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Theory X and Theory Y of Management
Introduction
According to this theory, the managers view employees in different human nature concepts which he labels as Theory X and Theory Y. This theory demands the managers to reflect about their employees including issues such as how do you treat the employees? How does the manager talk to them? This is important to know because it enables the management learn where they are in the Theory X-Theory Y continuum.
In Theory X, managers assume that employees generally heat work and that the average employee is lazy, lacks ambitions and is generally lazy. This theory assumes that employee motivation is money. This type of manager is sharp contrast to Theory Y. Theory Y managers assume that employees and highly satisfied by their work and exhibit high level of creativity. According to this theory, employees seek recognition and self-fulfilment than money (Korzynski, 2013).
How I Identify and Differ With This Style
I identify with this management theory because I believe that it is very important to understand the various ways to treat human nature, as most of the employee behaviour observed in their work place is a reaction to management style. For instance, the management that believes employees avoids responsibility and must be coerced to achieve organizational goals are likely to set strict measures to the employees dictating what they want the employees to do, ways they want it done and closely monitor them.
This communicates lack of trust to the employees In this regards, the employees reaction towards work is negative, which convinces the managers that their assumptions is actually correct. On the other hand, Theory Y managers have entirely different assumptions. In this type of management, they make their decisions by consensus. This enhances the employee’s sense of belonging. By empowering the employee, the employee’s authority increases and tends to be responsible. This management encourages the employee creativity as well as teamwork and are more likely to reward them. As a result, the employee’s reaction is positive because they are treated with respect and support (Mikkelsen, Jacobsen, & Andersen, 2015).
Despite the fact that the theory explanations of management and employees performance are feasible- I highly doubt that there are managers who are purely X or Y. The theories are designed to help the management understand their natural instincts and help them appreciate their attitudes such that they can adjust to certain situations within specific environment and organizational culture.
In this regards, it’s not a question if one is a Theory X or Theory manager. Irrespective of the type of management, the work must be done. Therefore, the key to success is evaluating your organization to identify the styles that are more consistent with bringing out the highest motivation levels and improve employee’s productivity (Reed & Bogardus, 2012).
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An Example of Business That Has Applied Theory Management Style
An example of business that has applied Theory Management style in their organization is Google Company. The Google Company gives their students much freedom to ensure that they enjoy working at this company. The management looks at the employees tend to believe that they are self-actualizing as well as self-fulfilling. In Google Company, there is no micromanagement of the employees because they want them to be creative and improve their sense of belonging by making them take ownership of their work.
This company does not motivate the employees with fear of getting fired if they do not deliver quality work, but rather it encourages and empower employees to ensure that they take initiative to pursue their life goals. When the employee’s psychological needs are improved, they become motivated and are ultimately more likely to accomplish their company’s goals. The organizations push their workers to ensure that they understand their self-actualisation alongside the company’s goals set. The employees are given flexibility and ensure that the work place is comfortable. This motivates the employees to remain productive (Korzynski, 2013).
Case study
During the unstable economic times, many companies management are expected to make tough decisions regarding the organization work force structure and size. The director of Tri-County Home Health Agency is expected to implement a reduction in force (RIF) program also commonly known as lay-off. This requires a lot of interaction with the top management officials and human resource manager to evaluate the jobs that need to be eliminated and ways the employees needs to be notified about the decisions. In this case, Theory X will work effectively (Gandolfi, & Hansson, 2010).
Before implementing RIF, the management should explore all the alternatives available. This is because RIF could be a quick answer, but may not make sense in the long-term. Other alternatives such as reducing work schedules, salary reduction, freeze of hiring, reduction of employee’s contribution and natural attrition. After reviewing these options and RIF still remains the best step for the company it is important for the management to explore ways to go about it.
The following should be put into consideration, including what departments or divisions are likely to be affected or will RIF affect the entire organization. In this case, what employees are essential to keep the company running, what set of skills are very vital in the organization for future (McConnell, 2010).
One of the challenges during this process is selection of employees who will undergo lay-offs. This is complex due to the impact of disparate analysis. In this regards, the selection criteria should be based on employee’s level of experience, versatility and proficiency. The unnecessary jobs categories and classifications should be eliminated. The employee’s performance can be evaluated using data from job appraisal. To decide on whom to let go or stay, the management should strive an objective comparison of its employees. Strict compliance with the requirements must be maintained, failure to which employee’s claim of discrimination can be enforced (Gandolfi, & Hansson, 2010).
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Conclusion
To communicate to the employees, a note of warning must be given to organizations. This facilitates quick action which is important for people who are staying and those who are leaving. All information about severance should be clear to ensure that every person understands it. The management should predict the questions anticipated and address the issue from the start.
Additionally it is important to the employees sign a release to avoid the employees taking action against the organization. It is also important to communicate with the survivors as they are equally affected. Additionally, the survivors are expected to match the same output level or even higher, which calls for motivation, giving the employees sense of hope and belief (McConnell, 2010).
References
Gandolfi, F., & Hansson, M. (2010). Reduction-in-force (RIF) – New developments and a brief historical analysis of a business strategy. Journal of Management & Organization, 16(5), 727-743. http://dx.doi.org/10.5172/jmo.2010.16.5.727
McConnell, C. (2010). Umiker’s management skills for the new health care supervisor. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Mikkelsen, M., Jacobsen, C., & Andersen, L. (2015). Managing Employee Motivation: Exploring the Connections Between Managers’ Enforcement Actions, Employee Perceptions, and Employee Intrinsic Motivation. International Public Management Journal, 1-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10967494.2015.1043166
Reed, S., & Bogardus, A. (2012). PHR. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons
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Knowledge Management
Introduction
Knowledge refers to awareness or a theoretical or practical understanding of someone or something that originates from a combination of data, information, experience, discovery, learning and individual interpretation (Edvardsson, and Durst, 2013). Knowledge can also be defined as the ability of an individual to respond to a body of facts and principles that have been accumulated over a period within his or her environment (Groff and Jones, 2012).
In an organizational viewpoint, knowledge is seen as the total of what is known by the people/employees within an organization. It is the intelligence and ability of the people within the organization. This intelligence and ability are what helps an organization to be more successful regarding achieving the organizational set goals and objectives. Failure to use the peoples’ intelligence and ability in an organization well may be fatal to an organization as far as organizational goals and objectives achievement is a concern.
Knowledge is what makes the difference within organizations. Most of the well-performing organization has useful and relevant knowledge they use to outdo their competitors. As such, this knowledge must be managed to ensure continued performance of an organization as a whole.
Knowledge has lately been recognized as a key factor in an organization. Additionally, knowledge is crucial in production and operation of an organization. It is, therefore, important to manage knowledge within an organizationn. There are different types of knowledge including explicit knowledge, tacit knowledge, embedded knowledge, procedural knowledge, detailed knowledge and so on (Groff and Jones, 2012).
This paper evaluates knowledge management in small businesses. Moreover, the paper will set out by defining what knowledge management is, its significance and purpose with respect to tacit and explicit management. The paper will also examine assumptions made by KMS, and also SMEs definitions.
What is a KMS and what does it do?
Knowledge management is a systematic process of capturing, processing, assessment, sharing, storing, distributing and using of knowledge (Croteau, 2016). It involves the best use of knowledge for achieving organizations set goals and objectives. Knowledge management consists of the initiatives, processes, strategies, and systems that ensure and heighten the creation, improvement, sharing, storage and application of the knowledge (Croteau, 2016).
Knowledge management is based on two main activities. The first activity is about capturing and documenting of all employees knowledge within the organization. With this capturing and recording of such knowledge, the organization can know what kind of assets it has regarding human manpower is a concern. That fact that people drive organizations, it makes it more logical to know what the organization has. It is people within the organization that sets the organization’s goals and objectives. As such, these employees are likely to work hard to achieve their organizational set goals and objectives.
The second activity is about the distribution of the valuable knowledge to all staff around the organization. Dissemination of such knowledge can be done through various means including; on the job training, direct supervising by respective line managers or heads of departments, through one on one talks with employees of an organization, hiring a trainer to come and train the employees and so on. As such, Knowledge management will not only allow the organization to have all the relevant information needed by the organization but also to use such information to organizational benefit.
Knowledge management encourages or focuses more on organizational learning with an aim of achieving the organization’s objectives such as continuous improvement in employee’s performance, acquiring more market share, being more innovative, improved profits, teamwork and togetherness through sharing of information learned or trained and so forth.
Valuable knowledge is very crucial for the success of any organization. As such, the organization that can create and diffuse knowledge to its employees is likely to gain a competitive age against its competitors. Having knowledge employees is great for an organization though it’s difficult to keep such employees within the organization. They may be lost through turnover, competition or even through retirement (Dalkir, 2011).
Knowledge management is closely linked to organizational success. It highlights the importance of managing useful knowledge to an organization. This useful knowledge is the one that will help in the achievement of organizational set goals and objectives.
Knowledge management is also defined as a systematic coordination of organizational resources in a way that can add value to an organization through use, reuse and innovation. These organizational resources include; people within the organization, processes within an organization, technology, organization structure and so on. This coordination is realized through creation, processing, distributing and application of the knowledge.
Knowledge management is the use of organizational brain power in a systematic manner to ensure that an organization gains a competitive age against its competitors, to achieve efficiencies in operations of an organization and to spur innovation within the organization (Groff and Jones, 2012).
Continuous organizational learning is crucial to an organization. People especially of an organization need to keep learning the environment an organization operates in keep changing every time and then. As such, employees ought to keep learning so as to gain more and more knowledge that will help in the achievement of organizational goals and objectives.
Knowledge management helps to keep an organization running at a high and efficient level. As such, organizational goals and objectives are likely to be achieved.
Knowledge management was recognized in the 1980s as a competitive asset to an organization. It was fueled by the development of Information and technology systems which made it simple for creation, storage, display and dissemination of information (Edvardsson, and Durst, 2013). Currently, most organizations have or are trying to adopt to knowledge management systems mostly due to its efficiency.
