Sustainability in Auto Industry Above Mentioned Industry

Question: Describe the Case Study for Sustainability in Auto Industry for Above Mentioned Industry. Answer: Introduction: The current assignment critically evaluates the sustainability achieved in the automobile industry based on the provided case study. In this context, Altenburg, Bhasin and Fischer (2012) remarked that the main aim of driving sustainability in the above-mentioned industry is to develop trucks, cars and industrial machineries that are fuel-efficient. In addition, the main objective of such sustainability is to utilise new materials and establish innovative approaches for minimising dependence on fossil fuels, which would eventually cut down the emissions of greenhouse gases. The assignment focuses on the cultural issues faced on the part of the automobile industry based on the information provided in the case study. This includes the commitment of the industry to deliver maximum value to its customers, environment and the related communities. Along with this, critical assessment of the motivation of the employees and job engagement in the industry has been conducted to develop constructive literature. Furthermore, the management and commitment of the staffs have been identified to gain an insight about their contributions to achieving sustainability in the industry. Finally, the assignment sheds light on the impact of managerial responsibilities on recommendations. Cultural issues faced by Auto industry: In the words of Brook and Pagnanelli (2014), the major cultural issues, which confront the automobile industry, constitute of social responsibility, population, cultural variations and impact of customer movement. According to the provided case study, the company culture of Toyota focuses on four major principles. These principles comprise of long-term philosophy, right process to deliver effective results, adding values to the organisation through continual training and solving root complexities. As commented by Epstein and Buhovac (2014), the long-term philosophy signifies the concentration of the higher management to deliver greater value to the customers and society. Thus, leadership is the critical success or failure factor associated with the long-term philosophy of an organisation. Half-hearted initiatives are bound to fail, which ultimately leave the organisations spinning their wheels (Gunasekaran and Spalanzani 2012). Therefore, it is necessary for the CEOs to be aware of t he leadership skills required to conduct the business activities. However, they often hesitate to adapt to the changing needs of the customers, emerging technologies and regulatory landscape due to the lack of risk-tasking behaviour. As a result, it leads to inferred conflict between the strategic priorities and sustainability efforts (Hahn et al. 2015). In addition, 90% of the automobile industry executives believe that inflationary periods have raised the sustainability importance in the form of reputation, trust and brand. Thus, tailoring the products to the needs of the customers is recommended to the automotive industry to ensure sustainability in their business operations. Another cultural issue is the selection of process to accomplish the effective outcome. The greenhouse gas emissions are the major hindrance of the automotive industry, as identified from the provided case study, to produce the maximum output. The supplier selection process is the key to ensure that effective manufacturing technique is followed in order to produce maximum and error-free final product (Luthra, Garg and Haleem 2015). According to the case study, the environmental regulations of USA have driven the establishment of Prius, the unique hybrid car in the US market. As a result, the environmental sustainability could be maintained and the consumers could avail the model at a cheaper cost. This necessitated the other automotive firms to change their models, which require finding of right suppliers to deliver the right materials and other essential resources. Hence, the firms in the automotive industry need to conduct market research to list the potential suppliers available in the market for producing superior quality transport models at low cost with greater morale and safety. The development of skills within the organisation is another key issue, which confronts the global automotive industry (Mayyas et al. 2012). Since the employees are resistant to changes, it creates major complexities for an organisation to develop the necessary skills within them for maximising the organisational productivity. Continual training and extending support to the staffs is necessary to instil the required skills, which could be achieved through monthly training sessions and internal rewards for better performance. As a result, it would help in driving the learning process of the organisations. Employee motivation and job engagement in Auto industry: The major factors, which drive employee motivation and job engagement in the automotive industry comprise of achievement, camaraderie and equity. In the words of Singh et al. (2012), the majority of the staffs aim to accomplish something, which is significant and meaningful at work. For instance, it is observed from the provided case study that the United Auto Workers Union had achieved industrial recognition during the Second World War for their continuous efforts to enhance the complex working conditions in production plants. Some other instances, which could be observed from the provided study, include company paid pension for the staffs on the part of the US automakers in 1950 and inclusion of health insurance cover for the employees and their families in 1970. Achievement factor could be related with the first instance, in which the workers have strived hard to accomplish an industrial award. The workers tend to develop and build their skills and abilities for accomplishing awards and promotions. Hence, it is necessary for the automotive industry to motivate their employees to strive hard for the