Toyota's Leadership, Management, and Operational Strategies: A Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Toyota's leadership, management, and operational strategies. It begins by defining operational management and its importance in converting raw materials into finished goods, emphasizing the roles of leaders and managers. The report then focuses on Toyota, examining the characteristics, functions, and accountabilities of leaders and managers within the company. It delves into various leadership and management theories, including transformational, trait, classical, and relationship theories, and their application within Toyota. The assignment further explores specific scenarios within Toyota, such as decision-making and team-building, and how managers and leaders respond to conflict and fast-changing situations. Finally, the report discusses key leadership approaches, including situational, contingency, and system leadership theories, and their impact on Toyota's productivity, adaptability, and overall success. The report uses the example of Toyota to illustrate these concepts and provide a comprehensive understanding of leadership and management in an operational context.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. ..........................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P2. ..........................................................................................................................................6
P3. ..........................................................................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P4............................................................................................................................................8
P5. ........................................................................................................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P6..........................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Process of planning, analysing, controlling and supervising production, distribution as
well as production of goods or services is known as operation management. Main aim of this
process is to successfully turn raw material into finished products and timely deliver these goods.
Along with this, it is also necessary to maintain the quality of goods. Both leader and manager
plays the most important role in this process (Boyd and Dougherty, 2016). This project
assignment is fully depends upon Japanese international auto mobile firm Toyota. Its headquarter
is situated in Toyota city, Tokyo and in Aichi. This report emphasis on the manager as well as
leader characteristics, functions and accountabilities within Toyota. Apart from these, many
theories, approaches as well as models of operational management were discussed below in
relation to Toyota. Along with this, SWOT of different approaches have also mentioned in this
assignment.
TASK 1
P1.
Managers as well as leader plays the most crucial role into success and growth of
company. They are the essential elements of an organisation. By doing their duties in an
effective manner they ensures the profitability of an enterprise.
Leader: It is the person who motivates staff to achieve organisational as well as personal
goal. Leaders of Toyota encourage and influence their staff for the achievement of pre determine
objectives of the company. They also ensure that all the work of a company should complete on
time and also maintain the quality of product (Ellitan, 2017).
Leaders role within respective organisation
Respective organisation leaders ensures that all the task is being carried out in a well
structured plan, so is to maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees.
Along with this, the leaders role is to encourage their employees towards goal of
company , that aids in enhancing the profitability as well as market share.
Leaders characteristics within respective organisation
Respective organisation leaders are allegiant as well as honest for its task ad duty, so
they can influence other people effectively.

Leaders are the person who takes initiative to perform a task, which influences their
followers to join them for completing the same work.
Managers: Manager is the person who have the authority of managing all the work,
which starts from assigning to perform the task well within an organisation. Managers of Toyota
get instructions from top authority and pass it to the subordinates and staff and ensures that the
task is being carried out effectively and effectually.
Role of Managers in Toyota
Major role of the manager of Toyota is to manage and control all the task which is
performed by the staff of the company (Eraki, 2015).
If there is any changes made in Toyota, it is the duty of the manager to pass all the
required and necessary informations to the staff.
Managers of Toyota support their employees in all possible way, which helps them to
achieve the organisational as well as personal goal.
Characteristics of Managers in Toyota
The respective organisation manager have to allot responsibilities as well as task as per
their educational background, ability, knowledge as well as talent of the employee.
The nature of the respective firm manager is flexible which helps them to adopt the
changing environment easily and effectively.
Comparison between Managers and Leaders
Basis of Comparison Managers Leaders
Risk Managers of the Toyota helps
in controlling risk of
organisation (Fan, Liu, and
Zhang, 2015) .
Leaders of the organisation
take risk for the completion of
task.
Authority and power It is the authority of manager
to allot all task to the
employees and they have the
power to control organisational
activities.
Leaders of Toyota has power
to influence employees for the
completion of task.
Subordinates Employees of Toyota are the Followers of the Leader in