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What is Knowledge and what is the purpose of managing tacit and explicit knowledge?
Knowledge
Knowledge is different from information as well as data. Individuals absorb information and data in the development of knowledge. With knowledge can easily convert data information Knowledge is the total of what is recognised, resides in intelligence and competency of in individuals. In the recent past, knowledge is considered as production factor; however it is related to labor. This is a clear indication of the connection between knowledge-information-data.
For instance, policy an analyst is requested to establish if changes in policy about marketing of ABC products, in the clothing sector. The analysts begin by assessing the numbers on the ABC sales for the previous three years. The analysts use these numbers and develop a pattern for ABC products demonstrating that they have significantly increased for 3 years, especially after policy changes.
Such data is converted to information. To get practical descriptions that maximises sales, the analysts looks for further information, speaks with famous clothe retailers and distributers. Upon completion, the analyst and based of the analyst’s understanding, she states that attempts to market local fashion items expanded after policy implementation and positively increased the sales volume. In this case, the analysts used current and new knowledge. User her skills to recognise a certain element. Transforming data to information, while using current knowledge she reached a conclusion. In fact, she produced new knowledge (Hislop, 2013).
Knowledge is imperative because it encourages innovation – knowledge management system fosters innovation within an organization. Through sharing of information, employees of an organization can pick relevant information that may help them to develop some new within the organization. Knowledge management encourages the creation of knowledge. As such, new ways of doing things in an organization may be discovered. Knowledge is crucial to decision making since managers can access all relevant information they want for decision making within the organization.
In addition, knowledge, customers’ responses are timely received and may be acted upon quickly. Any organization that can respond to customers’ needs will be loved by its customer, hence more revenues to an organization. Knowledge helps in staff retention within an organization. This `is done by recognizing of employees’ within an organization. Recognition may be in the form of rewards such as increased salaries or wages.
Again, knowledge improves organization’s revenues. The knowledge management system ensures improved revenues when products and services get to the market faster. Knowledge management system provides the necessary information of what is required at any particular point in time. As such, an organization can easily and quickly respond to customers’ needs well.
With the adoption of knowledge system, an organization is likely to grow as far as technology is a concern since they can create, process, store, share and access all the relevant information that is beneficial at easy and quick. Consequently, knowledge is driving businesses to extend to other parts of the world. This international expansion is good for any business though it has to be undertaken carefully so as to reap all the benefits of globalization and avoid all the challenges that come with globalization such as management issues or difficulties.
Purpose of Managing Tacit and Explicit Knowledge
Tacit and Explicit Knowledge
People hold divergent forms of tacit and explicit information and employ their information in various ways. Moreover, people use divergent viewpoints to contemplate about anomalies and formulate solutions. Again, research shows that knowledge is disseminated in creative ways.
Tacit knowledge
This is knowledge that comes from common sense, it is automatic, and does not involve thought process. Tacit knowledge is critical when it comes to assisting firms not just in decision making processes but also impacting the corporate culture. In short tacit knowledge is individual, slanted form of information is informal. This type of knowledge is never found in books or written materials.
Mental tacit information integrates implicit mental representation and perspectives that are so entrenched and often never taken seriously. Perceptive models impact how people conceptualize world events. People can investigate story content and actions and employ useful tacit information in executing work-related functions.
For example, workers of Datafusion Inc, an ICT consulting organisation, capture and shares meeting footages with employees. This is to say that employees will
Explicit knowledge
Explicit knowledge is largely methodological or academic. Moreover, explicit knowledge is documented in formal prose such as manuals, computational formulas and shared through print media and electronic media among others. Explicit information is technical and involves a level of scholarly information or understanding that is attained through formal education, or structured education.
Explicit information is cautiously codified, stored in a hierarchy of repositories and is accessed with high quality, dependable fast data reclamation structures. Once classified, explicit knowledge assets can be used time and again to solve many comparable forms of issues or unite people with valuable reusable information.
For instance, Ernst & Young have developed an international brain of explicit data to comprise cultural disparities. Their database of best practices with a global reach is anchored on sharing and documenting information. The company’s approach to business issues stems from an array of perceptions.
Regardless of where problems occur, there is no right answer, but several practical methodologies. Ernst & Young see knowledge objects as templates of core insights that can be employed in any cultural setting.
Andersen Consulting for instance, developed ostentatious ways to classify, store and reuse explicit data. With this approach, any client sensitive data is removed while selected information is reprocessed. In short, data is transformed into a verified successful solution that can be employed in a similar industry.
Importance of knowledge management system
What are the assumptions made about KMS (Objective / practice-based)?
There are various assumptions of Knowledge management system. For example, KMS is associated with free circulation of information; it is assumed that information within an organization flows freely from one employee to another the information maybe about products an organization deals with, strategies, and structure. In reality, free flow of information within some organization is not possible. Some organizations have levels in which certain information can flow up to. Organizational information is mostly kept secretly and only shared with some few senior employees of an organization source
When it comes to knowledge sharing between employees – it is assumed that all employees of an organization trust each other and as such, they freely share whatever kind of information they have. In reality, particularly, where employees try to outdo each other in term of their performance and rewards. Source
There is the aspect of efficient research and retrieval system, which is assumed that all staff or employees of an organization can easily and efficiently search and retrieve all relevant information they need to help them perform their respective duties well. The reality may be different depending on an organization. Some organizations do not have efficient systems that can allow employees to search and retrieve information without difficulties.
Easy combination of different sources of information under KMS it is assumed that all employees of an organization can combine various sources of information and use that information for the better of an organization. This may not be true to some organization. Some organizations have departments or units in which employees are confined. As such, employees are restricted to what kind of information they can access depending on their respective departments or units. Source
With regards to employees’ abilities or competences information is easily accessible its assumed that all information about all employees abilities or competences within an organization is readily available in electronic form, and it can easily be accessible by anyone within an organization. In reality, some firms do not have such employees’ information on electronic yellow pages where everyone can access. Furthermore, some employees are not comfortable to have all their information available and accessible to anyone else apart from the ones they want them to get access to such personal information (Aggestam, 2015).
Owing to the fact that employees are experts in the particular area and can easily educate other employees, however in KMS; it is assumed that employees of an organization are experts in the certain field of their work and can quickly train and support other staff. This may not be true to some organization. Some employees may not be will to share their knowledge with each other for free. Unless some incentives are attached to information sharing within an organization, it will be difficult to for some employees to open up and share information with their colleagues.
It is widely acknowledged that project teams have virtual project offices, but under KMS, it is assumed that project teams have special virtual project rooms where all information and correspondence with internal and external customers is collected there. In reality, some organizations do not have such teams and rooms where such information and communication can be collected. Source
Bonus schemes are widely used in companies; nevertheless, it is assumed that most organizations have bonus schemes that are created to activate further knowledge sharing or flow with an organization. In reality, most organization do not have such bonus schemes to encourage employees to share and allow flow of information within the organization.
How do you define a small to medium enterprise (startup?)
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are independent firms that employ fewer numbers of employees or workers. They are non-subsidiary firms. Small and medium-sized enterprises are those firms with fewer than 50 workers or employees, but this number of employees or workers may vary across countries all over the world (Hislop, 2013).
What is the Knowledge Economy and what does it have to do with SMEs?
Most of the small and medium-sized enterprises face several problems in their operations. Such problems include lack of enough capital, less marketing competition from large organizations, lack of quality operational knowledge (Croteau, 2016).
Some of these problems hinder Small and medium-sized enterprises to successful compete with other firms. It is, therefore, important for Small and medium-sized enterprises to adopt knowledge management system to help them improve their competitiveness. A good understanding and use of knowledge is an important boost to firms’ competitiveness.
Knowledge management system aims at improvement of firms, profits. As such, Small and medium-sized enterprises should adopt it. Small and medium-sized enterprises will benefit since knowledge management ensures effective communication within the firm and knowledge sharing which is very critical to any firm’s success or failure (Hislop, 2013).
Small and medium-sized enterprises should aim at improving their competitiveness so as to be able to survive in this tough market. With the adaptation of knowledge management system, Small and medium-sized enterprises will definitely improve their competitiveness hence a high chance of becoming large organizations.
Why would SMEs want to have KMS (eCommerce)?
Small and medium-sized enterprises want to have knowledge management system so as to; Increase revenues – since knowledge management systems enhance business revenues through getting products and services to the market faster, small and medium-sized enterprises desire to make more revenues so as to expand will drive them to knowledge management system use (Dalkir ,2011).
Knowledge management encourages innovation – knowledge management system fosters innovation within an organization. As such, small and medium – sized enterprises also desire to be more innovative so as to acquire a competitive age to help them grow to large organizations.
Improved customer services – knowledge management system ensures improved client services. As such, small and medium – sized enterprises will also desire to satisfy their customers. Satisfied customers are likely to remain loyal to an organization. With loyal customers’, small and medium – sized enterprises are more guaranteed to grow or develop to large organizations.
Discuss key challenges to the implementation of KMS in SMEs.
Implementation of knowledge management system in SMEs is hindered by various challenges. For instance, SMEs considerably rely on technology – knowledge management system relay more on technology. Therefore, a failure in technology may have a negative effect on the operation as well as the profits of an organization. It’s worth noting that knowledge management system is a technology-driven system. As such, it’s intricate to distinguish knowledge management system and technology.
Moreover, it is difficult to get employees to effectively use information – availing information to employees is not enough. Getting employees to effectively and efficiently use available information is more critical. Some people take the time to get interested in some information. As such, knowledge management system implementation in SMEs may take time for it to be accepted and put in effective and efficient use.
Constraints of information circulation among employees are somehow difficult in SMEs particularly when such information is likely to empower another employee to become more relevant and competitive within an organization. Employees do compete for promotions in some organization. As such, it will be very difficult for an employee to share with other (Aggestam, 2015).
