Management and Operations: Roles of Leaders and Managers at Toyota

This report analyzes the distinct roles of leaders and managers within Toyota, a prominent manufacturing company. It compares their characteristics, motivations, and focuses, highlighting how leaders emphasize long-term vision and employee development, while managers concentrate on short-term goals and process efficiency. The report examines the application of these roles in various situational contexts, including technological change, labor turnover, and conflict resolution. It then delves into the application of leadership theories such as situational leadership, systems leadership, and contingency theory within Toyota's operational framework. Finally, the report explores key approaches to operations management, such as Just-in-Time (JIT), and how leaders and managers contribute to their success within the company. The analysis emphasizes the significance of adaptable leadership styles and effective management practices in achieving Toyota's business objectives.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
P1. Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager........3
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts.......................................................................................................5
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency. ......................................................................................................6
P4 Explain the key approaches to operation management and the role that leaders and
managers play..............................................................................................................................7
P 5 value of operational management and its importance in achievement of business objective.
.....................................................................................................................................................8
P 6 Factor which has an impact on the operational management and decision-making of the
leader and manager...................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Operations management is a system of management which is used in controlling the process of
production .It is a method of converting materials into goods and services. And it is primarily
concerned with planning, organising in the context of production. Toyota is a manufacturing
company. It was founded by Sakichi Toyota. And it is established in UK December 1989 .It is
specialized for manufacturing vehicles like cars and trucks. This report highlights the role of
leader and manager in the organisation. And also discuss the role of leader and manager
according to the various situation and find the various ways to handle the situation. It focuses on
the manager and leader role in operational functions of organisation. Also explain the leadership
styles and theory including the disadvantage and advantages of different leadership style.
MAIN BODY
P1. Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.
At Toyota Motor Corporation; a leader and a manager have distinct roles; each clearly
knowing its rights, duties and responsibilities.
A Leader holds an influential position over an organisation or a group of people, leading
them by example; motivating them and guiding them towards achievement of the organisation's
goals.
A Manager however 'manages' only a part i.e. a fraction of people in an organisation.
They are the 'bosses' who have the power of monitoring employees' hiring and firing them,
attendance etc. A manager has to keep control on the efficiency and effectiveness of the tasks
assigned to them and ensure that they are timely completed (Reid and Sanders, 2015).
BASIS LEADER MANAGER
Motivator Leaders at Toyota motivate
employees by themselves doing the
task alongside the employees.
Managers at Toyota motivate
employees by reward and retribution.
Honesty At Toyota, a leader must be honest
to make employees believe in them
and follow their actions.
A manager should rather have honest
intentions than being honest in front of
his team.
Focus Leaders at Toyota are more focused Managers focus on process and
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on employee and their problems. procedures rather than employee.
Risk Takers Leaders at Toyota accept the
various risks and challenges and are
not afraid of failures.
Managers on the other hand work to
minimize or control the risk and
actively avoid them.
Goal and target
acknowledgement
Leaders work towards achieving
goals which are usually long term
i.e. they keep in vision the distant
future of Toyota.
Managers are assigned with target
completion rather than goal
achievement. Hence, their aims are
short term.
Learners At Toyota, leaders continuously
strive for growth and keep learning
new things every day.
Managers on the other hand strive for
excellency rather than knowledge. They
keep honing their existing skills and
adopt already proven behavioural
techniques.
Authenticity Leaders at Toyota believe in
creating their own methods and
ideologies to influence their
subordinate employees
Managers however, adopt the
competencies and existing behaviours
of other more successful people rather
than forming their own ideologies.
Innovators Leaders here believe in disrupting
the set norms and act as change
agents embracing the change. They
believe that there is always a better
way of doing things.
Managers accept the changes conveyed
to them and focus on how to implement
them and make their team adapt to these
changes.
Creators Leaders at Toyota create visions
and motivates people towards
achieving them rather than thinking
individually. They work to achieve
such long term goals. They
encourage employees to join them
in this process of achieving visions
Manager on the other hand at Toyota
are more focused on achieving
measured and limited short term goals
rather than taking a long term view.
They are concerned with target
achievement rather than vision
achievement. They are motivated only
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and taking Toyota, the company as
a whole, forward.
by the incentives and other benefits and
keep their team abreast in target
completion.