subordinates of managers. Toyota are their subordinates.
Leaders and Managers of Toyota use some Leadership and Management theories for the
smooth running of organisation.
LEADERSHIP THEORY:
Transformational theory of leadership: Transformational theory focuses on how
follower are positively changed, motivated and influenced by their leader. Moreover, this is
considered as the procedures in which leaders as well as its subordinates rise one other to
enhance the motivational as well as the morality levels. This theory of leadership used by the
leaders of Toyota to ensure that objectives and goals of the organisation as well as personal goal
of an individual can be achieved in a systematic manner (Han and et. al., 2017).
Trait theory: This is considered as the leadership theory that depends upon the attributes as well
as the behaviours of leader that lead towards its effectualness but this fail in establishing traits
which are ordinary for whole leader. It is the theory which is advantageous for large
organisations in which there are high requirement related to its goods as well as the personnel
productivity have to be possessed rigorously.
MANAGEMENT THEORIES:
Classical theory of Management: According to this management theory, its depends
upon the belief that staff only has physical as well as economic requirements rather than focus
on the profitability of the company. Managers of Toyota, manage all the organisational activity
in such a manner which helps them in increasing the organisational performance and ensure the
sustainability in the competitive marketplace.
Relationship theories: This management theories is considered as the researched belief
which individuals expected to be part of a supportive team which provides growth as well as
improvement. In this theory of the management a effective bond is shared among managers and
their subordinates. This bo0nd aids staff to remain inspired as well as attain the organisational
objectives. Hence, respective firm leaders have to be relationship oriented for motivating its
workers.

TASK 2
P2.
Toyota is largest auto mobile manufacturer and operating the business globally. It is a
company who highly satisfied customers and also built amazing reputation in the market which
helps in covering market share. The reputation of Toyota helps them for increasing their sales
growth and for achieving a goal, managers and leaders plays an very crucial role in it . In
Toyota, managers manage the overall activities which helps in arranging resources, developing a
plan, assigning duties,solving problems and in decision making whereas leaders in Toyota guide
and lead a team member for learning and adopting new things also motivating them for
achieving goal. Managers and leaders both are playing their important role in organisation. In
Toyota two examples are suited in critical situation such as:
Decision-making: Within whole firm the decision taking plays a too much crucial role.
Into Toyota either that is insignificant issues or major issues manager formulate the appropriate
decision on stipulated duration (Idris, 2016). Time is the factor which helps to do a things on
time so, managers handle whole practices at certain period that motivate the members of group
for doing its work on time, which also helps in taking the right decision at right time whereas
leaders in Toyota used the command style because there are many things coming quickly and for
that team wants some instructions for doing it. This kind of style mostly used when the financial
crises arise. These practices helps Toyota for achieving their goals effectively and efficiently.
Team-building: Team building used the steps which helps in motivating team members
and improving an overall performance. In Toyota, managers helps team members through
communication because an employee do their work individually and may not share their
knowledge or ideas with others. So, for the best team work Toyota provides a task or projects to
the whole team for doing work together rather than individual. Whereas leader of Toyota build
trust between their subordinates in a organisation, it makes secrecy an organisation and also
makes positive image in the market. Team-building helps Toyota for doing work together and
achieving organisational goal.
Situation of the firm as well as functions of manager and role of leaders within that:
Conflict situation: This is the condition which happen within respective organisation at
the time of inequality perform according to its religious, belief, category etc. For solving the

situation such as conflict leader as well as manager both play several function so that its worker
carry its project efficaciously. For handling this, contingency is apply by the manager of
respective organisation because it assist the systematized administration of personnel and do
according to their enterprise system. The role of manager is to resolve conflicts which develop
standard as well as set regulation in respect to discrimination at work location. Moreover,
explain difficulty with staff members thereafter proceeds any decisions. Whereas, the leaders
role is to determine the main reason of differences then boost employees for resolve disputes so
this may do work efficacious. In this leader express usage of some leadership theory such as
system because it assists in giving impartial differences declaration proposal according to the
task.
Fast changing situation: It is referring to the modification into condition upon daily
basis within respective organisation which that effect it activities as well as action. So, the
Toyota manager and leaders has to upgrade their plan of action accordingly. Manager can utilize
situational approaches for dealing with with fastest modification into condition. Herein, manager
role is to develop program as well as scheme according to position as well a provide training to
its personnel to complete goals in an efficacious way. To come through the particular
circumstances the manager of the the respective company implies utilization of system
management approach that set effectual frame work to manage happenings into organisation.
The role of the leader within ever modifying enterprises circumstances is to express usage of
situational leadership that assist fastest changing accordant to the surroundings of company. In
this leader focused on encouraging worker so that it can achieve the work efficaciously which
assists in fulfilling TOYOTA goals.
P3.
Leadership is an interpersonal process to influence or persuade the behaviour of people
working in organisation towards accomplishment of goals (Ma and Sun, 2012). Leadership helps
in providing information, balancing conflicts, establishing clear vision, coordination, sharing
vision with people who will follow willingly. The process of leadership is followed by leaders of
Toyota for realization of goals, keeping employee morale high and promote prompt conflict
resolution. Some key leadership approaches are discussed below:
Situational leadership: According to this theory, effective leaders are those that are
adaptive to change their style in context of situation (Situational Leadership, 2019). Every

