Case Study for MGMT
The Case Study “Did Toyota’s Culture Cause Its Problems?” illustrates the slow reaction to safety problems and the arrogant culture of
Toyota regarding the issue of unintended acceleration (Robbins &Judge
2013). The key issues in the case study are the arrogant culture of
Toyota, miscommunication, groupthink and poor human resource management. The problems in Toyota began with the recall of 10000
Laxus Cars in 2000 (Finch 2010, p 475), followed by a series of recalls for different models in 2010 (Robbins & Judge 2013). These recalls associated with the unintended acceleration gave birth to lots of questions regarding the countermeasures of Toyota towards safety and the culture of the organization. The
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Intra-organizational communication occurs inside of an organization which generally engages organizational members (Clegg et al. 2011). In case of
Toyota, when the problems associated with unintended acceleration arose, Toyota reacted slowly to the problems and failed to find the real cause of the crisis (Finch 2010, p.474). Later a quality advisory panel developed by Akio Toyoda, the president of Toyota, stated that the flaws created by the unintended acceleration damaged information sharing and miscommunication and slowed down response time to quality and safety issues (Ohnsman 2011, cited in Taneja, Pryor, Sewell
2012, p. 128). This provides a clean example of Toyota having miscommunication within the company.
Mass communication problem was also evident in Toyota. Mass communication reaches many receivers from one point(Clegg et al.
2011), thus helps to build strong relationships with key Stakeholders
(Clegg et al. 2011). But, in Toyota, the corporate leaders did not have the courage to face the public for several weeks on critical safety issues, therefore, they risked the trust of Toyota’s dealers and customers worldwide’ (Heller and Darling 2011, p.11). This justifies poor mass communication in Toyota.
Human Resource Management
The lack of skilled Human Resource Management was noticeable throughout the Toyota crisis. Human Resource
GM is described as an organization with a dysfunctional company culture that somehow still manages to have amazing results in its work, on a global scale. The key attributes of GM, were primarily in the changes initiated by Mary Barra after the GM ignition switch recall crisis. Some of those attributes include her willingness to openly acknowledge the undesirable aspects of the GM culture and her efforts to take action towards a resolution. There are also several noticeable strengths and weaknesses within the organization. One of the biggest weaknesses is the company’s repeated inability to acknowledge that, lack of functional culture and leadership are truly the root cause of the company’s issues. Based on my reading I would describe the current behavioral organizational model as a Custodial Model. I chose this model because the managerial orientation is money, employee orientation is security and benefits and performance results are passive cooperation. All of these attributes were described in the reading.
Hitchcock Automotive Services owns Puente Hills Toyota (PHT), which is a privately held company. In addition to, Hitchcock Automotive Services owning Puente Hills Toyota, they also own two other Toyota dealerships, a Volkswagen, Ford, Hyundai, and BMW dealership, all located in California. Puente Hills Toyota was a large Toyota dealership with about $85 million in annual sales. PHT employs around 145 employees and was awarded several excellent performance awards, including the Toyota’s President Award for overall excellence for the past 13 years (Merchant & Van der Stede, 2012). The dealership’s organizational structure was similar to those of others within the industry, other than they combined the new and used vehicle sales department. This organizational structure worked with Hitchcock Automotive Service’s philosophy of keeping manufacturers and customers happy. (Merchant & Van der Stede, 2012)
Toyota was thought to be the best quality car in the 1970s and 1980s but, due to Japanese competition, American car manufactures soon began to close the rankings gap. At the top of their game in 2010, Toyota had to stop manufacturing and order a large recall of automobiles. While leadership was probably considered great at the height of Toyota’s success, changes were obviously needed during the recall period and management needed to be as adaptable to those changing conditions. The only thing regarded as permanent in a market economy is change
MGM Resorts International ( MGM) is a Fortune 500 company traded on the NYSE in the complex and unpredictable industry of gaming and hospitality. MGM is one of the leading global hospitality companies with a portfolio of 15 wholly owned resorts and gaming properties located in Nevada, Mississippi, and Michigan and 50 percent stakes in four additional properties in the US and China ( Exhibit 1). With approximately 45,000 full time employees, the company has an enterprise value of $ 18.09 billion and 2010 revenues of more than $ 6 billion ( Exhibit 2). It is the third largest revenue generating company in its industry. MGM believes its success is due to its reputation for delivering high quality gaming and luxury services and
Toyota recognizes the impact their products have on the environment, and have taken the initiative to combat these issues. Through improvements in environmental information availability, active participation in environmental policies focusing on sustainable facilities and product developments, and self-criticism/evaluation to find flaws in critical operation tasks Toyota has become a role model in the automotive industry (Corporate Planning Div. 31).
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A. (TMM) is deviating from the standard assembly line principle of jidoka in an attempt to avoid expenses incurred from stopping the production line for seat quality defects. This deviation has contributed to the inability to identify the root cause of the problem, which has led to decreased run ratios on the line and an excess of defective automobiles in the overflow lot for multiple days. If this problem isn’t fixed quickly, an increased amount of waste will continue to be incurred and customer value will be threatened.
During March 1999, Brazilian Carlos Ghosn took over as the first non-Japanese Chief Operating Officer of Nissan, when Nissan had been incurring losses for seven of the prior eight years. Many of the industry analysts expected a culture clash between the French leadership style and his new Japanese employees. Analysts said, because the financial situation at Nissan had become critical so the decision to bring Ghosn in came at the worst possible time. The continuing losses were resulting in debts (approximately $22 billion) that were shaking the confidence of suppliers and financiers alike. Furthermore, the Nissan brand was weakening in the minds of consumers due to a product
On the other hand, Toyota also uses external recruitment methods to recruit the best qualified candidate. Internet, social media, newspaper advertisements and magazines are some of the methods that Toyota use. Jobstreet, Toyota’s website and newspaper are the most commonly known for Toyota recruitment methods in Malaysia. Applicants can go into Toyota’s website to submit their resumes. This method is one of the most effective recruitment methods known for Toyota worldwide (Toyota Global). However, the advantage of using the external recruitment is that Toyota can hire new employees who are fresh in energy and full of new ideas which can help them to accomplish competitive advantage through their employees (Draft, 2010).
BMW (U.S) Holding Corporation is a franchise of the high-end performance based global automotive company BMW. For the first time in its history, BMW is to launch its first American made car, the BMW Z3 Roadster. Having only made cars in Germany, this time the car is to be assembled in Spartanburg, South Carolina. BMW’s objective is to expand its market share in the U.S., make the brand name more global and improve its dealer network. With this in mind, the company developed a two phases launch plan for the BMW Z3 Roadster.
It is clear that the Japanese culture heavily influences Toyota as its ‘way’ which is based on teamwork, respect for people and mutual trust, continuous improvement and learning and long term thinking which are all feature of a collectivist culture
Toyota always believed that strategic long-term view must be taken to drive, enhance, and cultivate business growth. This long-term commitment is focused on what is best for the customer and reinforces the belief that Toyota's focus starts and ultimately ends with its customer base. Toyota puts its long-term commitment to its business objectives ahead of short-term financial gains, a strategic element both Airbus and Boeing have clearly neglected, much to their detriment. This has been amply demonstrated by the well-chronicled downward slides in production levels. As demonstrated by these production slides, both Airbus and Boeing have underestimated the absolute need to cultivate, align and integrate their global supply chain partners into