Leadership, Management, and Operations in Toyota: A Detailed Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management within Toyota's operations. It begins by defining and comparing the roles of leaders and managers, highlighting their distinct responsibilities and functions within an organizational context. The report then explores how these roles are applied in different situations within Toyota, such as implementing new plans and policies or launching new projects. Various leadership theories and models, including the situational leadership approach, are examined. The report also delves into the approaches of operations management, emphasizing the roles of leaders and managers in this domain. It underscores the importance of operations management in achieving business objectives and analyzes the impact of external factors on operations management and decision-making processes. Overall, the report offers a detailed examination of leadership, management, and operations, providing valuable insights into the dynamics of these elements within a multinational corporation like Toyota.

Management and
Operations

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
P1. Define and compare the role of leaders and manager......................................................3
P2 Role of a leader and functions of manager apply in different organisational context......7
P3. Different theories and models of approach......................................................................8
TASK3.............................................................................................................................................9
P4. Approaches of operation management and role of leader and manager in it...................9
P5. Importance of operations management in achieving business objectives......................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P6. Impact of factors of business environment on operations management and decision-
making..................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Operations management is a process inclusive of evaluation, monitoring, review and
control of processes such as manufacturing of offerings of a corporation. It is regarded as a
process that continues from procurement of raw materials till their transformation into completed
goods ready for consumption (White, 2016). Further, this process emphasizes upon the
improvement of quality of services and goods and striving to maintain a balance in revenues and
costs. Leadership and management have a crucial role in shaping the growth and success of
company. The present report is conducted upon analysis of operational management within
Toyota which is a MNC dealing in manufacturing of vehicles. This entity is making use of a
divisional organisational structure having centralised presence. This assignment consists of roles
and characteristics of manager and leader together with the approaches of operations
management. Further, it includes leadership approaches and pest analysis of respective company.
P1. Define and compare the role of leaders and manager.
Managers are leaders are one of the most crucial aspects of the organisations. Each and
every successful business enterprise is required to have an effective and efficient manager who is
accountable for managing and controlling the operations of the company and an effective leader
who is able to motivate people so that they work towards the accomplishment of business goals
and objectives. The manager and leader may appear similar but they are different entities and
have different set of roles and responsibilities to perform.
Manager
Manager is the individual person who is responsible for managing the administration and
directing the staff or group of people so that they work towards the business goals and
objectives. The manager of the Toyota will have different set of roles and functions which are to
be performed.
Role of a manager
Interpersonal role of manager
In the interpersonal role, manager of the Toyota has to perform certain duties and
responsibilities. They will act as figurehead where manager will be treated as symbolic head in
which the duties related to the legal documents will be taken into consideration. They will also
act as a leader where they will work to motivate the people within the organisation and

influencing them to work with full zeal and confidence in order to accomplish the business
mission and vision. They will also act as liaison where managers of Toyota will maintain
contacts from outside the organisation who will be regularly supplying the information to the
people.
Informational role of manager
Manager in all the organisations is needed to perform the informational role where they
are required to gather various contents and substances of other organisations and companies who
are their direct competitors (Tian and et. al., 2015). In this, the manager of Toyota will be
assessing the external business environment. They will also act as disseminator in which the
gathered information will be communicated to the sub ordinates for the purpose like factual
representation, interpretation, etc. so that they will work accordingly. They will also act as
spokes person where they will communicate the information regarding the companies policies,
procedures, strategies, etc. to the outside people.
Decisional role of manager
In an organisation, a manager is required to perform four different roles, namely,
entrepreneur, where they will be responsible for taking risk and initiating their new innovative
idea, resource handler where they are in charge of handling and using the resources effectively
and efficiently. The other roles which will be performed by the manager of the Toyota is
negotiator and disturbance handler.
Functions of a manager
 Planning: This is the first and foremost function of a management where the manager of
Toyota will be responsible for making plans. In this, the manager sets out the mission,
vision for the company and the manner in which they can be achieved.
 Organising: After the preparation of plan, the manager will organise the work and
resources of the organisation. Under this, the manager will delegate the work between the
staff according to their skills and abilities and apart from this it will enhance collaborative
working.
 Staffing: After organising the things, the manager will concentrate on the supply and
demand for the workforce. For this purpose, they will work closely with the human
resource department of the company in order to recruit and select a candidate.

