Toyota HRM System Approach
Toyota HRM System Approach: Case Study
19-17. How does HRM in the United States differ from HRM in Japan?
Screening for hiring in Japan begins at a very early stage, unlike in the United States, where job screening starts later upon the attainment of the required educational experience. In Japan, companies identify prospective employees while still in high school and then expose them to a range of training programs that prepare them to take up jobs in the companies. In the United States, training programs by companies at the high school level are usually rare, and companies hire employees through conventional hiring methods, which entail sourcing from the individuals who have specific qualifications. Prospective employees in the United States must have attained a certain academic achievement and pass all the tests that they are subjected to by a company’s management.
19-18. What do you see as the basic advantages and disadvantages of each system?
The basic advantage of Japan’s system of hiring is that it is less costly and helps in ensuring that companies hire employees who are adequately prepared to take up roles in companies. However, financing programs at the high school level might not always be efficient as some students might still be unsure of the careers that they desire to pursue later in life. The United States’ hiring system increases the chances of a company getting well-experienced employees. On the contrary, the system requires high financial injections and wastes a lot of time.
19-19. If Toyota truly wants to emphasize growth over quality, what changes to its HRM system would be needed?
If Toyota wants to focus on quality, then it should focus on hiring more employees. However, this might not happen because of the company’s requirements that all candidates must meet. Nevertheless, Toyota can overcome this by accepting candidates who meet basic requirements and undertaking them through training to equip them with skills that are needed by the company. According to the case study, the company starts early training of high school students in China. Since this approach might not apply in foreign countries such as the United States, offering on the job training on its HRM system will help the company to generate a pool of qualified employees.
19-20. Why don’t all multinational firms use the same approach as Toyota for hiring workers?
The organization’s culture usually guides firms’ operations. Also, companies deal with different products and services, and the approach that works for Toyota might not work for all multinational companies. Above all, the Toyota hiring approach has proved to be costly both in terms of financial resources and time. Most multinational firms focus on profits and cut recruitment costs. As such, they would go for the approaches that are less costly compared to the one employed by Toyota.
19-21. How interested are you personally in working in a different country? What would be your preferred top two or three countries? What countries would be of least interest to you?
I am highly interested in working in a different country to learn a new culture, increase my skills, and learn new approaches to executing business functions as exhibited by the HRM practice of Toyota company. I want to work in Japan and the United States. I want to learn how businesses like Toyota start training workers while at high schools and transit them to work in their firms. I would also like to work in the United States to explore its technology and learn how it can be integrated into business operations in my country. I will be least interested in working in countries like Bangladesh and Colombia for poor labor practices and laws that do not respect the right of the workers.
19-22. Why is labor union membership growing in some countries and shrinking in others?
The increase in labor unions is some countries is usually as a result of unethical employment practices like low pay that force workers to come together for collective bargaining. In other countries, the labor union membership is shrinking because of the threat from the governments or because the work practices are favorable, rendering the importance of labor union membership unnecessary.