organisational objectives. This could be made by providing bonuses, performance-related incentives, monthly appraisal and internal promotions. Thus, fostering the employee motivation and job engagement could be achieved with the means of rewarding employees for their efforts in the automotive industry. The second instance, as mentioned above, could be associated with the camaraderie factor pertaining to employee motivation and job engagement. As commented by Tran et al. (2013), the staffs enjoy working productively with their superiors and subordinates while creating strong interpersonal relationships. As observed from the provided instance, the provision of company paid pension has helped in developing strong interpersonal relationships between the employees and the organisations in the automotive industry. Therefore, it is recommended to the managers of the automotive firms to interact positively and friendly with their teams in motivating the staffs to achieve something, which would benefit them as well as the organisations. The equity factor of employee motivation and job engagement could be directly related with the third instance mentioned above. As assessed, the inclusion of health insurance cover to the employees and their families has resulted in increased commitment and performance of the employees. In this regard, Werbach (2013) cited that the staffs should be treated fairly in terms of benefits and payments, daily treatment, physical and psychological safety. Such fair treatment definitely enhances the commitment of the employees, which motivate them further to achieve the corporate goals and objectives. The health insurance cover has attributed to ensuring the psychological safety of the employees in the sense that the organisation cares about their personal needs and desires. According to the above evaluation, equity factor plays a crucial role in engaging the employees in work to achieve the long-term objectives of the organisation through improved level of productivity. Thus, it is recommend ed to the employers to fulfil the needs of the employees to increase the rate of retention in the organisations through higher fringe benefit options as well as physical safety. Staff and Management Commitment in Auto Industry In the auto industry it has been noticed that workplace safety tends to impact job satisfaction in a positive manner s the employees tend to perceive that safety measures are being executed by the organization. For instance, establishing US production facilities served as a constructive decision in enhancing public relation, philanthropy-sharing technology and lobbying efforts. Top management of the major companies within the auto industry is observed to remain aware about the demand for cleaner air and larger fuel conservation in order to produce decreased emission vehicles (Li and Huang 2014). To attain higher competitive advantage most of the major automobile companies majorly Toyota started conducting its business in The Toyota Way. This initiative taken by the automobile companies evidenced the managements effort of driving the company culture guided by the policies of continuous development and respect for people of the organization. Such commitment by the management within the auto industry served as an approach that can challenge everything and develop an atmosphere of learning (Fu and Ding 2014). This initiative taken by the management supported the staff of automobile organizations to build up a culture of learning that includes bringing change through increasing respect feeling for every employee along with developing trust. Moreover, four major principles that have been observed to guide management decision making in auto industry include: The accurate process that generate accurate results that indicates flow serves as the major aspect in attaining best quality at decreased cost with increased morale and safety. Long-term philosophy that centers on the fact that the focus of the top management of the company is to add value to the society and the consumers Continuously dealing with the major issues that drives the organizational learning Add value to the company through developing the organizations partners and associated staff and considering this view of the management at the organizations that focuses on building trust among people and not just automobiles (Li and Huang 2014). From the analysis of the auto industry, it has been observed that the management style of coordinating the employees that allows space and transparency to the open communication and feedback to the staff. Within the auto industry, it is observed that the communicating flow between the management and the organization employees serves as an important aspect to ensure positive safety climate (Wen and Liu 2014). In comparison, the management makes sure that the staff in this industry must value the safety endeavor through complying with certain other safety needs with the place of work like wearing safety equipments and motoring against any hazards experienced by them within the company. Similarly, it is made sure that the employees should be aware of their rights as necessitated by the law or the top management in the auto industry can exploit these laws. Ethical Issues In the auto industry, several ethical issues might take place that is addressed very effectively by the manufactures within the auto industry. Fuel economy and emission regulation was introduced within the US auto market. Considering this, light pick-up trucks has been produced so that they are fuel efficient and the SUVs was regulated so that they operate under two laws in US such as Clean Air Act and Energy and Conservation Act in order to control emissions (Kulkarni and Rao 2014). Within the auto industry, the case of Volkswagen revealed that the management of the company has been involved in emission test cheating and was accused of rigging its diesel cars in order to pass the emission needs. The employees working within the auto industry considered to maintain distance from the unethical