Workforce Planning and Resource Management at Toyota

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
TOYOTA

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 3
OVERVIEW OF TOYOTA..................................................................................................................4
LO1.................................................................................................................................................5
P1 & M1 PURPOSE AND THE FUNCTIONS OF HRM, APPLICABLE TO WORKFORCE PLANNING
AND RESOURCES........................................................................................................................5
P2 EXPLAIN THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO
RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION.................................................................................................8
M2 EVALUATE THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF APPROACHES TO RECRUITMENT AND
SELECTION............................................................................................................................... 11
LO2............................................................................................................................................... 12
P3 & M3 EXPLAINATION OF HOW DIFFERENT HRM PRACTICES BENEFIT THE MANAGEMENT
AND EMPLOYEES......................................................................................................................12
P4 EFFECTIVENESS OF DIFFERENT HRM PRACTICES IN TOYOTA IN TERMS OF RAISING
ORGANISATIONAL PROFIT AND PRODUCTIVITY.......................................................................14
LO3............................................................................................................................................... 16
P5 IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INFLUENCING HRM DECISION
MAKING................................................................................................................................... 16
P6 KEY ELEMENTS OF EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION AND THE IMPACT IT HAS ON HRM
DECISION MAKING...................................................................................................................17
M4 IDENTIFY THE KEY ASPECTS OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYMENT
LEGISLATIONS.......................................................................................................................... 19
LO4............................................................................................................................................... 20
P7 APPLICATION OF HRM PRACTICES IN A WORK-RELATED CONTEXT AT TOYOTA.................20
M5 RATIONALE FOR THE APPLICATION OF SPECIFIC HRM.......................................................24
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CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 25
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................26
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INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is an approach to fulfil the basic needs of the employees so that
they can improve their current performances. The current report will analyse the human
resource management process at Toyota. In the initial stage, the basic function, roles and
responsibilities of HRM at Toyota are discussed. These functions include selecting the right
candidate, managing the reward and recognition policy and providing training to the employees
so that they can work with the new technologies with ease. Later, the report discusses the
impact of employee relationship management on the profitability of the company and the
general work environment. The report will also assess the recruitment and selection
methodology of Toyota by going through the recruitment process of a workshop engineer.
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OVERVIEW OF TOYOTA
Toyota has it's roots its Japan where it established its first production unit in 1937. Toyota
entered the UK market in 1965 by selling exported models of Toyota cars like Corolla. In 1992, a
production unit of Toyota was established at Burnaston, Derbyshire. At present this
manufacturing unit of Toyota employs around 38,00 people (Toyota, 2019). Toyota comes at
third rank in the list of biggest car manufacturers in the world; General Motors and Ford top the
list. The products of the company are sold in more than 160 countries in the world.
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LO1
P1 & M1 PURPOSE AND THE FUNCTIONS OF HRM, APPLICABLE TO
WORKFORCE PLANNING AND RESOURCES
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (HRM)
HRM is a functional department in an organisation which is dedicated to taking care of the
greatest asset of the company which is the human resource. The human resources of the
company need to be managed like any other resource; if the workforce is managed effectively
and good working conditions are provided to the employees it can become a source for
competitive advantage (Grohmann and Kauffeld, 2013).
PURPOSE OF HRM AT TOYOTA
 The prime purpose of the HRM department at Toyota is to recruit such candidates who
have the necessary knowledge and skills according to the requirements of a particular
job role (Alfes, et al. 2013).
 When the candidate joins the organisation, it is the responsibility of HR departments to
acquaint him with the current rules and regulations.
 To form a policy of reward and recognition that is capable of meeting the requirements
of the employees (Toyota, 2019).
 To design an appropriate compensation package according to the industry standards
which helps in retaining talented employees.
 If in case an employee is terminated form the organisation, necessary legal documents
need to be in place to avoid unnecessary legal hassles.
FUNCTIONS OF HRM
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Workforce planning
One of the essential functions of the human resource department is to assess the need for
workforce required in future. It may also require making a detailed list of the skills and
qualifications required for a job (Patterson and Patterson, 2012). When technology changes
some additional employees may be required to be hired and exact planning of these
requirements helps in facing the challenges of change management.
Recruitment and selection
The process of recruitment and selection aims to select the right set of candidates who have
adequate experience and knowledge about the task to be performed. Selecting the right set of
candidates not only makes an impact on the quality of work it also makes a positive impact on
employee morale (Patterson and Patterson, 2012). Talented employees recruited at the
organisation motivate the existing employees to upgrade the performances.
Training, education and development
In the automobile industry, new technologies related to electric vehicles and the application of
robotics, artificial intelligence and cloud storage are being introduced and it is necessary that
the employees are comfortable in using these technologies. To provide the necessary skills and
knowledge to handle these technologies training programs are regularly organised at Toyota.
The human resource department ensures that the HR planning process includes the training
and development programs so that better technologies can be developed.
Compensation and rewards
Right compensation for the work is the basic criteria for keeping the employees satisfied with
their work. Toyota analyses the industry salary structure for a particular role and then decides
suitable salary structure which meets the expectations of the customers, In addition, regular
bonuses and rewards also need to be provided so that employees can be motivated to move up
in the ladder of carrier progression (Alfes, et al. 2013). The rules and regulations related to the
pay roles and rewards should also be clearly stated to the new recruits to avoid ambiguity.
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Maintaining good working conditions
The factory lines and the showrooms of Toyota should have adequate safety and security
arrangements so that employees stay protected in an emergency situation. When proper health
and safety arrangements are in place, the number of injuries and accidents at the workplace
are reduced considerably. The good working condition may also include compliance with the
equality and diversity laws (Patterson and Patterson, 2012).
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P2 EXPLAIN THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES
TO RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
Toyota believes that selecting an appropriate candidate is the first step to achieve excellence in
the products and services. Below discussed are the different methods of recruitment and
selection used by the R department at Toyota:
EMPLOYEE REFERRALS
It is a widely used recruitment method across industries. The company interviews the
candidates suggested by the existing employees. If the suggested candidate is proved to be a
suitable choice, some incentives are also offered to the existing employees.
Strengths
 The initial stage of the recruitment process is skipped which makes the selection process
fast (Patterson and Patterson, 2012).
 As the selection process is shortened the expenses of the recruitment and selection
process are also minimised
 The new employee easily becomes familiar with the work culture of the company as an
existing employee is always there to help him (Kehoe and Wright, 2013).