Another challengelle is the unwillingness of information sharing amongst employees’ of an organization – it is a great deal to get an employee to share whatever information he or she has free of charge. Therefore, implementation of knowledge management system may not be possible for some SMEs.
References
Aggestam, L. (2015). Learning Organization or Knowledge Management–Which Came First, The Chicken or the Egg? Information technology and control, 35(3).
Borchardt, U. (2012, January). Selecting KMS for SME-A Need for Value-Orientation. In Workshops on Business Informatics Research (pp. 26-37). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Croteau, J. (2016). Knowledge Management Best Practices.
Dalkir, K. (2011). Knowledge management in theory and practice (2nd Edition). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Edvardsson, I. R., & Durst, S. (2013). The benefits of knowledge management in small and medium-sized enterprises. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 81, 351-354.
Groff, T., & Jones, T. (2012). Introduction to knowledge management. Routledge.
Hislop, D. (2013). Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. Oxford University Press.
Holtshouse, D. K. (2013). Information technology for knowledge management. U. M. Borghoff, & R. Pareschi (Eds.). Springer Science & Business Media.
Jung, J. J. (2013). Semantic wiki-based knowledge management system by interleaving ontology mapping tool. International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, 23(01), 51-63.
Lin, Y. C., & Lee, H. Y. (2012). Developing project communities of practice-based knowledge management system in construction. Automation in Construction, 22, 422- 432.
Matayong, S., & Kamil Mahmood, A. (2013). The review of approaches to knowledge management system studies. Journal of Knowledge Management, 17(3), 472-490.
Montequín, V. R., Fernández, F. O., Cabal, V. A.,& Gutierrez, N. R. (2006). An integrated framework for intellectual capital measurement and knowledge management implementation in small and medium-sized enterprises. Journal of Information Science, 32(6), 525-538.
Natek, S., & Zwilling, M. (2014). Student data mining solution–knowledge management system related to higher education institutions. Expert systems with applications, 41(14), 6400-6407.
Powell, W. W., & Snellman, K. (2004). The knowledge economy. Annual review of sociology, 199-220.
Premkumar, V., Krishnamurty, S., Wileden, J. C., & Grosse, I. R. (2014). A semantic knowledge management system for laminated composites. Advanced engineering informatics, 28(1), 91-101.
Rehman, M., Mahmood, A. K., K Sugathan, S., & Amin, A. (2009). Implementation of Knowledge Management in Small and Medium Enterprises–Malaysian Perspective.
Wang, S., Noe, R. A., & Wang, Z. M. (2014). Motivating knowledge sharing in knowledge management systems a quasi–field experiment. Journal of Management, 40(4), 978-1009.
Wiig, K. (2012). People-focused knowledge management. Routledge.
Zaim, S., Bayyurt, N., Tarim, M., Zaim, H., & Guc, Y. (2013). System dynamics modeling of a knowledge management process: A case study in Turkish Airlines. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 99, 545-552.
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Management of Complex Projects: The Seikan Tunnel in Japan
Introduction
Project management is one of the aspects that cannot be ignored whenever there is need to have a project. This may be for simple as well as complex projects. Management of complex projects is demanding. This is because the complexity of the projects involves many requirements. This calls for dedication from those tasked with seeing a complex project to completion.
The completion should be within the expected standards. This essay is focusing on various aspects of mega projects. This is done through analyzing one of the complex projects that have been carried out across the globe. This essay will focus on the Seikan Tunnel in Japan.
The project
The Seikan Tunnel in Japan is a project that brought to birth a dual gauge railway line. This tunnel is 53.85 kilometers long. It is worth noting that part of this length is under water. The length of portion of this tunnel that is under water is 23 kilometers. It is interesting to learn that the portion that is immersed under water is found 302 feet below the sea level. It is worth noting that the Seikan Tunnel comes second in terms of tunnel lengths in the world. This means that it is beaten in length by the Channel Tunnel.
The project goal
Each project set for implementation should always have a goal (Huang 2010, p.28). The purpose of implementing this project was to offer transports solution to users in the location of this project. The Seikan Tunnel connects Honshi and Hokkaido Islands in Japan. The fact that it is dual carriage gives users an opportunity to maximize on efficiency. It is interesting to learn that the need to give people returning home after World War II contributed immensely in calling for a project like the Seikan Tunnel.
Additionally, the increased traffic witnessed in the route that eventually accommodates this tunnel pushed for implementation of this project to ease it. This project was meant to reduce the transport challenges facing users in this area such as ferry accidents. For example, sinking of 5 ferries ferrying about 1430 passengers increased the need for this project.
Type of project approach
The Seikan Tunnel project was implemented through the use of traditional project framework. This was through planning around the general processes of a project. The traditional approach concentrated on commencement, proper planning and design, construction, contrl and finishing of the project. This framework created ease in handling each task.
The project success measures
For a project to be successful, there are certain measures that have to be put in place (Weissenberger & Kotch 2007, p. 24). For that matter, this project had its success measures too. One of the success measures for this project was completion within the set time. This project had time set for all stages. Completion within the stipulated time would deem this project successful. As a matter of fact, it was completed within the expected time.
The other success measure for this project was continuous progress. The project was to be declared successful if all phases continued without stalling. The continuity was necessary since it means that the project would be completed within the set duration. Thirdly, acceptance of this project was the other success measure. In project management, acceptance from stakeholders is very crucial (Windapo & Goulding 2013, p.431).
This is because implementing a project that none of the targeted persons would not want to be associated with is useless. Luckily, this project received wide acceptance from stakeholders thus being declared successful.
The other vital success measure for this project was based on budgeting. This measure guided that the project’s completion within the set budget would deem it successful. The Seikan Tunnel was planned to operate with a budget of about $4.0 billion. Fortunately, it was completed with US $3.6 billion. This means that the budget was adhered to thus the project becoming successful as per this measure.
The project web
The implementation of this project saw the presence of a wide project web. This touched on the contractors, government, media, observers and multinationals among others. The Japan Railway Construction public was created to handle this project. Several suppliers were given tenders to supply the required materials. Most of these suppliers were multinational companies.
The media and observers ensured that information about the project trickled to the stakeholders. Zeng et al. (2009, p.19) say that the media is an important partner in project management. On the other hand, the government ensured that the project was properly secured and funded.
The Seikan Tunnel project organization
This project had project-based organization. This was evident from the fact that various functional sections were created during the project implementation. These departments had individuals assigned to them for the long periods of the implementation. This led to the project having defined authority from the project managers. Additionally, each and every individual in the project implementation group had tasks to handle thus need for upholding high levels of responsibility.
The Project life cycle of Seikan Tunnel
This project took a total of 43 years to be completed. Over the 43 years, the project went through several stages. Below is a matrix showing the stages and events over the 43 years of the project.
Date
Main event
April 1946
Surveying for the project commenced
March 1954
The Japan Railway Construction public was established to oversee implementation of the Seikan Tunnel
September 1971
The main tunnel construction kicked off
January 1983
The Seikan Tunnel piloting was done
March 1985
The Seikan main tunnel was confirmed
March 1988
The Seikan Tunnel was opened
Problem areas that had to be overcome during the project life cycle
Mega projects are known to have problems that have to be overcome for a project to be completed (Zolkos 2012, p. 21). For the Seikan Tunnel, the problem areas were found in;
Inadequate expertise
Expertise is one thing that each project should have (Sullivan 2001, p. 78). This means lack of adequate expertise becomes a problem that should be dealt with so that it does not disrupt a project. At some point during the implementation of this project, certain expertise became inadequate. This threatened the success of this project. In a bid to save the project from failure, the project managers moved with speed and acquired individuals who had the required expertise to drive this project to completion.
For example, the use of tunnel boring machines had to be stopped for sourcing of blasting expertise. This was brought about by discovery of hard rock that could not be bored successfully.
Design
The design of a project is very important in implementation. The design for this project had to be altered to make it more suitable for the project. It is worth noting that only small alterations were done.
Unforeseen Disruptions
The implementation of this project saw some minor disruptions. The weather and surroundings would get turbulent sometimes. The weather sometimes disrupts continuity of projects (Sharma 2009, p. 45). This would affect continuity of operations for this project. This was a major threat to the time that was set for completion of this project.
Areas of good practice in the Seikan Tunnel project implementation
In the implementation of this project, several areas witnessed good practices. These good practices led to successful completion of the Seikan Tunnel. These good practices include;
Environmental practices
The environment is one thing that many implementers of mega projects fail to respect (Ali et al. 2008, p.670). It is worth noting that taking care of the environment should be concern for everyone involved in implementation of complex projects (Loo 2009, p. 30). With this in mind, this project saw the environment taken care of. This was through the use of environment friendly technology. This project was implemented in a way that had efforts to see carbon emissions reduced. Additionally, the other habitats of the environment were not affected.
During the implementation of this project, eco-friendly materials were used. The project managers ensured that material selection was proper to avoid those unfriendly to environment. The suppliers were informed that they should adhere strictly to the specifications forwarded to them.
For example, water was not contaminated in any way. The soil was also prevented from effects of corrosive processes.
Human resource
Human capital is usually the backbone of a project (Pardo et al. 2009, p. 31). Human resource management during the implementation of The Seikan Tunnel project was excellent. It is worth noting that the best practices in the management of human capital were put into use. This made the project managers have the best of their time when implementing this project.
The working conditions for the employees for this project were made good. Each one of the employees was made to work under conditions that respect human dignity. Additionally, matters of employee safety were handled properly. This was through ensuring that standards related to safety of employees were adhered to. The procedures regarding the use of tools and machinery were put in a way that protected the employees better.
To make it better, the human resource function ensured that the employees felt appreciated. This was through recognizing exceptional performance during the implementation of this project. The employees were given attractive incentives. This boosted their morale thus increasing the level of output.
