Toyotas REAL problem...

[priderocks]

Toyotas real problem is a corporate structure that most westerners would find pretty strange. The highest management are looked upon as mini gods- you simply don't trouble the gods with trivial problems like people dying in your vehicles. The companies have a rigid heirarchy/seniority and it is career death to send bad news up the food chain. It is career death because there is minimal mobility between companies in Japan. If you loose your job for being a whistleblower, your career in Japanese business is over. Bringing in people from the outside is thought to break up the "harmony" of the firm. (All of Toyotas board members are men, and all are insiders.) This is why, once you hire on with a Japanese company, workers usually spend their working careers there. To go around the sytem (an underling would never go around seniors and march into a higher-ups office and say "We have a big problem") is considered disloyal.

His god-like status is why Mr. Toyoda hedged about coming to the US for the safety hearings- the gods simply don't mingle with lowly politicians. He is demeaning himself in the eyes of his underlings. It is considered dishonorable and disrespectful for underlings to approach them. Sort of like shooting the messenger.
 
So, when you mix in this loyalty/honor/zen stuff, it becomes a little easier to see why quality problems seldom go far up the corporate ladder- it is career suicide. Everyone on the lower rungs would rather fall on their own swords.

It becomes clearer that Toyotas true problems are rooted in culture and tradition rather than being a pure quality control issue. Management-wise, Japanese firms are way behind the times. It also helps to understand the traditionally high level of quality in Japanese products. Even their assembly-line workers are in it for the long haul, and doing your very best on your job is considered being loyal to the family.

[Lunchbox]

Interesting thoughts, but I would also say that vast majority of large American companies are the same way. Not in the boss/god side but the money/greed side of it.

Lunch

[BIGSHCLUNK]

Intrestingly, I can remember back in the 90-'s many emulated the Japanise mgmt style... 

[Super Blue 72]

Funny that much of Japanese manufacturing style actually came from an American named Edward Demming.  I heard about this guy in a Macro-economics course many moons ago...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming

[Aussie Challenger]

I have been told that in Japan each car manufacturer has its own mini township, schools, shops etc., and therefore each worker has a deeper feeling for the company they work for. The Japanese have a loyality to their companies through culture unlike western workers who try to be loyal but the upper management think only of their own pockets.   

[ohio cuda]

Seems the honorable solution would be "hara-kiri". I believe that about does it!

[whitesatinmopar]

And that philosophy was exposed back in the war years, out of stupidity they willingly wasted their own lives and equipment to be "loyal" to Japan. That cost them, once a pilot and his plane was down it obviously could not be of any further use. Now that is suppuior intelegence...........?  Yes their pride probably comes into play, but greed is factor one. And actually stupidity in ignoring and fabricating reasons other than taking on the problem. It's like seeing a hole in your boat and ignoring it or repairing it, it will eventually sink. Unless they positively do something they are on the way down. 

[73Chally]

I have been told that in Japan each car manufacturer has its own mini township, schools, shops etc., and therefore each worker has a deeper feeling for the company they work for. The Japanese have a loyality to their companies through culture unlike western workers who try to be loyal but the upper management think only of their own pockets.   

So it is better to immerse you and your family into the auto industry 24/7/365?  Yes, they do have more loyalty, but at what cost?  I kind of like being able to go to my own house after work and have my own life.

[Supercuda]

I mentioned this Samurai code of ethics and honor in the other thread on this topic. Bushido has served Japanese corporations well, and also has given some good pointers to western companies on how to acquire greater employee loyalty, and consequently, better products. This is not to say that corporate health equates to good public policy or proper testing and release of good products. Many times it does, but this effect is limited in scope, and cannot be assumed to work every time. Corporate greed is ALWAYS an issue, and needs some transparency to be controlled. Secrecy should make one suspicious, and should not be tolerated on the level, or the scope of, Toyota's secrecy. It should have raised red flags for at least American governmet regulators, but we tolerated it because they are employing so many of our citizens. Smells like capitalism to me.

[ChallengerHK]

Honestly, having worked for GM and Ford, I don't see much difference. At Ford in particular I had access to some pretty high up people, briefing VPs and the like, and the behavior I saw there (higher ups being too important to consider what they considered mere details, underlings being afraid to approach their superiors) is pretty similar.

[torredcuda]

Money+power usually = coruuption

[priderocks]

The biggest east/west difference is in the US auto industry the labor/management is an adversarial relationship (maybe less so now than in the past), and in Japan the management and workers actually feel they are on the same team. When the union feels like they are getting the short end of the stick, it's hard to expect the level of quality not to suffer.