Acting Human

The other day I tripped over the term “Lean Manufacturing”. The principles sounded interesting to me especially since they seemed to be contemporary. Before having a closer look to the human site of that it is need to know what the term means and where it comes from.

Lean Manufacturing originates from the Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota. The method was developed in the middle of the 20th century. The aim of the Toyota Production System (TPS) consisted in the creation of a stable process organization which forms the base of the reached quality level of their products. Toyota describes it as follows:

A production system that is steeped in the philosophy of the complete elimination of all waste and that imbues all aspects of production with this philosophy in pursuit of the most efficient production method.

The term was first used by Professor James P. Womack and consultant Daniel T. Jones. They spent years analyzing the success of Japanese companies. Nowadays the lean principles are used in all division like lean production, lean administration or lean maintance. The most usable definition which covers probably the best way the different use of the term “Lean Manufacturing” is the following (Source):

(Lean Manufacturing) is a manufacturing phenomenon that seeks to “maximize the work effort of a company’s number one resource, the People.” Lean is therefore “a way of thinking” to adapt to change, eliminate waste, and continuously improve. There are a number of tools and techniques, to be used in concert, to achieve maximizing the effort of the workforce and to operate as a “lean” company

For reaching those targets it is necessary to eliminate redundant activities and adjust the value added chain in an optimal way. On the one site the needs, wants and wishes of the consuments need to be considered like quality, price, availability and individuality. On the other site the company has to realize that to act profitable and keep its competitiveness on its market. That means that the base for the companies work forms the customer preference with processes orientated towards the customer and with a high efficiency.

For reaching all that the company needs adequate process definitions, descriptions of the cut surfaces, clear responsibilities, and timely reactions on errors, simple organization methods and stable processes.

The question now is what that means for the Human Resources? The targets only can be met when the stuff is embraced early in the conception and realization. The sensitisation of the stuff for errors are important with the aim of motivate them and integrate the knowledge of every single worker.

But for reaching a sensitisation of the stuff it is first necessary that it stands behind the company and its philosophy. If a worker doesn’t share the company’s views he probably doesn’t care of possible errors which might occur. Or he might not be aware of the needs of a client. After all he might not stand in the “full service” of the company. Also the motivation will be hard then.

Further it might be hard for a worker to distinguish problems. Even if there are guidelines, the human acting might differ from it out of his known routine. For him other things might occur right and he probably will act in his way according to the guideline.

So after all it is important for the company to win the stuff for what it does. This also includes reaching a maximum of job satisfaction not only through money.

There are already a couple of definitions for the term “Human Resource Management” out there. But for the start I figured I should see and try to work out my own definition to get me a clearer picture of that subject. My definition looks after all as follows:

Human Resource Management has the task to figure out the optimal investment of the factor “human being” for the attainment of the operational targets. The human being represents in this context the staff/personnel resp. the labor. Thereby all aspects, which concern the staff, are being considered originating from the single individual, over the different groups until the organization of the whole company.

The common abbreviation for Human Resource Management is HRM and is part of the business administration.
Further the term contains the expression “management” which means according to Stuhlman Management Consultants:

Management is the organizational process that includes strategic planning, setting; objectives, managing resources, deploying the human and financial assets needed to achieve objectives, and measuring results. Management also includes recording and storing facts and information for later use or for others within the organization. Management functions are not limited to managers and supervisors. Every member of the organization has some management and reporting functions as part of their job.

Following that the Human Resource Management has the task of leading and handling the staff. That includes aspects like the selection of personnel, the discussion and settlement of the individual and institutional targets, the personnel development, the development of optimal working conditions, and so on. When conflicts occur between the individual and the institutional targets, the Human Resource Management has the task to try to solve them. Hereby it is important that not only always the operational targets should stand in the foreground.
Also the intermediation between the individual, the separate groups and the entire company on the different levels are part of the field of activity. That shows that Human Resource Management on one site is important for giving the company a structure. On the other site it is responsible for frictionless interaction and communication between the employees as well on the vertical as on the horizontal level considering that a corporate structure is existent.
At least it is important to bethink that without the factor „human being“ a company wouldn’t exist independent from the number of employees. Finally one single person can also run his own business.