Organisational Behaviour Report: Toyota Motor Corp. vs. Ford Motor Co.

This report provides a comparative analysis of the organizational behavior of Toyota Motor Corporation and Ford Motor Company. It delves into the organizational structures and cultures adopted by both companies, highlighting the impact of these factors on their performance. The report exa...Read More

Organisation Behaviour

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Comparing the organisational culture and structure adopted by Toyota Motor Corporation
with Ford Motor Company..........................................................................................................1
1.2 The impact of organisation's culture and structure on the performance of Toyota Motor
Corporation..................................................................................................................................3
1.3 Factors influencing the individual behaviour at Toyota Motor Corporation.........................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 The comparison of different leadership styles in Toyota Motor Corporation and Ford
Motor Company...........................................................................................................................4
2.2 The impact of organisational theory on the practice of management at Toyota Motor
Corporation..................................................................................................................................5
2.3 Different management approaches used by Toyota Motor Corporation and Ford Motor
Company......................................................................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
3.1 The impact of leadership styles on motivation in Toyota Motor Corporation......................6
3.2 Comparing the applications of different motivational theories within Toyota Motor
Corporation..................................................................................................................................6
3.3 The usefulness of Maslow's hierarchy need theory in relation to Toyota Motor Corporation
.....................................................................................................................................................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
4.1 The nature of groups and group behaviour within Toyota Motor Corporation.....................9
4.2 Factors that promote or inhibits the development of effective team work at Toyota Motor
Corporation..................................................................................................................................9
4.3 The impact of technology on team functioning within Toyota Motor Corporation............10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
In the 21st era of hyper competition and globalisation, it has become a mandatory
phenomenon that each and every organisation should maintain proper standards, culture and
structure in order to achieve the heights of success. Organisational behaviour (OB) assists the
company towards the direction of sustaining long in the corporate global market. It helps to gain
an in-depth understanding about the activities and nature of employees within the workplace.
Moreover, OB plays a crucial role in motivating the staff and maintaining strong interrelations
within the company (Cloud, 2010).
The present report highlights the comparison of different organisational structure and
culture adopted by Toyota Motor Corporation and Ford Motor Company in the corporate world.
These are the leading auto mobile manufacturer companies in the field of assembling,
manufacturing, designing and selling of passenger cars across the world. The report focuses on
gaining an insight knowledge about various management and leadership approaches followed by
the above mentioned companies. Apart from this, the present case file also lays a significant
concern over developing measures for establishing an effective teamwork within the
organisation.
TASK 1
1.1 Comparing the organisational culture and structure adopted by Toyota Motor Corporation
with Ford Motor Company
The organisational structure adopted by Toyota Motor Corporation is based on different
business units of the company around the globe. It implements such a structure which helps the
corporation to accomplish its organisational goal by executing a strategic direction towards
achieving success in the long run. Currently, the said organisation undertakes a divisional
organisational structure. According to such a structure, the company lays its major concern over
work distribution and work specification to each of its departments which broadly include
marketing, sales, engineering, production and finance departments. It helps the company in
gaining product specialisation along with a systematic decision making process within the
workplace. Apart from this, such an organisational culture helps Toyota Motor Corporation to
make a strong, common and exotic culture which contributes to boost the morale of the
employees along with enhancing the knowledge of particular portfolio field (Gronn, 2009). The
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company's new organisational culture is efficient enough in order to overcome the major
challenges of traditional culture of the organisation. The main features of divisional
organisational culture includes the following-
 Global hierarchy
 Product & service based divisions
 Perfectly managed organisational system
Besides such a fascinating and flawless organisational structure, Toyota Motor
Corporation implements an exotic and impressive work culture within the organisation. It makes
an extensive use of its organisational culture to enhance and maximise the efficiency and
effectiveness of its human resource abilities which results in innovation and creativity in the
work place. It also helps the concerned company to gain an effective problem solving support
along with strong decision making authority (Riding and Rayner, 2013). The following are the
characteristics disclosed by the current work culture of Toyota Motor Corporation-
 Effective teamwork
 Regular enhancement through impressive learning
 High quality work
By analysing the organisational culture and structure of Toyota Motor Corporation, the
report now focuses on examining the work structure and culture of Ford Motor Company. The
said company undertakes corporate hierarchy structure to attain global exposure. The overall
company's structure in such a case is directly related to the global conditions of automotive
industry. The structure of such a company focuses on controlling and meeting the extreme needs
and demands of the existing market conditions (Suppiah and Sandhu, 2011). Listed below are the
main characteristics of the company's organisational structure-
 Corporate divisions
 Regional and local geographic hierarchy
 Global operational and functional team
Apart from such an impressive organisational structure, Ford possesses a vibrant culture
in its workplace. Its organisational culture is reflected in the corporation's One Ford plan, which
was executed and implemented under the leadership of Mulally's, the former CEO of company in
2008. According to this plan, the company lays its significant concern over unifying its global
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corporation to attain synergy and consistency. On the basis of this plan, the following are the
essential features of Fords' work culture-
 Fascinating technical, functional and operational excellence
 Impressive team work
 Quality delivery of results
From the above analysis of both the companies' organisation's culture and structures, it
can be seen that with the help of an amazing and flawless structure and culture, the mention
companies are effectively able to render their quality services in the global corporate world
(Sharp, 2008).
