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ADWC BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
________________________________________________________________________
BUS 4373: Strategic Human Resources Management
Assessment 1 – REFLECTION PAPER
201610
Submission Date:
Thursday 22nd September, 2016
Assessment to be submitted on BB Learn using Safe Assign.
L. O.s Covered by this Assessment:
LO 1- Analyze the human resource management
challenges facing businesses from a strategic
Perspective.
% of Final Grade:
15%
Total Marks Available:
100
Student name:
Students’ ID:
________________________________________
Section #:
________________________________________
HCT Academic Honesty Policy
Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated within the HCT. Academic dishonesty includes
cheating, plagiarism (copying) or any other attempt to gain an academic advantage in a
dishonest or unfair manner. Breaches of the Academic honesty policy will result in dismissal
from HCT.
Page 1 of 5
You are required to write a reflection paper based on the Sloan Management Review article
referring to KYOCERA Company. Your reflection paper should follow Times New Roman, 12
font size, 1.50-line space, be minimum 3 pages long (minimum), and should dig deeply into
this experience to reflect on your learning. It should connect to academic concepts and
critically examine your own development through this learning.
Scope of Reflection:
1. Identify the challenges your business will face and how it will affect your HRM
strategies.
2. Design HRM strategies to address these business challenges. Scan the related
external and internal environment.
Steps in Writing a Reflection Paper:
Reflection papers will allow you the chance to reinforce what you have learned through
coursework, lectures and personal experience. Although reflection paper focus on your
personal feelings and experiences, they often require multiple sources and frequent use of
concrete examples.
Step 1
Briefly discuss four major HRM challenges the company is dealing with. Detail factual
information from the case. (4 X 5 marks=20 marks).
Step 2
Pick any three of the challenges identified in the previous question and explain their
importance for the company’s goals and objectives. Detail factual information from the case
where is needed. (3 X 5 marks=15 marks).
Step 3
a) Based on the Configuration Component existing in the graph of the Contextual
based HR theory (Paauwee , 2004) identify four professional characteristics of
KYOCERA’s employees’ with regard to organizational culture and discuss their
importance for the company (4 X 5 marks=20 marks).
b) Explain why the HR department has to support the necessity of recruiting employees
that fit to the organization (5 marks).
Page 2 of 5
Step 4
Having in mind KYOCERA’s case please identify and analyze 2 factors from the
Configuration and 2 factors from the HR strategy and practices structural components that
are included in the SIX COMPONENT MODEL. Discuss extensively how each of the factors
you have identified can impact on the delivery of KYOCERA’s strategic goals. (4 X 5
marks=20 marks).
Step 5
Based on the graph of the Contextually Based Theory (Paauwe, 2004) create the groups of
factors presented in the article for the Competitive Mechanisms and the Institutional
Mechanisms. Discuss the impact these two groups could have on KYOCERA’s strategic HRM
choices. Based on your experience and theoretical material presented in class recommend
two (2) possible HR strategies/ways that can help the company to deal with these groups of
mechanisms (2 X10=20 marks).
Source: Adler. R.W., & Hiromoto, T. (2012). Amoeba management: Lessons from Japan’s
Kyocera. Sloan Management Review, 54(1), 83-89.
Amoeba Management: Lessons from Japan’s Kyocera
Founded in 1959 as Kyoto Ceramic Co. Ltd., Kyocera, with headquarters in Kyoto, Japan, produces a
range of industrial ceramics, semiconductor components, electronics devices and information and
telecommunications equipment. In the year ending March 31, 2012, it had revenues of $14.5 billion
and employed more than 70,000 people globally. The company reported net income of $1 billion for
its fiscal year ending in March 2012 — which represented Kyocera’s 53rd consecutive year of
profitability.
Unlike other successful electronics manufacturers, Kyocera is structured as a collection of small,
customer- focused business units. Kyocera founder Kazuo Inamori developed the amoeba
management system to make it easier for ordinary employees without operations or finance
backgrounds to see how they can contribute to the success of the business. He decided that the best
way to operate the company was to encourage people to base management decisions on whether
they were the “right thing to do as a human being.”
