HRM Study for Daimler AG

The Multinational Company

SPRING – 2017, 2 May

HRM 512
Section 4

Supervised By Dr. Randa Al-Madah

Group Members:
No. Name ID Number E-mail Address
1 Dania shaikh QBM044 dania.shaikh@gmail.com
2 Sumaiah Aljuhani OAM225 sbjuhani@hotmail.com

Work Distribution:
No. Name Section
1 Dania shaikh Company Background, Topic 2, Topic 3,
Conclusion
2 Sumaiah Aljuhani Introduction, Topic 1, Auditing, PowerPoint
Slides

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 Table of Content

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………..………3

2. Company Background and Profile...………………………………..………...3

3. Human Resource Management Strategy and Analysis………….….….…......3

a. The Strategic Planning Process………………………………..….4

b. The Strategic Applied Methods………………………………..….4

4. Personnel Planning and Recruiting……………………………………………7

5. Employee Training and Development…………………………………………8

6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………..………9

7. References……………………………………………………………….……11

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 Introduction
This project is applying the science of Human Recourse Management (HRM). The project

aims to examine and observe Daimler, a German multinational automobile corporation. In this

report we will focus on and analyze three topics: Human Resource Management Strategy and

Analysis, Employee Training and Development, and Personnel Planning and Recruiting.

In addition, the main goal is to understand the factors that affect the company positively.

Last but not least, a conclusion for the project will state recommendations of HR concept that

Daimler applied to achieve its higher productivity and customer satisfaction.

Daimler AG Background and Profile

Daimler AG (Daimler) produces high-end automobiles that are sold around the world.

Daimler’s main automobile brands include Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, and Smart cars. Daimler is

headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany and was started in 1926 as a merger between two different

German car companies started by Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2007).

Each of these founders were involved with the first form of gasoline driven car engines and when

the two men worked together to create Daimler-Benz (as it was called at the time), they were the

first car company to utilize engines for cars which ran on diesel fuel (Encyclopedia Britannica,

2007). Daimler is a very large company and has many different divisions, with operations in many

different countries. Additionally, Daimler has employees from many different countries, and its

products and services are sold in many different markets throughout the world. Daimler utilizes

many different human resource strategies, personnel directives and planning, and recruitment

strategies to guarantee that it meets its organizational objectives and sees continuing success.

Human Resource Management Strategy and Analysis - The Strategic HRM

System

“Fair and trusting relationships with employees are more than just an ethical and legal

requirement for us: Without them we would not be able to conduct our business successfully” As

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Daimler states in their 2014 report, their human resource management process involved taking these

steps:

1. Strategically, they set the goal of making Daimler outstanding by offering superior product

the E-Mobilty hybrid car, as they call it the ''future car'' and get high reputation through customer

service.

2. To achieve this, Daimler employees would have to perform their works innovatively and

exhibit new skills and behaviors in terms of how they treated their customers.

3. To produce this, Daimler's management formulated new strategic HR management system

that minimizes labor cost, optimizes staff performance and maximizes profits. So they will be able

to achieve their goal and be the market leader finally.

Strategic Planning Process:

Daimler delivers a strategic planning process that minimizes labor cost, optimizes staff

performance and maximizes profits.To achieve this challenged equation, daimler realized that each

step in the process is hard and time consuming. “Mistakes are costly” as they said, they do so:

1. By sitting their clear goal that provide superior product which is high technological cars

“hybrid cars”, by which customers will reduce their daily cost and live in a green

environment in which no more gases will raise, as a result Daimler will gain high reputation,

customer satisfaction and be the market leader.

2. To achieve this desired goal, they built their talent, productive, motivated and competitive

workforce using these methods:

• Set a Competitive strategy which is ''leadership in technology and innovation that delight

customer''. Daimler focuses on the E-Mobilty product."The electric drive is the future. That's why

we're investing massively in a battery-electric fleet and in battery technology – including as an

energy store for private and industrial use.''

• Build an accurate and cost-effective labor “By balancing demand with available labor”

• Have Competitive workforce

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“Daimler’s success. Your benefit. Our responsibility.” “Our goal is to create and use mixed teams to

encourage our creativity and progress in all areas so that we can all shape the future of Daimler

together.”

• Draw a very clear strategy map

◦ Motivate their staff

To ensure highly productive employees, the HR department provides high compensation, flexible

work hour and stock ownership.

