Organisational Leadership and Performance - Toyota Corporation - Case Study Example

In spite of the fact that culture is a strong force that works beyond people’s awareness, scholars have differed in their opinions on how they perceive its effect on an organization. As a result, this disparity in opinions has led to abounding organizational culture literatures emerging. According to Hartnell, Ou & Kinicki (2011), an online database search yielded an estimate of 4600 articles on this topic. The fact that it works beyond individual awareness stresses for the need to understand how it affects the operations of different organizations and also how they can be manifested in organization. Many administrators do not understand the aspect of culture in organizations. According to Alvesson (2012) even though many well-known managers claim to understand the importance of culture to an organization, in many instances they do not understand how employees accomplish their day to day activities in relation to culture. Although it operates beyond individual awareness, organizational culture can be controlled and developed. Schein (2010) and Mobley et al., (2005) argue that culture has an effect on the success of an organization. Therefore, the success of an organization can be achieved through the creation of good organizational culture. This however does not imply that there is a specific culture that can be adopted by all organizations to succeed. Therefore, different organizations have varying cultures. Even for organizations in the same line of operation or industry differ in their cultures (Gillis & IABC, 2011). Understanding the culture of an organizations is one of the most important management facets and it helps in unravelling the puzzles of operation in any organization. It is not only important in the understanding of baffling experiences in an organization but also it helps in the understanding of how employees relate to each other within the organization. As Alvesson (2012) highlights, understanding the life of an organization is important because it helps the managers to come up with solutions of common problems such as poor communication and relationship amongst the employees. Although the culture of one organization may vary from that of another, culture expresses itself in similar ways. As it has been mentioned earlier, culture has received much attention due to its complexity. However, most scholars are in agreement with most of the aspects such as ways of manifestations. Schein (2009) classifies these manifestations of culture in an organization into three tiers; espoused values, basic assumptions and artifacts. Artifacts comprises of those elements which can be seen, heard and felt (Schein, 2009). Culture of a certain organization mostly expresses itself through artifacts (Detert, et al., 2000). Artifacts comprises of slogans, rituals, mode of dressing, language, stories, behaviours, ceremonies, rituals and legends (Detert, et al., 2000; Mobley et al, 2005). The culture of an organization can be altered through the change of these artifacts. These cultural manifestation artifacts are generally the activities that people involve themselves in a particular organization and also what they say. Therefore, these cultural manifestation artifacts are either physical (what people do when confronted with a given situation), behavioural (how they react to a given situation) and verbal (what they say). As argued by Dyer (1982) a certain group’s culture can be manifested from these three major groupings of elements; verbal, physical and behavioural. The physical elements of manifestation of culture are mainly observable elements such as technologies adopted by the firm. Verbal manifestations comprises mainly of words of mouth such as myths, stories, language and tales (Robbins & Coulter, 2007; Schein, 2009). Behavioural elements of manifestation comprises of things such as; behaviour, dressing style and ceremonies in a certain organization. Despite the fact that artifacts are extensively covered in literature, it is important to note that underlying these are the espoused values and underlying assumptions shared by the employees in which the culture of the organization is defined (Mobley et al, 2005). The espoused values unlike the artifacts, cannot be visualized (Phillips & Gully, 2011). For instance, an ethical value that members of a certain organization are required to adhere to and has been posted at the entrance of each office is an example of an espoused value. On the other hand, underlying assumptions develop from values and they are normally not noticeable with ease (Schein, 2009). They are normally taken for granted and people are normally unaware of their existence. Generally they form the deepest organizational culture level. Schein (2009) tries to explain what underlying assumptions are by use of an example. During a crisis, an organization will be come up with a strategic plan to counteract the crisis. If the plan succeeds upon its implementation, it develops to be a shared value. In future, if the same crisis occurs the same plan will be reused to avert the dangers of crisis. When the same is repeated, the value turns out to be an underlying assumption (Schein, 2009). The three levels form a culture of an organization. Artifacts are easily noticeable because they can be seen, heard or felt. Culture of my