Page 3 of 5
While serving different sets of customers, the amoebas share a common set of strategic goals and
objectives: a commitment to price, quality, timely delivery and extending the corporate values of
fairness, integrity, diligence and philanthropy to employees. Each unit is expected to operate
independently and to develop its own ways of working with other amoebas to achieve profitable
growth. Both the culture and the incentives are designed to support this objective.
Like other decentralized management systems, amoeba management is designed to increase market
agility, customer service and employee empowerment. But it is also supposed to reinforce
performance management processes such as human resources selection and training, accounting
and organizational development to promote positive performance. Amoeba management is further
intended to promote the successful implementation of the organization’s strategy, at the overall
organizational level as well as the business unit level.
The recognition that collective employee contributions are essential to Kyocera’s success seems to
be broadly accepted within the organization. The employees described amoeba management as a
“joint effort” and “management by all.” The idea is to empower Kyocera employees to act like
independent owners and business partners with people in other parts of the company. Formal daily
group meetings are attended by all employees concerned, including research and development and
quality assurance.
Kyocera has always operated in a dynamic industry environment, with extremely fast-changing
technologies and brief product life cycles. As the semiconductor industry has moved into smaller,
more powerful products, Kyocera has been under ongoing pressure to reduce the size of its
components as well. At the same time, the company has faced stiff competition in every market
segment it competes in, requiring it to constantly revisit the issues of price, quality and time to
delivery.
Kyocera’s amoeba management system depends heavily on strong leadership and effective
implementation. Although the company has many employees who are highly skilled from a technical
and product standpoint, there is a steady demand for people who can assume general management
responsibilities for new amoebas. Kyocera addresses this need in two ways. First, managers and
employees receive substantial training in Inamori’s management philosophy when they first join the
company and subsequently at the daily amoeba meetings, when managers will often read passages
from Inamori’s books and discuss their implications for the amoeba’s work. Second, Kyocera actively
promotes its corporate values, which provide a “decision-making compass.” The company’s mission
statement says the goal is “to provide opportunities for the material and intellectual growth of all
employees, and through our joint effort, contribute to the advancement of society and mankind.”
Kyocera’s organizational culture is greatly influenced by Japanese culture, particularly its emphasis
on high collectivity and group loyalty. In Japan, as compared to the US, employees have traditionally
been more willing to put the needs of their group ahead of their own personal needs. This collective
orientation has promoted organizational integration; rather than working just for themselves,
amoebas work for the greater good of the company. Kyocera’s culture serves as the primary
mechanism for making sure that the interests of the organization come first. In Japanese society,
work is viewed less as something people need to do to acquire time for leisure than as something of
value in and of itself.
As one manager explains, Kyocera’s employee selection process screens for “humility” and “work
ethic.” Part of the screening comes from current employees recommending individuals they are
familiar with and who they believe would fit well with the company. Further screening occurs during
Page 4 of 5
the formal interview process, when prospective employees are asked questions to gauge their
attitudes.
Although Kyocera’s amoeba management system contributes in tangible and intangible ways to the
company’s success, its continued importance faces three notable challenges: 1) the waning
(reducing) influence of the owner Kazuo Inamori as a source of inspiration; 2) the possibility of
employee burnout; and 3) the difficulty of attracting and retaining new employees who enjoy the
high level of challenge that Kyocera jobs require.
Inamori’s Waning Influence- Kazuo Inamori, now 80 years old, is no longer active in Kyocera’s
management and has significantly scaled back his involvement in the company. At some point his
influence will fade, and it is probable that future generations of employees will lack the historical
context to fully appreciate the challenges he faced and the successes he achieved. Since Kyocera’s
organizational culture serves as the company’s primary integrating mechanism, either the company
will need to find some other, more contemporary figure who symbolizes the company’s
entrepreneurial and collective organizational culture or develop and rely upon an altogether
different integrating mechanism to support the organizational culture.
