Toyota Production System (TPS)

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is a coordinates socio-technical framework created by Toyota (Automotive Manufacturer) to proficiently organize fabricating and coordinations, counting the interaction with providers and clients, to play down taken a toll and squander. According to Nampachi Hayashi, TPS ought to have been called the “Toyota Handle Advancement System.”

The system is also known by the more generic “Lean Manufacturing” and “just-in-time production” or “JIT Manufacturing.”

This system, more than any other aspect of the company, is responsible for having made Toyota the company it is today. Toyota has long been recognized as a leader in the automotive manufacturing and production industry. In the early 1950s, the company faced bankruptcy. After that major event that transformed the company, they have recorded steady sales and market-share growth, with hardly any years that have not been profitable.

The logic is to work intelligently and eliminate waste so that only minimal inventory is needed. This increases cash flow and reduces physical space needs, and makes it easier to deliver the required results smoothly through internal processes one piece at a time (single piece flow) to the end customer. The larger part of the framework was initially created starting in 1948 through 1975, with major impacts from Taiichi Ohno, Eiji

The purpose is to identify and reduce three primary obstacles or deviations from optimal allocation of resources within the system:

·         Overburden (muri)

·         Inconsistency (mura)

·         Waste (Muda)

TPS is grounded on two main conceptual pillars,

·         Just-in-time –

“Making only what is needed, only when it is needed, and only in the amount that is needed”

Some of the key tools and concepts used within TPS include,

·         Andon

·         Gemba and Genchi Genbutsu

·         Heijunka

·         Jidoka

·         Just-in-time

·         Kaizen

·         Level loading

·         Kanban

·         Supermarket

·         Muda, Mura, Muri

·         Obeya

·         Poka-yoke (error proofing)

·         5S

·         Value Stream Mapping

·         SMED

·         5 Why’s

Toyota is receiving plenty of criticism now, much of it for good reason. There is also a large amount of psychology involved. Toyota does need to improve. But that is the improvement of the existing management system, not a need to radically change the management of the company.

Toyota is even with the problems is a fantastic example of a very well-managed company. Yet even with all the study of lean manufacturing, as we studied, the two main pillars of the Toyota way are “Continuous Improvement” and “Respect for People”.

• Continuous Improvement means that we never perceive current success as our final achievement. We are never satisfied with where we are and always improve our business by putting forth our best ideas and efforts. we are keen to create better alternatives, question our accomplishments and investigate future definitions of success.

There are three main things our commitment to Continuous Improvement

1. Challenge –

We form a long term vision, meeting challenges with courage and creativity to realize our dreams
2. Kaizen –

 We improve our business operations continuously, always driving for innovation and evolution
3. Genchi Genbutsu –

We go to the source to find the facts to make correct decisions build consensus and achieve goals.

• Respect for People refers to our own staff as well as the communities and stakeholder groups that surround us and we are part of. We respect our people and believe the success of our business is created by individual efforts and good teamwork.

1. Respect –

We respect others, make every effort to understand each other, take responsibility and do our best to build mutual trust.

2. Teamwork –

We stimulate personal and professional growth, share the opportunities of development and maximize individual and team performance.

These elements combined to define the corporate image, provide a way of operating that is recognized by each and every Toyota-member around the globe and enable them to sustain success in the future.

References,

https://www.google.com/search?q=toyota+production+system&oq=t&aqs=chrome.1.69i60j69i59j69i57j69i59l2j69i61j69i60l2.1197j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

http://www.leansixsigmadefinition.com/glossary/toyota-production-system/ 

https://www.toyota-europe.com/world-of-toyota/this-is-toyota/the-toyota-way

JOB DESIGN

Job design specifies the contents of jobs in order to satisfy work requirements and meet the personal needs of the job holder, thus increasing levels of employee engagement. (Armstrong, 2014 P.145)

Job design (also referred to as work design or task design) is a core function of HRM and it is related to the specification of contents, methods and relationship of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the job holder or the employee organizes the content and tasks so that the whole job is less likely to be a risk to the employee.

Job design involves administrative areas such as:

• Job Rotation
• Job Enlargement
• Job Simplification
• Job Enrichment

Job Rotation -

It is one of the strategies of the work plan which is an reply to the issue of boredom. Job rotation suggests the moving of an employee from one work to another without any change within the work. With Job Rotation, a given worker performs different jobs more or less within the same organization.

