Management for Organizations

Management Practices

Ashford University

Management for Organizations MGT 330

March 21, 2015

Management Practices

Management is one of the most important determining factors in an organizations success. There is no one certain set way of management that works for all types of organizations and similar organizations do not even use the same methods management. Some organizations will find themselves changing their methods of management often to suit the immediate needs of their circumstances. The management concept has been evolving ever since a group people got together to accomplish a common goal. Management enables society to get a better and increased supply of goods. (Surendar, 2010, p. xx) Whether the organization is formal or informal. Profit or non-profit, all organizations must have proper management to achieve the common goals. Many companies today have taken the lessons learned throughout history and applied them to their organizations. The Bridgestone Corporation is one of those companies. Bridgestone was founded by Shojiro Ishibashi in 1931 in Kurume, Japan.  The Bridgestone Corporation began to grow to keep up with the Japanese automakers until it became the largest tire manufacturer in Japan. Bridgestone continued to grow and became very prominent in Asian markets. In 1988, Bridgestone acquired the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company in the United States. This purchase made the Bridgestone Corporation is of the largest tire and rubber companies in the world. Bridgestone has since expanded to 25 countries while expanding their product lines, services and customer markets. Bridgestone has also grown to over 130,000 employees and growing. Bridgestone's mission statement is "Serving Society with Superior Quality".        

The Bridgestone Corporation has developed and maintained relationships with most of the world's major auto manufacturers, allowing Bridgestone to become a profitable and successful organization. Bridgestone, like other organizations, utilizes the five functions of management.

The five functions of management that Bridgestone utilizes are planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling.(Reilly, Minnick, & Baack, 2011) These are the same functions that most organizations use to varying degrees.

   Bridgestone, like most organizations, has developed and still utilizes the planning function. Bridgestone began this process with a vision and a mission statement "Serving Society with Superior Quality".  Bridgestone's founder took over his family's business 1906. He specialized in socks with rubber bottoms. They were the Japanese work shoe. He did well but was not satisfied with his accomplishments and wanted to serve Japan on a larger scale. He believed in a motorized future for Japan. Shojiro Ishibashi decided to make tires to serve his country. Ishibashi then founded Bridgestone. Bridgestone's plan was to become a truly global company and dan-totsu (clear and absolute leader). ("Bridgestone Aims to Be ‘Dan-Totsu’ - Tire Review Magazine," 2014)

APA In-Text Citation Guide  Bridgestone began with the following concepts to operate its business. They are seijitsu-kyocho (integrity and teamwork), shinshu-dokuso (creative pioneering), genbutsu-genba (decision-making based on verified, on-site observations) and jukuryo-danko (decisive action after thorough planning). Bridgestone decided to take two basic stances in its business. They are lean & strategic and optimize management on a group and global basis. The following statement was taken straight from Bridgestone's strategy statement. "The group maintains an optimum balance between short-term management measures and mid-to-long-term management measure, with a focus on "Lean" in the short term and "Strategic" in the mid- and continues to implement management reforms, giving the long-terms. At the same time, the Group continues its management reforms, giving highest priority to optimization on a group and global basis. ("Strategy | Bridgestone," n.d.)

   Bridgestone's organizational structure is based off the strategic business model.

Many major corporations use and align their business by products, customers, geographic regions, manufacturing methods and many other common elements. This organizational structure works well for Bridgestone because of its size and broad range of products. Bridgestone operates most of their holdings as independent companies. Bridgestone has plants in many countries under different names manufacturing a broad range of products. Manufacturing tires is just one of many business ventures Bridgestone has entered. Bridgestone manufactures roofing, automobile components and many other products. In addition to its manufacturing operations. Bridgestone also operates many service businesses such as your local Bridgestone tire and service stores. Their service sector also includes companies such as Bandag, which restores large truck tires for the trucking industry in the United States. The range of customers also varies widely throughout the corporation. Bridgestone sales to governments, major auto manufacturers, after market dealers, building contractors and many more. It would be almost impossible to organize the corporation in any other configuration.

Each strategic business unit is allowed to structure and operate as needed for the location and product. Each location will review  its own unique needs. Once the needs are reviewed  by each location. The process of establishing a functional industry of location. What is practical in one tire facility in Mexico may not be practical in the United States or Japan. The facilities may manufacture the same or similar products but the location and laws of each site may present different and unique challenges. Each site will have its own management structure and several sites may be grouped together by product or location. Bridgestone believes that this structure allows for better quality and speed in any management reforms or changes that may be needed at each level.

   Bridgestone's staffing function and process is much like most industries. Each individual site or location use the planning function as a map to get the location to where it needs to be to achieve its goals. The process usually begins with identifying what staff will be needed for the company to succeed. This is usually done through job design. Job design can be broken down into three components. They are Job analysis, job description and job specification.(Reilly, Minnick,&Baack,2011) Job analysis is the process of comparing other similar industries, experimentation and reflective planning.  Comparing one industry to a similar industry can help determine the most effective way to utilize staff. This process can identify the good points and bad points as well. Experimentation is a method where management evaluates each job and duties to access workload and performance. Lastly, reflective planning, management evaluates a job to determine special skills or whether it should be staff or management type position. When the job analysis has been completed and all the data has been compiled. The process of job description can begin. In this process each job and duties will be determined. This process allows the job itself to be clearly defined. The last step of the job design is job specification. The job specification process defines what experience, skills and education is required to perform each job. Bridgestone considers all these factors and staffs its positions accordingly. Each Bridgestone location will evaluate the local laws and requirements as well before the job design is complete. Even though most industries staff themselves in this manner, Bridgestone included, still finds the staffing of the right people very difficult. Bridgestone uses various methods of recruiting such as social media and recruiting agencies. Another method is the employee referral system which is cost effective and boost morale.  (Arthur, 1998, p. xx)