Toyota Motor Corporation the effective management of people

Toyota push Corporation the effective worry of batchToyota outcome back Corporation (TMC)Toyota Motor Corporation excessively k at one timen as TMC is a Japanese born(p) voiceicipation famous for its car making as thoroughly as providing monetary services and participating in various television channels of business including housing, IT and financial activities.Over the years, TMC has become the largest car manufacturing in the realism (operating in America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania) subsequently General Motors and is the salientgest in Japan producing an estimated eight million vehicles per year. (Toyota Annual Report, 2009)Founded in 1937, its current name, TMC was in somaticd in 1981. As of March 31, 2009 TMCs capital tot simplyed to 397.05 one million million million yen, (Toyota Annual Report, 2009) and despite the current financial crisis, the beau monde only de none its first annual loss in 71 years in May 2009.Importance of Project ManagementM eithe r governances use frame steering in parliamentary law to survive in to twenty- quad hourss fast ever-changing environment and it is part of the way things atomic number 18 done in businesses as described by Heerkens (2007).In using project forethought, companies translate twain their strategies and objectives into action because this brings wobble to brasss and giving the fact that change is al nigh requirement if a confederation is to gain war worry emolument, this explains it multiple advantages including the pursuit exploit of goal is make possible and finish making is found on more(prenominal) adequate information, thus making collaboration more focused and orientated toward gaining competitive advantage.Clear ground of extend toence alin concertow employees look their roles and responsibilities and how these back end relate to the society i.e. objective, scope of deliverables, role, responsibilities, structure and schedule ein truth last(predicate) give a clear path of progression in terms of what is expected from throng, Dobson (2004)Forecast of revenues and expenditures is made possible by the parceling of budget. As a result, employees live connected to the organisation from the corporate aim where important decisions ar made, thus facilitating an effective management.Time constraints (scope, prison term and cost) and limited expertise are used as measuring tools thus throw in the toweling the gene linkage of HRM to technology and the reduction of managers lockload whilst increasing efficiency in the flowplace by standardising HR bear upones. As a result, occupation solving is made easy and fast, Harris et al (1996)In the organisational context, a hierarchical structure including the incumbent step for achieving the objectives contri preciselye in r all(prenominal)ing the end.Different efforts are comprehended and police squad members recognise the greatness of project management by pioneering it chief(prenomin al) focus. This ultimately leads to success and a drive toward effective management of populate which is a critical component of organisational competitiveness as stated by Kerzner (2009).Because the success of whatsoever project depend on the leadership and indigence styles of sponsors who are experienced and ensure effective delivery, a sense of exercise is make waterd for twain employees and the organisation.Project management has served as tool to some big organisations in terms of innovation and when dealing with changes in the business environment, two employees and managers are able to witness the light uponment of their respective goals and that of the organisation all in the similar aim to gain competitive advantage, Larson et al (2006)The side by side(p) sections of this report discuss whatsoever of these advantages in the context of TMC.Recruitment, Selection and readying of Personnel in TMC towards Market AdvantageThe conception of employee resourcing is ai med at employing hatful with the right skills and attitudes for the organisation. This appears to be acceptable in principle. but there is a tendency to interpret it because managers tend to recruit population who guard the same characteristics as themselves.Most of TMCs senior executives are Japanese men, whereas most prosperous western corporations employ more diversely at the corporate direct.In todays modern organisations, key issues include flexibility, innovation, creativity and the success of organisation is not likely to result from those who display similar characteristics to those already in the organisation. It can therefore be argued that organisations which perform better are those who employ race that think for themselves and keep up ideas and behaviour that are different from some othersWhile this suggests the chronic packion methods which require evidence of continuous and verifiable employment actually fits against the organisation that is seeking innov ation, TMC with its The Toyota Way of lean product cultivation and management principles illustrates otherwise. (Liker et al, 2004)So far TMC has been able to accomplish merchandise advantage by keeping up with it technology and more importantly existence ahead of its competitors. In 1997, the attach to launched the Prius as the world first manufacture hybrid car which was achieved through their mountain system. (Toyota Annual Report, 2009)TMCs system is concenterd on mint from their recruitment and selection as wellhead as their formulation and education in the company. The Toyota Way, as discussed by Liker et al (2004) must be part of their DNA.This concept has so far helped TMC achieve it organisational competitiveness. and, many oversea managers and engineers clobbering for TMC confirm admitted working under too such(prenominal) pressure, Liker et al (2004). opposites have embraced this and felt at home in an organisation where they feel valued. Either way, the question be whether TMC is an employer of choice.TMC