Question

The Toyota Motor Company has always been one of the most popular auto mobile manufacturing companies in the world.The main reason said to be a major factor in the TOYOTA MOTOR COMPANY’s success is that they are continuously bringing new product and features in the market with speed.Toyota Motor Corporation has always been one of those companies that believe in continuous change. ... The reason for this major organizational change was also to maintain that competitive edge in the market as competition keeps increasing with time.

The reason behind the Change?

2010 did not prove to be a good year for Toyota Motor Corporation. Their bad luck started right at the beginning of the year in January 2010 when they started receiving complaints regarding pedal entrapments of their cars. Finally, on 28th January 2010, the situation got so bad that TOYOTA MOTOR COMPANY announced to recall the defaulted vehicles. These recalls costs were almost 5.2 million worth of vehicles. Another 2.3 million worth of vehicles were also recalled due to accelerator problems.

Nov. 28, 2017— Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announced its plans to change its executive lineup and revise its organizational structure in January 2018 to further strengthen cooperation among companies of the Toyota Group and boost business innovation.

The overall changes aim to:

• Concentrate the capabilities of the Toyota Group companies and appoint the right people among a diversified workforce with high levels of expertise from within and outside Toyota to the right positions.
• Renew the roles of executive vice presidents, establish the new post of “fellow,” and move forward the timing of executive changes to transform the roles and awareness of executives and to accelerate management oversight.
• Transform the company structure into one that makes possible decision-making close to customers and close to where the action takes place.

Among the executive and organizational changes announced today, executives in North America at Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) and Toyota Research Institute (TRI) were included. The following executive changes will take effect on January 1, 2018:
Tetsuo Ogawa has been promoted to Senior Managing Officer at Toyota Motor Corporation. Ogawa will continue his role in Plano, Texas, as TMNA executive vice president and chief administrative officer where he is responsible for managing all North American corporate resources and product support.
Mike Sweers has been promoted to Executive General Manager of CV Company, an in-house company at TMC responsible primarily for commercial vehicles, and will continue to concurrently serve as chief engineer. Until the announcement, Sweers focused on light truck platforms including those found on Tundra and Sequoia for North America. However, his newly appointed position will put him in a global role on IMV-platform. Currently, Sweers is on assignment in Japan from TMNA R&D.
Dr. Gill Pratt has been appointed as a “fellow,” a new post that was established for executives to contribute to the management of the company with their high level of expertise in specific technical domains, within the Advanced R&D and Engineering Company at TMC. Dr. Pratt continues to serve as CEO of TRI, established in 2015 with a $1 billion investment. Under his direction, TRI focuses on the future of mobility by applying techniques from areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Prior to joining Toyota, Dr. Pratt served as a program manager in the Defense Sciences Office at the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from January 2010 through August 2015.

The Weisbord Six-Box Model is particularly useful for relatively uncomplicated organisations, and when the consultant doesn’t have the time necessary for an extensive organisational diagnosis. Even when the customer isn’t familiar with thinking in system terms, for instance in the case of small business owners, Weisbord’s Six-Box Model is still a valuable tool to visualise their business as a systematic whole without using complex terminology. The organisational diagnosis is particularly important for new businesses, primarily because they often don’t have a good overview of the environment they operate in and have high dynamic interaction with said environment. Market developments and prognoses are also relatively alien to them, even though they’re crucial for the company’s survival.

The Burke Litwin Model of Organisational Change is all about defining and establishing a cause-and-effect relationship. The model assumes 12 organisational elements that determine a change within an organisation. The model derives its name from two organisational change consultants and was developed in the 60’s by W.warner burke and George H. Litwin. It is a useful change management tool to better understand all aspects of an organisation and to view them from a perspective of change.

In many cases, the various facets are taken too little into account, as a result of which a change can have negative consequences for both the organisation and employees. In addition, the change model shows that the different elements are interconnected and influence each other. It is an ‘open system theory’ that assumes changes come from external influences.

Question: Answer the following four items about the Toyota organization article above in 4-5pages:

(1) Using the Weisbord model, please diagnose the issues at the organization that led up to a possible organization change effort?

(2) Please indicate at least three interventions they intend to do (or have done) and using the Burke-Litwin model as reference, please either support or reject each recommendation?

