Secretive culture led Toyota astray; Issues and resolution

The article “Secretive Culture Led Toyota Astray” describes the chronology of issues that led up to the problems now plaguing Toyota.

The article described how evidence had been mounting for years that Toyota cars could suddenly speed, which was a factor that was suspected in crashes that has caused deaths. Toyota indicated that the problem was floor mats pinned the gas pedal; however, now two Toyota men revealed they had previously known of a problem with its gas pedals.

The Toyota Production System (TPS) has been held upon a pedestal for many years. With the TPS system and its benchmark lean practices, how could such problems occur and then be hidden?

My response is that Lean and TPS is not a business management governance system. In my opinion, practices such as hoshin planning (e.g., metrics to meet strategy statements) in Toyota and elsewhere can lead to very unhealthy behaviors (e.g., current financial crisis). According to the article “Toyota has lost its shine,” the CEO in 2002 had a strategic goal of basically being the largest automobile company by 2010 – at any cost. This type of business goal setting mentality of meeting the numbers or else can lead to destructive scenarios.

What is needed is a business management system that leads to the 3 Rs of business; i.e., everyone doing the Right things, and doing them Right, at the Right time. Organizations can move toward achieving the 3Rs with the Integrated Enterprise Excellence system, as described in “Corporate Performance Management: The Integrated Enterprise Excellence System”