Accountability
This project was able to be declared full of accountability. The project managers were found to have taken care of the allocated resources. This means that after taking stock of what was allocated to them; auditors were satisfied with the use of all resources that were offered for use during implementation of this project. There were no cases of mass corruption reported as is the case when other major projects are being implemented. Proper records were available for any interested party to go through.
Innovation
The Seikan project was one of the projects where innovation is known to have played a major role. This project saw the project managers coming up with new ways of doing things. The processes and equipments used had creative aspects that led to increased efficiency.
User participation in the project
Users of a project are the stakeholders. These are the people who are beneficiaries of a project that is being implemented (Ling et al. 2015, p .45). During the execution of this project, the users had full participation. The project managers ensured that there was freedom for the users to interact with all stages of the project. This was arrived at for the purpose of reducing the negative impacts of criticism as a risk in project implementation. The users had full access to all information regarding the designs and progress of this project.
This brought about wide acceptance. The project managers would listen to the perspectives of the users. This was necessary for the purpose of building on the plan that the project was based on. From the fact that users participated well, the project management became more geared towards completing it. This is because the users became source of assurance that the project was necessary for them.
The users had a huge influence of standards set for the project. It is worth noting that many mega projects end up not fulfilling the expectations of users due to project managers who disregard the standards agreed for the project. This did not happen during execution of this project. The users were keen when looking at the design and other documented standards. This close monitoring put pressure on the project managers to a point of making the implementation of this project follow rules to the letter.
The users were able to succeed in getting the expected standards through arranging meetings. They would discuss deeply about the progress of this project. Each one of the users would give contributions for the benefit of the meeting. The fact that the meetings were consistent made the user participation strong.
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Core capabilities or competencies involved in implementation of the Seikan Tunnel
During the implementation of this project, there were evident core competencies. These competencies are always credited for the success of this project. One of the core competencies is the integration of technology into the project implementation process. Technology is known to increase efficiency in projects (Meyers 2013, p.65). Technology was widely used to drive most of the processes for the project.
Information was managed through the use of the best information handling technological platforms. This made it easy to use and execute the project from an informed perspective. Additionally, technology was integrated into the communication bit during the project. Technological involvement in the communication channels for the project was a major plus for the project.
The second core competence during the implementation of this project was proper project management. It is worth noting that the project managers were quite skillful. This led to proper execution of all aspects of the project.
Another core competence for this project was proper risk management. Risk management is a very important aspect to consider while handling projects (Sridhar 2011, p.63). During the execution of this project, risk management was done efficiently. This led to reduction of negative effects of risks that were identified. Qiao (2007, p. 14) says that proper risk management reduces project hardships.
Another key competence factor during the execution of this project was proper management of human capital. The human resource management function for the project is credited for having done its job properly. All the time that the project was continuing, all matters related to the affairs of the workforce were handled as expected. This reduced unrests and disruptions from the workers for the project. Strazewski (2009, p. 34) says that mitigation of employee related risks is very important since it makes project implementation successful.
Broader issues affecting megaprojects; The Seikan Tunnel in focus
Mega projects are usually faced by several broad issues. Theodore (2014, p. 88) says that broad issues affect projects are usually caused by the fact that numerous processes and operations take place. Generally, the complexity of mega projects brings rise to issues that have to be managed. These broad issues include;
Risks
Risk is always present in all projects, whether minor or complex. However, the risk level in major projects is much higher. This calls for a very solid risk management function for complex projects. During the execution of this project, several risks were identified. One of the identified risks was about the project design. There was fear that the design would show some weaknesses towards the end of the project life cycle.
This made the project managers become apprehensive throughout the project. To mitigate this risk, the project handlers ensured that the designers of the project kept confirming the reliability of the project design. Additionally, the project managers made several consultations with experts in design to try and get assurance. At the end of the project, only immaterial alterations were made to make the project design a success.
The other risk that was identified by the risk function for this project was high labor turnover. Generally, complex projects are known to be full of work. Many a times workers tend to burn out or opt out due to poor conditions at work (Suriyamathi et al. 2013, p. 54). This identified risk did not affect the project since proper human resource management was done during the project.
To do away with this risk, all project employees for the project were treated as per the international labor standards. This was through ensuring that remuneration to the employees was as per the expected standards. Additionally, payments to the employees were disbursed on time to avoid workforce unrest. To ensure that the risk does not disrupt the project continuity, the project managers ensured that the conditions at work were up to the expected standards. This made employees work properly thus avoiding negative effects of high employee turnover risk.
Decision making
For projects to be completed successfully, decision making should be done in an efficient way. This is because decisions that are made determine the level of achievement to be expected. Proper decision making in projects leads to continuity of projects in proper ways. On the other hand, if decision making for a project is poor, negative occurrences will affect the plan towards successful completion. For complex projects, decision making is usually very difficult.
During execution of this project, several challenges occurred during decision making. It is worth noting that complex projects call for many decision makers. Therefore, the process of decision making becomes very complicated and slow. The decision making process for this project was very hard since managers were many. The many decision makers took long time for decision making. This is because they had to consult each other. Opposed suggestions by some of the decision makers took more time for the purpose of discussions and explanations as to why certain opinions could not be upheld.
Cultural
Cultural differences usually affect mega projects. This is because the many employees are required for complex projects are drawn from diverse cultures. This brings about cultural diversity within the workforce in a project. This was the case during the lifecycle of this project. The project managers brought in individuals from various cultures. This was caused by many reasons, need for expertise being one. With cultural differences, attitudes towards tasks approaches were different. This created some sort of sluggish participation from laborers. As a result, the project time was consumed in the process of harmonizing the cultures.
Labor
Labor management is the other broad issue that affects mega projects. This happens to be a very sensitive issue since complex projects are usually labor intensive. Therefore, the project handlers should always ensure that labor matters are managed in a way that does create stability of the workforce. During the life cycle of this project, the workforce was well handled. This means that project was able to continue without alarming cases of workforce dissatisfaction. The minor cases of complains that were forwarded were amicably settled.
Political
The politics prevailing in areas where complex projects are being held affects the continuity. It happens that in areas where there is political instability projects tend to stall or become abandoned completely. During the lifecycle of this project, the political waters were cool. This gave this project an opportunity to continue without disruptions. It is worth noting that the political leaders within the geographical location of the project did not want to interfere with the project. The instances that saw the political leaders enquire about the project were all friendly. This gave motivation to the managers of the project thus pushing for completion.
Criticism
It is common practice for people to criticize projects. It is a global thing for people to spoil the image of mega projects (Riley 2013, p. 91). This is always through trashing those projects on basis of prioritization. During the execution of this project, criticism was identified as one of the risks.
The criticism directed towards this mega project was based on the fact that the amount of money used could be used for other projects that are better in terms of meeting the needs of the common citizens. To ensure that this did not affect this mega project, the project managers ensured that proper public participation was done. The project managers created a system that made all stakeholders aware of what the project was all about.
Conclusion
Management of complex projects is known to be quite demanding. Therefore, the people in charge of such kind of projects should ensure that proper planning is done. The goal of the project should be the guiding tool for all processes. To make it better, the life cycle of mega projects should be monitored to ensure that it does not get disrupted. The stakeholders should be managed well to ensure that the project continues with understanding. All challenges should be handled with sobriety and efficiency. It is worth noting that good practices should be priority when drawing the strategic plan for complex projects.
Risk management during project implementation should be done in a good way. This calls for the need to have a reliable risk function during the life cycle of a mega project. All risks should be identified and mitigated properly to ensure that the project does not become disrupted.
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Healthcare Quality Management
Mcleod Medical Centre is an acute centre hospital located in Florida. The hospital is ranked higher among the others which provide acute care. The hospital provides emergency treatment, receives its tests electronically, can track the patient’s progress electronically and provides both outpatient and inpatient services (“Medicare Hospital Comparison”, 2016). As shown above, the hospital has invested in both resources and professionals. The ratio of nurses to patients is high meaning that more patients can receive more attention.
Additionally, the hospital has an internal quality control system the monitors the quality levels of different practices. Examples of some of the practices monitored include the wait time and response level of the medical practitioners (“Medicare Hospital Comparison”, 2016). The second hospital should introduce a quality management section that will introduce standards for different practices. Additionally, it should invest more in resources and medical professionals to reduce the nurse to patient ratio.
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The value of services in the different hospitals can be increased by focusing on both medical and non-medical aspects of quality (Hibbard & Greene, 2013). Access to medical care and physicians should be increased in the different hospitals. Additionally, the waiting time should be reduced to minimal levels. Responses should be collected from different patients on the effects of waiting times.
Additionally, the hospital should invest in providing patients with enough information regarding different conditions (Taylor et al., 2014). Well, trained counsellors will be used to create a link between the hospital and the patients. Check-in and check-out procedures should also be friendly to patients (Aiken et al., 2013). The hospital should also provide ancillary services to all patients (Dixon-Woods, McNicol & Martin, 2012). Medical aspects include having trained professionals, use of modern equipment and new technologies as well as proper medications and instruments.
References
Aiken, L. H., Sermeus, W., Van den Heede, K., Sloane, D. M., Busse, R., McKee, M., … & Tishelman, C. (2012). Patient safety, satisfaction, and quality of hospital care: cross sectional surveys of nurses and patients in 12 countries in Europe and the United States. BMJ, 344, e1717.
Dixon-Woods, M., McNicol, S., & Martin, G. (2012). Ten challenges in improving quality in healthcare: lessons from the Health Foundation’s programme evaluations and relevant literature. BMJ quality & safety, bmjqs-2011.
Hibbard, J. H., & Greene, J. (2013). What the evidence shows about patient activation: better health outcomes and care experiences; fewer data on costs. Health Affairs, 32(2), 207 214.
Taylor, M. J., McNicholas, C., Nicolay, C., Darzi, A., Bell, D., & Reed, J. E. (2014). Systematic review of the application of the plan–do–study–act method to improve quality inhealthcare. BMJ quality & safety, 23(4), 290-298.