Weaknesses
 The options in front of the company are reduced and it can make an impact on the
quality of candidates selected (Alfes, et al. 2013).
 Some employees who have come from the general recruitment process may feel that
even playing turf is not provided at Toyota.
CAMPUS RECRUITMENT
In this method of selection, HR professional visit the university campus to find suitable
candidates. Some initial test may also be conducted to test the knowledge and skills of the
candidates.
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Strengths
 The young candidates selected through this process often find innovative ways of
solving problems.
 The company has a big pool of candidates from which a talented individual can be
selected (Patterson and Patterson, 2012).
 This method of selection saves company’s costs.
Weaknesses
 When there is an urgent requirement of staff this method is not effective.
 The candidates selected have little or no experiences in handling the job and therefore
the training cost of the company is increased (Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017).
SOCIAL RECRUITING
In this method of recruitment, social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn are used to
advertise jobs on a large scale. Recruiters can also connect with the potential candidates by the
means of these social media platforms
Strengths
 Recruiters can communicate about the company culture and the expectations of the
company from the candidate well in advance.
 The majority of young people use these social media platforms, a larger number of
candidates are available to the company for selection (Alfes, et al. 2013).
 This is a time and cost saving method of job advertisement as job posting can be done
on different websites in minimum possible time.
Weaknesses
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 Many fake profiles are also present on these social media platforms, therefore, cross-
checking the candidate’s information is necessary (Kehoe and Wright, 2013).
 People who are not active on these digital platforms may miss a useful job opportunity.
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M2 EVALUATE THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF APPROACHES TO
RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
Toyota uses a variety of approaches to recruitment and selection to makes sure that the
candidates selected are suitable according to the brand strength of the company. The first
approach discussed in the report is of employee referrals. This method has become a major
source of employees for Toyota. The employees who are already working in the organisation
can suggest qualified candidates form their family members or friends. The company prefers
such candidate because such a candidate does not need a deep background check. The
employee of the organisation who has given the reference is assumed as the person taking
guarantee of the credibility of such employees (Purce, 2014). The employee also gets help and
support of the existing employee and becomes easily adjustable to the culture of the company.
The weakness of this approach is that the company has to recruit from a limited number of
candidates which makes an impact on the quality of selection.
The second approach of recruitment and selection is the method of campus selection. In this
approach, a large number of university students are available for screening and the recruiters
can select the most suitable candidate according to the requirement. The downside of this
recruitment process is the lack of experience possessed by these employees. Initially, such
candidates require a lot of supervision and training to make them compatible according to the
present job role. The next method of section discussed is the recruitment by the means of
social networking website; these websites are an effective means to make genuine interactions
with the potential candidates (Bratton and Gold, 2012). The candidates provide detailed
information about their carrier and experiences and the recruiters can make a connection with
the suitable candidate. However, ascertaining the credibility of the candidates is a difficult task
and cross-checking of the candidate credentials is necessary.
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