Tokyo - Mitsubishi Motors Corporation today announced that it will fundamentally revise its current ranking and evaluation system for managers, effective 1 April 2002.
The company will reconfigure its Human Resources System by introducing the concept of the "roles" sought of managers in pursuit of giving service and nurturing staff who are capable of making decisions independently to fulfill such roles.
Exactly one year after the start of the Mitsubishi Motors Turnaround, this change represents another important step in realizing the new management vision of a developing a more performance and result-oriented corporate culture.

Abolishing the current ranking system applied to all section managers and above regardless of their job specifications, MMC introduces a new two-tier role ranking system. According to the relative importance, the accompanying responsibilities and authority, and the level of difficulty of individual roles, both type of roles are ranked either Management or Senior Management level.Simultaneously, individual performance assessment and compensation, as well as personnel training and deployment policies are reorganized around this new role concept.

This system clearly differs between managerial and expert type positions. Under the new system, managers are either assigned general managerial responsibility or identified as experts with specific skills or knowledge. The overall number of job titles will be streamlined from the current 33 to 21.

Performance assessment and compensation will be made on a results achieved against target basis. Job conduct assessment will include evaluation not only by individual superiors, but also by colleagues of equal rank and the individual's own staff (360 degree evaluation). The transparency of the assessment will be further increased through the use of external organizations.

In further promoting the development of excellent managerial capacities, MMC will build up a system that directly ties assessment to training and deployment. By directly matching individual abilities to exercised roles, the deployment of the "right person in the right place" will be guaranteed.

President and Chief Executive Officer Takashi Sonobe commented "This change will benefit both the employees and the company in better matching individual skills with individual job description and thus enhance overall performance."

Chief Operating Officer Rolf Eckrodt said "The new ranking system is a crucial step towards a more performance and results-oriented corporate culture within MMC as it stresses our clear emphasis on individual responsibility and accountability."