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Strategic Human Resource Management
Introduction
Strategic human resource management is a very broad area of study. It has also evolved over time, making it difficult to summarize the concept in a few words. As such, there is not one single definition that can fully encompass what the concept is about. However, there are certain key aspects which help to put the definition of this concept into context.
Strategic human resource management (SHRM) revolves around systematically connecting and integrating human resource concepts to match and meet corporate needs. Every organization has laid out structures intended to assist in the achievement of set goals and aspirations.
In order for these goals to be realized, there has to be a systematic and practical manner through the strategies of human resource management are merged with the needs of the organization. SHRM concerns itself with overseeing a smooth integration of the two. Since its emergence, human resource management has evolved. As organizations keep up with the dynamism in their respective fields, HRM has had to keep up. There is a lot of materials that have been written in regard to this topic, including the constant evolution. The focus of this discussion is literature review on this topic and what various authors thing about SHRM.
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Background Information
Human resource strategies play a crucial role as they address all fundamental issues arising from management of various issues on human resource. There is need to ensure that there is alignment between the needs of an organization and the strategies of human resource. The human resource department is in charge of the personnel who form the human resource of an organization.
As such, it is pertinent to ensure that there is a blend between the two. On one hand, human resource practices are more concerned about the welfare of the personnel in the organization. On the other hand, every organization has set goals which must be achieved. Sometimes, there is a clash between the two and hence the need to have middle point where the needs of both can be harmonized.
Literature Review
Why is it so important to have integration between business or organizational strategies and human resource management? Authors on this topic have provided a myriad of reasons as to why the integration is essential. Mello (2014) notes that integration of human resource management with business strategies contribute significantly to improvement of performance within the organization.
Further, Storey notes that with proper integration of the two aspects, the competitive advantage o the organization is increased. The competitive advantage is increased since the human resource management is customized to meet the specific needs of an organization. Due to the unique system of HRM it is not easy for other organizations to imitate, giving the organization in context a niche.
Crucial Aspects of SHRM
Strategic human resource management is supported by two main tenets. The first tenet is the integration of human resource with specific business needs and the second is the devolution of human resource management to the managers. Millimore (2010) notes that integration of the two is considered successful when all matters pertaining to human resource are considered to be crucial in business strategy.
In the past, business strategies have been formulated devoid and in total failure to consider the impacts on human resource management. The impact thereof is that in most cases, the human resource strategies and business strategies clash leading to a deadlock. Armstrong (2011) therefore recognizes the importance of such an integration thereby avoiding a deadlock.
Resource- Based View
There are a number of theories that have been developed all of which seek to explain the relationship that exist between performance of an organization and human resource management. The resource-based view is one of the theories whose arguments have been used by researchers to assert this position.
According to this theory, organizations gain what is seen as competitive advantage or a niche for themselves when the resources within the organization are well taken care of. Blau & Schoenherr (2011) is of the view that the most valuable asset and resource for any organization is its human resource. The integration of human resource management will hence have a direct impact on the performance of the organization.
The resource based theory is certainly a departure from previously held views where business strategy would focus more on the external environment. Prior to the evolution of human resource management, business organizations put more focus on the external environment including the market while completely ignoring the human resource.
It is not until the recent past that the perception changed. Human resources are now considered an integral part of business strategy and this has evidently seen a shift in performance by organizations. The integration of the two aspects has seen an alignment of goals for both concept which together work for the betterment of organizations.
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Findings
From the above discussion, there are a number of findings. The first finding is that there is indeed a relationship between human resource management and performance of an organization. The second finding is that when the two aspects are integrated systematically, then there is evidence of improved performance for organizations.
There is need for more studies to be conducted with an aim of proving that the relationship between SHRM and organizational performance is causal. This means that strategic human resource management has direct impact on the performance of an organization. This means that failure to properly integrate the two will have ripple effect on the performance of a business firm.
Conclusion
Human resource management sits at the center of good performance of every organization. Unfortunately, until very recently, human resource management has always been set aside during business strategizing. The role of HRM was not appreciated as more focus would be on the external environment of the business. However, with multiple researches conducted on the topic, the role of human resource management is now recognized and appreciated. Further, the need to integrate human resource management with business strategies has seen improved performance of organizations.
As the name suggests, the integration must be strategic meaning that it must be done in a certain manner. The most important factor of consideration during integration of human resource management and business strategy is alignment of goals of each department. Recognition that human resources is one of the most valuable asset for each organization is a step in the right direction for organizations.
Management of human resources has grown in leaps and bounds to become the centerpiece of organizations. More organizations are now investing in this area as they seek to create a niche for themselves by increasing their competitive advantage.
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Change Management
Abstract
Management accounting is also commonly denoted as managerial accounting. It is in practice the process of handing over accounting data belonging to the firm to its board or executives so that they can make progress reports and quality decisions for growth. How well-kept books are determines the success in the projects a company sets out to do and often results in the growth of the business or empire.
Consequently, accountants and other persons in the finance department are mandated with the task of ensuring that management accounting is properly done and that all records are and neatly kept. In line with international accounting principles, management accounting must ensure that accounts are audited before they are brought for review and analysis by management.
This practice of audit is crucial to the sanctification of erroneous accounting data in order for there to be accountability and credibility. The information computer in management accounting portfolio is often done with the aid of computerized management information system. It draws data from smaller transaction processing systems and often affects the way activities are performed in an organization. Here is a look at how the Toyota Company applies management information to conduct management accounting and how that benefits the company moving forward.
1. Introduction
1.1 Background on Change Management at Toyota
The Toyota Motor Corporation is a leading automobiles manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Japan. The company boasts of the largest fleet of automobiles in the world with the brand even splitting to accommodate space entities affiliated to the mother plant. Toyota manufactures virtually all sorts of vehicle; from cheap salon cars to low consumption SUVs, Toyota even has a luxury automobile; the Lexus.
The company was founded by Japanese engineer Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 and from its humble beginning; the company has grown over time to become the most successful in the automobiles industry. The Toyota brand currently sells its products in a host of nations outside Asia, especially Africa, Europe and the Americas. Due to her success in manufacturing, Toyota has grown internationally renowned. As shall later be discussed, the Toyota Production System is known as one of the most efficient systems globally (Yang, Yeh & Yang, 2012).
1.2 Why Toyota invests in change management
The fleet of cars under the Toyota name is all made in a unique way that takes advantage of low fuel consumption and comfort. Toyota is extensively involved in research and often releases models every few years. This is, however, as subject to consumer demand for its products. It is necessary to note that the company manufactures a large fleet of models and keeps remodeling and reselling to profit from every successful model. For this reason, every Toyota model in the past has had improvements.
The company encourages renovation and development as it incorporates the sleek and beautiful outline of its vehicles within a well-designed package that sees the consumer fork out less money but for more commodities. Fuel efficiency and concern over the environment are other factors that have made the company favorite among most Non-governmental organization (Helper & Henderson, 2014).
1.3 Factors that promote change at Toyota
Toyota’s motto is; ‘always a better way’. There indeed is a better way in the way Toyota conducts its policies and manufacturing processes. The company is very crucial on its need to cut waste. Using its esteemed Toyota Production System, the company ensures that they cut losses and always register a profit margin. Save for the time of the global recession, the company has consistently made profits.
That said; there need be mention that the company is sufficiently geared towards consumer satisfaction. The company has a declared aim to; “ever have better products ….To achieve our goal we design parts with good features, and standardize these for each region, spanning different platforms. This provides better efficiency and cost reduction, with the resulting savings used to improve products further.
This virtuous cycle for building better cars leads to sustained growth.” This is the working principle behind the production system that looks to cement the Toyota values into its work force. The company maintains a highly industrious work ethic that sees its employees always take their work with utmost seriousness and pride (Becker, Carbo & Langella, 2010).
2. Literature review
2.1 Employment culture and practices at Toyota
Toyota is aware of the need to maintain high credibility standards in its work force. This calls for the vetting and rigorous interviewing of its work force. However, the same hardly calls for bureaucracy and other measures than instigate discrimination. The company ensures that they get the qualified staff to undertake all the activities and functions required of them. This creates an industrious staff that is committed and dedicated to its role at the company. The success of Toyota has taken years of history, investment in product development and a strong culture.
What is more important is that the company has always learned from its mistakes and done better to improve an unfortunate situation. According to Sui Pheng & Shang (2011); even with challenges in testing that have led to the recalling of some of its major brands, the company has ultimately managed to maintain its customers. The Toyota brand keeps growing among its competitors due to the ability to utilize human labor and machine efficiency in a completely effective model.
Toyota’s work force has over 300,000 employees. This has made the company especially get great popularity and prominence across the world. Management accounting enables employees to justify their actions and often account for excesses every once in a while (Abdel-Maksoud, Cerbioni, Ricceri & Velayutham, 2010). Management thus takes advantage of the fact that most of the activities undertaken in the firm can be accounted for. Employees have to be accountable to management for their actions and activities in a company.
To achieve this in the best way, companies that have methods such as performance contracting often finds themselves on the receiving end with most employees being resistant to this form of accountability. However, as employees become used to their efforts and how to exercise their efforts towards growth, the company grows substantially. This leads to an increased appreciation for the management accounting practices and principles.
According to Yamao & Sekiguchi (2015); employees are often resistant to management accounting. This is because most persons are unable to account for the use of miscellaneous resources. Processes such as auditing and the confirmation of accounts can be really scary and thus often, they are afraid of them. Managers thus ensure that the systems in a working environment are enough to ensure that employees essentially account for their work.
Managerial reports, transaction processing systems, as well as registers, are some of the key areas of accountability in a firm. The use of these extensively can ensure that no single employee is complacent in their work. Toyota especially practices this form of accountability to have all employees reporting to a higher authority and that failure to prove productive can lead in dismissal. While employees may work under pressure due to such constraints, they need to be as practical as possible in what they do.
