Developing and Managing effective teams and Workplace Diversity

Name:

Course:

Presented to:

Date:

Introduction

Development and management of effective teams refer to managerial activities aimed at empowering employees put together in groups so that they improve their performance and steer organization to meet its set objectives. According to the management theory, teamwork is a key component of any process in an organization as it affects the level of productivity and quality of products and services delivered by workers (Reddy, 2004, p. 121). In turn, this influences the level of customer satisfaction and overall reputation of an organization. Effective teams produce more work in less time. This enables an organization to alleviate costs incurred due to inefficiencies, to make more sales and to realize higher profits. In other words, individuals within an organization rely upon one another to ensure that they produce the desired volume of quality products or/and services which meet or exceed customer expectations (Reddy, 2004, p. 121). Thus, development and management of effective teams can steer an organization to attain competitive advantage over time.

Another critical issue that affects organizational effectiveness is diversity management. This refers to bringing together people of different ages, religions, races and/or ethnic diversity together into a cohesive and productive unit (Werner & DeSimone, 2009, p. 502). The ability to manage and utilize diverse workforce affects an organization’s performance. Thus, diversity management should be made part every organization’s culture. This paper examines management theory on the concepts of creation and management of effective teams and diversity management within organizations. The paper also examines how well Toyota Australia has utilized these concepts, a company that I am yearning to work for. Toyota Australia is the Australia’s branch of Toyota Motors Company, a leading multinational automobile manufacturer in the world with headquarters in Japan. This corporation has achieved numerous goals throughout its history and in fact, its cars have in many cases been rated the most valuable in the world (Toyota, 2012). One of the sources of this success is the corporation’s effectiveness in developing and managing work teams and its dynamic culture that embraces cultural diversity.

Development and management of effective teams

As Daft (2007, p. 47), explains, the effectiveness of organizational teams is dependent upon an organization’s effectiveness in the process of recruiting and managing human resources. In order to build an effective team, an organizations should interact with external labour environment so as to attract, select, recruit, retain and use workers with the required knowledge, abilities and skills for executing its strategic business plan. Workplace teams should be carefully planned and put together. For instance, four leaders should not be put together in the same team. Instead, people with different competencies should be put together in order to get the most out of them. For instance, a leader can be put together with a reporter, individuals with technical expertise and others who follow directions. Goals and directions should be communicated well to organizational teams to assist them in overcoming challenges that may arise. The set goals have to be specific, realistic and measurable (Daft, 2007, p. 47).

Organizational teams must be nurtured and given enough time to develop and become effective. After pairing off individuals whose skills and abilities best complement each other with regard to organizational objectives, they should be given some space to know each other and to develop effective ways of operating (Daft, 2007, p. 48). Teams should also given the necessary resources to enable them achieve the set objectives within the required or reasonable time. They should also be given enough time to complete the allocated tasks.

Team members should be allowed and encouraged to participate in decision making process by expressing their views and showing their intellectual abilities (Holman et al, p. 104). They can arrange regular meetings to discuss various challenges and problems affecting their work and find solutions to them. They should be allowed and encouraged to make surveys and collect data regarding quality trend and other issues related to organizational products and services. Where possible, organizations should train individuals on statistical control methods, team building and problem solving. This will help to push decision-making from management to employees, who better understand the job they do and hence, make better recommendations (Daft & Lane, 2009, p. 258). Additionally, workers in teams should be taught that they are expected to initiate changes in their own jobs. The notion behind this is that improving quality a little bit at a time, throughout, has a high probability for success. Innovations can be initiated in a simple manner and then employees build on their success on this continuous process.

Further, management should motivate teams by instituting an effective reward system. Organizations should provide rewards to teams in recognition of good performance (Holman et al, p. 104). Examples of rewards and benefits are bonuses, special assignments, office fixtures, time off, awards, promotions and verbal praise. Basically, employees in a team feel good and “naturally high” after completing a job and delivering high quality outcome. They feel that they are more competent, have achieved greater development jointly and at personal levels and that they have greater self control over their work (Holman et al, p. 104). An effective reward system has to satisfy the basic needs of all team members, needs to be distributed fairly and equitably and need to be comparable or better than those given by other, competitive organizations in the same area.