 Directing: This function of management of Toyota, manager will direct their people and
team towards the achievement of business goals and objectives. For this purpose, they
will communicate, motivate, lead them, guide and encourage them to work with full zeal
and confidence.
 Controlling: It is the last function of management where manager of Toyota will review
and check that the objectives are attained as per the executed plans and if any hurdle or
deviation occurs then management will control it and take corrective action.
Leader
Leader in an organisation is responsible for influencing people so that they work towards
the business goals and objectives. They have the potential to convince people in the Toyota so
that they work towards the business goals and objectives.
Role of a leader
 Sets vision: A good and effective leader in a Toyota will influence their employee such
that they will be able to accept the present state of the organisation. Leader sets the
visions and makes people clear about it so that they work in accordance with it.
 Flexibility: A leader is highly flexible in their nature. They are able to makes people
convince about accepting changes because business environment is highly dynamic and
changes are inevitable.
 Build morale: Leader continuously makes people clear the ultimate goal of the company
and is responsible for developing the morale of the employees through effective policies
and programs which will make them effectively and efficiently contribute to meet
business goals.
 Problem solving: In an origination, problem arise at every step and leader in a Toyota is
responsible for identifying the problems and developing reliable solutions for each
problems such that the people will be satisfied and work with free and comfortable mind.
Functions of a leader
 Initiating action: A leader is responsible for initiating actions. They are not dependent
on other and can not only takes the first and foremost step and the decisions must reflect
the real thinking. By doing this, the leader is able to run the future courses of actions.
 Act as a link between management and sub ordinates: A leader has a crucial function
to perform. They act as link between the management of the Toyota and worker where

the leader transmits the vision of the company to the workers and problems faced by
workers to the top level management.
 Motivation: Leader is also accountable to influence and motivate people to work towards
the accomplishment of business goals and objectives. For this, the leader of Toyota will
use financial and non financial motivation techniques like incentives, bonuses, respect,
etc. so that they can encourage people to work in accordance with business goals.
 Team spirit: The leader of Toyota also plays a crucial function of building team spirit. In
this, the leader makes people understand the importance of working in team and the
results given by team is more productive in nature.
Difference between leaders and managers
Basis Leader Manager
Meaning A leader is a person in an
organisation who work for
leading the people to
accomplish business goals and
objectives.
A manager is a person who
manages the business and
makes plans, organises things,
staffing, directs and controls
the different activities.
Formal right A leader has no formal rights
in the organisation.
Manager has a formal rights in
the organisation.
Follower/ subordinate A leader has followers who
follow him due to their
effective leadership styles and
way of working (Thomas and
et. al., 2018).
Managers have various sub
ordinates who work below
them.
Scope A leader has narrow scope
because it is a part of
management.
Manager has a wider scope
because it has different
functions and leader comes
under manager.
Risk taking A leader is a risk taker. Manager controls the risk of
the organisation.
Similarities between leader and manager

Basis Similarities
Business goals and objectives The ultimate goal of leader and manager is to
accomplish the business goals and objectives in
an effective manner (Shabanpour-Haghighi and
Seifi, 2015).
Flexibility Both are flexible in nature and have the ability
to adopt the changes in dynamic business
world.
P2 Role of a leader and functions of manager apply in different organisational context
Toyota is multinational company which is engaged in manufacturing automobile
manufacturer who produce more than 10 million vehicles per year and sells across the world. To
bring company ahead than their rivals, the managers and leaders contributes more through
performing their respective roles and responsibilities in desired manner. While starting any
project, managers and leaders have responsibility to motivate its employees and bringing
maximum output from them. There are different situations which may arised within Toyota that
can be managed and monitored by the managers and leaders if they both having sufficient skills
and knowledge. Here are the some situations within Toyota along with their roles and
responsibilities:-
Implementation of plans and policies: It is a situation when Toyota introduces new
vehicle product in the market with an objective of achieving huge customer base and revenue. It
gets success in market only if the managers and leaders have provided maximum support through
formulating and implementing new plans and policies. The manager is responsible to generate
new and innovative ideas to market the new product so that huge sustainability can be achieved
within minimum time period. For example, adopting social media platform on which maximum
customers are present (Reim and et. al., 2016). Leaders also play an important role in increasing
efficiency of employees by providing them training and development programs so that utilisation
of updated or new digital tools and techniques can be done.
Working on new project- The top management of Toyota decided to launch new product.
For this they decided to manage different resources such as skilled employees, machine,
materials, money etc. as it necessary for company to execute different activities under desired
way. This help with organisation to maintain all aspects as Toyota deal is the market leader of