The Potential for Burnout- Kyocera must also take steps to avoid worker burnout. Workers we
interviewed all described the work environment at Kyocera as demanding and challenging; one
employee we spoke to went so far as to call it “exhausting.” At the company’s San Diego, US facility,
employees say they work significantly longer hours than their counterparts at other companies.
Several Japanese senior managers we interviewed noted changes in how younger employees felt
about work. One manager noted that younger employees tended to have less patience for company
formalities, such as the morning assemblies in every plant, and were more involved in outside, nonwork-related interests than their older coworkers. Two senior managers openly wondered what
effect the different expectations and attitudes of these younger workers would have on their work
commitment and involvement.
The High-Challenge Factor- As the company grows, a related challenge is where Kyocera will find the
new people it needs who are able to cope with the demanding work environment and the level of
empowerment that comes with amoeba management. Some people aren’t interested in highinvolvement and high-participation work environments, characterized by “high challenge.” Many
people prefer work settings where someone else — generally, a boss — plans, assigns, monitors and
evaluates their work. Based on the interviews we conducted with Kyocera’s Japanese-based
managers, the company had a strong reputation among job seekers and was generally viewed as a
highly desirable place to work. Although Kyocera’s US San Diego plant managers also saw the
company as a desirable place to work, their descriptions suggested that prospective employees did
not give the company as high a rating. Since the success of amoeba management is positively
correlated with the availability of employees seeking high challenge, Kyocera’s ability to maintain
(or, in the case of its San Diego manufacturing plant, to enhance) its reputation as the preferred
employment destination will be critical to its ability to recruit and hire appropriate candidates.
Page 5 of 5
A
________________________________________________________________________
Strategic Human Resources Management
Assessment 1 – REFLECTION PAPER
201610
Submission Date:
Thursday 22nd September, 2016
Assessment to be submitted on BB Learn using Safe Assign.
L. O.s Covered by this Assessment:
LO 1- Analyze the human resource management
challenges facing businesses from a strategic
Perspective.
% of Final Grade:
15%
Total Marks Available:
100
Student name:
Students’ ID:
________________________________________
Section #:
________________________________________
Page 1 of 5
You are required to write a reflection paper based on the Sloan Management Review article
referring to KYOCERA Company. Your reflection paper should follow Times New Roman, 12
font size, 1.50-line space, be minimum 3 pages long (minimum), and should dig deeply into
this experience to reflect on your learning. It should connect to academic concepts and
critically examine your own development through this learning.
Scope of Reflection:
1. Identify the challenges your business will face and how it will affect your HRM
strategies.
2. Design HRM strategies to address these business challenges. Scan the related
external and internal environment.
Steps in Writing a Reflection Paper:
Reflection papers will allow you the chance to reinforce what you have learned through
coursework, lectures and personal experience. Although reflection paper focus on your
personal feelings and experiences, they often require multiple sources and frequent use of
concrete examples.
Step 1
Briefly discuss four major HRM challenges the company is dealing with. Detail factual
information from the case. (4 X 5 marks=20 marks).
Step 2
Pick any three of the challenges identified in the previous question and explain their
importance for the company’s goals and objectives. Detail factual information from the case
where is needed. (3 X 5 marks=15 marks).
Step 3
a) Based on the Configuration Component existing in the graph of the Contextual
based HR theory (Paauwee , 2004) identify four professional characteristics of
KYOCERA’s employees’ with regard to organizational culture and discuss their
importance for the company (4 X 5 marks=20 marks).
b) Explain why the HR department has to support the necessity of recruiting employees
that fit to the organization (5 marks).
Page 2 of 5
Step 4
Having in mind KYOCERA’s case please identify and analyze 2 factors from the
Configuration and 2 factors from the HR strategy and practices structural components that
are included in the SIX COMPONENT MODEL. Discuss extensively how each of the factors
you have identified can impact on the delivery of KYOCERA’s strategic goals. (4 X 5
marks=20 marks).