The advantages of job rotation are—

·         it relieves the employee from the boredom and dullness of doing a single task.

·         The organization also stands to benefit as the worker becomes competent in several jobs rather than only one.

·         Employees work changing can too make improve inter-department co-operation.

The limitations are—

·         The basic nature of the job remains unchanged.

·         Also frequent shifting of employees may cause an interruption in the work routine of the organization.

Job Simplification -

Here the occupations are streamlined or specialized. A given work is broken down into small sub-parts and each portion is assigned to one person.

Job simplification involves

•  Mechanical processing of work
•  Repetitive work process (assembly lines);
• Working on only one part of a product;
•  Predetermining tools and techniques;
• Feww skill requirements.

Work simplification is done so that less-trained and the less paid employees can do these jobs. And over simplification results in boredom which leads in turn to errors, this is the limitation of this method.

Job Enlargement -

Job enlargement involves expanding the number of tasks or duties assigned to a given employes. Job enlargement, therefore, naturally is opposite to work simplification. Adding more tasks, duties to a job does not mean that new skills and abilities are needed to perform it. There is only a horizontal expansion. It is the process of increasing the scope of a job by adding more tasks to it. The related tasks are combined.

Job enlargement reduces monotony and boredom. It helps to increase interest in work and efficiency. But there is no time increase in the job. Enlarged jobs require longer training periods as there are more tasks to be learned.

Job Enrichment -

It includes planning work in such a way that it gives the employees more noteworthy independence for arranging and controlling their possess execution. It seeks to improve tasks, efficiency and human satisfaction by building into people’s jobs, greater scope for personal achievement and recognition, more challenging and responsible work and more opportunity for individual advancement.

The advantages here are that, Job enrichment benefits employees and organization in terms of increased motivation, performance, job satisfaction, job involvement and reduced absentees.

Further, improved work should meet certain mental needs of jobholders (Identity achievement), etc. Job enrichment is motivating and satisfying as it adds status to one’s job. Empowerment, a by-product of job enrichment, gives the employees a sense of ownership and control over their job.

The limitations are-

•         If the employee is lazy or does not give due attention to his/her job, job enrichment will not have the desired outcomes.
•          The cost of design and implementation increases. Further job enrichment by itself does not motivate. This must be gone before by the arrangement of other factors that contribute to the quality of work life.

Overall goals of job design as follows,

• Task variety
• Skill variety
• Work breaks/Rest Breaks
•  Allowance for an adjustment period
•  Provide training
• Vary mental activities

References,

https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/job_design.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_design

https://www.businessmanagementideas.com/job/job-design-methods-rotation-simplification-enlargement-and-enrichment-of-jobs/2517

Employee Relations' is alluded to a company's endeavors to oversee connections between managers and employees. An organization with a great worker relations program gives reasonable and reliable treatment to all employees so they will be committed to their employments and faithful to the company. Such programs moreover point to avoid and resolve issues emerging from circumstances at work.

Employee relations programs are ordinarily a portion of a human resources strategy to guarantee the foremost effective use of individuals to achieve the organization's mission.   

Happy employees are beneficial workers. Fruitful businesses know how to oversee connections to construct enduring representative fulfillment the most important part of any business is its employees. No business can run effectively without them. But individuals do not work alone, they have to be communicated and work with others to get their job done. Employers need to manage relationships in the workplace to keep the business functioning smoothly, avoid problems, and make sure employees are performing at their best.

Following elements are very necessary to improve employee relations in the organization,

1. Leadership - Employees are desperate to have meaningful relationships with their managers.  Whether those employees will continue working at your company is their relationship with their managers. We can’t overstate this, when it comes to engagement, good management is critical.

2. Communication – Sure you communicate with your employees openly, honestly, and often Culture-A positive corporate culture results in happy employees who want to come to work every morning. Not only that, but the better the culture, the more profitable the company

3. Rewards and recognition- All programs like company “points” or thank-you cards. A well-defined recognition and reward system allows employers to effectively differentiate between good and poor performers and tie recognition and rewards directly to the behavior that matters for the success of the organization. 