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts.
Broadly, we can take into purview three main situations to explain the application of role
of leaders and managers.
Technological Change:-
It implies enhancing the efficiency and output of the company without any significant
rise in the input. It involves up gradation or enhancement of the present work processes and
technology so that scales of economies can be improved. At Toyota, regular innovation,
invention and diffusion helps in technological up gradation.
Role of Leaders and Managers:-
Here in Toyota, technological change is not just related to advancement of machineries
but it also involves how well the Leaders and Managers of the company understand and accept
the changes and upto what level they can influence their employees. Also, leaders and managers
are able to monitor and evaluate the performance of their followers / subordinates more
accurately (Ramanathan, Subramanian and Parrott 2017).
Technological change in Toyota has also made leaders and mangers of the company
more accessible to their employees thus helping in providing guidance as and when required by
employees.
Labour Turnover:-
Labour turnover means the frequency with which the employees leave an organisation in
a given time period. In Toyota, the policy of 'No Lay-off' and various other policies which keeps
the morale of employees high and hence the turnover is minimum.
Role of Leaders and Managers:-
There is a saying that, “Employees don't leave organisations; they leave bosses.” In
Toyota, leaders and mangers specially focus on employees and their followers; so that they do
not think of them as bosses but as fellow workers with whom all the problems can be shared so
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that effective solution can be developed. Also, Toyota knows that how valuable their human
resource i.e. employees are. They keep them satisfied and happy which has drastically reduced
the employee turnover rate. Seeing their leaders and managers cooperate so well with them, it
also increases morale of other employees motivating them to work towards achieving
organisation's goals and objectives.
Conflict:-
It is a situation in which the two or more parties which are incompatible with each other
are pitted against each other and due to this difference no decision can be made to mutually
agree. Toyota has a very effective conflict resolution mechanism keeping the work environment
friendly and productive.
Role of Leaders and Managers:-
When the situation of conflict arises, the leaders and managers at Toyota try to
accommodate; collaborate and compromise with the employees. At Toyota, conflict resolution
and management is an integral part of employee management. If any mismanagement or
conflicts arises amongst team members; the leaders and managers are directly held accountable.
To avoid this, leaders and managers address the conflict issues rather than creating a fake
environment of harmony. Toyota encourages their leaders and managers to create healthy
environment by avoiding tense environment and confronting the situations in such manner that
employees are satisfied and respect their decision.
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.
Everyone in organisation want to be the good leader and manager. Same as in Toyota, one of the
Japanese multinational auto mobile manufactured company also wants to have one of the best
leader and the manger in there organization. So to work on this objective the company is having
a depth study in identifying the efficient and effective leaders and managers. Different theories
are there to study the pattern of leadership.
So some theories that are given by the famous authors that Toyota is working upon are-
Situational leadership- The theory is given by Ken Blanchard, which defines that the leader can
clearly analysis his team, and find out the weigh of variables in the workplace and according to
the situation the way of the leadership can be chosen.
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According to Blanchard and Hershey, a matrix has been developed of consisting 4 different
styles -
Telling =S1 In this style particular guidance and close supervision is given by the leader to the
employee so that right decision can made at the time of the disaster.
Selling =S2 in these style leaders would be open for the suggestion and opinions from there
followers so that new ideas can be achieved.
Participating= S3 in this leadership maximum participation is required by the employee because
the decision making s left to the followers whereas the leaders will only the participants.
Delegating=S4 in these leaders will be the care taker of his team and only guide the employee
in making the decision and help them to solve there problems.
Managerial roles of the Toyota is to achieve the goals but leaders will create a long term vision
for the company through any of the situational matrix.
System leadership- the theory is given bass(1990) and Eyal and Kark(2004). In this type of
leadership all the member from the different level of the management and the authority make
inclusive brainstorming within each other to overcome a particular problem or to bring the
change in the organisation. Toyota is wide organisation so the concern of all the managers and
the leaders is essential in making the decision. Managers in the organisation can copy the
effective strategy of any other manager but the leader has to be unique with its idea and way of
working.
Contingency theory- this leadership theory was developed by Fred Fiedler in 1985. The theory
states that the effectiveness of leader dependent on how his leadership style matches with the
situation and how would they cope with the problem they are facing. Contingency theory states
that there is no perfect style for leadership. A leader is effective when the attributes and the style
of his leadership is matched. Managers usually have the proven skill whereas the leader rely on
their own interpersonal skill.