High Pay High Productive Staff Creativity at Production Superior Product &
& at sale Customer Satisfaction

• Do job rotation

Daimler HR manager said: “within each production task group, employees regularly rotate between

workstations. This helps maintain performance by varying the strain placed on the employee.”

• Use Metrics tool

They use some metrics tool in labor scheduling that help managers to take structured and optimal

decision quickly “To accelerate the process of building the labor schedule, they use their easy-to-

use interfaces that provide managers with labor needs by relevant period and the ability to quickly

analyze and change recommendations as needed”

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• Do Market benchmark

Daimler always measures how are the company doing in relation to their industry. The last

measurement was in 2016 shows that :

“The August 2016 sales figures according to VFACTS show Mercedes-Benz recording record new

car sales figures of 3295 sales and knocking on the door of the top 10 Australian car brands in 11th

place, second is BMW with 2321 sales (13th place) and third Audi is 2006 sales (14th place).

Mercedes-Benz leads the big three German carmaker sales battle with 27,156 new car sales in

2016.”

“The highest volume sales has to be the goal. But how do you count this in the future?, It may not

be only volume sales, the emergence of new smartphone-enabled services is changing customer

habits so that it is becoming more difficult to measure a brand’s success by car sales” They added.

• Care of Social responsibility as Daimler's competitive advantage focusing on producing

hybrid car, the petroleum demand will decrease and the subsequent effects of consuming petroleum

will decrease as well, thus in turn will lead to a green environment where no car gases will raise

anymore also no repetitive stops at gas station.

• Use HR Scorecard Tool and Key Performance Indicators:

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 Daimler's management efforts paid off. Their new strategic HR management system

produced the employees required behaviors that in turn improve Daimler's level of production and

services, thus attracting more customers and gaining high reputation, finally be the market leader.

Personnel Planning and Recruiting

According to Daimler (2016), the company also provides development opportunities by

matching needs of certain groups, including the dual educational system Daimlers The FacTS

program (which further supports young workers who have done well in other training programs),

and an international training program called CAReer, which supports university graduates who have

excelled and wish to join the company and are then given a job contract and fast tracked for

management positions within Daimler. Here we can see that Daimler has numerous involved and

specific development programs for employees which the company uses to better its team, and these

programs are seen as investments for the company. These programs are inline with Daimler’s

overall human resource goals to attract quality employees and then also retain them. For advanced

degrees, Daimler offers employees who are working on dissertations three year contracts (Daimler,

2016, p. 85). This allows the employees to work on advanced projects that are often within the

company’s research and development departments (Daimler, 2016, p. 85). Daimler also has several

internships that it provides for prospective employees. According to Daimler (2016), about half of

the internship program participants end up getting a full time job with the company p. 85). A job

listing at lautanjobs.com (2017) describes a job opening for an Organizational & Personnel

Development Specialist at the Mercedes-Benz Vans division of Daimler. This position develops

programs which focus on employee development and training, and also “works) with department

leaders in identifying succession candidates for leadership development…[and] create[s] Individual

Development Plans for promising talents and potentials” (lautanjobs.com, 2017). This job listing is

a specific example of how Daimler recruits talent for certain positions at the company. Additionally,

this specific job itself is involved with personnel planning for the company. This type of job listing

shows the effort that Daimler and its various divisions put into searching for the most qualified
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candidates, who in turn can then help the company find even more talent.

In addition to focusing on retaining employees and training them so that they can advance in

the company, Daimler also places a lot of emphasis on hiring and finding the brightest talent from

around the world. Many different job listings for open positions at Daimler and its various divisions

are posted around the internet, and the company offers competitive salaries and various

opportunities to ensure that employees can further their careers and increase their knowledge.

Employee Training and Development

Once hired, Daimler makes sure to provide its workers with the training that they need in

order to be successful. Daimler realizes that it is only as successful as the people who work for the

company, and so the company greatly invest in its people by providing them with the best training

and development throughout their careers - from hire to retirement. According to Daimler (2016),

“we are supported by custom-tailored programs and promotional measures in all the important

phases of employees’ individual training and career paths” (p. 81). Daimler (2016) utilizes

“industrial -technical and commercial vocational training,” for its employees, and also uses its

Cooperative State University,” where it makes use of educational programs that fit with work done

in the company (p. 81). According to Daimler (2016), the company uses many different specific

training programs which it has developed in-house, such as an international exchange program

which teaches languages and skills for different cultures, and its Mercedes-Benz Qualification

System, as well as training programs and centers in each country which match with the needs of

each region that the company does business in (p. 83). According to Daimler (2016), the company:

Currently employs a total of 7,960 trainees (2015: 8,307), including 2,034 abroad

(2015: 2,017). At international locations such as those in China and India, more

than 5,000 teenagers are being trained and qualified in cooperation with schools and

in other training models (p. 85).