2.2 The Manufacturing process at Toyota
According to Hibadullah, Fuzi, Desa & Zamri (2013); the manufacturing process at Toyota can be underlined by one singular word; Monozukuri. Basically, the word stands for ‘manufacturing things’. It is a Japanese principle that decries complacency and advocates for consistent innovation. Toyota has been on the forefront of manufacture in Japan. The company has continued to uphold the Monozukuri culture thus verily coming up with new models and designs every financial year.
The investment in research and development is quite large. This allows for there to be consistency in development and innovation throughout the entire automobile industry. With time, accelerated development has lessened cost of production since the templates have grown in volumes. The expertise and experience of the engineers have also augmented. That is why the Monozukuri culture is not only for Toyota, but for Japan.
According to Helper & Henderson (2014) manufacturing at Toyota is one of the most efficient waste management practices ever developed by the organization. Indeed, the company is very particular about the lean manufacturing model. Toyota prides in manufacturing for the larger market. With very few luxury car models and brands; the concentration is on developing products for the larger consumer market without having to minimize on quality.
The balance between quality and volume is achieved by precise designing. The design process takes consideration of change factors such as engine capacity, steering capability, brake system improvements and the development of better safety measures with each model. All these changes are made without necessarily affecting the cost of the vehicle to a point that may make the vehicle unaffordable.
2.3 Lean Manufacturing Strategy
Toyota has redefined Monozukuri as the art of translating design data into finished products. This has been necessitated by the development of these designs through research. The company prides itself in understanding the market well. Researchers go to extend of even hiring houses around the target areas so as to monitor their movements, their taste as well as what would suite them best. Toyota car designers and engineers work together to put the beautiful car designs into perspective.
This is so as to have a great final product that is as well feasible to manufacture and importantly, leave room for improvement (Prakash & Kumar, 2011). While there may actually be little room for this improvement, the company has often written records with new inventions that have suited the market, against a tide that was not on their side. In essence, pulling market forces towards it has been a result that inevitably happened as a consequence of proper planning and implementation of the Monozukuri culture and principle.
The Toyota Production system is a designed working system that seeks to eliminate; muri, mura and muda. Muri is the overburdening of personnel with redundant work. It is singled out as one of the activities that lead to inefficiency in a firm. Mura, on the other hand, is the waste that accrues from activities that are done in excess. The system seeks to reduce these wastes in a number of ways as shall be later identified in this paper. Muda is the process of eliminating waste.
The system identifies seven types of wastes; waste due to overproduction, waste due to time on hand (wastage of time), waste due to inefficient transportation, waste that occurs in the processing itself, waste due to unutilized stock or property at hand, movement and defective products. Having identified these wastes, the system proposes methods to ensure that they are eliminated; therefore, the company can become more productive. The rest is a look at some principles that help in waste reduction and proper utilization of resources (Hibadullah, Fuzi, Desa & Zamri, 2013).
2.3.1 Kaizen
The Kaizen is a Japanese principle for continuous improvement. Toyota production system uses the Kaizen to eliminate wastes that result from time wasting, defective products and unutilized stock. Indeed, the kaizen is a very crucial value for most Japanese companies. Those who abide by it work with deadlines to ensure that they have products ready for a waiting market. Knowing that the desire for new and better automobiles is insatiable, Toyota invests in the redevelopment of models of very kind each year.
It is only inevitable that as this practice continues, the company finds it easy to come up with a new product to compete against other market leaders. There is indeed no market front that Toyota cannot venture. This is because they do not just enter the market to produce a similar product; they offer cheaper yet better products thus entirely convincing the consumer. With the spirit of Kaizen, the company always scales new heights in automobile development (Hibadullah, Fuzi, Desa & Zamri, 2013).
In the company’s hiring practices; Kaizen is also practiced. For instance; Toyota is very efficient in the company’s interviewing. Eliminating non-valuable processes in an organization is crucial to the growth and development of an institution. This is because; the non-value-adding processes are costly just like the operational expenses incurred by any other process in the organization or business. They impose an extra cost to the business yet do not offer any benefit. For instance, the process of hiring new employees is very elaborate. It includes vetting, sifting through applications and choosing the most appropriate candidate.
However, it may be unnecessary to have four or five interviews. Minimizing the interviews to one often makes the interviewing process effective. For efficiency, a company would choose to have aptitude tests to minimize the number of applicants to interview. Value addition thus does not have to have a lot of bureaucratic processes that may not be necessary. It is all about saving time and minimizing cost, effectively leading to efficiency (Senge, 2014).
2.3.2 Just in Time
Just-in-time policy ensures that products are delivered to the consumer on demand and within a specified period of time. Toyota believes that if a product is delivered late, then it is as good as not delivered. The same applies to all departments within the company; no one is allowed the luxury of time. Employees are consistently on their toes trying to meet very strict deadlines and often do so in order to live by this principle. The just-in-time policy ensures that the waste of time is eliminated for good.
It involves aspects of punctuality in job reporting, delivery of goods, development of new designs and even the completion of the manufacturing process (Prakash & Kumar, 2011). Essentially, these time limits are set even before the employee embarks on the task. Working to meet deadlines is a great policy that ensures that work is done in a convenient time. The result is that the company is successful in its undertakings and pushes the employment to higher limits. Even for the employees, the just-in-time policy makes better employees out of them as they continue to observe punctuality.
2.3.3 Jidoka
Jidoka is the intelligent automation of automobiles. As much as possible, Toyota cars are made to accept easy human instructions using levers and gears. With the introduction of the auto cars from the use of the manual cars, Jidoka was extensively applied. Indeed, the issue of intelligence in automobiles is a grey area, as cars are just machines. However, with time, these machines have evolved to understand danger situations, accident safety and haptic response.
In the process of troubleshooting erroneous machines and defective system, four steps are applied using the Jidoka principle; detecting the abnormality, stopping the entire production process, fixing the problem and finding ways to ensure that the problem never recurs. This ensures perfection to a great extent but mostly, it leads to elimination of the waste due to production errors that result in defective products (Prakash & Kumar, 2011).
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2.4 Quality challenges at Toyota Corporation
Toyota has been on the center stage of quality development using its Production System. The Jidoka principle of continuous manufacture ensures that with time, the company masters the art through practice. Toyota has however its fair share of quality issues and strategy failures has. These emanate from circumstances that the company has ever been challenged with dealing.
The most pressing of the company’s major quality concerns has to do with the product testing bit. Toyota has thus been on the receiving end of most critic auto magazines and general media over faulty brake systems and air bags. This has often led to the recalling of her products from the market. Only in 2010, the company has to recall volumes of its SUV models for the faulty brake systems. The company has since made efforts to rectify their manufacturing and testing errors with little success.
According to Dedoussis & Littler (2010), strategies put in place by Toyota to deal with her challenges have been communicated by the management on the various occasions the company has been called upon to account for their weaknesses. Mr. Akiyo Toyoda did mention in 2010 that the company was making plans to increase its testing facilities in order to accommodate larger volumes of test cases.
The company also thrives in the fact that it is market specific thus most of its problems hardly affect the entire market. This has been a contributing factor to the company’s growth over the years. Aside from that, the fact that the company has a great consumer appreciation and compensation policy makes it achieve great success with regard to popularity ratings. The company has thus dealt with all its suits and managed to ensure consumer satisfaction even with the defects and challenges with its models from time to time.
With the myriads of success and milestones covered by the company, it would be argued that the company would relent and bask in the glory of her successes. However, there are no limits to what the Japanese auto dealer can achieve. Indeed, with the introduction of relatively cheap automobiles, other manufacturers thought that the practice would be unsustainable. On the contrary, Toyota has continued to prove critics wrong. Not only has the company grown to be more successful, it has consistently led the way in automobile innovations.
Over the last decade, the car that was initially thought of as low class has continued to attract favorites across the globe. Toyota demonstrates that, with proper management accounting principles, any company can achieve success, even with the least amount of time possible. This success nonetheless gets addictive as it sets the benchmark for the next target. As long as the company continuously invests in bettering its products, there are no limits to the amount of income that can be accrued from the same (Zubir, Habidin, Conding, Jaya & Hashim, 2012).
3. Concepts of Change management at Toyota USA
3.1 History of Toyota USA
The Toyota Corporation maintains a subsidiary in the United States dedicated to North American sales. This subsidiary is refered to as the Toyota Motor Sales, USA Inc. The company was founded as an offset of the Toyota Corporation in 1957, and headquartered in Torrance, California. Initially, the American motor market had been controlled by three major market players, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Toyota as an entrant began by attempting market domination with a fleet of luxury cars under the brand ‘Lexus.’
The Lexus model was however not as successful in the United States as it had been in the United Kingdom. Sales for many Toyota brands were also low. The company had to come up with a strategy to guarantee market penetration. This was however not a significant challenge to the mother company as the models from Japan were more popular in Asian and European markets than any other Auto manufacturer. Capturing the United States market would mean a little more investment in research (Bunkley, 2016).
In the early 2000s, the USA subsidiary of Toyota Corporation released a new model into the market. The model dubbed ‘Prius’ to target a different market segment; the young drivers. The sleek design and the fairly low cost gained a lot of traction among American teenagers. The fleet of ‘Prius’ vehicles was so successful that Toyota leased the brand to a subsidiary manufacturer to work on developing the brand; which Toyota still owns to date.
The company (Toyota USA) managed to penetrate the American market using lean management and the incorporation of the concept of economies of scale. Although Toyota did not capture the high-end market and still does not make the most revenue out of the United States market, the company continues to research further and is driven by the principles that drive the mother company; Jidoka, Kaizen and Monozukuri. Toyota USA C.E.O; Jim Lentz has on various occasions hinted on the research into the next generation cars ongoing at Toyota USA. However, not many models have been presented by the company (Undercoffler, 2015).
