Toyota's Operational Efficiency: Management and Leadership Roles

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MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................ 4
TASK 2.......................................................................................................................................... 10
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 19
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................20
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INTRODUCTION
This report will be covering the role of managers and leaders and how they are different in their
functioning and responsibilities. It also includes the case of Toyota automobile company where
the management theories and approaches are assessed. Also, the decisions and working
relating to operations management applied by the managers and leaders collectively are
discussed (Kothari, 2019). This report will also include the external factors which highly
influence the functioning of operations management by leaders and managers how they
overcome those problems arise by the external factors. Moreover, the report would be helpful
in attaining substantial knowledge of operations management.
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TASK 1
Toyota is a Japanese automobile company founded in the year 1937 and is currently headed by
the President Akio Toyoda with a vision to produce the safest, Eco-friendly and quality cars
which are capable to meet the goals of people buying them. Toyota’s organization structure is
on a divisional basis this means the structure is designed according to the separate business
units. Each division has a
different business
operation as Toyota have
variety in business
operation so each division is
having different business goal and
strategies (Toyota PLC,
2019).
Toyota changed its organizational structure from centralization to divisional structure so in this
organizational structure there are 3 main characteristics-
1. Global hierarchy - After the decentralization still all the divisional units have to report to
the headquarter in Japan but most of the decisions are made on by the regional or unit
heads.
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2. Geographical division- according to the geographical division there are eight divisions
(Japan, North America, Europe, East Asia And Oceana, China, Asia, And Middle East,
Africa, Latin America, Caribbean) this organizational structure helps in decision making
on the regional market environment (Gregory, 2018).
3. Product based division- there is also produced based division which is characterized in 4
parts – Lexus international, Toyota no.1 – operations in North America, Europe And
Japan. Toyota no. 2- operations in rest of the regions, Unit centre – in which engine,
transmission and related operations take place.
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MANAGERS AND LEADERS ALONG WITH THEIR ROLES AND DIFFERENTIATION
Managers are the ones who have the responsibility to direct and guide the organization and in
providing all the resources in order to achieve organizational goal. Managers bring in all the
resources channelize them; control them to accomplish the objectives of the organization.
Role of managers in the organization-
1. Monitoring – Manager scans the internal and external environment and identifies the
future problems that can arise due to external instability, competitors, external policies
including taxation and many other factors. They also monitors the internal problems
which are within the boundaries of organization and pass the information to the
members of organization may it be peers, subordinate, superiors.
2. Problem-solving Role- the manager is responsible to solve the functional and
departmental problems of the organization which may be through communicating or
helping them in initiating to the solution.
3. Entrepreneurial role- Manager is also a person who is willing to give new and creative
ideas about achieving organizational goal.
4. Resource allocation- The manager has his main function of allocating resources
including human, monetary and physical resources. They are also responsible for
approving the projects, allocation of cost and time schedule. Also, they delegate the
roles and responsibilities of the subordinates and allocating them accordingly into
teams.
5. Negotiation role - Manager is responsible for managing both internal and external
environment and thus his job is to negotiate with dealers, material suppliers, creditors,
employees, prospect employees so as to gain competitive advantage and cost
leadership deals.
Leaders are the employees who are head of the certain group of employees referred to as team
who motivates, directs the team to attain the certain goal. The leader is different from the
manager as he works under the subordination of a manager and the good leaders are those
who take the whole team together with their strengths and weaknesses (Zhang et al., 2012).
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Role of leader-
1. Making a strategy for achieving goals and carefully communicating it to the team
members.
2. Providing team members with the training and knowledge they require and
simultaneously listening to the problems and feedback from them.
3. To monitor that the application of training is being made in a useful manner to achieve
the objective and then reporting the result to the manager (Vaccaro et al., 2012).
DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN MANAGERS AND LEADERS
MANAGERS LEADERS
The manager has a wider scope of functionality which
also includes leadership.
The leader has a smaller scope and works under the
manager.
To be a good manager should be a good leader A leader cannot become a manager.
The manager plans the strategies and techniques to
overcome problems
The leader inspires people to follow those strategies to
achieve the goal.
The manager is able and liable for more risk-bearing as
he has more responsibilities and more people under him
Controlled and calculated risk taker.
DIFFERENT ROLES OF MANAGEMENT AND LRADERSHIP IN APPLICATION TO DIFFERENT
ORGANIZATIONAL SITUATIONS
Leaders are the people who tend to influence the action, feelings, and beliefs of other so that
they could be motivated towards the growth and success of the organization. There are three
kinds of situational leadership theories such as:
1. Goleman’s Model of Situational Leadership - This theory is based on emotional
intelligence.This theory was given by Daniel Goeman this includes styles which are
situation based and tells in which situation which style to be followed. The styles are
pace setting leader, democratic, effective, coaching leader, authoritative leader and
corrective leader (SN, 2019).
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2. House’s Path-Goal Theory – In this theory, the leader helps the follower by guiding them
the path by providing necessary directions and supports that will help the followers in
achieving the goal of the organization. There are four styles of leader directive,
supportive, participative and achievement oriented.
Leaders in Toyota can use situationally based approaches as there can be various situations like
low productivity, increase in cost then leaders can delegate work accordingly depending on the
situation and based on the above theories.