auto-mobile industry. So it is necessary for them to address its goals for new project with more
efficiency which determine that for new project company develop product that match with
expectation of customers. As in this situation manager is responsible to conduct and operate
different programs that explain whole information or brief about specific project. Similar human
resource will managed by leader. As for new project employee's has to perform new task. So
leader will motivate workforce which increase the performance of their work or task while
manager provide required resources that are necessary to complete the project.
P3. Different theories and models of approach
Situational leadership approach
Situational leadership style is the most flexible model and in this, the leader of the Toyota
can apply any leadership style depending upon the situation. This model is highly adaptable in
nature and is not concerned with the particular. These leaders understand the importance of
changing business environment. This leadership approach creates a common language of
performance, accounts for multi directional influence, enables the leaders to effectively drive the
changes in behaviour.
System leadership approach
System leadership is the approach which will allow the leader of a Toyota to build such
conditions where employees of the company can work productively at all the different levels in
accordance with their skills, knowledge and potential. This approach makes use of sound
philosophies in order to create good and effective leadership, strategy of the company, system
designs and social process. Furthermore, this provides the instruments to the leaders from which
they can forecast the behaviour and attitude of the employees in their organisations.
Contingency leadership approach
The contingency leadership approach is concerned with the style of leadership which is
related to the results that fits best between the leader and a situation. In this approach, the success
of the leader of the Toyota is highly dependent upon the demand created by the situation. In this,
the situation or contingency is characterised by different factors like the relation between the
leader and member, task structure which is related to the particular manner or structure of work
assigned, power of position which refers to the authority of the leader in order to either punish or
recognised the followers (Peng and et. al., 2015).

TASK3
P4. Approaches of operation management and role of leader and manager in it.
Six Sigma
Six Sigma is the technique through which the organisation focuses on maintaining the
quality of their products and services. This is a highly disciplined, numerical based, constant and
result oriented approach which aims to remove the defects and flaws of the products and services
which are offered by the Toyota. The sigma in this represents the standard deviation which is
treated as an assessment in a set of collected data about the process (Parisio, Rikos and Glielmo,
2016). In this, the role of manager will be to apply the six sigma in the practice such that the
company will ensure the standards quality of their products and services. And role of leader will
be to train its employees regarding the usage of this method. Leader will make its employees the
need for adopting this approach because of the greater level of competition and rising cost of
materials. The manager will also use this approach because it will help the management in
improvising the level of efficiency and minimisation of defects. The manager will implement it
with the help of DMAIC approach where d, defines the problem, m measures it, a analyses it, i is
responsible for interpreting the results and c is to establish a proper control.
Total quality management
Total quality management is one of the most crucial approach of operation management
where the focus is on customers and the organisation is involved in regular improvement of their
business operations. It is a structured approach towards the complete structure of the
organisation. It has a strong focus and stress towards the business objectives and ensures that all
the employees work towards the attainment of business objectives and goals by improving the
quality and services of the system. It is very helpful as it enhances the collaborative working
where all the employees works collectively and builds team spirit. In this, the role of a manager
of Toyota will be related to the initiating and implementing the numerous programs of total
quality management which will needs huge amount of investigation and plans. They will also act
as facilitator in the operation of the TQM where they will also be responsible for assisting and
supporting their employees (Nunna and et. al., 2016). The role of manager will also be related to
communicate the benefits and importance of TQM to the other member of the company so that
they work in accordance with. Where leader will also play a crucial role in this, they will
motivate the workforce and encourage them to work for the fulfilment of business objectives and