Organization: Toyota Corporation Toyota Motor Corporation an automobile company founded in 1937, is currently the world leader in the manufacture and sale of automobiles. It is headquartered in Japan. The company boasts its global existence with 54 manufacturing plants and its presence in 28 countries. Similar culture is exhibited in all the plants. There common elements that describes Toyota Corporation’s culture are teamwork, democratic leadership, open communication, reward scheme for exemplary performance and unique conflict resolution. Teamwork is one major element of culture in the company. All exercises in the organization are guided by the rationality of collaboration (Toyota, 2015). This reasoning works over all levels of administration. The goal of this is to make shared trust and appreciation amongst the workers (Toyota, 2015). Flat pecking order is likewise a typical thing in all the branches of Toyota. In this authoritative structure, sixty seven percent of workers are line specialists, fourteen percent of them are group pioneers, four percent fall in the section of group leaders and fourteen percent are heads (Howard, 1998). These divisions into groups is an offered to upgrade adaptability and great correspondence (Toyota, 2015). Outstandingly, every one of these groups running from management to line workers get equal treatment. Those workers falling into the groups of management don't get any additional advantages (Howard, 1998). Notwithstanding this, specialists in every one of the group work autonomously with least impedance from the administration. If there should arise an occurrence of an error over the span of work, a representative is not subjected to corrective measures. Rather, the group chiefs take the errand of prompting the representative and mix-up be taken as a learning background. This fair authority of freedom has helped in building up its imaginative culture and rouses the workers to work. Open two way correspondence is additionally a typical part of all its branches (Howard, 1998). Employees are required to share their thoughts and give their perspectives through discussions sorted out at all levels. Workers are relied upon to take care of their issues inside of their groups and if the issues are intricate, they channel them to the administration (Howard, 1998). Critical thinking at all levels is finished with the assistance of a chose "arbiter" who conveys the groups' perspectives. The administration team is constantly accessible to predict the exercises of the group and take care of their issues. Vitally, choices are made upon an understanding struck by both sides. The work calendar also expresses the unique culture of this company. Specialists start their errand at Toyota Company at half past six in some branches and 7:00 am for others and closures at fifteen minutes to four o'clock from Monday to Friday (TMMC, 2015). However, this schedule may vary depending on the branch (TMMC, 2015). Employees are relied upon to rotate in every one of the errands in the mornings and evenings while rehashing the same assignments in more or less at regular intervals. There is a tight calendar displayed by steady work of two and quarter hours with no break in the middle. An interview with a portion of the representatives working at one of Toyota Company branches uncovered the upsetting workplace in every one of the workplaces (Besser, 1996). One specialist talked with summed up the whole workplace at this company and straightforwardly said that one is required to die for the company and consequently be remunerated well. Effects of Organizational Culture on the Company Researchers such as Shahzad (2012) and Detert et al. (2000) have contended that culture is key driver to the performance of an organization. In this regard, a number of firms have incredibly profit by it. In any case, this has not generally been the situation for a few organizations. A percentage of the organizations have fizzled due to their bad culture. Thus, an organization can either fail or succeed depending on its culture. As earlier mentioned, numerous researchers contend that good culture has constructive outcomes on the performance of a firm. A few studies have demonstrated this recommendation. In a research study involving thirty four organizations in America, findings indicated that organizational culture and organizational performance are related (Denison, 1990). This is in concurrence with what different researchers have contended. Vast majority of the researchers argue that culture helps the company to remain competitive in the contemporary times of stiff competition (Shahzad 2012). A couple of researchers, for example, Rousseau (1990) can't help contradicting this and they contend that there is no relationship between culture and the performance of an organization. They argue that, the relationship between performance and organizational culture still stays indistinct and this is reflected by the differing findings from a few studies which show an immediate relationship while others don't. With regards to Toyota Corporation, workers make their choices and this enhances the feeling of being an integral part of the whole organization. Such aspects make employees dedicate themselves for the success of an organization. Shahzad (2012) argues that organizational culture can help in the enhancement of togetherness amongst the