Operational Management of Toyota

This assignment provides an in-depth analysis of the operational management practices of Toyota, highlighting its unique approach to business operations, management strategies, and quality control methods. The report discusses how Toyota's 'Toyota way' provides a competitive advantage in the market, and how its managers play a crucial role in implementing this approach. The document also examines various external factors that influence operational management decisions, such as economic environment, shareholders, CSR activities, legal environment, and miscellaneous factors.

INTRODUCTION
Management and operation is the backbone of every organization that helps managers
to achieve their goals prior to the set defined time. Managers have to deal with the
complexity of an organization. They need to plan and organize everything according to
time and implement the plan in most efficient manner. They are responsible for the
outcome of the result of the plan so they have to coordinate and control very precisely.
The present report reveals around Toyota Motor Company. Toyota is the world’s
largest automobile manufacturer with a market capitalization exceeding that of General
Motors, Ford, Daimler Chrysler and Honda. Toyota core business is the manufacturing
of automobile and parts of the heavy industry. They have a presence in more than 170
countries. In this global era, company leader plays an important role in quality decision
making process. With help of his vision and skills, a manager can observe the
performance of their employees, which is required in the globally competitive era. This
assignment will focus on several aspects that affect decision-making process of Toyota
directly and indirectly (Caniani and et. al. 2015).
TASK 1
P1 Different roles and characteristics of a modern leader and a manager in
general context.
Definitions of leader:
“A person or thing that holds a dominant or superior position within its field, and is
able to exercise a high degree of control or influence over others. See also leadership’.
(Businessdictionary.com)
“Leadership is great men and women with certain preferred traits influencing
followers to do what the leaders wish in order to achieve group/organizational goals
that reflect excellence defined as some kind of higher level effectiveness''.
(urbandictionary.com, 2018)
Definitions of manager:

“An individual who is in charge of a certain group of tasks, or a certain subset of a
company. A manager often has a staff of people who report to him or her.
As an example, a restaurant will often have a front-of-house manager who helps the
patrons, and supervises the hosts; or a specific office project can have a manager,
known simply as the project manager. Certain departments within a company
designate their managers, depending upon the function of the department”.
(Businessdictionary.com)
“A person responsible for controlling or administering an organization or group of
staff'' (oxforddictionaries.com, 2018).
It is a basic task of managers and leaders of Toyota to keep an eye on all activities of
the corporation to obtain all objectives efficiently. Leadership and management are
two pillars of a company’s growth and excellence. Without them, the company will
never reach the new heights.
Leadership is a process where everything is done intentionally in order to fulfill and
facilitate activities and relationships in a group or organization. A leader has to give the
direction to its employee so that everybody works with the same vision. Effective
leaders should be visionaries and should inspire everybody. This is what everybody
sees in an effective leader.
Management involves organizing staff people and resource to achieve the required
objective. Managers have to control the employee working under them and they have
to make it sure that company gets the required work from the employee (Expósito and
et. al., 2016). Managers should trust their employees to be involved in the decision-
making process instead of excluding them.
According to Morgan, the modern manager must have five important qualities,
including the:
 Follow from the front: Lead the employee from the front in order to
ensure the employee success.
 Understand technology: Be more technologically aware so that no
challenge come while communication with labour

 Lead by example: Being more transparent, honest, courageous, open
so that everybody can feel comfortable.
 Embrace vulnerability: Even if he is vulnerable, he should not
show it to other people, he should always have this "shield".
 Belief in sharing: Should believe in sharing information and
collective intelligence. (Morgan, 2018)
The interrelation between Managerial role and traits
The above figure shows the interrelation between the managerial roles and the factors,
which affect its decision. As one can see personality and experience of an individual
directly affects the managerial roles and managerial capabilities. But in order to make it
more effective one should understand the global complexity and various other factors
associated with it.
The responsibilities performed by management to accomplish their goals are stated as
follows:
 Organising: - seniors should treat everybody equally and should distribute task
irrespective of their color and religion.