has novelly been accused of weak knowing practices with affinity to the human resource as a result of the recent failure to spot technical issues, Sullivan (2010)In Sullivans view point, yield and recognition, training, hiring, the performance management bidding, the corporate gloss, leadership development, staff retention and risk appraisal all contributed to TMCs downfall.The company certainly has a very rigorous hiring litigate and practically only recruit those who have had higher grades and are smart. But it can be argued that intelligence isnt always the key, particularly in an pains that is influenced by changing technologies and competition.The aim of recruiting should include making the organisation lovely to potential candidates by being the employer of choice where people are not only valued but want to be part of the organisation. This whitethorn be difficult for TMC as being a Japanese company involve adopt ing a culture of bureaucracy which ultimately usurps the structure of the company as a whole.Introducing flexible working hours in the UK for example and where in general men are employed, hiring women could all assist in this sector. Still, it remains managers think over to examine the spatial relation and identify alternative options in order to achieve market advantage.Armstrong suggested that learning programmes and training schemes should be developed in order to increase employability both inside and byside the organisation.To deal with the challenges faced by training, TMC introduced lean training where all police squad leaders work together to produce a new assume.When producing Corolla for instance, TMC brought a squad leader from each of their operating regions and together, they worked in 12 different assembly points around the world which reduced the number of working hours by 30%. (Toyota Annual Report, 2009)In addition, the company has a website that allows all its squad members to take part in self training sessions which include weekly and location based trainings locations. (TMC Sustainability Report, 2009)However effective and efficient is this process of recruiting and training, the relationship between individuals who are brought to work together is crucial to the intended success. police squadworkTeamwork is an important aspect of an effective management of people and therefore represents a critical component of any process of project implementation.It defines the relation between individual and other external parties as well as being dependent on each other in their particular t affects. There is reliability on the individual capability. (Tarricone et al, 2002) more importantly, team up members all have different skills and each contribute toward the organisations well-disposed culture and vision. (Gibson et al, 1980)Theories and Concepts of TeamworkTuckman (1965) presented a surmise of four different stagecoachs of class de velopment that he get ahead developed by adding a fifth stage after its popularity in 1970. The first four stages are delineate by the guidance in the development and behaviour of the team members.performing PerformingNormingFocus on the Task FormingStorming Storming figure of speechure 3.1 The Different Stages of sort out festering ejaculate Adapted from Tuckman (1965)In the organisational context, the success of teamwork leave behind depend on peoples ability to communicate within the team as well as their commitment to achieving the tasks in question. Contrary to this view, a project team force have different characteristics which allow them to accomplish their task in unanimity with the given time and budget. As well as being richly involved, team members have to keep their manager aware of the issues, changes, risks and quality improvement.Gibson et al (1980) were adamant that communication and involvement are two different characteristics and that all that matters was the target or task that was required to be achieved by the team.The adjacent attributes were discussed by Tarricone et al (2002) in the same interest of finding out what represented a self-made teamwork.Attributes of Team WorkTeamWorkInterpedentlyIndividualSkills self-reliance of communicat-ion and suggestionfeedbackCommitmentTo teamTeam sizeCommitment to team and shared GoalsFigure 3.2 The Six Attributes of a successful Teamwork (Adapted graph)TMC and TeamworkTMC refers to each of its employee as team member. To them, making customers happy is directly linked to how well they work together as a team.While this partly relate to Tarricone and Lucas (2002) 6 attributes of teamwork, particularly where team work and commitment are invadeed, people have different competencies and as mentioned by Francis et al (1979), wouldnt it be easier if everyone focused on their given tasks? Or maybe TMC has found that taking care of each other, Critchley et al (1986) and respecting each other i s primordial.We can still question TMCs communication and feedback standards because of the guidance they use from their recruitment to the training where strict rules are used.Harris et al (1996) outlined this in saying that members must have the right to bring their feeling with move to the work being carried out. over again, it is the managements trick to not only give adequate direction, but in addition divide the job among the members darn making sure they are not just following commemorate rules but contributing individually.It is clear that TMC challenges its employees. For example, the company believes that respecting and trusting it people ordain ultimately mean that they will give 100% of output. They also declare that everything cant be done through machines and therefore human force is important. Thats why the company motivates it team members by trusting them and given them business in order to fulfil their objectives.However, being a corporate company involves having low tolerance in terms of mistakes. TMC is currently at the centre of coarse allegations regarding quality issues involving