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 According Canada Newswire (2016), Stefan Karrenbauer, who is CEO of Mercedes-Benz

Financial Services (a division of Daimler) states, “we work collaboratively with our employees to

create an inclusive environment that embraces diverse perspectives...ranking fifth among the

world's best employers is a recognition of our collective success”. According to Canada Newswire

(2016), Klaus Entenmann, who serves on the Board at Daimler Financial Services, states, “engaged

and motivated employees are the foundation of our success...we empower, trust and respect our

employees, as well as enhance diversity and equality of opportunity...that is our recipe for a positive

corporate culture and we invest in it every day”. At Daimler, investment in employees is a key

strategy of the company, and considering its training and development efforts, this commitment

shows. Daimler incorporates investments in its employees into every single one of their strategic

goals and actions, and a belief in their employees seems to be the backbone and driving force in

everything that they do. Daimler focuses on harnessing its employees talents and works with them

to both better the individual and the company, at the same time. Daimler really seems to be a

company that values human potential, and investing in one another, in order to achieve success and

meet all types of goals.

Each of Daimlers training programs are very detailed and specifically designed to fit with

the goals of the company divisions that they fall under. Daimler focuses a great deal of attention on

developing the employees that it already has, as retaining these team members is one of the most

important focuses for the company.

Conclusion

Human Resource strategy is an important overall focus at Daimler. The company prides

itself on utilizing Human Resource practices to accomplish all sorts of strategic goals and to

increase sales, expansion, and development of new products. A great deal of time and energy is

spent on employee training at Daimler. All of the previously mentioned training programs are often

regarded as some of the best that are offered by one of the world’s most recognizable and respected

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automobile brands. Throughout an employee's time at Daimler, it is obvious that the company truly

cares about its employees as it seems to regard them as very valuable assets and foundations for the

company’s success. Daimler focuses on keeping a diverse workforce, and the company retains

detailed records of the composition of its workforce. Starting with recruitment, Daimler offers

competitive salaries in order to attract the best talent. With programs that train employees to

advance and eventually become managers, Daimler often promotes from within the company. Once

hired, Daimler offers its employees various options to increase their training and education.

Whether it is on the job training or support for higher education, Daimler offers many different

ways for its team members to better themselves while helping the company be successful. Human

Resource strategy and planning, training and development, and personnel planning and recruiting

are very important to the company. These aspects are important focuses at Daimler. Considering

that Daimler’s employees are considered its biggest asset, all of the details involved in these Human

Resource practices drive the company's goals, actions, and decisions.

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 References
1. Canada, N 2016, 'Daimler Financial Services ranks 5th among the world's best employers',

Canada Newswire, 27 October, Regional Business News, EBSCO host, viewed 15 April 2017.

2. Daimler, (2017). The Daimler Group. [online] Available at: https://www.daimler.com/company/

[Accessed 11 April, 2017].

3. Daimler, (2016). Daimler Sustainability Report. [online] Available at:

https://www.daimler.com/documents/sustainability/other/daimler-sustainability-report- 2016.pdf

[Accessed 12 April, 2017].

4. Encyclopedia Britannica, (2007). Daimler AG. [online] Available at:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Daimler-AG [Accessed 13 April, 2017].

5. LautanJobs.com, (2017). The Organizational & Personnel Development Specialist. [online]

Available at: https://lautanjobs.com/organizational-personnel-development-specialist-

jobs-daimler-ag.372c0e1711258ed1 [Accessed 14 April, 2017].

6. Daimler, (2017). The Daimler Group. [online] Available at:

https://www.daimler.com/company/strategy/objectives.html, [Accessed 11 April, 2017].

7. Autotalk NEWS, (2017). [online] Available at: http://autotalk.co.nz/news/sales-numbers-

longer-benchmark-success-daimler

8. Encyclopedia, (2007). Daimler AG. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Daimler_AG

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