3.2 Lean Management at Toyota USA
Toyota USA has continued to thrive and achieve unprecedented success due to its management accounting practices. The company has consistently devised new ways to improve productivity thus hardly make any wastage. Toyota can be praised for the great turnaround after the recession of 2009. The company posted a net loss of $4.2 billion but was soon able to emerge successful the following year. The management has been interchanged successfully every few year, but that has not changed the company’s management system.
Consistency in the management of resources and basic management accounting has enabled the company to be efficient in spending and utilization of resources. The trickle effect has been the growth of the company to have subsidiaries and affiliates. However, there has been a consistent focus on development more than management policies. Nonetheless, the management has been on the forefront in driving development agenda for the company (Muller, 2016).
Toyota can well manage its fleet as it ensures that no management wastes are recorded. Fleet management is important since it helps the company know how to maintain a consumer base as well as a consistent demand and supply ratio. The gap in demand is always met by supply. With time, the company has increased fleet production to a record high of 10.1 million in the 2013 financial year. In the automobiles business, mistakes cannot be condoned in the development of vehicles as they have to attract a particular design.
The company has a policy to get it right the first time. There is thus little if any room for improvement. The consequence is that the company develops a highly competitive model every time it releases the same onto the market. These models thus have very high demand even years after they have been released. This is very essential as it certifies that its models can often be recalled and resold to other markets if they do not meet the threshold demand for a particular market (Truett, 2016).
3.3 Impediments to Change management in America
While it is necessary to improve a system or process, this improvement does not come automatically. There is need to identify areas where the change process or areas to make the organization better can be isolated for investment. Opportunities for improvement are not easy to identify. There are many factors that impede the identification of the opportunities to improvement. However, two main factors impede the identification of opportunities for improvement.
The investment in these opportunities is first impeded by the financial cost of changing processes. There is significant financial investment involved in making processes efficient. There is also need for research to identify these areas for improvement. Such research desires that there be funds to actualize the same. This is why it is necessary to consider financial implications (Cummings & Worley, 2014).
The second impediment which is a major concern to the process of improvement is the presence of bureaucratic laws and procedures. Many organizations have very rigid structures that seem to be difficult to change or alter. This is why investment in the change process or identification of change areas may be unnecessary or impossible. Where the change process is impeded by a lengthy process, it has time constraints that may not be in the interest of the organization.
It is thus important review organizational processes and laws in order to ensure that they do not affect the organization’s ability to change. Change is important and as such, should be encouraged within the realms of company law and constitution (Senge, 2014).
3.4 Defects and quality problems at Toyota Motor Sales
3.5 Justification of the case study
Toyota indeed presents a lot of challenges to other corporations not only in the automobiles industry, but the rest of the world economy, as well. Toyota being a leading brand; it would suffice that some of the practices that the company boasts of be borrowed elsewhere. This has been demonstrated by the vast acknowledgement of the Toyota Production System as an international standard in management and overall production. The company prides itself in virtues that have seen it grow over the years.
The management and the staffs are indoctrinated into a tradition that appreciates the significance of hard work, determination and progress in everything they do. This has been the cornerstone behind the company’s success. The leadership style is impeccable, and the management has always been accountable for its decisions. Even when there are numerous complaints due to defects, the management never shifts blame to the production teams but instead owns up and cleans its house internally.
In management accounting, the only success that can be derived from the same has to be tangible evidence of growth in the area of concern. In production and automobile development, Toyota continues to set the pace among other leaders in car and motor developers. The central positioning of the company in a highly industrious economy; Japan also gives it an edge over the rest.
The company consistently manufactures models that fit a particular market. Toyota has specially been credited with the development of cheap brands to suit a low income economy, as well as suffice for the third world markets. Toyota’s efficiency in manufacture has enabled its brand of vehicles to be sold cheaper in comparison to other models, at the same category. This has especially popularized its brands for there is always value for money in the same and more so, the re-sale value for most Toyota cars still remains high.
Toyota is a great case study topic. It has been deemed one of the most successful companies of our time and continues to set the pace in automobile development. Aside from being a corporation that upholds high ethics and moral standards, the company prides itself in being the pioneer behind low energy consumption vehicles. This was achieved by development of electron fuel injection model that allowed the vehicle to run on the battery while the fuel maintained the battery charged.
Toyota models are thus mostly manual and affordable despite the effort in the technology used. Toyota has thus essentially lowered the production through consistent management accounting. This has with time been extended to the consumers who have in turn enjoyed reduced prices and affordable cars for them. It is the greatest illustration of proper application of management accounting principles.
The choice of the case study could not have been better. Despite the numerous challenges Toyota faces, it has proved to the world that none of these is insurmountable. With regular changes being made to their production process, the testing bit has often proved to be a challenge. This has especially occurred due to the sampling methods used in the testing process that have often been unfruitful.
This has led to the development of faulty fleets of models from the same plant. Toyota has nonetheless often taken responsibility about the matter and the company Chief Executive; Akio Toyoda has often come under fire, even as far as the company being accused of being ‘lazy’ in its testing policies. Nevertheless, the company has been ranked the 14th most successful corporation in the world as far as revenue development is concerned (Horngren et al, 2012).
It, therefore, should not come as a surprise that this would be the company to base the study on. Being that only a few companies across the globe match up to the prowess and success record of Toyota, it was an inevitable choice that would be inherently natural. More so, there is a need to appreciate that the company has ever been on an upward trend with its management seeing that no one has entirely exclusive executive powers for an entire decade. This has formed the basis for proper management accounting in the company thus pushing the corporation higher the success ladder.
References
Abdel-Maksoud, A., Cerbioni, F., Ricceri, F., & Velayutham, S. (2010). Employee morale, non-financial performance measures, deployment of innovative managerial practices and shop-floor involvement in Italian manufacturing firms. The British Accounting Review, 42(1), 36-55.
Becker, W. S., Carbo, J. A., & Langella, I. M. (2010). Beyond self-interest: integrating social responsibility and supply chain management with human resource development. Human Resource Development Review, 9(2), 144-168.
Bunkley, N. (2016). Carter: Toyota’s bullish on U.S. sales. Automotive News, (6720).
Dedoussis, V., & Littler, C. R. (2010). Understanding the Transfer of Japanese Management Practices. Global Japanization?: The Transnational Transformation of the Labour Process, 4, 175.
Helper, S., & Henderson, R. (2014). Management practices, relational contracts, and the decline of General Motors. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28(1), 49-72.
Hibadullah, S. N., Fuzi, N. M., Desa, A. F. N. C., & Zamri, F. I. M. (2013). Lean manufacturing practices and environmental performance in Malaysian automotive industry. Asian Journal of Finance & Accounting, 5(1), 462-471.
Muller, J. (2016). Toyota Recharges. Forbes, 197(7), 50-56.
Prakash, D., & Kumar, C. (2011). Implementation of lean manufacturing principles in auto industry. Industrial Engineering Letters, 1(1), 56-60.
Senge, P. M. (2014). The dance of change: The challenges to sustaining momentum in a learning organization. Crown Business.
Sui Pheng, L., & Shang, G. (2011). Bridging Western management theories and Japanese management practices: Case of the Toyota Way model. Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 1(1), 1-20.
Truett, R. (2016). 5 minutes with … Ed Laukes, vice president of marketing, performance and guest experience, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Automotive News, (6712).
Undercoffler, D. (2015). Toyota targets big leap in U.S. sales for RAV4. Automotive News, (6702).
Yamao, S., & Sekiguchi, T. (2015). Employee commitment to corporate globalization: The role of English language proficiency and human resource practices. Journal of World Business, 50(1), 168-179.
Yang, C. C., Yeh, T. M., & Yang, K. J. (2012). The implementation of technical practices and human factors of the toyota production system in different industries. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, 22(6), 541-555.
Zubir, A. F. M., Habidin, N. F., Conding, J., Jaya, N. A. S. L., & Hashim, S. (2012). The development of sustainable manufacturing practices and sustainable performance in Malaysian automotive industry. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 3(7), 130-138.
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Management accounting is also commonly denoted as managerial accounting. It is in practice the process of handing over accounting data belonging to the firm to its board or executives so that they can make progress reports and quality decisions for growth. How well-kept books are determines the success in the projects a company sets out to do and often results in the growth of the business or empire.
Consequently, accountants and other persons in the finance department are mandated with the task of ensuring that management accounting is properly done and that all records are and neatly kept. In line with international accounting principles, management accounting must ensure that accounts are audited before they are brought for review and analysis by management.
This practice of audit is crucial to the sanctification of erroneous accounting data in order for there to be accountability and credibility. The information computer in management accounting portfolio is often done with the aid of computerized management information system. It draws data from smaller transaction processing systems and often affects the way activities are performed in an organization. Here is a look at how the Toyota Company applies management information to conduct management accounting and how that benefits the company moving forward.
1. Introduction
1.1 Background on Change Management at Toyota
The Toyota Motor Corporation is a leading automobiles manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Japan. The company boasts of the largest fleet of automobiles in the world with the brand even splitting to accommodate space entities affiliated to the mother plant. Toyota manufactures virtually all sorts of vehicle; from cheap salon cars to low consumption SUVs, Toyota even has a luxury automobile; the Lexus.
The company was founded by Japanese engineer Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 and from its humble beginning; the company has grown over time to become the most successful in the automobiles industry. The Toyota brand currently sells its products in a host of nations outside Asia, especially Africa, Europe and the Americas. Due to her success in manufacturing, Toyota has grown internationally renowned. As shall later be discussed, the Toyota Production System is known as one of the most efficient systems globally (Yang, Yeh & Yang, 2012).
1.2 Why Toyota invests in change management
The fleet of cars under the Toyota name is all made in a unique way that takes advantage of low fuel consumption and comfort. Toyota is extensively involved in research and often releases models every few years. This is, however, as subject to consumer demand for its products. It is necessary to note that the company manufactures a large fleet of models and keeps remodeling and reselling to profit from every successful model. For this reason, every Toyota model in the past has had improvements.