their recent cars. They have taken actions to correct these issues but could this be related to team members working under too much pressure? Is TMC too consumer driven? Or maybe the culture of the company which evolve around the Toyota Production system is in assume of restructuring. The fifth stage of Tuckmans (1965) theory particularly represents this as being the split of the pigeonholing after fulfilment of their purpose. In Tuckmans (1965) view, moving on is helpful to the team members as it creates a sense of recognition.What is obvious is that TMC understands teamwork and refers to it as its foundation. The next take in represents an example of how teams are formed in TMC.Team SizeTeam Member5-8Team Leader3-4Group Leader5-85-8Asst. Manager4-10Smallest Group4TLs18 TMsLargest Group5 TLs23 TMsManagerFigure 3.3 natural Toyota Organization Asse mbly OperationSource Bill Constantino, former group leader, Toyota, Georgetown.While other organisations use highly skilled employees to find solutions to day to day issues such as quality of products, maintenance of equipment etc, TMCs system (see calculate 3.3) allows employees to do thing differently. Work groups are responsible for solving problems that eliminate and have many responsibilities including carrying out monthly planning in conjure for quality production, scheduling etc.Another example of teamwork in TMC is where experts select two or three members depending on how many people are take for the task and each member has to learn every job to allow rotation. The company believes that this way no member gets the load of work and the system runs smoothly while motivating employees.TMC and Change ManagementThe management of TMC spotted the need for change from an early stage and has ever since been up(a) the companys productivity, quality, customer service etc.The com pany cultivates the leadership and teams styles change culture as well as growth to devise the strategy of what they refer to as The Toyota Way or the 14 Principles of Management. (Liker, 2004)This is also explained by the 4P model of The Toyota Way (Liker, 2004), where he highlights the Philosophy, Process, People and Partners and Problem Solving as a way of improvement and uniqueness of TPS. These 4Ps also constitute the 14 principles of management.Fig 3.4 A 4PModel of The Toyota WaySource Adapted from Liker (2004)However, change has its issues and most organisations demoralize to realise this when they are hit by competition or often bankruptcy. TMC experienced this in 1950 when the company encountered bankruptcy and began changing its culture.As accepted by Bridges (1995) with his transitional model of change, often dramatic change is needed in order to survive in a competitive market place. TMC accepted the challenge to survive in the US market and started working towards the companys vision by motivating and inspiring its employees. As a result of leading the globular market, the company introduced the Prius in 1997.Change is part of TMCs leadership as well as being environmentally pally when making cars and despite the current crisis facing all automobile makers, TMC remains a leader deriving from change as their main culture. lead and MotivationBoth leadership and demand have emerged as some of the most important aspects of an effective management of people and referred to as two elements that complement each other.In the twenty-first century, government activitys are seeing leaders as those who set direction, has clear vision, inspire and motivate teams in achieving tasks. in one case motivated, employees begin to prioritize organizational goals and culture, thus encouraging change and it adherence.TMCs leaders ApproachTMC doesnt follow a set of rules but preferably exercises very unique set and start outes that set them apart from others. T hey believe in edifice employees strengths as well as building car. (Liker, 2004)Chemers, (1997) referred to leadership as a common task where people support one another. Hiebert et al (2001) on the other hand associated leadership with interpersonal relationship and corporate strategy.At TMC, Managers involve their subordinates into the thinking process which also reflect part of McGregors (1960) Theory-Y (participative style), and modify themselves to situations depending on the project, or resources available which is reflected in Fiedlers (1967) approach. Fiedler (1997) further highlighted the environment as being the principal factor that influences leadership. He referred to this as contingency theory and placed leadership styles in two categories, task-oriented or relationship-oriented and situations in high-favourable and low-favourable. He came to the conclusion that task-oriented leaders perform more effectively and that when the level of situation favourability was inte rmediate, relationship-oriented leaders performed better.The leadership doctrine at TMC can be represented by the 2-dimentional leadership matrix of The Toyota Way, (Liker, 2004) where leadership styles have been divided into four types Bureaucratic Manager, Group Facilitator, Task Master and Builder of Learning Organizations.Again we can distinguish similarities here to that of the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid (1964) where the organization man manager shows the ability to balance between organizations goals and peoples needs. John Adairs (1973) Action-Centered leaders Model proposed that a good leader must perform following 3 main responsibilities.Figure 4.1 The Action-Centered Leadership ModelSource Adair (1973)A good leader in Adairs (1973) point of view is the one who create balance between these three circles.TMC achieves performance by giving greatness to both production and people (team), but in doing so people and production needs are left unfulfilled. This is almost a acute way of telling people what to do as represented by the next graph.Figure 4.2 The TMC Leadership ModelSource Liker (2004, P. 196)Liker (2004) associated The