According to Madura (2006, p. 664), the process of enhancing effectiveness of organizational teams is highly dependent upon continuous and effective communication. Communication in an organization should effectively move via upward, horizontal and downward channels. Downwards communication is the transfer of messages, information and ideas from the management to the team members in an organization. The opposite of this is upward communication. Horizontal channel involves communication between colleagues or workers in a team (2006, p. 664). Communication from the management should cover all team members and should be open, encouraging and honest. This will help to encourage teams to embrace and support organizational goals.

Toyota Australia

Toyota Australia management has been engaging in various activities that help in developing and managing work teams and in making them effective. To start with, human resource managers recruit workers with the right skills and competencies required for the tasks undertaken within the company (Toyota, 2012). They take their employees through constant training to enable them to remain competitive and to be productive. In addition, they embrace activities which aim at retaining key competencies through increasing employee’s job satisfaction, reducing workload and turnover rates. However, Woscombe (2011) noted that there is tendency for Toyota Australia’s managers to recruit persons with the same traits as themselves. This is a drawback for such an organization’s where innovation is a key factor to long-term success.

Organizational teams in Toyota Australia comprise of 4 to 23 members depending on the task at hand, who have different competencies that complement each other. These groups are allocated enough resources and time to complete the allocated tasks and in accordance to the goals of the organization which are communicated to them effectively. According to Toyota (2012), the members of different groups or teams are allowed to make suggestions for improvement which are then incorporated management’s decision-making process. Their suggestions are included in the planning processes for quality and schedules. According to Toyota (2012), these groups are encouraged to find solutions for challenges and problems that they face while working.

There are several communication methods established within the organization by which workers and management share news, ideas, feelings and opinions. Some of the methods used include face-to-face communication, use of news-letter, cell-phone, telephone, memo, notice board, and instant messaging. These tools are used regularly and thus, they form part of the organizational rituals (Toyota Australia, 2011). However, communication and feedback standards within this organization are not very effective mainly due to its bureaucratic arrangement and the set of rules under which the workers operate.

According to Toyota (2012), teams’ members are provided with full information regarding the impact of any new system or technology introduced in the organization. Organizational teams are also given autonomy, encouragement, trust and authority to accomplish tasks. To achieve this, the organization’s management sheds bureaucratic ideas by encouraging teams to pursue new ideas in relation to organizational objectives and gives them authority to promote their ideas. This helps to unshackle the employees and make change to be part of their responsibility especially during the implementation of new systems. Toyota Australia has established promotion and rewards and benefits programs in order to motivate employees. The rewards and benefits provided include discounted vehicles and spare parts, overseas career development, parental leave, employee assistance program, learning and development program and superannuation (Toyota, 2012). This company needs to work harder in motivating teams by providing them with additional incentives in order to ensure employee turnover rate is low.

Managing workplace diversity

Workplace diversity has numerous benefits and hence, should be promoted in all organizations. To start with, all human resource policies from promotions to recruitment should be based on employee performance. These policies should not be influenced by ethnic background, religion or race (Werner & DeSimone, 2009, p. 514). They should also be based on strong policies of equality. During recruitment, qualifications of candidates should be rated based on their skills, knowledge and experience and not any other external influences. Recruitment committee should be diversified based on length of services, unit affiliation, job classification and variety of life experiences. This will ensure that the members represent different perspectives and remove biases from the selection process. This will ensure that a diverse workforce that will be beneficial to an organization is recruited (Werner & DeSimone, 2009, p. 514).

Diversity should also be encouraged when developing teams and other groups within the organization. Managers should ensure that teams are comprised of individuals with diverse qualifications. Also, complaints of discrimination or favouritism should be treated seriously (Barak, 2010, p. 37). Workers should be encouraged to report instances of discrimination or harassment. Managers should come up with a definitive process for investigating and dealing with such issues. Additionally, it is essential to take all staff members through training on the benefits of diversity. Discussions should be encouraged during training sessions on how workplace diversity should be managed at organizational and at personal levels.

