Hr Department and Structure

Supervisory Skills

With morale and performance diminishing at Toyota's quality control department, a change in the way things are done is crucial. It is particularly important for the department to reorganize its structure, work more closely with other departments within the organization, train its personnel, and have effective directors for each of the seven divisions within the department. This will be important for the achievement of both short and long-term objectives.

The quality control department plays an integral role within an organization. It ensures the organization constantly delivers products that meet the quality expectations of the market. Indeed, without an effective quality control department, the organization may be subject to severe consequences such as customer dissatisfaction, revenue losses, and even legal claims. An effective quality control department requires proper organization, qualified personnel, effective leadership, as well as effective collaboration between the divisions involved and sufficient support from other departments within the organization. This paper addresses these issues with reference to Toyota, whose quality control department requires major improvements.

Short-Term and Long-Term Goals

At Toyota, the quality control department has been experiencing challenges in the recent past in large part due to ineffective leadership within the department. Due to poor leadership, morale has been diminishing and performance has not been impressive. These challenges threaten to water down the tremendous achievements the organization has made over the years in terms of quality improvement. In light of these challenges, the department seeks to achieve the following in the next three years.

1. Ensure 100% or near 100% compliance with industry standards and specifications

2. Reduce customer complaints and increase customer satisfaction by 40%

3. Increase employee performance by 40%

In the short-term (1 year), the department seeks to:

1. Revise quality control procedures and increase the frequency of product inspection

2. Reduce defect rate by 20%

3. Increase product safety by 20%

4. Increase employee satisfaction by 20%

Reorganization

To achieve the above objectives, reorganization will be important. Presently, the department is characterized by seven divisions -- drive systems (including brakes, axles, and wheels), electrical systems, safety systems, body and chasis, material, manufacturing equipment, and facilities. A major problem with the current structure is a lot of hierarchy and bureaucracy, with most processes involving unnecessarily lengthy procedures before the final decision is made. This has indeed been one of the major causes of diminishing morale and performance within the department. A flatter, more decentralised structure is required if the department is to enhance its performance. While still working together, different divisions should be allowed greater autonomy to make decisions and undertake their processes. A more decentralised structure will enhance decision making as well as collaboration between the seven divisions.

Assistance from Other Departments

Without a doubt, assistance from other departments will be needed for the quality control department to achieve its objectives. Indeed, in any organization, no department operates as an island -- different departments work together as interrelated elements of a system (Kanovska & Tomaskova, 2016). The quality control department will particularly require assistance from the research and development (R&D), production, procurement, human resource (HR), and finance departments. The R&D, production, and procurement departments will support the quality control department by ensuring adherence to the procedures laid down for product design, materials acquisition, and engineering. The HR department has an important role to play in terms of equipping the department with qualified personnel and enhancing their skills and knowledge. These activities cannot be successfully implemented without financial resources, hence the need for adequate support from the finance department.

Personnel Training

As mentioned earlier, one of the departments that will be important in supporting the quality control department in achieving its goals and objectives is the HR department. The role of the HR will particularly relate to personnel training. The quality control department cannot successfully achieve its objectives without qualified and competent personnel. The HR department must, therefore, design and implement rigorous training programs for enhancing quality control personnel's skills and knowledge. They should be equipped with more comprehensive and up-to-date training on product inspection procedures as well as quality management concepts such as total quality management (TQM), six sigma, and statistical quality control (SQC).

Challenges

The above initiative presents a moment of change for the quality control department. In other words, the department has to change the way it does things. On this premise, challenges are likely to be encountered due to the inherent nature of change. Change often raises fear and anxiety, making implementation quite difficult (Van Dijk & Van Dick, 2009). In this case, reorganizing the department may face a great deal of internal resistance. Some individuals (especially at the director and managerial level) may be hesitant to let go of the status quo, preferring to stay with the current structure. In addition, as the change initiative requires support from other departments within the organization, collaboration difficulties across departments may be experienced. More importantly, the initiative may receive little or no support from the top management. If not properly addressed, these challenges can significantly hinder the achievement of the identified objectives.