employees thus making them feel that they are an integral part of the organization. It is very obvious that all tasks in Toyota Corporation are overseen by workers themselves. Workers take care of their issues at their particular levels. Organizational culture acts as a social paste that aides in uniting the workers and make them feel they are integral part of the organization (Shahzad, 2012). According to Robbins & Coulter (2007), organizational culture creates commitment amongst the employees. By having a strong culture, workers share some essential values, for example, diligent work and responsibility which are vital for the organizational performance. This is in accordance with Shahzad's (2012) contention that execution of any organization is dependent on how the workers share the values of their organizational culture. At the point when there is a high level of sharing, the organizational performance will likewise increment essentially. Different researchers do concur with the thought of organizational culture for enhancing company's competitive advantage (Shahzad, 2012). Trust and freedom are important values deemed to be helpful to any organization. Employees in the Toyota Company are free to do anything they feel could help the company. To enhance trust and freedom inside of the organization, the organization workers have been encouraged to work in teams and groups. These groups help in problem solving and communication of new ideas. This enhances the innovative culture. According to Robbins & Coulter (2007), innovative culture can be enhanced through openness, freedom, risk taking and conflict resolution. Besides freedom and openness, workers are not punished for their wrongs. Instead they are encouraged to resolve their issues within their teams. Workers are also allowed to share their perspectives about diverse regular issues. Trust and openness is additionally improved through adaptable time for work. In spite of having positive results, culture on the other hand may have a few hindrances to an organization. Resistance to change is one of the major setback of culture. Once in a while, changes were essential in a few divisions and it became a challenge to transform from the old methods of accomplishing tasks. Phillips & Gully (2011) argue that organizational culture is a hindrance to change and it can be contrasted with magic that binds everything inside the company. Toyota Corporation has been forced to recall some of its products as a result of their defectiveness. This can be credited to its culture of making workers calendar being tight and they are not given any time to internalize. Conclusion In conclusion, in spite of having detrimental effects, organizational culture has beneficial outcomes which exceed the negative ones. Toyota Corporation has succeeded because of its robust culture. Every year, the company introduces new car models and this is attributed to the flexibility of articulation of thoughts with least impedance from authority. Success is also attributed to the teamwork and cooperation. Teamwork culture can be reflected by numerous elements of expression of culture discussed earlier. The company also recognizes the importance of social responsibility which is a clear show of ethicality. References Alvesson, M. (2012). Understanding Organizational Culture. California: SAGE Publications. Besser, T. L. (1996). Transplanting the Toyota Culture to the Camry Plant in Kentucky. SUNY Press. Detert, J. R., Schroeder. R. G. & Mauriel, J. J. (2000). A Framework for Linking Culture and Improvement Initiatives in Organizations. Academy of Management Review, 25(4): 850-863. Dyer, G. W. (1982). Culture in Organizations: A Case Study and Analysis. Cambridge: MIT Press. Gillis, T. & IABC. (2011). The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication: A Guide to Internal Communication, Public Relations, Marketing, and Leadership. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Hartnell, C. A., Ou, A. Y. & Kinicki, A. (2011). Organizational Culture and Organizational Effectiveness: A Meta-analytic investigation of the Competing values framework’s Theoretical Suppositions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96: 677-694. Howard, S. (1998). Team Toyota: Transplanting the Toyota Culture to the Camry Plant in Kentucky. Journal of Labor Research, 19(2): 419-422. Mobley, W. H., Wang, L. & Fang, K. (2005). Organizational Culture: Measuring and developing it in Your Organization. The Link: 11- 20. Phillips, J. M. & Gully, S. M. (2011). Organizational Behavior: Tools for Success. New York: Cengage Learning. Schein, E. H. (2009). The Corporate Culture Survival Guide. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership (ed 4). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Shahzad, F. (2012). Impact of Organizational Culture on Organizational performance: An Overview. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3(9): 975-985. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc (TMMC). (2015). Production Team. [Online]. Available from < http://www.tmmc.ca/en/production-team.html> [Accessed on 30th July 2015]. Toyota. (2015). Our Culture. [Online]. Available from [Accessed on 29 July 2015] Robbins, S. P., & Coulter, M. (2007). Organisational culture and environment: The constraints. In Management, (9th ed., pp. 86-111). New Jersey: Pearson International Edition. Read More