Lean Manufacturing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Lean Manufacturing - Essay Example HR departments are the primary change agents in most of the organizations. The aim of this paper is to look at the Human Resources approach regarding lean manufacturing in today’s world. The idea is to relate human resources contribution in the process of lean production which cannot be overlooked by today’s organizations. This paper will determine how decisions are taken by the human resource department, how the human resource department develops policies, and practices for the organization and how effectively the change processes are handled in the organization. It will also clarify what strategic HRM issues should be considered to bring about any cultural and fundamental change within organizations. The policies and practices developed by human resource departments represent important forces that shape employee behavior and attitudes. Human resource department needs to take a number of actions if it wants to deal with the changes regarding culture and wants to make it more customer-responsive. The commitment at the organizational level is enhanced with a positive culture and this also allows improvements to be observed in employee behavior. This certainly acts as a strong benefit for the organization. From the perspective of an employee, the organizational culture is valued highly and it also reduces the level of ambiguity (Oliver, 2006). On the other hand, it should also be noted that cultural changes are not easily acceptable by employees. Resistance is observed from employees when the element of change is observed in organizations and this resistance may create obstacles in the accomplishment of goals and objectives of the organization. Our broad problem area in this case would be an area requiring improvement. ‘Lean Manufacturing’ into an organization is seen to bring a number of benefits, i.e. efficiency savings, improved productivity, waste reduction (Genaidy, 2003). But it is felt

Japan's Nationalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Japan's Nationalism - Essay Example Broadly speaking, the Japanese citizens have developed skepticism towards the opinions they initially harbored regarding the political form of their nation and its present cultural nature. This skepticism is the core of my paper which seeks to find the causes of Japanese distrust and disloyalty against their government; and the ways through which the Japanese citizenry can increase their happiness and loyalty to their government. The country is found wanting when compared to Denmark which was ranked the leading country in happiness in the world. Japan has the second largest free market economy in the world. Its mainstay is rooted in trade on an international level, and the less prominent economic areas of agriculture, service delivery with a proficient array of industrial technicians, investors, and industrial developers; and distribution of commodities. Japan is minimally adored with natural resources that can be exchanged for foreign exchange but this imbalance is offset by the high volumes of trade conducted within and without Japan. Though Japan has been ranked as the second world largest free market economy, the economic growth has been falling since the early 1990s rated at 1% per annum, which was quite low when compared to the 4% per annum economic growth experienced in the 1980s. Though Japan experienced a period of recovery in the early years of the 2000s, the economic growth has fallen reflecting the global economic trends. The nation plummeted into a recession in the year 2008 that was prompted by a global decline for the demands of its products (Storry 1957 pp35-36). This stagnation in the growth of the economy and the eventual recession did not pass unnoticed by the Japanese citizens as it had a direct impact on them. Increase in the global prices of crude oil sent a significant ripple in price increase of the household items. These items attracted greater prices in the market thus the Japanese citizenry had to pay higher for the products than they did initially. This trend has left them feeling the pinch and they feel uncomfortable with the price increases. At the same time, demand for the Japanese products within the international market has fallen thus fetching less foreign exchange. This has also had the effect of loss of jobs for some of the laborers in Japan thus causing struggle in livelihoods as they attempt to make the household ends meet. The increased rates of joblessness have been another cause of discomforts for the Japanese people. This discomfort has resulted into the feeling of unhappiness that the Japanese are experiencing (Wilson 2002). Exportation of the Japanese products has also been affected by the slowing down of both the United States and Chinese economies. The Japanese market has for a long time relied on the two above mentioned nations for marketing their products. The slow growth of the United States and the Chinese economies reflects on the Japanese market with a decreased demand for the Japanese products. This in return has led to the decline of the Japanese revenue that is in turn reflected in poor provision of national services by the Japanese government. This has led to the people criticizing the government for its failure to effectively deal with the situation. This means that the Japanese are not happy with the way their government is dealing with the