Reference no: EM133044938

OKI was founded in 1881 and is engaged in a variety of businesses with sites in Asia, US, and Europe. OKI (UK) Ltd at Cumbernauld is part of Oki Data Communications and was set up in 1987 it is the oldest Oki printer factory in the UK. It manufactures and supplies dot matrix printers, page printers and fax machines. Oki Data Communications is an independent company: on the board are British, American, and Japanese nationalities. The three main geographical areas (i.e., Japan, US, and Europe) have distinct HRM policies and have little to do with each other. In the UK, there is a senior director who is responsible for HR and corporate affairs. For the first few years they had a Japanese MD on site who referred most things back to Japan.

Management practices

The company's policy can be summed up thus: Management manages the individual; employee manages his or her own job. Supervisors have very different roles in Oki Japan compared to Oki UK. In Japan leaders are expected to maintain continuity throughout the whole process-they develop Part of the process and are involved in it and keep adding knowledge elements to it. In the UK, as one manager puts it, we are taught a more status approach, when you come into industry as a graduate engineer you have a certain status; when you become a proper engineer after 18 months or so your status changes and you don't have to do things you did as a graduate engineer. When you become a senior engineer , you don't do the things you did when you were a graduate.

In the early days the UK site lost several engineers because they (Japanese managers) didn't give them the status they expected; they adopted a more Japanese approach. People on the shop floor in Japan call out engineers when they have a problem. In the UK companies, the engineers have a status-they tell employees when and how things are made, when they will arrive.

For many years, in management meetings in the UK Company a Japanese manager would always stand up and describe a problem, for example an engineering problem. He would be queried and if he did not know the answer, he would call up the actual operator to the meeting who had been working on the machine which was having problems. It took the site a long time to get the message the Japanese were trying to pass on: "A manager is not just a reporter of the problem; he has got to be part of the solution and if he stands up and only becomes a reporter that's all he'll ever be. So, he's got to go down there and touch that machine and feel what the problem is. "

There is emphasis on empowerment, employees are encouraged to get involved in decisions and are given power to do so. The company has MAD (Make a Difference) suggestion schemes-with rewards for best suggestions. Everyone gets a personal and individually written response to their suggestion, e.g., 'thanks, but we have thought of that, or 'thanks yes, it's a great idea, etc.

Some HRM functions

Recruitment

A lot of direct recruitment is done through Manpower, a recruitment agency. They advertise in the local press, agencies and sometimes assessment centre type organizations for more senior positions. The tools they use are interviewing and testing (verbal, numerical and personality). Nearly all operators come in as temporary staff, through Manpower agency. Aside from the actual job requirements, personality is important-to make sure they fit into the company, for example sense of humor, enthusiasm, contribution, flexibility.

Training and Development

Up to 30% of staff are now currently engaged in higher education, in most cases helped and supported by the Company. There are a lot of training and development opportunities. Technical training includes apprentices in line with the Government's Modern apprentice scheme. The company has so far put 10 technicians through Train the Trainer courses to pass on their skills effectively to the apprentices. The company is considering developing vocational qualification frameworks for operators to. Someone from manufacturing is studying information systems because they have skills in this area and a post may arise in the future, some are reading for higher national Certificates in Electronics.

The company pays for training and educational outside as well as those organized in house. A lot of operators receive on the job training as well, there are also career development opportunities, and the culture and philosophy promote shared learning. The company has strong links with a local college; they have lectures that come on site to run the courses in the evenings. Training needs assessment is conducted through appraisals and discussions with department managers every 6-12 months. When individuals apply to go on training, objectives are formulated and then improvements are identified against targets after training is completed. This is then compiled into reports on general improvements for each individual and is fed back to the managers.

Performance management

Everyone gets an appraisal once a year.

Managers involve the individual in all stages of the process, such as setting objectives and the steps to be taken to achieve them. Appraisal is usually conducted by the team leader, offline and on a one-to-one basis. The assessment outcome affects employees Salary and promotion. The company has a list of competencies to assess individuals on for promotion. Unlike the Japanese parent company, length of service has little influence on promotion. In Japan, there would be little opportunity for employees to jump ahead of their older colleagues in the promotional ladder. In the UK there are real opportunities to do just that-career progression is based on performance and not on seniority.

Questions:

Q1. What is the main difference between a British supervisor and a Japanese team leader? How does a Japanese manager's approach to dealing with problems differ from a that a British Manager?

Q2. How does the company assess employees' training needs and in what forms do they receive training?