2. Introduction to VOLVO
Origin of VOLVO group 1927
Headquarter :
Gothenburg, Sweden
Industry: Commercial
Vehicles
Product: Heavy Equipments
(trucks, buses, construction
equipments)
3. The Beginning
1924 : Founded by Gaustaf Larson
and Assar Gabrielsson
1927: 1st car- OU4 & in 1929:1st
profits
1934 : 1st bus- B1 & in 1946 1st
diesel bus- B-56
1948: Major tractor manufacturer
Separate division created in
1968
4. Global Entry
1939-1945 : Supply to the military
1955 : Exports to the USA
New production facilities:
1963 : Canada
1965 : Belgium
1973 : USA
1980 : Bus and truck assembly
plant in Brazil
1981 : Acquisition of White Motor
corporation
1986 : Volvo GM Heavy Truck
corporation
1989 :Christer Zatteberg- new MD and
CEO
1st loss since 1929
5. New Era
1992 :Soren Gyll took over
“Volvo 95”programme
“Volvo Strategic Development” (1993)
1994 : JV in China to manufacture buses
1999 : Volvo Car Cooperation (VCC)
sold to Ford Motor Company ($ 6.45
billion)
2001 : Acquisition of Renault trucks
2003 : Net sales- SEK 174.768 billion
: Operating income: SEK 2.837
billion
6. The HR problem
In 1973 employees were
41,000 in company owned
plants
10,000 through dealer network
15,000 through VOLVO’s sub
contractors
Major labor unrest(strikes & other
disputes) across Sweden in early
1970s
Absenteeism and employee
turnover,
VOLVO had to maintain 14% of
work force as reserve causing
increased HR costs
7. The HR problem
• Sweden’s per capita expenditure on
education made its citizen more educated
so accident prone factory environment
Education was no longer an attractive proposition
• Attracting and retaining talented
workforce
• Immigrant labors Increased diversity at
Challenges workplace affected work culture leading
to disrupted communication system
8. HR solutions
Job enrichment programmes were initiated to train
leaders and employees to improve working
conditions
New recruits had 130 hours induction programme
for familiarizing them with working conditions
Leadership training for group leaders were
organized to focus on communication skills &
worker welfare
9. Cont..
VOLVO Changed its organization structure
in 1972
Head quarters staff employees were
reduced from 1800 to 100
More responsibilities to staff & operations
were decentralized
Each key product line(cars, buses etc.)
was made an independent division &
geographical markets were made profit
centers having operational autonomy
10. Job Enrichment Experiments
JOB ROTATION
MANAGEMENT-EMPLOYEE COUNCILS
SMALL WORK GROUPS
CHANGE IMPLEMENTATION
EMPLOYEE ORIENTED FACILITIES
11. Job Rotation
Workers
Involved Made
were made
shifting of workers well
to go for jobs
employees versed with
completely
from one job other jobs in
different from
to another the
the previous
organization
jobs
12. Small Work Groups
• Teams of three to nine people were
created who divided the work among
them
• Group members took turns to become
team spokesperson
• Promote sense of belongingness
among workers
13. Management Employee Council
Enhance employee participation
Enabled local work councils to
handle issues
Enabled workers in developing plans
for welfare of employees
14. Change Implementation
Involved two work areas- work
design and work environment
Work design – the way they worked
at the shop floor was taken into
consideration and improvised
Work environment- the
manufacturing equipments were
always kept clean
15. End of Social-Technical Approach?
Lack of demand in the 1990’s forced the
company to stop the progress of its job
enrichment initiatives.
Operations at the Kalmar and Uddevalla plants
were suspended which ,however, reopened in
1993.
Volvo’s productivity was far behind Japanese
and US plants.
Experts felt that there was a mismatch between
the amount of money spent on training and the
results.
16. End of Social-Technical Approach?
After a decade, with severe global recession in
the automobile industry, Volvo realized it had to
change with time.
Volvo’s car unit sold to Ford in 1999.
The company had to revert to the assembly line
production system.