HR760_D1 HRM Total Rewards-Total Rewards Plan Step 2: Bridgestone Inc.
Total Rewards Plan Step 2
In this assignment, you are continuing to build the total rewards plan for your final project.
On page 31, Step 2: Design outlines how you begin to develop your own Total Rewards plan. There are 5 subtitles (mission and vision, strategy, HR philosophy and strategy, total rewards philosophy statement, total rewards strategy) within this section. Please address each area according to the company you have selected. Use the following information to assist you:
The company's current mission and vision
The company's current strategy
The company's current HR philosophy and strategy
The total rewards philosophy statement that you have developed for the new total rewards program (justify your reasoning based on information from the readings and information that you discovered about the company in step 1)
The total rewards strategy that you have developed for the new total rewards program (justify your reasoning based on information from the readings and information that you discovered about the company in step 1)Introduction
The design phase of the total rewards program at Bridgestone Incorporated commences with a full exposition of the mission and vision of the organization. The Human Resource philosophy derives its framework from the mission and the vision of the organization. Within the vision of the organization, there is the articulation of the aspirations and the goals that the company want to achieve within a specified time frame. In the development of the total rewards program, it is also important to establish the strategy of the organization, evaluate it thoroughly, and look at ways in which the strategy can be changed to become more oriented towards a motivated, engaged, and more productive workforce in the organization. This second step of the organizational strategy, the Human Resource philosophy, the total rewards philosophy of the organization, and the current total rewards strategy.
The mission of Bridgestone Inc.
The mission of Bridgestone Inc. is to ensure service to the customers is of superior quality. The mission provides the ways in which the employees in the organization are supposed to be empowered to provide the customers with world-class tires and other related products that will not only add value to the client’s business, but it will also create a powerful impact in the communities of the client (Bridgestonetire.com, n.d.). Impacting the communities where the clients come from is possible if the company uses the company’s mission to make a difference in community lives and generally improve the standard of living. The aspect of cultural integration and diversity is at the core of achieving this mission. This company must ensure that a variety of employees from different communities is hired because these employees have a deeper understanding of the needs of the communities.
Under the mission of the organization, there are a set of elements and values that the organization must adhere to for the achievement of high-performance goals. These include Technology leadership, the company ensures that it is a world leader in the development of fuel-efficient tires, has a better grip and they are incorporated with safety innovations. Quality Products: The company must continue adopting manufacturing practices that lead to the overall development of quality tires that are recognized internationally. The materials that the company intends to use must be rubber and natural for them to be internationally recognized. Part of the mission of the organization is to ensure that the company considers all the available options before operational decision-making is done (Bridgestonetire.com, n.d.). Part of the available transportation industry with a huge focus on employee engagement.
The vision of Bridgestone Inc.
Bridgestone knows that if it can generate adequate trust, it will not be hard for it to gain customer support and community support because the rest of the community and its members value. Owing to this, the one vision statement of Bridgestone is, “To be a company that is trusted by all the customers and community and consistently be the firm that takes pride in all the activities it engages in (Comparably.com, n.d.). “Taking pride is part of the vision of the company because Bridgestone believes that employee productivity can be increased if the employees are consistently proud of their achievements, and they feel part of the success of the firm.
Current Strategy of the firm
The current strategy of Bridgestone refers to a set of business-related strategies that are aimed at placing the value proposition of the company products to the customers while at the same time increasing the overall competitiveness of the product. The key elements of this strategy include pricing, quality, the enhancement of the product innovation, excellence in service delivery, and the marketing and sales strategy.
Pricing
Bridgestone has a strategy of applying a price differential mechanism to value certain products. In some of the products, that are high value, the company has adopted value-based pricing and premium pricing. This strategy aims at the need to rediscover the earning potential of the company especially from its high value and fast-moving tires (Ishibashi, 2021).
Core Business Strategy
In the core business, the medium-term strategic plan running from 2021 to 2023 aims at the reformation of the cost structure of the company as this activity will assist in the reduction of overall costs, enhance the process of reallocation of the resources to the most profitable areas of the business and expand business portfolio footprint.
Market Responsiveness
One of the strategies in market responsiveness of the firm is through the reinforcement of the sales in premium products so that the revenue gained in this regard can be used to offset the high costs of manufacturing and the high costs of the raw materials. Capitalization of the power and the market penetration of the product can be done through a strategy known as strategic pricing and business mechanism where the company raises products to respond the supplier increases in the cost of raw materials (Ishibashi, 2021).
Product Innovation
At Bridgestone, there is a wide belief that product innovation is one of the initial steps that can ensure the company produces high-quality products. The focus on product innovation has led the company to invest in research, and development and the firm now continues to churn out products that are game changers in the industry. For instance, through the product innovation strategy, the company was able to come up with the winter tires that ideally have a better grip and the pioneer of tires that save a lot on fuel costs.
Marketing and Sales
The market and sales strategy helps the company increase the awareness of the customers on the specific products offered by the company. At Bridgestone, however; demand-based marketing and sales are activities in this strategy (Ishibashi, 2021). The company aims at being aggressive so that any changes in the market can successfully be transformed into an opportunity through not only increasing the company product presence in Asiatic nations but also getting access to manufacturing resources so that it becomes easy to manufacturer the key products and services.
Quality
Products at Bridgestone undergo a wide range of quality tests before they are introduced into the market. Its experience and its high reputation of producing quality tires have made the firm gain customers who trust it to get better quality products that will meet their needs.
Target Market
To maximize the sales of the products at Bridgestone, the company uses varied products to target the different segments of the population. Tires do have different categories. The categories include performing tires, special tires, winter, touring, light tires, and medium tires (Ishibashi, 2021). All these are used to serve different segments of the market. Some customers may want tires that are suited for high fuel consumption and high-performance vehicles. Other customers fit vehicles so that they can use them for leisure-related activities. All these are effectively produced by the firm.
