Author: Jomathews
The automaker Toyota has been around for nearly a century. In this period, it has grown from a small division in a Japanese weaving firm to one of the world's most stable and respected automotive firms. The story of how Toyota became no. 1 is not accidental. It has been created through courageous moves, constant innovation, and the highest quality design. These things are responsible for creating one of the top vehicle makers in history. The brand is also well known for the class and dependability of its economy sedans. Many individuals think of the automaker as the brand that brought hybrid tech to the forefront of the vehicle industry. There are other people who love the heavy-duty cars that have been created by the brand. But having specialized in only a few specific areas is not how Toyota became no. 1. They have constantly looked to push the boundaries on what is possible and redefined what consumers should look for in their cars. You can take a look for yourself here. Even from the initial prototypes to the modern cars released by the brand, it always tries to focus on making its cars the best.
You would be quite surprised to see how many people attend meetings at the offices even though they do not participate in the ongoing discussions. The firm assigns a lot of employees to offices in the field than many of the other rivals. The senior executives spend a lot of time visiting the dealers. The brand also uses a large number of coordinators to assist in breaking down the barriers between international operations and headquarters.
The brand is well known for its measures to cut costs. In its Japanese offices, the firm turns off the lights in the offices during the time of lunch. The staff members do their work together in a large room. There are no partitions between the desks because of the nation's high cost of office space. Simultaneously, the firm spends large sums of money on facilities to manufacture cars, human resource development, and dealer networks. For example, it has invested more than $20 billion in production centers and support facilities in Europe and the United States. For the past five years, it has spent more than $150 million taking part in the Formula One Circuit. The brand says that all internal communication must be quite simple. But it creates complicated social networks. There is an unwritten rule at the firm that the employees must keep their language simple when communicating. When making presentations, they summarize all the background data, the aims, analysis, action plans, and forecasted results in one sheet of paper.
At the same time, the firm has a complicated web of social networks because its likes everybody to know everything about the firm. The firm has horizontal inks between employees across all geographic and functional boundaries. It groups them together by year of entry and specialization. This creates vertical relationships across the hierarchies through mentoring and teaching relationships. It also fosters informal ties by inviting workers to join clubs based on hobbies, sports interests, birthplaces, and so on.
There are a lot of behaviors that are permissible for employees at the firm that may be frowned upon at other offices. This includes not blindly following the orders given by bosses, exposing the various issues present in the office, and voicing opinions that may be contrary to the usual stream. There are employees who have risen through the ranks while fighting with the bosses. But the advice is not to fight blindly but pick a friendly fight. Employees are free to criticize the firm and the senior management, and they do not seem worried when they do it. The employees feel they are doing the right thing for the firm by giving constructive criticism to the management and the executives. These contradictions are the foundation of how Toyota became no. 1. But going deep into the causes of success is like peeling off an onion. You can uncover it layer after layer. But, there never comes the point when you can reach the center. But a pattern finally emerged to how Toyota became no. 1.
There were various forces that were causing contradictions within the firm. Various forces of expansion led the firm to start change and improvement. This helps to make the firm more diverse. But it also threatens the control and communications systems and complicates decision-making. So, the firm also has some forces of integration to prevent these winds of change from completely taking down the firm. This helps to perpetuate the values and culture of the firm, assists the firm in making sense of the overall environment in which they are functioning, and stabilizes the firm.
Conclusion
This article has jotted down all the reasons why Toyota became no. 1 in the sphere of the automobile industry all over the globe. It transformed from being a small part of a weaving firm to becoming the behemoth it is today. It has taken nearly a century of commitment to ingenuity and excellence beyond what other rivals created. It needed a vision for the future that keeps transforming and growing into something else. These are the main secrets behind how Toyota became no. 1.