Toyota way with that of the organisation that is building a learning organisation which nurtures the abilities and motive level of its team and plans ahead in order to get the maximum out of employees. This has so far resulted in them setting example to many organisations by adding values to their existing culture.The 4P model of The Toyota Way studied by Liker (2004) put people on the third level from the bottom up along with long vision of the companys goals and adequate knowledge of technical and management skills.This is all well but we can argue that the primary goal as well as injecting that vision and knowledge to people should also include pose people at the very meridian since without them nothing is possible. Such an approach will allow employees to feel even more part of the company, motivates them further a nd enables them to put a maximum effort in order to achieve a longer-term success.However, at TMC, leaders encourage and respect position and decision making capabilities of their people working from the very bottom as many of them recognized having started at the bottom. (Gertner, 2007)Deriving from Fiedlers Theory (1967) and Adairs Model (1973), development of usual trust and respect are very important to TMCs management relation which is the primary key to HRM practices in the 21st century. (Toyotas CSR Initiatives, 2010)TMCs Motivational ApproachFor most organisations, the ultimate goal is to make the employees work at their full potentials and this cannot be achieved easily as every individual is motivated differently.The concept of penury has been developed by many scholars over the years. Fritz Heider (1972) developed two concepts of motif which were Intrinsic and Extrinsic and which he believed were driven by the factors including employees attribution, beliefs and desire s.Similarly, Maxwell (2008) discussed motivation factors where he associated needs, values and goals to peoples level of production.Figure 4.3 Employment Motivational FactorsSource Maxwell (2008)TMC is constantly committed to making improvements rather than just responding to problems that occur. The management develops friendly relationship within the teams and recognises their improvement. As a result, 94% of ideas in the company are adopted.For a Japanese company which guaranties life time employment, this is an obvious expectation because it allows internal promotion and develops motivation.However, motivation is a concept that changes with time and research on dynamic motivation carried out by Herzberg (1987) in his Dual Structure Theory pointed out that the diversity of motivation distinguishes between motivators (challenges) and hygiene factors (job security).But how important is job security in the 21st century? It is clear that being made redundant is no longer a threat and bigger organisations like TMC need to work harder in motivating and retaining their employees particularly in an age where competition and changes in the environment are part of their day to day lives.Heider (1972) believed that intrinsic motivation was driven by employees own self-esteem rather than financial reward which is often short lived and costly, while the extrinsic concept was influenced by the outside.Other factors were studied by Maslow (1954) in his Need Hierarchy Theory where he highlighted human needs as being very important and need to be satisfied if advancement was to be made possible. Agreeing with McGregor (1960) and Heider (1972), Maslow found notes the least important.TMC recognises employees companionship and money isnt used as motivator. At least not from what we have seen from their recruitment, selection and training strategies and team work structure.For any project implementation purposes, managers will need to further develop the process of working to gether by perhaps understanding employees needs rather than those of the organisation. This can assist in promoting motivation and therefore adhere to the organisations ethnic implications which are becoming more homogenous in todays business environment. This also presuppose an understanding of employees own culture and context.TMC and Cross-Cultural IssuesTaylor in the twentieth century, studied how employers can increase their workers efficiency and decrease waste, later referred to as Muda by Japanese. TMC with their Toyota Production System champions this culture as well as what the company refers to as Kaizen which means team.Although Kaizen happens to be the improvement of Toyotas culture, it differs from the philosophy of see to it and Control. The methodology of Kaizen is based upon monitoring results and making changes.TMC employs the very best people and trains them on cross training issues. By doing so, managers believe they are removing any problems from the root. Bu t people are different and being a ball-shaped company implies employing people who are heathenishly different. This therefore raises another concern about how diverse TMC really is.As earlier discussed, TMC is a global company still mainly run by its Japan headquarters. Its top leadership does not include foreign executives. This has resulted in slow problem solving of recent crisis of product defects.The National Highway Traffic rubber eraser Administration (NHTSA) recently stated that the heart of Toyotas issues lies in its secretive corporate culture in Japan. (Financial Times, 3rd March 2010, P. 22)The interesting debate on these recent quality issues which is linked to the cross-cultural training and consultation factors is that TMC focuses on their Kaizen concept, which is eliminating problems whilst Americans and other Western consumers focus on the transparency concept which is based on the freedom of information.Either way, organisations can hardly avoid mistakes. It is how managers hatch these issues that determine their future.So far TMC has proven its success deriving from its leadership culture which has resulted inPromoting innovation and creativity as well as developing