1.2 The impact of organisation's culture and structure on the performance of Toyota Motor
Corporation
From the above discussion, it becomes clear that Toyota adopts a divisional
organisational structure in order to achieve higher economies of scale and product specialisation.
It helps the company to focus on a single service or product with an appropriate leadership
structure. Doing this benefits the stated organisation in laying its prime concern over supporting
essential strategic goals and objectives in the line of achieving success. Such a positive
organisational structure lays a significant impact on the overall business performance of the cited
corporation-
 Strong decision making- With the help of such a structure, the said company is able to
respond quickly to regional conditions. The divisional structure provides the decision
making process to be translated downward in the company, which results in improving
and enhancing the organisation's ability to react to local and regional market economy.
 Task processes- The divisional structure benefits the sated company in focusing towards
a particular product or a service in order to gain specialisation and innovation in the
corporate market place (Dwivedi, 2001).
 Effective team work- Such a structure bless the company with an effective and
impressive team work. It helps to implement an appropriate leadership approach that
motivates the employees of Toyota to work with proper coordination and cooperation in
order to achieve the common set of company's goal.
 Communication- The structure lays a positive impact on creating an effective and strong
communication within the workplace. It builds powerful communication channel within
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the company which helps to involve the decisions of employees in the decision making
process effectively (Bissell and Dolan, 2012).
1.3 Factors influencing the individual behaviour at Toyota Motor Corporation
Individual behaviour in the corporate workplace plays a vital role in achieving the
organisation's success. It is very important that the company focuses on developing the
individual behaviour by providing them with essential training and development programmes. It
becomes a mandatory phenomenon for Toyota to critically analyse the individual behaviour and
performance in the organisation and thereafter assign them with major roles and responsibilities.
Following are the factors which influences the individual behaviour at the said corporation- Personality- It varies from individual to individual. It differs on the basis of their skills,
knowledge, temperaments and backgrounds (Aldrich, 2007). On the basis of such
personal traits, the managers of the concerned organisation should assign them with roles
which match their personality. Perception- It reflects an intellectual process where an individual interprets the results
and performs his roles on the basis of such interpretation. This is the core factor which
influences an individual behaviour in the organisation.
 Attitude- The person with positive and strong attitude towards the work should be
appreciated in order to motivate him to work with more dedication (Luthans, 2011). This
will play a vital role in affecting their behaviour in the stated workplace.
TASK 2
2.1 The comparison of different leadership styles in Toyota Motor Corporation and Ford Motor
Company
Implementing and undertaking an appropriate leadership style is crucial for the
organisation. It benefits the company to live long in the hyper competitive environment by
providing a strategic direction towards achieving organisation's success. In context to the present
case scenario, Toyota Motor Corporation implements a participative leadership style. This helps
the concerned company to increase the team involvement thereby attaining a sense of loyalty and
trust from its core employees. This benefits the stated entity to gain quality results and attain
global exposure in the corporate world. However, Ford Motor Company undertakes a
transactional leadership style. This helps the company to encourage and motivate its employees
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and attain productivity in the workplace by providing exotic rewards and fascinating incentives
to its employees to work hard (Yousefpour and et.al. 2012). Doing this benefits the company in
getting the best and high quality outcome from its subordinates.
2.2 The impact of organisational theory on the practice of management at Toyota Motor
Corporation
Toyota Motor Corporation has gained tremendous success in the corporate world by
implementing and undertaking the use of Total Quality Management model in its business
operations. After World War II, the said company faces the crucial challenges of economic
downturn along with high level of consumer in-satisfaction. As a result, the company undertook
the Deming model of management strategy. Adopting such a model helped the cited organisation
to rapidly transforms its scientific management approach to the total quality management system
followed by Deming. Toyota executed an impressive and lean manufacturing and production
system which helped it to enhance its production and get rid of waste (Hess, Jepsen and Dries,
2012). Apart from this, such model also helped the company to maintain its competitive image in
the international market. In assurance to such a fact, the concerned company has significantly
attained the worlds largest position in automotive sector. Despite of its challenging beginnings,
the company has effectively managed and implement operational improvement and quality
management tools to become the leading companies in auto-mobile industry.