 Staffing: -The HR should hire the people and should assign the responsibilities
according to their current skills and knowledge.
 Coordinating: - Adequate information should be provided to every individual
so that the task can be accomplished more efficiently (Fayol, 2016). This ways
coordination between the employees will also prosper thereby make in the healthy
working environment for the labors.
Controlling: -Superiors should always examine the employee so that they can
understand whether the employee will do the assigned work on the given deadlines or
not. This helps them take actions if any deviation comes from the standard.
Managers and leaders are not same as they have these differences.
Manager Leader
Formation of strategies and plans are done by
managers
They are leaders and thus direct the lower level
employee
Managers should know the requirement of the
employees so that proper sessions can be
conducted in order to improve their capabilities
Leaders should determine proper channels
through which they can make their sub
employee more efficient.
They should be aware of the skills and
knowledge of their employee so that the work
assigned to them is according to their caliber.
They are illustrative of the firm and they should
take the decision very quickly.
P2 Application of roles of leaders and function of managers in different situations
Managing is all about coping complexity and therefore establishing control and
predictability, whereas leadership is about coping with and promoting change and
adaptability. They perform their role of directing their subordinates and taking care that

organizational goals and objectives are accomplished efficiently. Consistency,
commitment, dependability, and respect are obligations of strong leaders. In Toyota,
superiors are able to attain their target because they care about their clients. Toyota has
applied different strategies to bring changes in the policies of the company. Operational
department has reported a subsequent drop in cost and increasing, manufacturing
production of the unit.
The strategy formation of a leader starts with the vision and then thinking and a lot of
brainstorming and finally it establishes a culture where everyone knows what to do,
what are the values of the firm. Everyone should clearly understand the need for
change and the motto of strategy and try to reflect flexible behavior for proper strategic
planning. It is important for the leader to handle it carefully because there is always a
tendency of people to resist change and with proper planning and convincing a leader
can make it sure that everybody follows him. Leaders should always adopt a realistic
approach than a literal approach to identify the strategic gaps. For effective
implementation, a leader has to make it sure that people understand why there is a need
for change. That is only possible by creating an environment that integrates the
strategic and operational activities. A leader can also evaluate the work by creating an
evaluation system that evaluates the strategy at every stage of the work within the
organization. Leadership basically influences three areas of organization the vision, the
strategies and the values. It knows what are the risks and returns of a particular change.
These are some situations in which both manager and leader are required to perform
their role, which is stated as follows:
 Delegation of authority: Seniors should equally divide the roles and
responsibilities among their lower level collegues so that they can always feel that they
have an important role in the company. This enhances the efficiency of the employee
as they now work more hard to attain the present goals. Proper formulation of
strategies should be done so that they can be easily understandable. The manager
should provide duties to their workers according to their skills so that they are able to
complete it on time efficiently. And if the work is divided, then because of the variety

they can learn skills more efficiently. Firm are used autocratic leadership theory instant
of demoralises in order to manage all business activities in an effective manner.
 Decision-making process: It is necessary for manager of the company to take
judgment in an appropriate manner, as this will help them into their success and
development. Both leader and manager play an eminent part in this. Managers should
trust employees to be involved in the decision-making process instead of excluding
them They should take help of their subordinates into this because it involves all level
of employee. Along with his, they will become more punctual and will finish their
work on time. (Morschett, Schramm-Klein, and Zentes, 2015). Employees who have a
voice in decision-making tend to promote changes in their work environment place. As
a result, the firm will able to improve their market share effectually. In decision making
situations management by objectives theory are help to develop effective decision
which provide power.
 Employee engagement: Workers are considered as an important part of every
type of organization as they aid them to attain their vision and goals within a specific
period of time. Managers are responsible for accomplishing tasks through the
employees who report to it them. Effective managers should motivate their employee
to achieve measurable short-term goals. Coordination between manager and leader
should also be there so that they will complete their task effectually. Superior needs to
take help from their employee so that they all can work on the same goal. In order to
enhance employees engagement toward work, management want to used autocratic
leadership style thus help to manage all employees with in an organisation in an
effective ways.
 Training and development: It is must for manager of the enterprise to find out
the requirement of a training session at the workplace. This helps to improve working
efficiencies of staff members. As a result, unwanted cost and wastage will get reduced.
Along with, it helps to improve their skills and knowledge, which aid them to complete
work with maximum effectiveness (White, 2016). Moreover, subordinates still need
further training and practice in giving constructive feedback, so the first assessments
should be quite objective and should include various valuable comments from top

