Management & Operations - Toyota Assignment

Management &
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
1: Introduction on organisation and its management structure...................................................3
2: Definition the roles of managers and leaders as well as the differences between
management and leadership........................................................................................................4
3: Analysis of the different roles of management and leadership in application to different
organisational situations, supported by theories and concepts....................................................5
4: Evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to leadership and
management to draw conclusions that support theories of leadership........................................6
5: Conclusions on how managers and leaders have made an impact on the organisation and
recommendations for future improvements................................................................................7
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................7
1. Introduction to the key operations of the chosen organisation...............................................7
2. Define key operational functions and identify roles and responsibilities of managers in
operational functions...................................................................................................................8
3. Explanation of the key operational approaches to operations management and their value...9
4. Evaluate how external factors influence the decision of manager or leader ........................10
5.How to improve operational efficiencies to meet business objectives using appropriate
management and leadership approaches...................................................................................11
6. Conclusion and supported recommendations for future improvements in organisation.......11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCE ................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations is the core business function used to manage the processing
of goods and services to achieve desirable outcome. Production of goods and services involve
management function like planning, coordinating and controlling the resources (Ashford, Coutu
and Beasley, 2013). This report involves the discussion on Toyota that is Japan's multinational
automotive manufacturer. It provides employment to large pools of employee worldwide and in
term of revenue, it is sixth largest company in world. First part of report contains introduction on
management structure of Toyota along with roles of both manager and leader in different
organisation situation. Second task contains key operational functions and approaches to
operation management. Lastly, discussion will be made on how operation efficiency can improve
to successfully meet business objective by using appropriate leadership and management
theories.
TASK 1
1 Introduction on organisation and its management structure
Toyota is one of the largest manufacturer of automobiles in the world. Its headquarter is
in Japan city. Toyota Company has gained huge share and became market leader in the sales of
hybrid electric vehicle and hydrogen fuel cell. Toyota pays a lot of attention in its operational
activity that includes maintaining quality, inventory management, capacity design, and supply
chain management and so on.
Initially respective company has adopted centralised structure. Under centralised
structure all decision making power strictly resides in the hand of top-level management (Brown
and Bessant, 2013). Similarly, all decision regarding Toyota like assigning task to management
as well as employees was made in the headquarter of Toyota that is Japan (Toyota Company
Hierarchy, 2018). Later on Toyota faced many issues due to centralised structure like delay in
decision-making and restricted communication among internal members of company. Then
finally, in 2013 Toyota shifted its structure from centralised structure to divisional management
structure in order to expand efficiency of each member and allow specialisation. Apart from this,
divisional structure helped in maintaining global hierarchy that lead to fasten the decision-
making ability, improve efficiency in order to carry out day-to-day operations. Therefore, Toyota
has eight division and head of each division report directly to the headquarter of company.

2: Definition the roles of managers and leaders as well as the differences between management
and leadership
Managers: Manager is the expert who takes a charge to conduct group of task within the
company. Manager's task is to assign certain task or responsibility to employee of its department
with the aim to achieve the goal of organisation (Chiarini and Vagnoni, 2015).
Characteristics of manager: Managers have the ability to direct and lead its team
member in an effective manner. They collect the information from its staff about the
performance and utilise it in favour of respective company.
Role of manager: The role of manager in Toyota it to ensuring compliance with
licensing, hygiene and health & safety. At the same time, they are liable to promote and
marketing the business operations.
Leader: Leaders are the one who hold dominant position within the company by
motivating and influencing the behaviour of other person. Therefore, their foresight vision
inspires others to achieve the common goal of entire team.
Characteristic of leader: Leader plays an important role in all the level of management
with their sound knowledge and creative thinking ability. Moreover, their problem-solving
attitude helps in maintaining cooperation among team members.
Role of leader: Leader's role in Toyota is to shape the effectiveness of team. Maintain
equality in term of wages for allotted task. Moreover, the role of leader is to guide, motivate and
respond immediately to any issue. Thus, this helps personnel to achieve the standards of
organisation.
Basis of difference Management Leadership
Meaning Management of Toyota
perform overall organisational
task from planning until
controlling to conduct
operational activity smoothly.
Leadership is an ability of
individual to influence the
behaviour of subordinate to
achieve the operational goal
(Childe, 2011).
Approach Management of Toyota makes
the plan for the organisation.
Thus, they ensure planning
Leadership set the direction for
an employee. By treating each
employee fairly, ethically and