Mitsubishi partnership builds better managers
by Michèle Nardelli
When
Bob Arnott of Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd was awarded his Master of
Management (Manufacturing Management) at the recent graduations, his
pride was much more than personal – it was company-wide.
As manager of corporate human resource development at Mitsubishi, Arnott (pictured above) has led an important educational partnership with UniSA that is already paying big dividends.
In collaboration with Dr Luke Faulkner from UniSA’s School of Management, a special education package has been developed to improve management skills across the Mitsubishi team.
Almost 100 Mitsubishi employees have completed a Graduate Certificate in Manufacturing Management and about half of those have gone on to complete the Graduate Diploma. To date, only Arnott has taken the final step to the full Masters program.
"The aim of the collaboration is to provide higher education opportunities to our staff as an investment in their potential as managers," Arnott said.
"We have worked closely with UniSA so that the programs have absolute academic integrity but at the same time a real relevance to the manufacturing environment."
While Mitsubishi workers have undertaken programs of identical academic content to those studied by other students, UniSA has been able to provide learning examples and projects that were appropriate to automotive manufacturing.
"It has given our people a renewed sense of confidence and competence in management," Arnott said.
"Most of those who have graduated have been promoted at least once and their improved understanding and attention to strategic management is quite pronounced. This collaboration with UniSA has been an absolute win-win."
Manufacturing organisations wanting to explore options for tailored management education in their workplace can contact Peter Balan, program director of manufacturing management at UniSA on (08) 8302 0325 or Strategic Partnerships on (08) 8302 0801.