Page 201 - How To Implement Lean Manufacturing

CHAPTER 11

Cultures

n this chapter, we offer a brief introduction into cultures—business cultures in par-
ticular. We will just skim the surface, but our objective is to give you enough infor-
Imation that the complexity and depth of the Toyota culture can be appreciated, as
well as the depth of effort needed to truly attain a Lean culture. We also want to explain
why a concerted effort into changing the culture can wait for a while—at least until the
major foundational issues have been implemented.
This chapter was included because the defining aspects of the TPS are its cultural
elements. As an extension of that thought, some of the truly unique aspects of the TPS
were consciously and painstakingly developed over an extended period of time; hence,
they are not easily imitated by others.

Background Information on Cultures

What Is a Culture?
We define a culture as “the combined actions, thoughts, beliefs, artifacts, and language
of any group of people.” It could be the culture of the Catholic Church, the culture
of AARP, the culture of the South, the culture of Toyota, the culture of the New York
Yankees, the culture of your plant, or any group of people. The people within these
groups think, talk, and behave within predictable patterns of behavior. These thoughts,
language, and behaviors then identify them to be a member of the culture. Often, these
cultures have specific artifacts that help identify them as part of a culture. These arti-
facts may include such things as symbolic necklaces, or uniforms. However, simply
put, a culture is “how we do things around here.”
For example, when I started as an engineer in the oil industry in 1970, all engineers
wore a dress shirt and tie, at a minimum. Generally, even first-line supervisors wore a
suit or at least a sport coat. I worked in Southern California, the heart of the “take-it-
easy-and-let’s-go-to-the-beach” culture, yet the dress was very formal. When we asked
why, they would say, “That’s just how we do it around here.” A second example at my
employer was that there was no formal program to indoctrinate engineers. For the most
part, we were given work and expected to find out what we needed to do to perform. A
middle manager once said, “Our engineer training program is like asking the engineers
to put on ankle weights, throwing them out into the middle of a pond, and telling them
to swim to shore. Along the way we lose a lot, but the ones who make it to shore are real
strong.” That too was an aspect of their culture—that is, engineer training was not very
highly valued, yet we were still expected to perform. A less obvious, although equally
strong, aspect of that culture was the intolerance for failures. Failures were not easily

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