International Analysis of Organization Design

Name:
Instructor:
Institution:
Date:
International analysis of organizational design
Introduction
Toyota Motor Corporation, which is the sixth leading corporation in the world by revenue and the top listed company in Japan by both revenue and market capitalization has survived different challenges since its birth. On the other hand, Japanese firms have revealed structurally unrelated system of organization paralleled to those of Western administration. As a result, Toyota’s survival and growth is based on the application of various Japanese cultural aspects that are very distinct. This paper seeks to provide an overview of Japanese culture and its impact on Toyota’s organizational structure, job design/employee culture, human resource system, and management system.
Overview of Japanese culture
Using Hofstede 6-D Model, the Japanese national values are characterized by reasonable individualism (46), average power-distance (54), high long term orientation (88), elevated uncertainty avoidance (92), and extreme masculinity (95), (What about Japan?). Japanese are mindful of their classified positions in any communal environment and act in view of that. owing to the stiff hierarchical state, corporations encounter slow decision making process as all decisions must be checked by each hierarchical level and lastly by the upper administration in Tokyo. However, the sluggish decision making process shows that in Japanese culture, there are no upper managers who can formulate decisions minus discussion with the others. Additionally, there is a strong idea in the Japanese schooling arrangement that everyone is born equal thus can develop into anything if he/she adequately work.
Generally, the Japanese humanity has the characteristics of a collectivistic society. Therefore, Japanese put the accord of crowds above the appearance of personal sentiments. In corporate Japan, workers are most driven when they are working in an engaging team against their opponents. This team rivalry motivates individuals towards brilliance and precision in firms (monodukuri). Furthermore, Japan is one of the most uncertainty evading nations on earth. This is frequently credited to the point that Japan is always vulnerable to environmental adversities such as earthquakes, typhoons, volcano eruptions, and tsunamis. Therefore, with regards to commerce, Japanese place a lot of energy into feasibility analyses by carefully probing threats before any project is undertaken. Consequently, directors request comprehensive proofs and facts before making any decision. This great need for Uncertainty Avoidance is the primary purpose why adjustments are so hard to take place in Japan.
In addition, Japanese perceive their lives as short moments in a large record of human civilization. From this perspective, Japanese do their best during their life time as that is all they can do. This involves engaging in any legal activity with loyalty, as long as it helps the individual to achieve whatever he/she desires in life. Business-wise, Japan long term orientation is seen in the great rate of investment and speculation in technology even during harsh economic conditions. The idea behind it is that rather than going for quarterly profits, people should prioritize the company’s overall growth (Matsuhista).
Organization structure
Toyota displays a form of mechanistic organization structures, which is alike to dictatorship, as they are extremely dignified and consolidated. Communication inclines along official means, and workers are taught precise work descriptions defining their responsibilities. The change to a more hierarchical and defensive structure began in the 1990s, when the company experienced fast development and enlargement. The development put pressure on the scarce resources within the firm and slowed reaction time leading to top managers being protective of information. The company’s CEO, Akio Toyoda, the grandson of its founder, even conceded that “Quite frankly, I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick.” Consequently, the main building blocks of Toyota’s organization structure are; high centralization, high formalization, high hierarchical levels, and various departments.
Centralization refers to the extent to which decision making power is focused at the top level in the firm. In centralized firms, vital resolutions are crafted at top stages of the ladder, whereas in devolved firms, resolutions are crafted at junior levels by workers who are nearer to the hitch in question. In Toyota’s case, power is highly centralized as the company’s board of director’s constitutes of 29 Japanese men, who are all Toyota confidants (Mehri, 2018). Due to its centralized power system, power is not usually substituted within the business. The high centralization of power means that Toyota has a tall structure in terms of hierarchical level.
Tall structures have numerous levels of organization amongst frontline staffs and the highest office. Therefore, the degree of control seems to be lesser, leading to greater prospects for directors to oversee and screen workers activities. This is clearly evident as all Toyota executives in the United States are allocated a Japanese superior to guide them, and no Toyota superior in the United States is certified to recall defective vehicles.
With regard to departmentalization, Toyota uses a hybrid of functional and local make-ups that signify the exclusive services, products, clients, or physical settings the firm is serving. This is to say that each distinctive product or service that the company is creating will have its own division. One advantage of departmentalization is that it increases innovations within the group as Japan promotes collectiveness rather than individualism. However, this type of departmentalization inclines to be more applicable when a company does not have a big amount of merchandises and amenities demanding special care. Toyota is a multinational national corporation and due to this structure, has suffered slow response times severally.
Based on the above organization structure, Toyota has been known worldwide for providing quality customer care and solving problems relatively faster. This is partly due to the Toyota Production System which gives power to front line employees. However, the power is very limited as employees can only pull a cord and halt the production line when they realize a drawback after consulting with managers. This limitation was the root cause for the 1989 and 2009 Toyota disaster that resulted in the recall of hundreds of vehicles. According to DeCesare (2018), strategy glitches were not adequately tested and serious report was not communicated correctly to workers due to Toyota's old-style Japanese company beliefs.
Job design and employee culture
Toyota&rsq...