actions like this company. Managers serve as the moral agents for their decisions set an ethical tone for the overall company. The employees within this industry serve as the moral agents for their ethical decisions are affected by the external and structural factors. Such facts are served to be less important in consideration to the increasing individualism within the workplace that is observed as the origin of unethical decisions (Kim and You 2013). Despite of presence of dominant individualism among the employees working within the auto industry, they must be sure regarding the rules that will facilitate the business community deal with the unethical decisions. The companies operating its business within the auto industry has developed effective code of conduct within the organizations that serves as important and effective guides for company decision making. Khalili-Damghani and Najmodin (2014) have stated that the corporate codes behavior serves as an effective measure of the management that can support e thical decision-making. Moreover, the employees of the automobile companies these days are increasingly concerned with addressing the ethical issues concerned with serving the consumers with environment friendly cars. Considering such initiative, the people involved with the automobile industry hugely focused on addressing excess emission of greenhouse gases while producing cars. The management as recognized that cutting excess greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacturing of automobiles will help in meeting the fuel economy standards (Sun, Qiu and Yang 2015). The employees within the auto industry were motivated and was guided so that they are capable to deal with the technological disadvantages they faced to become a good competitor within the industry. For instance, the Honda engineers was guided by the management to have increased concern for the environment while they manufacture vehicles in order to beat the fierce business rivalry (Cao et al. 2016). For operating an ethical business in the industry, the production facilities served as an effective step in enhancing public relations. Managerial Responsibilities Impact on Recommendations There is certain managerial responsibilities impact on the people management recommendations made for the organizations operating within the auto industry. Managers of the auto industry are held responsible too maintain high standard of ethical behavior (Drucker 2013). It is deemed essential for the managers to realize and abide by the ethical as well as legal obligations of their position within the company in order to address the stakeholder expectations and set an example of the ethical behavior for other employees within the automobile company. Considering the recommendations, the ethical manager within the organization is held responsible for setting the expectation that any type of unethical business conduct practiced by the employees at the time of manufacturing will not be acceptable (Deyo 2016). Moreover, any employee that is involved in conducting and witnessing unethical act has the responsibility to report the same by means of suitable channels. The managers operating within the auto industry must consider employing the justice method within the company. Such approach will focus on fairf cost distribution and for the benefits of the employees and consumers of the auto industry. Manager are recommended to have a responsibility towards their consumers and make sure that the manufactured products are safe and reliable (Jones, Latham and Betta, 2013). The workers tend to develop and build their skills and abilities for accomplishing awards and promotions. Hence, it is necessary for the automotive industry to motivate their employees to strive hard for the organisational objectives. This could be made by providing bonuses, performance-related incentives, monthly appraisal and internal promotions Jos (Martnez-Jurado, Moyano-Fuentes and Jerez Gmez 2013). Conclusion The objective of the report was to focus on the cultural issues faced on the part of the automobile industry based on the information provided in the case study. This includes the commitment of the industry to deliver maximum value to its customers, environment and the related communities. Along with this, critical assessment of the motivation of the employees and job engagement in the industry has been conducted to develop constructive literature. The report revealed that as the employees are resistant to changes it creates major complexities for an organisation to develop the necessary skills within them for maximising the organisational productivity. Continual training and extending support to the staffs is necessary to instil the required skills, which could be achieved through monthly training sessions and internal rewards for better performance. As a result, it would help in driving the learning process of the organisations. From the analysis of the auto industry, it has been o bserved that the management style of coordinating the employees that allows space and transparency to the open communication and feedback to the staff. Within the auto industry, it is observed that the communicating flow between the management and the organization employees serves as an important aspect to ensure positive safety climate. The paper revealed that it is necessary for the automotive industry to motivate their employees to strive hard for the organisational objectives. This could be made by providing bonuses, performance-related incentives, monthly appraisal and internal promotions. Thus, fostering the employee motivation and job engagement could be achieved with the means of rewarding employees for their efforts in the automotive industry. It is recommended to the employers to fulfil the needs of the employees to increase the rate of retention in the organisations through higher fringe benefit options as well as physical safety. Reference List: Altenburg, T., Bhasin, S. and Fischer, D., 2012. 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