Step 5
Based on the graph of the Contextually Based Theory (Paauwe, 2004) create the groups of
factors presented in the article for the Competitive Mechanisms and the Institutional
Mechanisms. Discuss the impact these two groups could have on KYOCERA’s strategic HRM
choices. Based on your experience and theoretical material presented in class recommend
two (2) possible HR strategies/ways that can help the company to deal with these groups of
mechanisms (2 X10=20 marks).
Source: Adler. R.W., & Hiromoto, T. (2012). Amoeba management: Lessons from Japan’s
Kyocera. Sloan Management Review, 54(1), 83-89.
Amoeba Management: Lessons from Japan’s Kyocera
Founded in 1959 as Kyoto Ceramic Co. Ltd., Kyocera, with headquarters in Kyoto, Japan, produces a
range of industrial ceramics, semiconductor components, electronics devices and information and
telecommunications equipment. In the year ending March 31, 2012, it had revenues of $14.5 billion
and employed more than 70,000 people globally. The company reported net income of $1 billion for
its fiscal year ending in March 2012 — which represented Kyocera’s 53rd consecutive year of
profitability.
Unlike other successful electronics manufacturers, Kyocera is structured as a collection of small,
customer- focused business units. Kyocera founder Kazuo Inamori developed the amoeba
management system to make it easier for ordinary employees without operations or finance
backgrounds to see how they can contribute to the success of the business. He decided that the best
way to operate the company was to encourage people to base management decisions on whether
they were the “right thing to do as a human being.”
Page 3 of 5
While serving different sets of customers, the amoebas share a common set of strategic goals and
objectives: a commitment to price, quality, timely delivery and extending the corporate values of
fairness, integrity, diligence and philanthropy to employees. Each unit is expected to operate
independently and to develop its own ways of working with other amoebas to achieve profitable
growth. Both the culture and the incentives are designed to support this objective.
Like other decentralized management systems, amoeba management is designed to increase market
agility, customer service and employee empowerment. But it is also supposed to reinforce
performance management processes such as human resources selection and training, accounting
and organizational development to promote positive performance. Amoeba management is further
intended to promote the successful implementation of the organization’s strategy, at the overall
organizational level as well as the business unit level.
The recognition that collective employee contributions are essential to Kyocera’s success seems to
be broadly accepted within the organization. The employees described amoeba management as a
“joint effort” and “management by all.” The idea is to empower Kyocera employees to act like
independent owners and business partners with people in other parts of the company. Formal daily
group meetings are attended by all employees concerned, including research and development and
quality assurance.
Kyocera has always operated in a dynamic industry environment, with extremely fast-changing
technologies and brief product life cycles. As the semiconductor industry has moved into smaller,
more powerful products, Kyocera has been under ongoing pressure to reduce the size of its
components as well. At the same time, the company has faced stiff competition in every market
segment it competes in, requiring it to constantly revisit the issues of price, quality and time to
delivery.
Kyocera’s amoeba management system depends heavily on strong leadership and effective
implementation. Although the company has many employees who are highly skilled from a technical
and product standpoint, there is a steady demand for people who can assume general management
responsibilities for new amoebas. Kyocera addresses this need in two ways. First, managers and
employees receive substantial training in Inamori’s management philosophy when they first join the
company and subsequently at the daily amoeba meetings, when managers will often read passages
from Inamori’s books and discuss their implications for the amoeba’s work. Second, Kyocera actively
promotes its corporate values, which provide a “decision-making compass.” The company’s mission
statement says the goal is “to provide opportunities for the material and intellectual growth of all
employees, and through our joint effort, contribute to the advancement of society and mankind.”
Kyocera’s organizational culture is greatly influenced by Japanese culture, particularly its emphasis
on high collectivity and group loyalty. In Japan, as compared to the US, employees have traditionally
been more willing to put the needs of their group ahead of their own personal needs. This collective
orientation has promoted organizational integration; rather than working just for themselves, …
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