University of South Australia

University of South Australia LIBRARY www.library.unisa.edu.au Electronic reading COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Act 1968 Notice for paragraph 135ZXA (a) of the Copyright Act 1968 WARNING This material has been reproduced and communicated to you by or on behalf of University of South Australia pursuant to Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968 (the Act). The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further reproduction or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Do not remove this notice Book extract Book title International human resource management: a multinational company perspective. Book author Tayeb, Monir H. Citation details Part 2, Chapter 7, pages 148-150 Extract title Transfer of knowledge in OKi – training and development. Extract author Tayeb, Monir H. Publication details Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2005. Edition ISBN 0199258090 Total pgs in book xv, 242 pages ; and cross-country transfer of knowledge. The discussion was then focused on the transfer of HRM policies and practices within multinational companies. It was argued that the success or failure of such transfers to a large extent depends on the socio-cultural make-up of the recipients on the one hand, and the cultural embeddedness of the transferred practices on the other. The farther apart the 'exporter' and 'importer' of HRM practices are from one another (large psychic distance) the more difficult it would be to transfer such practices from one to the other. It was however argued that employee training could facilitate such transfers, once the usefulness of certain foreign practices are established. !II REVISION QUESTIONS 1. What is organisation knowledge and where does it come from? 2. Why should companies be concerned about their knowledge base and how can they create it and improve its quality? 3. What are the major impediments to transfer of management know-how across nations? 4. How would you go about importing and implementing foreign best practices to your company if you were in charge of such matters? Case study: Transfer of knowledge in OKi-training and development Oki was founded in 1881, and was established as a company in 1949. It has 24,000 employees worldwide, with sites in Japan, Thailand, US and Europe. Oki (UK) Ltd at Cumbernauld, Scotland, manufactures and supplies all the Oki dot matrix printers for the European markets and some of the corporation's page printers and fax machines. It is recognised as one of the most cost-effective manufacturing plants of its kind, achieving some of the highest quality levels within the international electronics industry. The Scottish subsidiary which employs 3,000 people opened in 1987 and is the oldest Oki printer factory in the UK. Since then it has won a number of UK and Scotland national awards, including 'sharing good practice in management' in 1994 and 'Scottish national training award' in 1995. Training strategies and policies Employee training is very much a part of the overall company strategy and various approaches and methods are used to implement a comprehensive training programme. 'We start from a very high level strategy: where are the visions, the thrusts and what are the deliverables. We filter that down into what we should be doing. That's typically how you develop a training plan.' Training and development policies are driven by the Scottish site. In the early days they were driven by Japan but this has changed completely. The site's annual training budget is £280,000 (excluding trainer salaries). KNOWl.El)GE TRANSFER WITHIN A Ml.ll.TINATIONAI. COMPANY 149 Training new recruits Off-line training is booked for all new employees for 5 days (induction). No matter what position they are recruited for, all the new recruits go through the same induction course. The first objective is to put them at ease by using icebreakers, such as company presentation, including cultural aspects and activities of the site; they watch a video on the company and the Scottish site made by-the BBC. Quality issues are then introduced. The induction course is very similar to that of the parent company in Japan. The process of induction is based on teamwork. They have changed and modified the induction as a result of invited feedback from new employees who have been through the course. Following the induction course, the next few days are spent on on-the-job training. New assembly employees are asked to strip down a product and reconstruct it from scratch. The trainer would explain all the components. In the configuration section of the shop-floor, they are given a ready made product and are asked to configure it for a specific country. Training programmes In 1994, 4,500 man-days were spent in 'off the job' training. Up to 30 per cent of staff are 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 Apprenticeship scheme (7 apprentices in total). They have put 10 technicians through 'Train the Trainer' courses to pass on their skills effectively to the apprentices. They will then train up these technicians to achieve D32 and D33 (higher level qualifications). Other managers have these qualifications too. The site is considering developing Scottish Vocational Qualification frameworks for operators as well. Someone from the manufacturing department is studying Information Systems because they have skills in this area and a post may arise in the future, others are doing courses to get Higher National Certificate in Electronics. The company pays for it all. 'You pay it back if you fail the course'-which serves as a good incentive. one technician interviewed has been doing college courses with Oki for the past 6 years. A lot of operators have on-the-job training. The site has developed competencies for jobs and have a training matrix e.g. for technicians there are 3 posts: technical operator, technician, training technician-each is graded on a scale of 0-3. 3 is fully competent and can train others. They then developed a two-week training course, at the cost of £30,000, so that everyone has the same skill level. The next stage is to individualise the training programme. The company has experienced no problems in imparting knowledge to subordinates. There are career development opportunities, and the culture and philosophy promote shared learning. Team leaders can go on personal development training programmes-the Leading Edge project. This involves team leaders and managers (middle to senior management staff) going on an 'outward bound' course-identifying their strengths and weaknesses. They have to make all their own meals etc. This is a 4-5 day programme and the outcome is a development plan. Individuals also have to manage a project in the community, e.g. building a garden for a school, developing disabled facilities for charities. In year 2000 they developed and implemented a school millennium project for 10 year olds. It created a huge amount of pride. The project lasted for about six months. About 30 people have been through the Leading Edge programme over the last 3-4 years. The company has strong links with a local college-Coatbridge College. They have lecturers who come on site to run the courses in the evenings from 5.30pm to about 7.30pm. It costs a little more but it means that employees can finish the course a little earlier than if they ended their shift, drove to the college then travelled back home afterwards. The courses can also be more tailored to Oki. There is a good take-up of courses every year. Generally the local external environment has been very supportive towards Oki's training and developmentas illustrated by the adaptation of some of their specialist courses to Oki's needs. A training needs audit is conducted through appraisals and discussions with department managers every 6-12 months. In addition, when individuals apply to go on training objectives are formulated and then improvements are identified against targets after training is completed. This is then followed up with a training evaluation form which asks how far the objectives have been met and what they are actually doing that is different now. This information is then compiled into reports on general improvements for each individual, and fed back to the managers. Training for job flexibility The company has a flexibility programme in place in many areas; it identifies what training employees require. They spend a lot of money on training but do not take more than 25 per cent of employees off-line training at any one time. The ultimate objective is to get all operators on each shop-floor station trained in every job, every skill and every department; they are also sent over to Japan if necessary. Employees on their part want their job to be varied and flexible--'-'it's boring to do the same job every day'. They want the flexibility as much as the organisation does. If an employee wishes to develop their skills for their present or future role the opportunities are available. Managers sometimes face resistance when someone is moved to a new position: 'They will have made friends on the old line, and it's nerve racking learning a new job. But employees realise in some cases they have to move because there is no longer a job for them in their current role.' Company knowledge base The knowledge base of Japanese managers is much wider compared to the Scots. In Japan (HQ) every January the company announces employees' career promotions or moves. It is common for one manager to go from one department to a completely different function. Over time this creates an incredible knowledge of customers, products, processes from a wide perspective; they quite easily cross the boundaries between suppliers and customers. In Scotland this is not the case. Here they allocate the right number of people to each department and there are no buffers. Promotions are functionally driven, university courses and schools too are geared towards functional specialisation. 'If you ask employees in Japan [HQ] what they do, they say "I work for Oki"; in the Scottish site they would say "I am an engineer".'