

6PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
done through background checks, aptitude and personality assessments to check the degree of
skills, knowledge and abilities. The selection approach is based on the conducting of skill
inventory tests, the peer-inventory tests and the self-assessment tests for the promotion and
transfer areas internally.
The performance appraisals are conducted quarterly as well as annually. The
performance ratings by the rater are not biased but take into consideration the faults and the
problems of the employees (Ioannis and Latsias 2017). The managers and supervisors give
rating to the employees along with it the coach training them. The performance appraisal
system is more of a potential appraisal system. This system follows the approach of detecting
the potential gaps, then grooming the employees through training programs like in leadership
or teamwork. The traditional approach of marking the employees based on their productivity
levels only is not followed here. The system of performance appraisal has also changed with
digital technology. The senior heads from other branches in other countries access the
performance records through their internal performance monitoring system. There is proper
feedback system among supervisor, management and employee. The 360 degree feedback
system allowing the suppliers, customers, and the peers also to provide feedback to the
employees enhance the collaborative chain on relationships. The performance is measure
mainly on the productivity levels and there is no rating biasness. The disciplinary issues are
taken into consideration for rating the employees in their performance.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Nissan has its transformational leadership structure to manage the
change of the organization through its members in a collaborative way. The management
philosophy adopted is of Japanese with senior leadership and maintenance of hierarchy. The
training imparted include diversity in both gender and race with special development
programs designed for the employees for career growth and work life balance. The talent
management needs to be more employee growth oriented than position filling and thee
performance management is unbiased with 360 degree feedback system.
Recommendations
The manager should have the following skills:
- Communication
- Decision-making
- Adaptability

7PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
- Team-building
- Leadership
- Mentoring
- Problem solving
- Risk taking
- Organization
The manager should have the following abilities:
- Listening
- Empathetic attitude towards team members
- Leading with vision
- Emotional flexibility
The manger should have the following knowledge:
- Analytical knowledge
- Practical knowledge about market, environmental trends
- Theoretical knowledge of product and feature
- Global knowledge of product competition
- Knowledge of employee handling and operations

8PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
References
Barmeyer, C. and Mayrhofer, U., 2016. Strategic Alliances and Intercultural Organizational
Change: The Renault–Nissan Case. Intercultural Management. A Case-Based Approach to
Achieving Complementarity and Synergy, pp.317-332.
David, S., Armanu, A. and Afnan, T.E., 2017. The effects of transformational leadership and
personality on employee performance in Nissan Malang mediated by organizational
commitment. Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 61(1).
Furusawa, M., Brewster, C. and Takashina, T., 2016. Normative and systems integration in
human resource management in Japanese multinational companies. Multinational Business
Review.
Garrahan, P. and Stewart, P., 2017. Nothing new about Nissan?. In Restructuring the Global
Automobile Industry (pp. 143-155). Routledge.
Ioannis, N. and Latsias, A., 2017. Employee Resourcing and Appraisal & Talent
Management March 2017.
McDonnell, A., Collings, D.G., Mellahi, K. and Schuler, R., 2017. Talent management: a
systematic review and future prospects. European Journal of International Management,
11(1), pp.86-128.
Noe, R.A. and Kodwani, A.D., 2018. Employee Training and Development, 7e. McGraw-Hill
Education.
Saga, I. and Hanada, M., 2016. Nissan: Recent Evolution of. Teamwork in the Automobile
Industry: Radical Change or Passing Fashion?, p.54.
Silvia, S.J., 2019. Using Civil Rights Discourse and International Political Pressure to
Organize: The UAW’s Campaign at Nissan Canton, Mississippi.
Turner, P., 2018. Attraction, recruitment and resourcing of talent. In Talent Management in
Healthcare (pp. 221-252). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Yamadori, J., 2017. 15 HRM research on Japanese organizations in the twenty-first century.
Japanese Management in Evolution: New Directions, Breaks, and Emerging Practices, p.127.

9PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
Zhang, J. and Gao, Z., 2019, February. Dongfeng Nissan Marketing Strategy Research. In
International Conference on Application of Intelligent Systems in Multi-modal Information
Analytics (pp. 1038-1045). Springer, Cham.

10PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
Bibliography
Anon, (n.d.). NISSAN | CORPORATE INFORMATION |. [online] Available at:
https://www.nissan-global.com/.
Lee, J.Z., 2019. Corporate Governance and Company Performance of Nissan Motor
Corporation.

11PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
Appendices
- Appendix 1
n
Figure 1 : Ration of female managers in Nissan
Source: https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/COMPANY/DIVERSITY/GENDER/