CASE Study (Organizational Behavior) Did Toyotas culture cause its problems?

? Summary: Toyota being the best automobile manufacturing company of Japan also suffered from a defect called unintended acceleration which occurs when a car accelerates with no apparent input from the driver. This eventually caused the death of 30 people since 2000, Later on Toyota accepted its default and recalled more than 8million cars. But latter many research have found that there is no mistake in toyota manufacturing unit and its due to only driver mistake. Facts: Unintended acceleration in Toyota cars has been the cause of 37 deaths since 2000. The root cause of Toyotas problems was considered to be its insular, arrogant culture. Evidence suggests that Toyotas culture or even the cars it produces is not the source of the problem.

Questions and answers: 1. If Toyota is not the cause of unintended acceleration, why was it blamed for it? Even as Toyota has reckoned with a wrenching crisis of confidence, acknowledging reports that some of its best-selling vehicles have been prone to accelerating while drivers step on the brakes, the car giant has consistently maintained that its electronic systems are not the culprit for a series of lethal accidents. Sometimes floor mats have been to blame, said Toyota, prompting recalls. Sometimes moisture has gotten inside gas pedals and caused them to stick, triggering another recall. And still other times drivers have hit the wrong pedal with their foot, the company has said. But when NASA conducted an investigation, it found no evidence of electronic malfunctions, according to the resulting report. When that study was released last February, Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration both seized on that conclusion as proof that Toyota's electronic systems were beyond reproach - a contention amplified widely in media accounts. But buried within that same report are details that

safety experts construe as disturbing evidence of problems potentially afflicting the electronic systems governing the gas pedal - problems that Toyota and the highway safety agency have so far dismissed. 2. Investigations have shown that after stories of unintended acceleration are publicized, report of incidents increase for all automakers. Why is this the case?

Toyota and Lexus models for 2008 had a much greater incidence of sudden, unintended acceleration than other brands, according to Consumer Reports analysis of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) safety complaints database. In the review of 2000 model-year data, Ford also stood out with a significant number of related complaints. These incidents have increased because there may be awareness created among people about the knowhow and their consumer rights. Secondly, the dissatisfaction of the people towards the services or the vehicles which they brought can also stand as the reason. 3. Is it possible to have a strong even arrogant culture and still produce safe and high quality vehicles?

Arrogance in production can be seen in a positive manner because to produce to such an extinct they should have strong devotion for the work they do, this can come out in the form of arrogance but coming to quality they never compromised with the quality , which shows their attitude in their production. But mistakes may happen certain times so to rectify this mistake of the incident happened they recalled 9 million cars which shows they are people oriented also while coming to customers. In this case Toyota showed its arrogance in production to produce better cars but not with their customers so I support Toyota in their culture and this culture of Toyota helps it to increase its quality but never makes it decline. 4. If you were the CEO of Toyota when the story was first publicized, how would have reacted?

If I were the CEO I would have looked into the issue more deeply; apart from recalling all sold cars which were causing troubles I would have instructed the

manufacturing department to check these concerns more seriously. I would have personally inspected the assembly production line where these cars were being manufactured and would try to know the actual causes and its appropriate fixes. Besides a loss of a considerable loyal customer base it is also an issue of public safety which can never be ignored. It was known that Toyota was continuing to manufacture the cars in the same way amid these issues of unintended acceleration getting circulated in the global environment. So I would have sensed the negligence in the production department. As an extreme step I would resorted to dismissing officials who were reckless in the production department and would have appointed new staffs who were more honest and diligent in their approach.

Submitted by : K.Sai Dinesh 1225113222 Mba-b