managers. They must lead with confidence and knowledge while also implementing
evidence-based practices. In this situations transformation style are used, trough this
HR manager are change training program according to employee's needs and wants.
Thus enhance productivity of each one workers effectively.
 Proper use of resources: - One of the most important duties of a manager is
effectively using an organization’s resources. This duty involves assigning roles to
various individuals and manipulating human resources, as well as efficiently allocating
the organization’s financial, technological, and natural resources. With the proper use
of resources the company can easily maximize the profit and thus can give more bi\
onus and benefit to its clients. In this situations participative theory are used because
proper utilisation of resources are possible when all employees to gather take part in
this planning and completing their own work effectively to save resources.
Therefore, it has been observed that managers and leaders are much important part of
an organization and help to achieve targets and objectives efficiently. This aids
organization to take benefits from its competitors and become make leader within a
few years.
P3 Application of diffOrderN_A593281524797605erent theories and models of
leadership approach
In an effort to understand the complex phenomenon of leadership, over the years,
there have been developed approaches and models of leadership. Superiors are required
to encourage their members so that they carry out activities through which organization
is able to enhance their position in the market (Thaler, Priest and Fuchs, 2016).
Manager of Toyota apply these theories in their system to make their company work
efficiently:
Situational leadership theory: It emphasizes the behavior of the leaders regarding
different situations. It arose due to the lack of success regarding the identification of

efficient leadership style, which gave birth to the idea of the situation which later
proved to be an effective and specific style of leadership. It is an important method in
which superiors employees perform their duties according to market situations. They
are made flexible so that they can be called to work any time. In Toyota, executives are
utilizing opportunities by fulfilling their customer’s requirements. Managers in Toyota
make their system more efficient so that they can get the best out of the present
scenario. For example: Hershey and Blanchard situational leadership.
Advantage: It help leaders to completing task according to given situations as well as work in an
effective manner.
Disadvantage: It can not help to manage all employees because future situations can not predict
easily.
Contingency leadership theory: In the contingency leadership theory, a new method
of calculation was introduced by a man named fielder, which gave a term called LPC
which stands for Least Preferred Co-worker which his used to measure the leadership
effectiveness of a leader. With the help of LPC Orientation, personality traits can be
measured. The scale contains 1 to 8 ratings for the leader of the individual with whom
the leader may work (Nassiri and et. al., 2016). To get at the best scale of 1, the leader
should be able to make appropriate decisions, the leader should evaluate each situation
whether they are able to attain desired results or not. The leader should be able to solve
problems and find solutions so that they are able to deal with emergencies. For Fiddlers’
contingency theory.
Advantage: It help to take decision according to current environment and management know that no
one strategies in appropriate, so that they develop new plan according to needs and wants.
Disadvantage: It can not help take appropriate decision.
System leadership theory: The collaborative leadership in a company of network of
people in different places and at different levels in the system creates a shared endeavor
to make a significant change. Here executives should provide complete information
about their work to their superiors so that they are able to perform their duties properly.
While there is a lot of learning, there is no fixed template or agreed way of doing
things. Superiors should take care of external and internal factors while designing

strategies and policies so that it does not become difficult for anybody. They should
apply tools and techniques in such a way that they are able to handle complexities of
the system and solve out problems.
Advantage: It focus of achieving goals and objectives as well as uniform decision making process.
Disadvantage: It can not be always practical and lead to delays in decision making process, their
nature are not define properly.
In Toyota superior have adopted a Democratic style in their organization to support
their employees by encouraging and motivating them towards their work so that they
complete their tasks with deadlines.
TASK2
P4 Key approaches to operations management and role of Toyota leader and
manager
It is important for seniors of Toyota to give training and development to their
manpower so they can serve their clients in a proficient manner. This will lead to better
production and in addition, it will attract more business towards the company (Nassiri
and et. al., 2016). There are some techniques that a manager has to apply in their
organization in order to become more efficient. These are described beneath: Six Sigma: It is a standard that is to be provided to those organizations
that accomplishes all aspects of customer satisfaction with the context of
control, defines improvement, measure and analyze. The main purpose of
six sigma is to reduce the factors causing errors and defects which affects
total production. It also indicates that production is going smoothly and
in a well-planned way.
Toyota got this because if their client relationship terms. Manager of this
association are very efficient and generally are of the top-notch level. Total Quality Management: Organisations who are conducting their
business operations in e-commerce industry or on the surface need to
improvise their services on regular basis. This is because once the service
is improvised, then they can understand the demands of their clients very
well and will thus fulfill every need of the people. This action helps in
gaining the attention of various consumers and with assistance from this

