Case Studies: Organizational Assessment: Toyota
Toyota Human Resources Department Redesign

Project Description and Results:

Background: Miller Consultants was retained by Toyota Motor Manufacturing, an organization with 7000 employees, to assist with the redesign of the Human Resources Department.  The HR Department had not been redesigned since the opening of the plant 10 years prior to our engagement.   HR had been centralized from the beginning, and there was a belief that it was time to get closer to the customers such as Stamping, Power Train, Assembly and Paint.  Each of these organizations had its own unique strategies and needs, which presented varied challenges from an HR standpoint.    

Scope of Work: The V.P. and management team of HR retained Miller Consultants to assist with a redesign process. Miller proposed a project plan.  They suggested that the management team serve as the Steering Committee and the ultimate decision-making body. The Steering Committee chartered a Design Team of 12 people composed of representatives from the various functions within HR.  The plan that the Steering Committee adopted involved Miller Consultants using action learning to teach the Design Team a variety of knowledge and skills, and to accomplish the redesign of the department at the same time.  We taught team skills, meeting skills, work-design skills, socio-tech processes, job analysis etc. throughout the design process just in time for the team members to apply the skills and knowledge.  The team met once a week to learn and to carry out the tasks involved in studying the current structure’s strengths and weaknesses, collect input from customers and stakeholders, benchmark best practices in HR and create a work design and organizational structure, and governance structure to support it. 

Once the organizational designs were recommended and accepted by the Steering Committee, Miller Consultants assisted with the development of the implementation plan and the metrics to track the progress of the rollout as well as the results of the project.  We assisted in defining the responsibilities of the new functions within HR, the roles needed to staff the functions adequately, and the selection process for filling the roles. In addition, we (Miller Consultants) joined with several of the internal HR personnel to facilitate several business units’ team meetings and strategy sessions. 

Results: Those who served on the design team not only completed their assignment of redesigning HR, but also learned new knowledge and skills through the process.   As a result, several of the Design Team members were promoted into higher-level positions. 

Perhaps the highlight of the redesign was the development and implementation of an internal customer service center – a one-stop-shop to take care of the transactional aspects of HR.  This service center streamlined processes and was welcomed by the internal customers.   In addition, HR teams were deployed out into the units so that they could understand and respond more quickly and adequately to customer needs.  The HR organization established processes for becoming more strategic and serving the business partners better. 

Internal Processes for Managing the Relationship:  The Miller Consultants team worked closely with the Steering Committee throughout the project to plan to coordinate and tack progress.  They turned in meeting minutes and summary reports to the Steering Committee and the Design Team weekly. Each member of the Design Team was to review the weekly progress with his or her own departments.  The Design Team kept visual control charts that were available for everyone to view. In addition, Miller Consultants maintained a physical presence on-site during the project.