4. Professional and personal growth- 

The opportunity to develop new skills and capabilities is critically important to ambitious employees. Most employee development occurs on the job in the form of new projects or responsibilities, but could also include regional conferences, new reading materials, or certification courses. Keep your employees engaged by finding out how they’d like to stretch and giving them appropriate opportunities for growth in that direction.

5. Accountability and performance- Everyone wants to be part of a winning team. People who perform well feel good about themselves —and where they work. But like any team, they need coaches who can provide honest feedback. Immediate praise reinforces desired behaviors, and timely criticism can help avert future problems before they snowball.

6. Vision and value- Engaged employees understand the big picture and how they fit into it. A clearly communicated vision and statement of core values give employees something to rally around. If employees feel like a part of something bigger than themselves, they are much more likely to go above and beyond to contribute to that greater purpose.

7. Corporate and social responsibility- Employee engagement levels are twice as high among employees who say they are proud of the contributions their organization has made to the community. Successful companies tend to be deeply connected with their communities, committed to social outreach, and they encourage employees to participate in worthy causes that make the world a better place.

Five most common employee relations issues as follows,

As a business owner or HR manager in the organization must know that maintain a good and strong employee relationship each other. That is very important to the company become a success.

• ·         Conflict management           
• ·         Hour and wages issues
• ·         Adequate safety in the work place
• ·         Annual leave disputes
• ·         Time keeping and attendance issues

References:-

https://www.achievers.com/blog/8-elements-employee-engagement/

https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-employee-relations-definition-lesson-quiz.html

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1468-2338.00216

A Learning Organization is a company that encourages the learning of its individuals and continuously transforms itself.

There is a huge number of definitions of a learning organization, Senge expressed in a meet that a learning organization may be a group of individuals working together collectively to upgrade their capacities to form comes about they truly care about. Senge popularized the concept of the learning organization through his book The Fifth Teach and he proposed the taking after five characteristics,

Senge’s five disciplines of learning organizations or Senge’s learning organization describes how to oversee the victory and improvement of an organization and how workers grant the additional mile that goes past the desires of the company.

Peter Senge's five disciplines of Learning Organization as follows,

Figure. 1

1. Systems Thinking -

 Instead of focusing on individual issues, system thinking reflects the observational process of an entire system. Managers have to understand that every action and consequence is correlated with another.

2. Shared Vision –

The development in a shared vision is most important to motivate the employees to the learning, the shared vision is often to succeed against a competitor The effect of sharing the same vision is that employees do tasks because they want to do so instead of they are told to do so.as a result, the shared vision encourages the members to share their own experience and options thus enhance the effects of organizational learning.

3. Mental Model –

According to Peter Senge, the employees must identify the values of the company and what the business is all about. Individual mental models depict what individuals can or cannot identify.

4. Personal Mastery –

Personal mastery occurs when an individual has a clear vision of a goal, combined with an accurate perception of reality. According to Peter Senge, we should train our subconscious mind because it can handle more complex problems quicker than what our consciousness can. When people believe in their own powerlessness, it will hold them back from realizing their vision. For this reason, we should train the subconscious mind to tackle the stress and problems in reality.

5. Team Learning-

To accomplish excellent functional team dynamics, team-learning is a primary importance. It is the discipline by which personal mastery and shared vision are brought together.

Benefits of Learning organization –

One of the most benefits of being a learning organization offers may be a competitive advantage. This competitive advantage can be established on distinctive methodologies, which can be obtained through organizational learning. One way of picking up a competitive advantage is key adaptability.

·         Maintaining levels of innovation and remaining competitive

·         Improved efficiency

·         Having the knowledge to better link resources to customer needs

·         Improving quality of outputs at all levels

·         Improving corporate image by becoming more people-oriented

·         Increasing the pace of change within the organization

·         Strengthening sense of community in the organization

·         Improving long term decision making

·         Improving knowledge sharing

There are three steps managers can promote their organizational learning,

1. Create Knowledge -

They can do this by conducting surveys, performing market analyses, networking with colleagues in their industry and studying competitors.

2. Retain the knowledge –

Many companies achieve this goal by using an intranet. 

3. Transfer the knowledge (knowledge sharing) –

The knowledge must be transferred out of the individual community and into the organizational community as a whole. Using training methods, written articles share online.

References :-

https://www.toolshero.com/management/five-disciplines-learning-organizations/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_organization  

https://www.zenefits.com/workest/what-is-organizational-learning/