activity, Toyota can take extra benefits like the increased performance of
their workers in all shifts, more financial freedom, competitive
advantages etc.
Lean Production: For making production lean, it mainly includes three steps: -
design, prepares and implementation. The design is where the engineers
do brainstorming to get a finalized product, prepare is to prepare the die
and molds and other paper works and implementation is implementing
all the planning and thinking that has been going on for a long time
(Caniani and et. al., 2015). As every activity could get manage by
managers without making any use of resources, thus it will make the
decision better. This will enable employees to use assets in efficient and
adequate manner. Continuous Improvement: Toyota has various methodologies and
techniques that help their senior management in convincing the people o
the company for the purpose of skill enhancement after conducting the
proper training. Instead of directly directing them to the field, seniors can
take feedbacks from their employee by filling the questionnaire and by
various other methods. This approach can also be used to consumers.
This will provide information about their weaknesses and they will be
able in overcoming them and developing new policies in the result. It
will ensure the growth of the company.
 Kaizen; - It is a new and systematic approach which leads to void proof
systems and it includes rules and regulations to give rise to a healthy
work culture at the organization. The procedure of Kaizen plays a crucial
role in employee and customer satisfaction through small and continuous
changes and eliminating defects, which are indirect. Kaizen tools give
rise to a well-organized work line, which results in better productivity
and brings better results (Fayol, 2016). It also leads to employees who
strongly feel attached towards the organization.
Role of leaders and managers of Toyota in operations management

The leaders play an important role in which they influence the employees to bring
changes in the operations in order to meet the challenges prevailing in the market. It is
their duty to manage their business operations in a manner so that they could gain more
profits and benefits. The managers of Toyota considered the reasons of the increased
cost of manufacturing in the production line and applied the theory to implement some
changes in the operational activities to bring down the cost of the materials and
equipment received from the various parties and accordingly they changed the policies
of the company in production and operation department. With help of managing
activities, they will be able in catering needs and demands of their clients. A manager
needs to formulate some tactics and policies for the company whereas a leader
implements them into action. By executing fine strategies management can increase
their returns and market share along with better productivity. The main role of
managers and leaders of Toyota assign a task to their different staff members as per
their skills and specializations. It is necessary for superiors to use innovative and new
methods into the day-to-day manufacturing services and products.
P5 Importance and value of operations management
It is actually the management of systems or processes that make it sure that
production of goods goes on uninterrupted and/or there is no distraction in services.
The dividing of a company's activities into various categories occurs at the very
initial stage, even if a company is formed and operated by a single individual (Tian
and et. al., 2016). Most companies make a product to sell in the market or produce a
service, which needs to be charged. They also have to carry out sales and marketing
function, an accounting function, and an administrative function to manage
employees and the business as a whole. Operations management majorly focuses on
the process of providing goods that are being made and services that are being given.
Their job is to assure that the production is of good and/or service is of the
company’s standard or not. They apply ideas and technologies and brainstorm to
increase productivity and reduce costs. Toyota has a great strategy o manage all this.
Toyota makes it sure that all the products that are being manufactured are of a

specific global standard and quality. This way they make a strong bond with the
consumers.
We can also take the case of Toyota. The case of Toyota is perfect to explain why
Operations Management is important to all types of business whether it is a
production or manufacturing sector or the company aims to reduce the cost, increase
productivity and time and resource. In order to make sure that the operating profit
remains high, the company aims to make sure that the production go uninterrupted
and the floor lines are always working with a minimum cut of time (White, 2016).
Employees are explained the details and finally, the product is delivered without any
problems. Also, Toyota created an initiative where a low level employee can learn
more skills in order to become a long-term high value employee. This way Toyota
gets high value special expertise employee at low cost and the increased trust of its
employee further adds to its advantage.
Increased profit: -Profit is widely increased if you use proper operation
management technique. Cost of production is reduced to ensure that tangible and
intangible assets both are used efficiently in the organization. Firms make the best
use of its product and services through Operations management. Excellent execution
of workforce, resources and raw materials is what required for the optimized cause
and this can be done by operation management.
Optimized use of assets: - Assets are both tangible and intangible and are the
most important inventory of a production unit. Operation management helps in
optimizing the use of assets by following various strategies. It is the role of
manager to keep an eye on the production line so as to ensure that all the assets
are being used to its full potential.
Increased Performance: - All the five performance characteristics i.e. quality,
speed, dependability, flexibility are greatly affected by the operations manager.
Managers tend to improve them every time by making it sure that everything
goes on line unaffected (Caniani and et. al., 2015). Capacity management,