2.3 Different management approaches used by Toyota Motor Corporation and Ford Motor
Company
From the above discussion, it becomes clear that Toyota significantly focuses on using
Total Quality Management strategy to enhance its business productivity at each stage. However,
the company faces with the crucial challenge of extensive demand for change in the
organisational culture. Also, it becomes a costly management tool for the stated company as its
implementation requires team development costs, training costs, consultant fees, infrastructural
improvement cost and the like (Kondalkar, 2007).
With regard to all such issues, Ford Motor Company lays its significant concern over
implementing a System Management approach to achieve its set of goals within standard time
phrase. This system benefits the managers of the cited firm to view and analyse the company as a
whole encompassing all the departments like production, finance, HR and marketing
departments. Moreover, such a management approach helps Ford to implement an appropriate
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decision by examining the proper consequences of such a decision on the entire company (Tosi
and Pilati, 2011). An effective implementation of system approach benefits the organisation to
establish an integrated approach towards the path of achieving common goal. However, Ford
also faces with the major drawbacks of such a system which generally includes lack of
universality and unpredictability in the business world.
TASK 3
3.1 The impact of leadership styles on motivation in Toyota Motor Corporation
From the above discussion on undertaking an appropriate leadership style, Toyota laid its
major concern over adopting a participative leadership style. This helped the company to gain
tremendous team involvement thereby attaining a sense of commitment and loyalty from its
employees towards successful completion of their tasks. Such a leadership style benefited the
company to generate the best quality products which helped it to attain global exposure.
Moreover, if the company faces major challenges and lacks the time to involve its
subordinates and co-workers in the decision making process, Ford focuses on implementing a
Democratic leadership style (Robert and Josse, 2007). On the basis of such a style, the leaders
and the managers focuses on giving orders and commands to its staff to get the work done within
proper time phrase. However, such a leadership style creates a negative impact on the minds of
employees and forces them to quit the job.
3.2 Comparing the applications of different motivational theories within Toyota Motor
Corporation
The stated company has the option to implement any of the two motivational theories in
its workplace i.e., either the Maslow's hierarchy need theory or the Herzberg's motivation
theories. Both these theories provides a strategic direction towards achieving employees
motivation and satisfaction within the organisation. According to the Maslow's hierarchy need
theory, the sated company focuses on the various ranges of an individual's need in an
organisation which basically starts from satisfying the lower level needs called physiological
needs(food, shelter and water), safety needs(personal, financial and heath security), the need of
love and belongingness(friendship, family), esteem needs(self esteem or self respect)and finally
self actualization needs(desire to accomplish everything) (French, 2011).
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Illustration 1: Maslow's need hierarchy theory
(Source: Bratton and et.al., 2010)
By implementing such a motivational theory, Toyota with no doubt achieves the highest
level of employee satisfaction and motivation. However, the company may also adopt Herzberg's
motivational theory to meet employee motivation. According to it, the company lays its major
concern over the factors which tend to encourage its employees along with the factors which
forces them to quit their job. All such factors are discussed in the diagram-
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Illustration 2: Herzberg's motivational theory
(Source: Doloriert, Analoui and Sambrook, 2013)
3.3 The usefulness of Maslow's hierarchy need theory in relation to Toyota Motor Corporation
From the above analysis of both the motivational theories, Toyota focuses on
implementing Maslow's hierarchy need theory to attain employee encouragement. This theory
benefited the company in the following ways- Reduced employee turnover- By satisfying each and every needs of employees within
the organisation, the company is able to reduce its employee turnover and retain the best
staff for its work.
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 Effective utilisation of resources- By implementing such a technique, Toyota leads in
making sustainable and effective use of resources which helps it to attain higher
economies of scale (Amo, 2006).
 Motivates employee improvement- By providing its employees with all the amenities
and exotic facilities, it motivates its staff to work hard with positive attitude to achieve
the common set of company's goal.
TASK 4
4.1 The nature of groups and group behaviour within Toyota Motor Corporation
The concerned company normally undertakes both formal and informal groups within its
workplace. Formal groups are those which are bounded by commercial and business norms and
regulations to attain a major task. However, informal groups are formed by the staff on the basis
of their interest, likes and attitudes. Toyota incorporates formal group in order to achieve
business goal in a systematic and effective manner. Simultaneously, it also focuses on
developing informal groups to enhance the social relationship among its employees (Hebb,
2002). This motivates the staff to build strong and positive relations in the workplace which
helps them to work with full dedication to achieve the company's goal.
