Global Leadership and Management at Toyota: A Post-Recall Analysis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Toyota's global leadership and management practices, particularly in the context of the 2010 brand recall crisis. It explores the characteristics of successful global leadership, emphasizing cultural cognizance, effective communication, and inclusiveness. The report delves into the challenges Toyota faced, including the impact of the recall on its brand image and customer trust. It examines Toyota's leadership approach, highlighting its lean leadership development model and its commitment to employee retention and diversity. The report further analyzes the factors affecting Toyota's global leadership success, such as leadership diversification, strategic management, and employee motivation through objective-based team training. It concludes by showcasing how Toyota overcame the crisis through strategic changes, employee engagement, and a renewed focus on quality and inclusivity, ultimately solidifying its position as a leading global car manufacturer. The report uses references from various sources to validate the claims.

Global Leadership and
Management in Toyota
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Introduction
 Teams and organizations at global level are diverse and thus, require a different
approach in managing them
 These teams and organizations need to be managed in a more holistic manner which
is inclusive of understanding the culture of the people, their thought process and how
they approach the organization in terms of solution
 This case is of Toyota and its global management changes post 2010 recall

Global Leadership
A successful global leadership is brought about when the people of the organization are
happy, and feel respected for their diversity and differences with the local workforce.
Following are some traits of a good global leadership:
 Cultural cognizance
 Proper communication with all employees
 Vast network
 Inclusiveness and ability to take everyone together (Steers and shim 2013)

The 2010 Brand Recall Crisis
 Toyota recalled 3.8 million vehicles in
2009 because of manufacturing defects
in the floor mats that trapped
accelerator pedals. These recalls were
triggered by a car collision in August
2009 that took the lives of four people.
 This recall hit the brand image severely,
so much so that people lost faith in the
company and instantly switched to
other car manufacturers such as GM
and Volkswagen (Kelly 2012)

Toyota Leadership
 The leadership at Toyota is defined and established by its Chairman as, “Toyota has
succeeded largely because of its steady step-by-step progression and a passion for
quality.”
 it is because of this vision and approach of the Chairman of Toyota, Mr. Akio Toyoda
that the company has been successful over all these years (Steers and Shim, 2013)
 Toyota used a lean leadership development model to manage a diverse workforce and
ensuring that the company does not fall apart in this pursuit

(Durnez, 2012)

Global Leadership in Toyota
 Toyota has set new levels of global leadership and management in its organization by
ensuring a safe and inclusive workplace which respects diversity in all forms and ways
 Toyota has retained its spot as a top global car manufacturer simply because it is able
to sustain its operations all around the world by maintaining a trusted team of
employees who are just as interested in running the team ahead
 Toyota has witnessed growth across all the sections and has also focused on working
in retaining the employees and understanding their needs

Global Leadership in Toyota
 Toyota functions on the Japanese values of inclusiveness and understanding according
to which it is important to look forward to long term associations and retaining people
by fostering such relationships which will help the company work with loyal and hard
working employees
 This is also one of the reasons that Toyota, even though experienced a minor slump in
its manufacturing, it was able to rise and shine and completely reinvent itself as a new
company altogether

Factors Affecting Global Leadership
and Management
There are several factors which affect the global leadership success for an organization. For
Toyota, following are the factors:
 Leadership
 Strategic management
 Productivity and efficiency
 Focus on developing proper work flow
These factors were actually not on sync in Toyota in 2010 because of which the company
sank because of faulty production. However, after rectification and undertaking new
approaches the situation got well

Leadership
 After the 2010 debacle of Toyota, the company decided to diversify its leadership by
getting more experienced and energetic people on the board to lead the team with
their experience and energy
 They are also bringing more women on board to truly make the organization diverse
and inclusive, and to motivate employees further (Khazan 2019)

Strategic Management
 Change management is another essential requirement for global management.
Companies keep undergoing changes in their work due to simple issues such as
changes in environment, government policies, employees not accepting change and so
much more.
 Toyota focused on creating such a working machinery which allowed it to focus more
on productivity and growth
 These change management techniques were important, and were carried out by
properly communicating change and adhering to the requirements of the organization
at that time

Overcoming the 2010 Brand Recall
Crisis
 Employee were extremely demotivated and saw a dip in their moral level, which
ultimately affected their working as well. Toyota had to take some important and quick
measures to manage this situation in a diverse workforce. Toyota implemented a
global motivation theory: objective-based team training. This theory worked effectively
and allowed Toyota to work better with the employees