logistics, inventory management are all included to give an overall boost to
performance.
Healthy relations: -Managers and leaders can appreciate others and be positive
in order maintain a healthy relationship with their employees. With proper
operation management, a manager keeps interest in all the people working on
the line and thus he knows who can do extra work and who cannot. As a
manager, one should not be afraid to ask employees for the feedback of all
kinds. One thing, which anybody can tell, is if the people of the company are
happy then the output of the company will automatically boost to its utmost
point. And in order to make them happy managers should always distribute
reward and bonuses amongst the employee (Expósito and et. al., 2016).
P6 Factors within a Business environment that affect operational
management and decision
There are several factors that affect the quality of judgments of managers.
Some of the factors are as follows: Political environment: - The political environment, which includes the
decision of the on-going government, influences the business of any
country to a greater extent. The political parties, ideology, type, and
extent of bureaucracy influence this political environment. Toyota run their
business activities at international level, so that they face various kind of political
issues in different nation. Because each one country have their own rule and
regulation of international trade. Technological environment: -With ever-increasing technological
advancement in the world, there is a need to change the production
accordingly. Any technological advancement affects the business in a
country. If technological advancement does not happen, then the
company will lag behind in the market and the competitor will take
advantage of it. Thus a manager or a leader should be well averse with
what all is going on technological advancement in the world. The

organization should know about needs and preferences of customers with
help of internet or with the help of any third party consultancy. Toyota
used latest technology at their production so that produce high
commodities for their customers, through this they are able to enhance
customer's satisfaction. So that, management of Toyota take decision
which are related to innovative technology and product modification. Economic environment: - It depends on how bulletproof is country’s
economic system its structures, and economic policies. Sometimes
economic policies are not in the favor of the company. At those time
managers should be able to decide what is best for the company and
should plan accordingly. It is a international organisation so that sell their
product at different location. Economic conditions of that nations has
create positive as well as negative impact on firm. For example, low
income reduce sales volume. So that, administration of Toyota take
appropriate decision to expand as well as produce product according to
nation economy. Shareholders: These are actual owners of company and management
should always take care of them as it the company is feeding on their
money. These funds will be used by company executives in ensuring the
effectiveness of production and other management related activities
(López and et. al., 2015). For making judgments, stakeholders should
always be kept in mind and manager should understand the importance
of stakeholders. Shareholders want higher return on their investment, for
this, management develop strategies in order to run business effective
and produce profits which are appropriate in nature. CSR activities: Corporation must have and should always do the work
that helps in the betterment of the society. They need to make it sure that
their actions are not affecting the social life of people. This brings s the
customer loyalty to the company. Each and every organisation spent

some amount in social development. Management of Toyota take
appropriate decision related to CSR activities. Legal environment: - Legal factors involve how flexible and adaptable
are the law and legal rules of the country that governs the business. It
also includes the exact rulings and decision of the courts. Legal
provisions may also affect the profit depending on the environment of
operation. Each and every country have their own legal rule and
regulation in order to manage all interactional trade. Management of
Toyota also consider all rule to sell product at different nation. For this
they are take appropriate decision to manage multiple regulation in an
effective ways.
 Miscellaneous: -Various other factors such as market and suppliers,
competition, consumers, company staff also affect the decision of
managers and leaders. Sometimes if the suppliers are keeping you on
hold then it affects the production line directly (Loucks and Van Beek,
2017). In those cases, it is quite important to strategize every move so
that you can gain the maximum output from the labour. Competition
sometimes becomes so fierce that even if the product is made with the
best quality then you get lost because of the cheap prices offered by the
online markets.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that operation management is key
factor, which provide competitive advantage at market place. Toyota has its
way called “Toyota way” which includes various business philosophies. It
has introduced many of the world known technological innovation and
quality management concepts like kaizen, time management etc. It is one of
the most important decisions for the company to decide whom they name
managers. With the help of managers, they can easily get the push they need
in order to get way ahead of their competition.