4.2 Factors that promote or inhibits the development of effective team work at Toyota Motor
Corporation
Listed below are the major factors which promotes the development of an effective team
work in Toyota- Group size- The stated company should estimate the size of its group and should employ
equal number of employees on every group. Doing this would help the company to gain
best results with less conflicts. Group norms- Toyota should lays its major concern over developing norms and
regulations for particular group. This would result in getting the work done with positive
aspect and with less disputes (Jokinen, Brewster and Suutari, 2008).
 Skills and ability- In order to develop an effective team work, the said organisation
should undertake various training sessions to enhance the skills and knowledge of its
employees. This will help the company to increase its productivity and sales thereby
increasing its overall revenue.
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4.3 The impact of technology on team functioning within Toyota Motor Corporation
Technology plays a vital role in enhancing the team functioning within the company.
Toyota lays its significant concern over adopting well advanced technology in order to maintain
its competitive image in the world market. With the help of using updated technology, the cited
company gains various advantages which aids it in achieving organisation's success. By using
such advanced technology, the said organisation is able to enhance its work processes and build
strong global and cross-cultural teams. This provides the company to improve its productivity
and gain worldwide exposure within the standard time phrase (Riding and Rayner, 2013).
However, with all such advantages the company should also focus on the cost of implementing
such technology and should adopt cost effective machinery to manufacture its products.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that Toyota implements an appropriate
organisational behaviour to achieve the heights of success. The report also helps to gain an
insight knowledge about various motivational theory executed by the concerned company to
encourage its employees. Apart from this, the report focuses on different management and
leadership styles undertaken by Toyota in comparison with Ford Motor Company.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Amo, B. W., 2006. The influence from corporate entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship on
white-collar workers' employee innovation behaviour. International journal of innovation
and learning. 3(3). pp.284-298.
Bissell, G. and Dolan, P., 2012. Organisational Behaviour for Social Work. Policy Press.
Bratton, J. and et.al., 2010.Work and organizational behaviour. Palgrave Macmillan.
Cloud, R. C., 2010. Epilogue: Change leadership and leadership development. New Directions
for Community Colleges. 3(149). pp.73-79.
Doloriert, C. H., Analoui, B. D. and Sambrook, S., 2013. Leadership and knowledge
management in UK ICT organisations. Journal of Management Development. 32(1). pp.4
– 17.
Dwivedi, R. S., 2001. Human Relations and Organisational Behaviour. Macmillan.
French, R., 2011. Organizational Behaviour. John Wiley & Sons.
Gronn, P., 2009. Leadership configurations. Leadership. 5(3). pp.381-394.
Hebb, O. D., 2002. The Organization of Behavior: A Neuropsychological Theory. Taylor &
Francis.
Hess, N., Jepsen, D. M. and Dries, N., 2012. Career and employer change in the age of the
‘boundaryless’ career. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 81(2). pp.280-288.
Jokinen, T., Brewster, C. and Suutari, V., 2008. Career capital during international work
experiences: Contrasting self-initiated expatriate experiences and assigned expatriation.
The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 19(6). pp.979-998.
Luthans, F., 2011. Organizational behaviour: An evidence-based approach. New
Riding, R. and Rayner, S., 2013. Cognitive styles and learning strategies: Understanding style
differences in learning and behavior. Routledge.
Robert, D. and Josse, D., 2007. Signaling and screening of workers’ motivation. Journal of
Economic Behaviour & Organization. 62. Pp. 605–624.
Sharp, T. P., 2008. Job satisfaction among psychiatric registered nurses in New England. Journal
of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 15(5). pp.374-378.
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Suppiah, V. and Sandhu, S. M., 2011. Organisational culture's influence on tacit knowledge‐
sharing behaviour. Journal of Knowledge Management. 15(3). pp.462 – 477.
Tosi, L. S. and Pilati, M., 2011. Managing Organizational Behaviour: Individuals, Teams,
Organization and Management. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Yousefpour, R. and et.al. 2012. A review of decision-making approaches to handle uncertainty
and risk in adaptive forest management under climate change. Annals of Forest Science.
69(1). pp.1-15.
Online
Kondalkar, G. V., 2007. Organizational Behaviour. [PDF]. Available through:
<http://www.iibms.org/pdf/Ebooks/Organizational%20Behaviour.pdf>. [Accessed on 4th
April 2016].
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