goals. Leader will identify the kind and type of training needed among the employees and
develop the different training sessions which will enhance the learning power and skills of the
employees. Leader will also focus on regular supervision regarding the deviation and takes
corrective action. At the same time it also communicates with the people and explains them with
the importance of adopting this approach so that they will work with full zeal and confidence in
the company.
P5. Importance of operations management in achieving business objectives
Operations management can be said to be the process largely pertaining to organisational
production process. It constitutes planning, review, monitoring and controlling (Morschett and
et. al., 2015). Toyota makes use of this process to make high quality offerings accessible to
customers prevailing in market place.
Importance of Operations Management
The value of this process within the organisational premise of Toyota is devised as
follows:-
Reduction in costs: Operational management serves as an efficacious tool with the
assistance of which cost of waste is eliminated. Managers ascertain unique ways in which cost
can be reduced and simultaneously quality can be enhanced. The leader of the respected
company motivates personnel with the help of provision of training at frequent intervals.
Raise organisational productivity: This is a crucial aspect which has a huge impact upon
the attainment of goals in any company. This helps in ensuring the execution of tasks in an
efficient manner. The operation manager aims to enhance the productivity of employees which
consequently leads to rise in productivity of Toyota. Leader of this company strives at
developing a positive work atmosphere where employees get motivated to execute tasks in the
desirable manner.
Value of Operations Management in success of business
The approaches like JIT, Six Sigma and TQM helps leader and manager within Toyota to
make sure that this process is executed in an appropriate manner to attain the desired results.
This helps in declining wholesome cost and enhances the productivity of company. The
utilisation of effective approaches provides assistance in attaining the objectives and goals of
corporation timely (López and et. al., 2015).

The principles of Fayol are given below to demonstrate the significance of operations
management. These functions have further been discussed as under:-
Planning: It is a crucial function which provides assistance to the manager of Toyota to
plan in an effective manner to attain the strategic objectives within the stipulated course of time.
Organising: Manager as well as leader must organise their workforce as well as business
processes in an effective and efficient manner. Also activities should be aligned so that
employees in a business concern know what has to be achieved by them.
Commanding: This refers to a process in which managers and leaders guide their
employees. In context of Toyota, managers and leaders need to carefully supervise and guide
their employees so that they may function effectively and help in timely achievement of goals
and objectives (Lindström and et. al., 2015).
Coordinating: This is an important factor which means to work in groups and in
harmonised manner so as to achieve goals and objectives of business. Managers of Toyota
ensure that their employees are effectively trained and work in absolute harmony with each
other.
Controlling: This means to check business processes of an organisation. Managers in
Toyota ensure that activities assigned by them are somewhere aligned or connected with basic
goals and objectives of company. Managers also need to examine if there are any variations in
performance of employees and need to correct them in regard to that.
TASK 4
P6. Impact of factors of business environment on operations management and decision-making
A number of factors pertaining to internal and external environment of business have an
impact on operations management as well as decision-making procedure. It is essential for each
and every organisation operating as a part of corporate world to ascertain and analyse these
factors in order to undertake effective decisions for the timely achievement of goals (Johnstone,
2016). In this regard, the management of Toyota has also conducted this analysis in order to take
essential decisions.
Internal Factors
These are the elements that are a part of organisational premise. These are discussed with
respect to Toyota as follows:-

Shareholders: They have invested in the company with a view to earn huge profits. With
respect to Toyota, manager devise essential policies as well as procedures while the leader works
upon implementing it in the desired manner. If the decisions related to it are effective, more
people will be persuaded to purchase company’s shares.
Corporate Culture: The culture of an organisation incorporates elements such as values,
beliefs, ideologies, perceptions. Leader and management of Toyota enforce a healthy working
atmosphere so that workforce can execute activities effectively. This will help the organisation in
achieving its goals.
Corporate Value: These are the policies or principles that provide guidance to an entity
in relation to the overall conduct. These are omnipresent in vision and mission of Toyota.
Corporate Social Responsibility: This is an essential activity within Toyota where the
entity operates in the interest of society as well as environment. With this, a loyal customer base
can be developed and consequently, the revenues as well as profits of entity will significantly
rise within the global market place (Jabbari-Sabet and et. al., 2016).
Corporate Ethics: Every corporation is required to comply with certain ethical code of
conduct and policies which helps to ensure that organisation does not get indulged in any illegal
or unfair practice.
External Factors
These are those factors which are outside to business premises but possess the power to
influence the business management. Some major external factors have been described with the
help of PEST analysis below:-
Political factors: In context of political factors business concerns like Toyota consider
changes in their policies and decisions in accordance with various political factors and elements.
Economic factors: Economic factors include various elements such as interest rates, tax
rates, export import duty etc. In context of Toyota it has been observed that price of vehicles is
higher in countries where export import rates are higher (Caniani and et. al., 2015).
Social factors: Factors that get affected due to culture or choices of people in a country
are referred to as social factors. The manager of Toyota considers policies that aim towards
choice and preferences of customers. Also they ensure that it does not harm society as a whole.
Technological factors: With inflexion of time, there are various advancements in
technology that need to be taken into consideration by company. Every business organisation has