Toyota has a dynamic environment being a multidimensional company, so the leaders can
change the way of working according to the situation and manager will avoid taking that risk.
P4 Explain the key approaches to operation management and the role that leaders and managers
play.
JIT(JUST IN TIME)- it is the management strategy of inventory management which aligns
production schedules directly with the raw material from the suppliers. To increase the
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efficiency, effectiveness in the organization, reduction in the inventory cost and decrease the
transportation cost. But the demand forecasting should be accurate for the successful
implementation of the JIT. A scheduling system known as kanban is often taken parallel with
JIT to avoid the overcapacity. If there is no machine breakdown, an efficient workforce, reliable
suppliers and accurate planning procedure then the success of JIT is confirmed.
In simpler words if manager makes the proper management than JIT will work.
Toyota, the car manufacturing company adopted JIT which is also known as Toyota production
system (TPS) in the year 1970. No more production till next demand was the major decision
taken by the company. Mainly the leader in the company look after the employees and motivates
them so that they work in most of the efficient manner in the organization whereas the manager
plays the role of the effective management of the employees in the certain way that the goals and
the objective of the organization can b achieved.
TQM(Total quality management)- as the word defines TQM means the management approach
in the overall development of the organization by achieving the objective of organization in
improving services, culture, process and the product of the organization through the customer
satisfaction. The TQM is mainly the customer focused and process centered management
approach which includes the overall development of the employee in the continuous process. To
maintain the quality discipline in the culture and the climate of the organization they managers
use all the strategy, data and effective communication(Lovelock and Patterson, 2015).
Toyota motors are called as the king of total quality management. According to the Fortune 500
Toyota company is the only company in the list which address the TQM. According to the TQM
the concept of 'customer first' which means the overall development of the employees. To have
the effective contribution to the development of the company, Toyota has launched' creative idea
suggestion system'. Statistical quality control (SQC) IN 1949 to give back the efforts to
community based projects and environmental initiatives(Lewis, Greenan and Glover, 2017).
To make the success working of the management approach n the Toyota, the company has
established The Toyota Way, a set of principles in the year 2001. This set of principles was
based on the kaizen so that the continuous improvement can take place and eliminate the waste
and overproduction. There in the continuous motivation for the improvement. The main pillar
for this Toyota way is ' respect for the people' and ' customer service'.
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P 5 value of operational management and its importance in achievement of business objective.
Operation management play very important role in every organisation. And helps in
achieving the organisation goal. Its maintains whole procedure of manufacturing the products to
full fill the customer needs and wants. Operational management focuses on developing the
quality, design and packaging of products. It helps to improved the work efficiency of Toyota
company.
The main aim of operation management is to focus on production and to reduce those barriers
and issues which create delay in production .Its is responsible for creating this product which
actually attract the customer to purchase the product of Toyota company. Operational
management involver planning, organising, coordinating, and controls all the resources which
are needed to produce goods and services to customer with the best quality. And helps to use
resources according to the needs and generate high profit with minimum use of
resources(Kozlenkova and.et.al., 2015).
Its is very important for Toyota company to have a good operation management. It can help the
Toyota company to maintain the quality of products which actually satisfied the customer. As
customers are the backbone of organisation and play a very important role for organisation. So it
is very important for Toyota company to full fill the needs of the people by providing them
satisfactory services. Quality and designing attract the customer if the products quality is good
and the customers are satisfied this will result in increase the revenue income of Toyota
organisation. It helps the manufacturers of Toyota company to use the resources properly in such
a manner than it will result in reduction of wastage. This will also help the Toyota organisation
in minimizing the production cost ,generate more profit and sales(Homburg and .et.al., 2015).
In respect to fulfil the needs of the company and planning the strategies which can helps to run
the organisation in systematic way. Toyota company use the operation in such a way to which
helps them to maintain the sustainability of the company. And it uses various strategies which
helps the Toyota company to convert the first customer into permanent customer by using
strategy called loyalty card. Its also helped in building a supply chain for Toyota company.