Toyota Australia

According to Woscombe (2011), Toyota Australia has always declared itself as committed to equal opportunities and has always recognized diversity as an important aspect of the personnel management. Diversity is reflected in the organization’s famous phrase contained in TMC’s advertisements that says “respect for people and continuous improvement” (Toyota, 2013). Toyota Australia also strives to ensure that their customers and business partners are represented in the workforce. However, the company activities involve certain levels of collectivism, hence raising questions regarding its diversity policy. They often try to match customer diversity to the services offered meaning that selections in the services department are influenced by ethnic differences of the consumers. According to Woscombe (2011), this company benefits from matching sales persons to demographic attributes of consumers since consumers tend to trust people with similar cultural attributes more. The same reason has also driven this organization to create racist advertisements targeting different segments of consumers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the effectiveness of the processes of developing and managing teams influences their effectiveness and the kinds of benefits to be derived from these teams. The success of the process of team development is dependent upon effectiveness of the hiring process, how careful managers are in planning teams, how well organizational goals are communicated to teams and the amount of time and resources available for the reams to accomplish the allocated tasks. Effective management of the teams involves allowing teams’ members to express their intellectual capacities, to participate in decision-making process, to find solutions for challenges, to provide motivational incentives to teams and members and tom ensure that communications and feedback systems and standards are effective in all directions. Toyota Australia management has largely adhered to these requirements, though a few issues have been identified related to communication, motivation and recruitment. Effective management of workplace diversity requires an organization to treat all people equally from hiring to promotion, without giving in to religious, racial or ethnic influences. Though Toyota Australia claims to promote diversity, their policy that focuses on matching employees with demographic attributes of consumers erodes diversity values.

Recommendation

This report has identified various issues related to Toyota Australia’s strategies for developing and managing effective teams. The success of this organization in the long-term is driven by such issues as innovation, flexibility and creativity which may not be present in individuals with the same characteristics as those already within the organization. Therefore, managers should also recruit individuals with different characteristics from themselves or from those already in the organization. Secondly, Toyota Australia should revise its communication and feedback standards to make it more effective. This will also help to alleviate issues related to quality of their products that have emerged in the recent past. There is also need to for this company to establish more rewards and benefits to motivate their employees in order to maintain high level of productivity and low level of employee turnover. Finally, this company should try as much as possible to address diversity related issues as it continues to pursue its profit-oriented objectives.

References

Barak, M. E. M. (2010), Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace. Sage

publications, California

Daft, R. L. (2007), Management. Cengage Learning, New York

Daft, R. L & Lane, P. (2009), Management. Cengage Learning, New York

Holman, D., Wall, T. D., Clegg, C. W., Sparrow, P. & Howard, A. (2005), The Essentials of the

New Workplace: A Guide to the Human Impact of Modern Working Practices. John Wiley & Sons, New York

Madura, J. (2006), Introduction to Business, Cengage Learning, New York

Reddy, R. J., (2004), Management Process, APH Publishing, New Delhi

Toyota Australia, (2011), “Engaging with Toyota Australia employees. Employee Satisfaction

Survey,” Viewed April 25, 2013. HYPERLINK “http://www.toyota.com.au/toyota/sustainability/employees/working-at-toyota-australia” http://www.toyota.com.au/toyota/sustainability/employees/working-at-toyota-australia

Toyota (2012),”Relations with employees” Viewed April 25, 2013,

http://www.toyotaglobal.com/sustainability/csr_initiatives/stakeholders/employees/index2.html

Toyota (2013) ‘Diversity and inclusion turns the key.’ Viewed April 25, 2013,

http://www.toyota.com/about/diversity/

Werner,J. M. & DeSimone, R. L. (2009), Human resources development. Cengage Learning,

New York

Woscombe, J. (2011), “Toyota: Driving Diversity,’ Viewed April 25, 2013,

HYPERLINK “http://fpd.gsfc.nasa.gov/diversity/Toyota_Driving_Diversity.pdf” http://fpd.gsfc.nasa.gov/diversity/Toyota_Driving_Diversity.pdf