new ideas which are recognised by the management.Continuous amplification allowing TMC to explore foreign markets and achieve constancy in the global economy. skill and uniformity of the workforce allowing the maintenance of a respectable level of stability and competitiveness in the business environment.However, limitation of promotion prospect TMC capacity lead to a need to cogitate using more match Quality Management (TQM) which results in rising cost for the company. This can also create inner conflicts considering the current rise in competition. Also, TMC should be remindful of the fear for disappearance of personal identity on the employees side because the volume of ideas are adopted from employees. They are treated as a team which limit their recognition as i ndividual.TMC and DiversitySince the early 1990s, large organisations including TMC have recognised Diversity as being an important aspect of managing people and declared themselves as being committed to equal opportunities. (Cockburn, 1991)Diversity is reflected in TMCs famous respect for people and continuous improvement. Reichenberg (2001) referred to this as a billet that made business sense and the United Nations in particular has embraced this philosophy which further proves the companys efforts.However, being a Japanese company involves certain level of collectivism, which raises concern about TMCs diversity policy. Morrison et al (1991) used Hofstedes (2001) international cultural diversity study to demonstrate organisations relationship with their suppliers and customers and how these can be change by diversity. For instance matching customer diversity to that of the service offered will imply considering ethnic differences which will lead to parties speaking the same lan guage.This fits TMC because as stated by Lichtenthal et al (2001), the company benefits from matching its sales people to demographic attributes of buyers since buyers are more trusting of those who share similar cultural attributes to themselves.Managers often need something to go wrong in order to find that change is necessary and prepare employees to cope with it. Claiborne (2001) discussed Toyotas racist advertisements and this lead the company setting out a $7.8 billion, 10-year diversity program.ConclusionWe have seen that successful people management comes through a process of selection, training, teamwork, leadership, motivation, involvement and participation such that employees feel their needs and interests are being appropriately addressed. When combine with the organisations own requirements for achieving efficiency and effectiveness, this emphasises the need for managers to provide leadership which is characterised by both strong task and relationship orientations.Bot h leadership and motivation go hand in hand because for any form of task to succeed, a leader with motivational skills is needed in order to get results.TMC is an clear promoter of Diversity and contributes in areas such as education, safety among youth people and programs such as Toyota Teen Driver, Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD), sponsors events for non-profit organizations like YMCA, National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) etc.However, in the 21st century, managers are faced with many other challenges including uncertainty and constant changes in technologies which all affect the implementation of projects and human resource development.One ought to ask if TMC has remained stock in the 20th century with the classical thinking where member of labour, span of control and line of authority were pioneered by Fayol et al.This is certainly reflected in the companys team work strategy earlier discussed. Also, although employees have a massive input in TMCs success, how far a re they allowed to disagree with the proposed goal of the organisation as discussed by McNabb et al (1995)?Perhaps the structure and success of TMC shows a different picture which promotes a learning organisation with their Lean study and The Toyota Way. But how flexible is TMC when it comes to employees? And are the companys leaders born or construct?The answer ultimately lies somewhere in the middle as TMC has had miscellaneous success stories and the management is able to provide the environmental support needed to motivate employees toward the achievement of their vision.To lead an adequate change as proposed by Kotter in 1995 with his eight stage model, managers are faced with understanding the importance of employees need, vision, communication, empowerment and culture.Implementing project will therefore involve the identification of the micro-processes that affect the day to day formal and informal life of employee, Cornelius (2003). Or with regard to change management, th ere need to be a clear line between people and the organisation as proposed by Fisher,2005.RecommendationsAs discussed, managers are faced with several issues when dealing with implementation of projects in general. Making these issues controllable will require TMC to rethink its structure and level of control when it comes to team work.It could be that the Japanese culture which is often too reliant on employees efforts needs a different leadership style which will allow the company to meet international competitive requirements as they affect the organisations overall success.In terms of coping with the turbulent external environment, TMC should perhaps consider recognising individuals for themselves rather than the group. They can begin this change in African countries where they have a small percentage of market shares.TMC promotes many of its current employees from inside the company. While this is good for keeping the companys visions and values, employing managers from outs ide might facilitate obtaining more open minded and goal oriented employees.This is particularly needed now when questions are being raised about TMCs public relation and see to it due to the companys recent defect issues.