Company use various resources like machines, equipment .workforce and technology which
reduce wastage and production cost. And ensure to provide good quality of product to the
customer in order to satisfied needs and wants .Toyota company manages its inventory in such a
manager to provide proper supply and to full fill the demands. And frequently work on the cost
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of the product and innovate new ideas and strategy to reduce cost so that every customer could
able to afford their product (Brusset, Teller and Kotzab, 2017).
Therefore, to become a successful company its very important for Toyota company to have
effective strategy. As its helps the company to face competition with the use proper
management. This will maintain the existence of the company for a longer period. Therefore, the
operation management is very important without management the company can't run
successfully.
P 6 Factor which has an impact on the operational management and decision-making of the
leader and manager.
The several factors which has affected the operation and decision-making of the Toyota
company.
In order to take appropriate decision for the organisation. The organisation must identity this
factors.
Corporate social responsibility:Corporate social responsibility is a very important part of
organisation through which company get sustainable development. And this affects the
environment of Toyota company. The leader and manager play important role in planning the
CSR activity for the Toyota company. Its build the image of organisation in front of customers
and society. Customers get influenced by the work done by the Toyota company. The manager
and leaders decision is affected by the corporate social responsibility policies as the manager has
to take decisions which are right ethically for the nature and benefits the stakeholders (Bowie
and .et.al., 2016.)
Sustainability: Sustainability is a system which main aim to focus on meeting the needs of
present generation without affecting the future or the ability to make minimum source of
resources to maintain ecological balance. The leader and manager of the Toyota company has to
use such strategies which ensure sustainability and should not affect the culture, and the ethics
of the society. They have to implement those dicing which do not create harmful problem for the
environment also make decision regarding the proper utilization of resources which helps the
Toyota company to increase management efficiency(Kamboj, Goyal and Rahman, 2015).
Culture:
Nation culture
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The manager of the Toyota company has to face many challenges while running business at
international level which have different culture and background. So to make various decision
and to look forward the manager has to know about the culture of the organisation in which the
company wants to operate. The managers first priority to look out the culture of the organisation
and make the decision which actually suits the organisation and place in which they want
operate business. As different countries have different culture the manager has to conduct a
survey which tells about choice ,taste of other countries people. And with the help of survey the
manager has to full fill the demand of other nation customer by modifying its products according
to their culture (Chow and .et.al., 2018).
Organisation culture
The cultures in an organisation refers to the people beliefs, behaviour and their attitude in
organisation. As every organisation has its own culture and the manager has to make decision
according to the different culture of the organisation. If the employees of the Toyota company
not operating according to the company than the manager give them warning in form of written
and verbal so that the employee's do not cross their limits which actually create problem in their
profession and in the organisation.
CONCLUSION
From the above study concluded the role of leader and manager plays a very important role in
business organisation .Leader and managers of Toyota company manages the work in such a
manner to achieve the organisation target and to provide proper quality of product and services
to the customers. And they have adopted the various approaches to maintain the quality of
products. And founded different roles of leaders and managers according to the different context
and situation. Toyota leader provided training to the workers to improves their work efficiency.
And applied different theory which has helped the leader and manager to deal with various
challenges which they face in organisation. Also, used various machines and techniques to
increase the production with minimum use of resources.
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REFERENCES
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Chow and.et.al., 2018.Contemporary Case Studies on Fashion Production, Marketing and
Operations. Springer Singapore.
Homburg, C. and.et.al., 2015. The loss of the marketing department’s influence: is it really
happening? And why worry?. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.43(1). pp.1-13.
Kamboj, S., Goyal, P. and Rahman, Z., 2015. A resource-based view on marketing capability,
operations capability and financial performance: An empirical examination of mediating role.
Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 189. pp.406-415.
Kozlenkova, I.V. And.et.al., 2015. The role of marketing channels in supply chain management.
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Lewis, G., Greenan, S. and Glover, T., 2017. A day in the life of the head office team:
operations, marketing and events.Journal of Aesthetic Nursing. 6(7). pp.378-378.
Lovelock, C. and Patterson, P., 2015. Services marketing. Pearson Australia.
Ramanathan, U., Subramanian, N. and Parrott, G., 2017. Role of social media in retail network
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& Production Management. 37(1). pp.105-123.
Reid, R.D. and Sanders, N.R., 2015. Operations Management, Binder Ready Version: An
Integrated Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
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