Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Japan. It is the world’s first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year. In 2012, Toyota was the largest automobile manufacturer, ahead of the General Group. Many business students get to know Toyota from its famous production method called “Just in Time”. Most people think that the success of Toyota has benefited from this original way of production. From an OB view, I would say that the success is also related to its leadership and organizational culture.
Toyota pays much attention to the identification of organizational culture and the long-term goal of the company. New workers in Toyota are guided by an experienced current worker; they are told what to do and what the goal is, and they can get support from their mentors whenever they need it. This indicates the “Path-goal theory”: it is the leader’s job to assist followers in attaining their goals and to provide necessary direction to support and ensure that their goals are compatible with the overall objectives of the group or organization. Hence, employees are trained to keep the “Customer First” and “Quality First” principles in mind and work towards the company’s goal. In addition, leaders are selected from the internal recruitment rather than externally, to ensure the new leaders already know much about the company’s concepts, and they are able to transmit the concepts to subordinates.
The transmission of organizational culture can be an effective way to increase efficiency and quality. Once employees are assimilated to the culture, they are more willing to put effort into production, both for salary and faith in the company, and they are likely to get themselves involved into the company’s development. Therefore, organizations need to have a clear concept of culture to show both people and workers what they are working for.
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