leadership style is not appropriate for every situation so leader should opt for effective leadership
style according to situation. This leadership style is adopted in Toyota by leaders to increasing
productivity, counter volatility, encourage adaptability and decipher situational complexity. This
is the flexible approach of leadership which helps Toyota in profit maximisation and growth. For
example, TOYOTA is facing high employee turnover and conflicts between subordinates and
superiors so, leader have to adopt or change his leadership style according to the given situation.
Contingency leadership theory: This theory is also known as Fielders contingency
theory. It includes two factors which are leader's personality and situation in which leader
operates and have importance in the organisation. There are two situations in contingency theory
which include people-oriented and task-oriented leaders. Contingency theory is very useful in
Toyota as it is helpful in planning, business development, focused on effectiveness and
efficiency of employees and their performance, maintaining quality standards . For Example
TOYOTA employed new leader than company can face the situation of conflicts, low trust so
this would be the difficult task for the leader to maintain and build relationship .
System leadership theory: This leadership style is collab having orative and straight
forward which develop cluster or network of people at different levels of system. Its main focus
is to work as a “whole system” for sustainable leadership and development of organisation.
System leadership comprises of four components which are overall strategy, processes, an
actionable method, and foundation of system models. This style help leaders at different levels in
the organisation to increase productivity up-to their potential and capability (Nayak, 2015).
System leadership theory applies sound principles of human behaviour for effective leadership,
tools to predict the having behaviour of employees, this leadership style help TOYOTA to build
cordial relations, systematic design to work, formation of strategies. For example this style helps
TOYOTA in enhancing effectiveness, formulation of policies and achieving set goals.
TASK 3
P4.
Operational management helps in maintaining a proper equilibrium between the cost of
production and revenue earned by the organisation. In Toyota, there are two main operational
functions which are production and transportation. These two functions are discussed as below:

Production: It is the main function or activity of an organisation. It is the act which
mainly starts with the procurement of basic or raw material and their transformation into finished
goods. In Toyota, managers and employees ensures that the quality of products is maintained by
the company.
Transportation: It is the process of moving or shifting the finished goods from one place
to another. Toyota ensures that the products which is manufactured, reached to the customers
within time to maintain the goodwill and brand image of the company (Plesser and et. al., 2014).
Various approaches are used by Toyota in operation management:
Six Sigma: It is a data driven approach which is used by an organisation in order to
remove or eliminate any kind of defects in product, services or process. This approach helps the
leaders and managers of Toyota in order to work quicker with less mistakes. Along with this, it
also helps in increasing satisfaction of customers and profitability of the company, by improving
product quality and removing defects and errors. This approach is used by the managers of
Toyota for examine and estimating the performance of employees within company by finding
out defects and errors.
Just in time approach: It is a strategy where raw materials is ordered by organisation
only when they need it. It is a management philosophy used by Toyota, for eliminating scrap
during production. Toyota uses this approach to increase the efficiency of employees and reduce
the chances of scrap, which helps in reducing inventory costs. Just in time approach helps the
managers and leaders of Toyota, by focusing on product quality, enhancing the efficiency of
employees and increasing the goodwill of an organisation (Tristancho and Gutiérrez, 2012).
Total Quality Management (TQM): By using this customer-oriented approach in an
organisation, managers ensures the quality of products and services offered by them. In Toyota,
managers and leaders use this approach for retaining their customers for a long period of time.
This approach requires team work, coordination and mutual trust between the employees to
ensure the quality of product. By providing better quality products to their customers, Toyota
could maintain their sustainability at marketplace. This approach requires huge efforts from the
staff of Toyota collectively so that they can reduce wastages and customers get high quality
products.
Role played by leaders:

