Page 245 - Toyota Under Fire

TOYOT A UNDER FIRE

Putting real force behind this never-ending cycle of getting
back to the basics and strengthening the culture was something
of a silver lining of the recall crisis, according to Toyoda:

If you ask me if I want to go through the same experi-
ence again I would say absolutely no! . . . But because
of the issues I was able to wholeheartedly communicate
my core values to the 300,000 employees globally and
also to the suppliers and dealers. So, I think that by now
this has become an asset for me. I can take advantage
of that as I continue to manage this company into the
future.

Lesson 2: A Culture of Responsibility Will
Always Beat a Culture of Finger-Pointing

It’s common sense that organizations that encourage taking re-
sponsibility and solving problems perform better than those that
allow finger-pointing and passing the buck. But how much can
any person or company take responsibility for? Should a com-
pany take responsibility for being hit hard by the Great Recession
or for the damage done by misleading media reports?
Various Toyota leaders took responsibility for both crises.
Even areas like manufacturing, which had nothing to do with the
recall crisis, engaged in hansei to determine what could have been
done better.
This may seem more like ritual self-flagellation than like a
productive stance, but there is an important nuance to under-
stand about Toyota’s culture of responsibility and problem solv-
ing. There is no value to the Five Whys if you stop when you

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