The Toyota’s Culture

Toyota culture : Toyota Motor Corporation is considered as the world’s largest automobile manufacturer . And Toyota’s culture is consider as one of the determinants of its success. Therefore Toyota culture is very famous. Specific Toyota’s culture is condensed The Toyota Way. The Toyota Way is a set of principles and behaviors that underlie the Toyota Motor Corporation’s managerial approach and production system. It has two parts : 1 – The first part is called “ The Toyota Way 2001”. It consists of 5 principles in two key areas: continuous improvement, and respect for people. The Toyota Way 2001” is illustrated by the following house : The Toyota Way 2001 We can realize that the Toyota Way 2001 house has two pillars are Continous Improvement and Respect for People. All Toyota members, at every level, are expected to use these values in their daily work and interactions. 1. 1 – Respect for People is a broad commitment. It means respect for all people touched by Toyota including employees, customers, investors, suppliers, dealers, the communities in which Toyota operates and society at large.

It has two sub-calegories : – Respect : we respect others, make every effort to understand each other, take responsibility and do our best to build mutual trust. – Teamwork : we stimulate personal professional growth, share the opportunities of development and maximize individual and team performance. 1. 2 – Continuous Improvement is defined as “we are never satisfied with where we are and always improve our business by putting forth our best ideas and efforts”.

It has three sub categories to complete the house : – Challenge : we form a long-term vision meeting challenges with courage and creativity to realize our dream. – Kaizen : we improve our business operations continuously, always driving for innovation and evolution. – Genchi Genbutsu : we believe in going to the source to find the facts to make correct decisions, build consensus and achieve goals at our best speed. 2 –

The second part includes 14 principles that are found out by experts, and are divided into 4 section : 2. 1 Section I : Long-Term Philosophy is Principle 1 : Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals. 2. 2 Section II — The Right Process Will Produce the Right Results includes from principle 2 to principle 8. – Principle 2 : Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface. – Principle 3 : Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction. – Principle 4 : Level out the workload ( heijunka ). ( Work like the tortoise, not the hare ). – Principle 5 : Build a culture of stopping the production line to fix problems, to get quality right the first time. Principle 6 : Standardized tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment. – Principle 7 : Use visual control so no problems are hidden. – Principle 8 : Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes.

2. 3 Section III — Add Value to the Organization by Developing Your People includes from principle 9 to principle 11 : – Principle 9 : Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others. Principle 10 : Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy. – Principle 11 : Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve. 2. 4 Section IV — Continuously Solving Root Problems Drives Organizational Learning includes from principle 12 to principle 14 : – Principle 12 : Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation ( Genchi Genbutsu ). – Principle 13 : Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly ( nemawashi ). Principle 14 : Become a learning organization through relentless reflection ( hanse i) and continuous improvement ( kaizen ). Beside “ The Toyota Way 2001” and 14 principles that is covered above, the Toyota culture is also dominated by Japaneses working culture. For example, they favor senior ; they work hard and play hard, they venerate the business card…. All of them make success of Toyota Motor Corporation. They are values gold principle that we should study.