Global expansion strategy
The global expansion strategy ensures that Bridgestone does not lose its position as a market leader in tire production. Some of the global expansion strategies aim at entering mergers and acquisitions with other businesses and diversifying its product base. For example, there has been an agreement that would allow the company to acquire the United States-based Azuga Limited which is a fleet management company. The company is also chasing the acquisition of Otraco which is a mining solution company that is based in Australia.
Human Resource Philosophy at Bridgestone
Talking about the Human Resource Philosophy means talking about the beliefs and the specific assumptions that managers and human resource practitioners have regarding the information on how the employees in the organization should be treated (Woodall, 2004). Some of the approaches include the machine approach where a human resource at the company is just treated as a machine with the ability to improve productivity through churning out products and there is the humanistic approach that treats employees well because they are regarded as human beings with their distinct feelings and emotions and psychological traits that the management must respect even as they assign them duties in the company.
Bridgestone uses a Human Resource philosophy known as the “Bridgestone Essence”. Under this philosophy, the employees are increasingly engaged in strategies mean to deliver world-class value to the customers and are committed to the service of the communities. This strategy is reached by a huge focus on cultural integration and diversity. The Bridgestone essence also aims at transferring across all the international branches of the firm so that all employees adopt the following key values: Fostering high-level integrity in the business and promotion of teamwork, production of high-quality products, the proactive positioning of the organization to be part of the future through the creative pioneering strategy and verified decision making based on the kind of evidence and observations on the ground. In this value, there is fairness in the organizational decision-making because all the decisions the company makes regarding employees are based on a set of verified facts.
Human Resource Strategy
New employees at Bridgestone are hired on a as need basis and the organization has a plan in place for talent management and employee skill upgrading where these new employees are trained to be well versed with the corporate culture and the employee’s code of conduct of trained to be well versed with the corporate culture and the employee’s code of conduct of Bridgestone. At the core of its strategy is inclusive human resources hiring which is aiming at the recruitment of employees from different regions and setting the organization to be a transformational one that meets the needs of the 21st century worker (Barnwall, 2020).
Creating a sense of belonging in the organization is part of the strategy. The employees need to feel that the company is the place to be where they can easily build their careers and work there for a long time. This way, there will be low attrition rates and the company will not spend a fortune trying to replace and retrain new employees because the older workers have left the organization to pursue other interests elsewhere (Barnwall, 2020).
Total Rewards Philosophy Statement
The program objectives are the revamping of the human resource recruitment policies and the change in the cultural orientation of the organization. The competitive position in the labor market that Bridgestone aims to occupy is being the best place in the tire industry where workers find a purpose in their work, are more engaged and inclusive. The key values to drive the total rewards strategy include community involvement, a purpose-driven work environment, higher engagement, and inclusivity. There will be open channels in the firm regarding if there will be any changes in the compensation program and compensation at Bridgestone will be a combination of monetary compensation and non-monetary compensation with a keen purpose of using the non-monetary compensation practices to ensure that workers fine value and purpose in their work. There should be a proper mix of monetary and non-monetary compensation, and this includes, offering employees opportunities for self-growth, giving employees a chance to participate in environment initiatives, supporting the growth prospects of the community where the employees come from, and mixing it with a proper, adequate compensation monetary package.
Total Strategy Statement
“Promotion of the leadership and employee stakeholder involvement in the revamping of the human resources recruitment, training, cultural orientation program to adequately bring up to speed with the involvement of more women in the organizational leadership and increase the change-making and leadership development of employees in their communities.
Leaders are the key decision-makers in the organization; therefore, they should be involved in total rewards strategy development (WorldatWork, 2007). Employees know their needs so involving the in the total rewards program is of utmost importance for the success of a total compensation plan that caters to the psychological, financial, and physical, and ego needs of the consumers.
Conclusion
Quality service delivery, technology, and commitment to service are a few values that ate embedded in the vision and mission of Bridgestone. The company aims at maintaining its market share through business strategic decisions like targeting a wide segment of the market and expanding overseas. It also looks at ways of countering raw material price increases by offering premium price offerings. Despite this, it needs to improve inclusiveness especially at the tip level and design a compensation plan that will be wholesome in meeting all the. Needs of the employees.
References
Barnwall, R. (2020). Our Long-Term Strategy Is Focused on Creating Inclusive Work Culture:
Apurv Choubey, CHRO, Bridgestone India-ETHRWorld. ETHRWorld.com
https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/our-long-term-strategy-is-
focused-on-creating-inclusive-work-culture-apurv-choubey-chro-bridgestone- India
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Bridgestonetire.com. (n.d.). Bridgestone Mission and Values\| Bridgestone Tires.
www.bridgestonetire.com. Retrieved September 17, 2021, from
https://www.bridgestonetire.com/about-bridgestone/mission-values/
Comparably.com. (n.d.). Bridgestone Americans Mission, Vision & Values. Comparably.
Retrieved September 17, 2021, from https://www.comparably.com/companies
/bridgestone/mission
Ishibashi, S. (2021). August 10, 2021, Member of the Board Global CEO and Representative
Executive Officer
https://www.bridgestone.com/ir/library/strategy/pdf/ENG_mbp20210810.pdf
Woodall, J. (2004). HRD: philosophy, values, and practice. Human Resource Development
International, 7(2), 147-149. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678860410001676556
WorldatWork. (2007). The WorldatWork Handbook of Compensation, Benefits & Total
Rewards: A Comprehensive Guide for HR Professionals. John Wiley & Sons.
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