Leaders of Toyota, encourage and motivate their employees to use productive
techniques. This will helps the company in maintaining the quality of products, elimination of
defects and reducing the wastage of material.
Role played by Managers:
Managers of Toyota, helps in managing and controlling performance of employees. They
evaluate working activities of employees on the basis of expected work with the actual
performed work. The major role of managers of Toyota is to gain knowledge about the most and
least effectively performing worker (Wang, Jie and Abareshi, 2015).
P5.
Operation management is a managerial concept related with planning, organising and
supervising which helps an improving overall productivity in an organisation. It involves
resources like land, labour, material and technology. With reference to Toyota, there main
objective is to maintain the speed and dependability. It means to provide a goods and services to
their customers on time which helps in creating a positive image of an organisation at
marketplace.
Some of the importance of an operation management are given below:-
Reduction of cost: operation management is an very important tool which helps in
finding and get rid of cost in Toyota. For improving the quality of goods and services mangers
helps in reduction of cost in Toyota which ensures managers for long term profit and success.
Whereas leaders in Toyota motivates their team members by providing them good training which
helps them in learning about new technology, and enhancing their knowledge.
Enhancing overall productivity: productivity is an very important part of any
organisation where both managers and leaders plays their important role in an organisation
(Wen-chao, Fan and Wen-wen, 2012). In Toyota mangers manage the overall managerial
activities which helps in increasing productivity of employee in Toyota. Whereas leaders of
Toyota guiding and leading their team members for adopting new things which makes them
motivated towards their work. Leaders creates positive environment so they gives their best and
make successful.
Quality management: Quality is the major thing for success of any business, because
nowadays people are very conscious regarding the quality of product. In Toyota quality is also
plays an very important role. Managers in Toyota manage an overall managerial activities

regarding quality of their product and they improve it through checking, changing or analysing .
Leaders in Toyota gives an proper instruction or information at the time of manufacturing the
product which means quality makes Toyota to became a leading manufacture and its makes an
organisation effective, efficient and competitive. So, both mangers and leaders helps an
organisation for achieving their goal.
TASK 4
P6.
There are various factors of business environment having impact on operational management and
decision-making by leaders and managers. The factors are further classified as Internal and
external factors (Williams, 2015).
Internal Factors
Internal factors are those factors which occur within the company and impact the
operations and success of the organisation. These factors are within the control of the company.
Some of the internal factors are discussed below”
Human resources : Human resources are an valuable asset for an organisation which
helps in growth and profit maximisation for the organisation. Human resource can either be
strength or weakness for the organisation which depends on their skills, expertise, knowledge
and commitment to do work. In TOYOTA, managers take active participation in recruiting good
and efficient talent in the organisation (XIANG, Chen and Zhang, 2013). The company
employees those talent having proper attitude towards work, and help the company gain the
competitive advantage over other companies. When there are proficient and capable human
resource in TOYOTA it helps in achieving goals, increased productivity and good quality
products and services to customers.
Organisation structure: It is a systematic hierarchy which helps the company
management formulation, defining roles and responsibilities, communication channel from level
to level within the organisation. This helps in the smooth working in the organisation whether it
is decentralized or centralized system. Within TOYOTO there is effective structure which helps
in proper communication, less conflicts. The head of departments make sure that there are
suitable rules and regulations to ensure the benefits of business and employees.

Capital resources : Money is the component of every business organisation to perform
its plans. If organisation is having enough budgets available they can easily launch their business
and expand their scale of operation. The investments come from various stakeholders, banks to
earn profit. With regards to TOYOTA, managers are responsible for making portfolio
investments. Decisions taken by leaders and managers help in maximising returns and
profitability more investors will invest in the company which will be beneficial.
External Factors: External factors are those factors which are beyond the control of the
organisation. These factors impact the organisation either directly or indirectly. The various
external factors are discussed below:
Customer Demands – costumer is the king of the market as he/she is the ultimate or
intended user of the products offered. Every organisation should have proper knowledge about
the costumer needs . The costumer needs are variable which keeps on changing with the
changing technology . In TOYOTA , the leaders and managers take decisions after the proper
analysis of the costumer and market . The products offered by the company are according to the
needs of the costumers because the main objective is customer satisfaction and to reatin the
customers
Legal factors: Law, policies play an integral role for the development of the company.
Every country have their own law, policies, rules which prevents the development of company in
specific country. Some companies have support from government which helps in profit
maximisation. Within TOYOTA, the leaders and managers take decisions in such a way that it
benefits the company (Yun, L. and et. al., 2018). Leaders take decisions according to the laws
prevailing in the country. The business of the company is diversified so the leaders take
decisions accordingly.
Technological factors : technology keeps on changing with the changing time and
advancements. Every organisation should accept the change in the technology and bring about
regular changes as per the market scenario. In this regard TOYOTA, leaders and managers adopt
the technology and techniques which helps in quality improvement and increased productivity.
Culture: It considered to be the attitudes and worth of people within organisation . This is
essential for the managers of respective company to comply the firm's cultures effectively.
Hence, manager as well as leader role is to encourage its workers of the firm to obey their culture
efficaciously and efficiently.