Management can be applicable in different situations by theory - management by objectives
where this allows the manager to focus on the attainable goals, and their completion in best
possible way from the available resources. Also, involving the employees in decision-making
process getting new ideas and suggestions this will bring motivation for employees and increase
their efficiency in work. It helps Toyota as they can get new and innovative ideas and the
employees will also satisfied with the idea of involving in the decision-making process.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS OF APPROACHES OF MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
There are various approaches to management in which there are 3 main approaches to
management -
CLASSICAL APPROACH - This approach is further divided into 3 approaches
a) Bureaucratic approach - this approach is given by Weber's based on the formal structure, an
authority-wise characterization which means that the members of the organization are
governed under the hierarchy system of authority.
Strengths –
1. It is helpful in understanding the principles from the previous experiences faced by the
superiors.
2. This provides the proper guideline for training and education.
Weakness-
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1. Decision-making ability is slow due to hierarchy and hence time is wasted in circulating the
information.
2. It closes the new and innovative idea creation and no interaction takes places with the
external environment.
b) Administrative approach - this theory was given by Henry Fayol when he explains that there
should be a clear division of authority and responsibility and clear division of labour which
includes 5 basic functions of management planning, organizing, staffing, controlling, and
directing.
Strengths-
This approach is comprehensive and covers everything that a manager needs to achieve the
organizational goal
Weakness-
1. The approach is based on human dependency where no one feels to take responsibility for
the mistakes
2. The past experiences cannot help in every situation and there are certain problems which
need innovation
c) Scientific approach - This approach is given by F.W. Taylor. This approach states that goals
can be achieved by creating mutual trust between management and labour and focuses on
standardization, simplification, specialization (Kettinger et al., 2011).
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Strengths-
As this approach focuses on standardization so the ISO and the other standards help in
achieving competitive advantage over others this is why Toyota has world leadership as it
believes in quality product and standardization.
Weakness-
A time-consuming process as planning and standardization requires perfection.
Because of standardization, the cost is increased as the raw material and other requirements
are of high quality and thus maximize the cost (Helmreich et al., 2017)
CONCLUSION
Many of the roles and responsibilities of managers and leaders can be achieved and made easy
by the approaches and the theories described above as the main goal and objective can achieve
by performing those roles and responsibilities effectively and efficiently which is important
especially in companies like Toyota who have global presence so it needs to be best in its
quality of products plus its leaders and managers need to work accordingly by bringing
efficiency to achieve and expand more.
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TASK 2
KEY OPERATIONS OF TOYOTA
Toyota corporation is in basically 3 sectors of businesses which are an automobile (Engines, car
air conditioning compressors, vehicles and car electronics), material handling equipment and
textile machinery.
1. Automobile includes manufacturing of –
a) Vehicles – Toyota’s first production was of a Publica Pickup truck in 1967 and from then
onwards they are into manufacturing of medium class vehicles for over 50 years now.
Toyota industry is also into manufacturing of plastic glazing which is effective in making
lighter weighted vehicles.
b) Engines –They are into different variations of improvement programs including the
correction of the production process by utilizing the automated guided vehicle system.
they also manufacture different kinds of foundry products (6 Sigma, 2017),
c) Car conditioning compressors - They are having a large share in this market and are now
developing compressors which are efficient and environmentally friendly.
d) Car electronics and stamping dies – This unit is in manufacturing the electronic
components which are hybrid convectors. Toyota is in development of automotive
stamping dies which is very well appreciated by the customers due to its quality
perfection of produce.
2. Material Handling Equipment
Toyota is in the business of developing, manufacturing and marketing of industrial vehicles
which help to solve the material transportation problems so these material handling equipment
are sold around the globe through Toyota material handling group.
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3. Textiles Machinery-
Toyota produces 2 types of textile equipment i.e. spinning and weaving equipment and these
are widely appreciated by the customers in Japan and around the world because of
technological expertise and years of experience.
OPERATIONS FUNCTIONS, ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITY OF MANAGERS IN OPERATION
FUNCTIONS
Operations functions mean planning, organizing, controlling and coordinating the resources
which are needed for the production of goods and services in which the organization deals
operational functions can be linked to other functions of human resource, finance and
marketing (Nath et al., 2010). The core or key operations functions are –
1. Product Selection And Design- the choice of product and its production process and design
are the most basic fundamentals which are to be designed carefully as wrong selection of a
product may lead to total failure of the organization. the product should be feasible and its
design should be the one which is attainable and should be in the budget.
2. Process Selection And Design – The process which includes a selection of technology,
equipment, material handling equipment and conversion process that will manufacture the
product selected the selection to be done on the parameters of cost, capacity etc.
3. Layout Of Plant And Material Handling - The next step comes when the plant location and
its setup is to be selected, the area of selection should be cooperative with the government
policies and legal reforms and near to the raw material producer and this will minimize the
transportation costs and also the material handling equipment are also to be decided in the
case of Toyota its subsidiary company produces these equipment so the cost is reduced as
profit margin will not be included.
4. Product Planning And Control – the aim is here is to attain the desired output or planned
quantity of products according to the charts and the capacity of production.
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