(3) Identify at least three interventions you would suggest that have not been announced or implemented. Please cite those supporting your suggestions?

(4) Based on your what you want to accomplish in Question #3, how would you plan to minimize resistance to change?

Answer 1

1) The Weisbord Six-Model encompases the main key points inorder to overcome the problems faced by the Toyota Motor Company:

- Purpose : The main vision and Vision of the Toyota Motor Company has to be acknowledged by assigning its goals and strategies to the right employees of the organization which will be very easier to make them undersand the weakness wherein it can be assessed how well the goals can be fit within the organization's competencies that may reveal why its not opearting at maximum efficiency.Therefore every employees can contribute well to the organizational design.

-Structure: The organizational structure should be determined that indicates how well the efficiency can be maintained in pothholes of the organizational design;The Role of High Level expertise from Toyota Motor Company and outside to the right workforce which make them to understand, the maximum support required for the development of the organization inorder achieve the process of setting up the goal effectively.

-Relationships: The proper communication and collaboration within the Toyota Motor Company enhances the core Team Building Therein creates the Team dynamics within the organization that tends to minimize the many issues which is being caused between different departments which is often seen as one of the main invisible cause of many issues.

-Rewards: The capabilities of Toyota motor Company can be magnified only through the support efficient workforce/employees/ within the organization. since the manpower is the main source; The mechanism of rewarding them with monetory incentives,Generous reward system by determining according to their perfomance which helps them to achieve the recognition consistently that creates the tendency to build the companies Business Goals.

-Leadership: The Authority vested in the Toyota Motor Company like Senior Managing Officer, Executive General Manager, The Reasearch and Development department, must be accountable and responsible to scrutiny whole activities of the organization work culture and ethics inorder to maintain proper balance which resolves the internal conflict among the organization. The proper allocation of the authority to the right person in the organization must be effectively followed, the tasks to which they must be put in, inorder to determine the smooth flow of the company operations.

Supporting Mechanisms:

The inefficiency in certain areas of organizational process can be controlled by assessing the communication pathways,Budgeting, Procedures and Policies that can be minimised the underlying issues and causes which enhances the logical and practical tool for investigating all key areas of the business.

2) As The Burke Liwin Model reference the Toyota Motor Company portrays the primary variables that need to be considered in any attempt to predict and explain the total behaviour output that affect the change.

- The Toyota Motor Company Success is only due to their efficiency in continously bringing new product and features in the market with speed. The speed of interventions has created the badluck in 2010 january due to Pedal and accelator problems which made the company to suffer the 6.5 million worth losses on recalling the defaulted vehicles. these factors are deeply embedded processes and characteristics of the organization that can have substancial consequences. The process of assessing time of the product must ensure the timey management.

- The Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) plans to change to revise the organizational Behaviour, Its structure as well as executive line up in january 2017 has strong impact on the organization that has strengthen the cooperation among companies of the toyota Group which helped to boost business innovation.

- The organizational changes that has bought by the Toyota Motor Company North America (TMNA) and Toyota Research Institute ( TRI) inorder to support the organizational design by providing corporate resources and productive support; wherein proper assignment of Task, Duties and Responsibilities to the right expertize has major impact on the company's work culture that will improve the lack of coordination among the group of workforce within the firm and also help them to implement the policies and guideliness efficiently and effectively.

3) The interventions we can suggest here is the important key elements:

- The group of workforce must be identified where either the change is coming from or being planned for; that enhances to adopt new technologies by determing their skills/abilities,Needs and values inorder to bring the change in the organizational environment culture.

- The Team working climate may ensure how well the team members coordinate or cooperate each other, which is very important to gratify their comfort for expressing themselves towards the work ethics inorder to maximize the goals with minimum productivity.

- The performance of employees will be the overall outputput of the organization. the commonly turnover, productivity,customer satisfaction is very important inorder to create and enhance the brand image of the company

4) The Key elements can be followed for reducing Resistance to change:

- Timely ensuring of duties and responsibilities

-Providing the assurances to workforce which ensures the support for growth and adaptablity of work environment

-Removing the blockades for the successful implementation of change in the business.

-Nurturing innovation excellence in every aspects of the business inorder to find the solutions to technical-know how of Today's Business Environment.