The company encourages renovation and development as it incorporates the sleek and beautiful outline of its vehicles within a well-designed package that sees the consumer fork out less money but for more commodities. Fuel efficiency and concern over the environment are other factors that have made the company favorite among most Non-governmental organization (Helper & Henderson, 2014).
1.3 Factors that promote change at Toyota
Toyota’s motto is; ‘always a better way’. There indeed is a better way in the way Toyota conducts its policies and manufacturing processes. The company is very crucial on its need to cut waste. Using its esteemed Toyota Production System, the company ensures that they cut losses and always register a profit margin. Save for the time of the global recession, the company has consistently made profits.
That said; there need be mention that the company is sufficiently geared towards consumer satisfaction. The company has a declared aim to; “ever have better products ….To achieve our goal we design parts with good features, and standardize these for each region, spanning different platforms. This provides better efficiency and cost reduction, with the resulting savings used to improve products further.
This virtuous cycle for building better cars leads to sustained growth.” This is the working principle behind the production system that looks to cement the Toyota values into its work force. The company maintains a highly industrious work ethic that sees its employees always take their work with utmost seriousness and pride (Becker, Carbo & Langella, 2010).
2. Literature review
2.1 Employment culture and practices at Toyota
Toyota is aware of the need to maintain high credibility standards in its work force. This calls for the vetting and rigorous interviewing of its work force. However, the same hardly calls for bureaucracy and other measures than instigate discrimination. The company ensures that they get the qualified staff to undertake all the activities and functions required of them. This creates an industrious staff that is committed and dedicated to its role at the company. The success of Toyota has taken years of history, investment in product development and a strong culture.
What is more important is that the company has always learned from its mistakes and done better to improve an unfortunate situation. According to Sui Pheng & Shang (2011); even with challenges in testing that have led to the recalling of some of its major brands, the company has ultimately managed to maintain its customers. The Toyota brand keeps growing among its competitors due to the ability to utilize human labor and machine efficiency in a completely effective model.
Toyota’s work force has over 300,000 employees. This has made the company especially get great popularity and prominence across the world. Management accounting enables employees to justify their actions and often account for excesses every once in a while (Abdel-Maksoud, Cerbioni, Ricceri & Velayutham, 2010). Management thus takes advantage of the fact that most of the activities undertaken in the firm can be accounted for. Employees have to be accountable to management for their actions and activities in a company.
To achieve this in the best way, companies that have methods such as performance contracting often finds themselves on the receiving end with most employees being resistant to this form of accountability. However, as employees become used to their efforts and how to exercise their efforts towards growth, the company grows substantially. This leads to an increased appreciation for the management accounting practices and principles.
According to Yamao & Sekiguchi (2015); employees are often resistant to management accounting. This is because most persons are unable to account for the use of miscellaneous resources. Processes such as auditing and the confirmation of accounts can be really scary and thus often, they are afraid of them. Managers thus ensure that the systems in a working environment are enough to ensure that employees essentially account for their work.
Managerial reports, transaction processing systems, as well as registers, are some of the key areas of accountability in a firm. The use of these extensively can ensure that no single employee is complacent in their work. Toyota especially practices this form of accountability to have all employees reporting to a higher authority and that failure to prove productive can lead in dismissal. While employees may work under pressure due to such constraints, they need to be as practical as possible in what they do.
2.2 The Manufacturing process at Toyota
According to Hibadullah, Fuzi, Desa & Zamri (2013); the manufacturing process at Toyota can be underlined by one singular word; Monozukuri. Basically, the word stands for ‘manufacturing things’. It is a Japanese principle that decries complacency and advocates for consistent innovation. Toyota has been on the forefront of manufacture in Japan. The company has continued to uphold the Monozukuri culture thus verily coming up with new models and designs every financial year.
The investment in research and development is quite large. This allows for there to be consistency in development and innovation throughout the entire automobile industry. With time, accelerated development has lessened cost of production since the templates have grown in volumes. The expertise and experience of the engineers have also augmented. That is why the Monozukuri culture is not only for Toyota, but for Japan.
According to Helper & Henderson (2014) manufacturing at Toyota is one of the most efficient waste management practices ever developed by the organization. Indeed, the company is very particular about the lean manufacturing model. Toyota prides in manufacturing for the larger market. With very few luxury car models and brands; the concentration is on developing products for the larger consumer market without having to minimize on quality.
The balance between quality and volume is achieved by precise designing. The design process takes consideration of change factors such as engine capacity, steering capability, brake system improvements and the development of better safety measures with each model. All these changes are made without necessarily affecting the cost of the vehicle to a point that may make the vehicle unaffordable.
2.3 Lean Manufacturing Strategy
Toyota has redefined Monozukuri as the art of translating design data into finished products. This has been necessitated by the development of these designs through research. The company prides itself in understanding the market well. Researchers go to extend of even hiring houses around the target areas so as to monitor their movements, their taste as well as what would suite them best. Toyota car designers and engineers work together to put the beautiful car designs into perspective.
This is so as to have a great final product that is as well feasible to manufacture and importantly, leave room for improvement (Prakash & Kumar, 2011). While there may actually be little room for this improvement, the company has often written records with new inventions that have suited the market, against a tide that was not on their side. In essence, pulling market forces towards it has been a result that inevitably happened as a consequence of proper planning and implementation of the Monozukuri culture and principle.
The Toyota Production system is a designed working system that seeks to eliminate; muri, mura and muda. Muri is the overburdening of personnel with redundant work. It is singled out as one of the activities that lead to inefficiency in a firm. Mura, on the other hand, is the waste that accrues from activities that are done in excess. The system seeks to reduce these wastes in a number of ways as shall be later identified in this paper. Muda is the process of eliminating waste.
The system identifies seven types of wastes; waste due to overproduction, waste due to time on hand (wastage of time), waste due to inefficient transportation, waste that occurs in the processing itself, waste due to unutilized stock or property at hand, movement and defective products. Having identified these wastes, the system proposes methods to ensure that they are eliminated; therefore, the company can become more productive. The rest is a look at some principles that help in waste reduction and proper utilization of resources (Hibadullah, Fuzi, Desa & Zamri, 2013).
2.3.1 Kaizen
The Kaizen is a Japanese principle for continuous improvement. Toyota production system uses the Kaizen to eliminate wastes that result from time wasting, defective products and unutilized stock. Indeed, the kaizen is a very crucial value for most Japanese companies. Those who abide by it work with deadlines to ensure that they have products ready for a waiting market. Knowing that the desire for new and better automobiles is insatiable, Toyota invests in the redevelopment of models of very kind each year.
It is only inevitable that as this practice continues, the company finds it easy to come up with a new product to compete against other market leaders. There is indeed no market front that Toyota cannot venture. This is because they do not just enter the market to produce a similar product; they offer cheaper yet better products thus entirely convincing the consumer. With the spirit of Kaizen, the company always scales new heights in automobile development (Hibadullah, Fuzi, Desa & Zamri, 2013).
In the company’s hiring practices; Kaizen is also practiced. For instance; Toyota is very efficient in the company’s interviewing. Eliminating non-valuable processes in an organization is crucial to the growth and development of an institution. This is because; the non-value-adding processes are costly just like the operational expenses incurred by any other process in the organization or business. They impose an extra cost to the business yet do not offer any benefit. For instance, the process of hiring new employees is very elaborate. It includes vetting, sifting through applications and choosing the most appropriate candidate.
However, it may be unnecessary to have four or five interviews. Minimizing the interviews to one often makes the interviewing process effective. For efficiency, a company would choose to have aptitude tests to minimize the number of applicants to interview. Value addition thus does not have to have a lot of bureaucratic processes that may not be necessary. It is all about saving time and minimizing cost, effectively leading to efficiency (Senge, 2014).
2.3.2 Just in Time
Just-in-time policy ensures that products are delivered to the consumer on demand and within a specified period of time. Toyota believes that if a product is delivered late, then it is as good as not delivered. The same applies to all departments within the company; no one is allowed the luxury of time. Employees are consistently on their toes trying to meet very strict deadlines and often do so in order to live by this principle. The just-in-time policy ensures that the waste of time is eliminated for good.
It involves aspects of punctuality in job reporting, delivery of goods, development of new designs and even the completion of the manufacturing process (Prakash & Kumar, 2011). Essentially, these time limits are set even before the employee embarks on the task. Working to meet deadlines is a great policy that ensures that work is done in a convenient time. The result is that the company is successful in its undertakings and pushes the employment to higher limits. Even for the employees, the just-in-time policy makes better employees out of them as they continue to observe punctuality.
2.3.3 Jidoka
Jidoka is the intelligent automation of automobiles. As much as possible, Toyota cars are made to accept easy human instructions using levers and gears. With the introduction of the auto cars from the use of the manual cars, Jidoka was extensively applied. Indeed, the issue of intelligence in automobiles is a grey area, as cars are just machines. However, with time, these machines have evolved to understand danger situations, accident safety and haptic response.
In the process of troubleshooting erroneous machines and defective system, four steps are applied using the Jidoka principle; detecting the abnormality, stopping the entire production process, fixing the problem and finding ways to ensure that the problem never recurs. This ensures perfection to a great extent but mostly, it leads to elimination of the waste due to production errors that result in defective products (Prakash & Kumar, 2011).
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2.4 Quality challenges at Toyota Corporation
Toyota has been on the center stage of quality development using its Production System. The Jidoka principle of continuous manufacture ensures that with time, the company masters the art through practice. Toyota has however its fair share of quality issues and strategy failures has. These emanate from circumstances that the company has ever been challenged with dealing.
The most pressing of the company’s major quality concerns has to do with the product testing bit. Toyota has thus been on the receiving end of most critic auto magazines and general media over faulty brake systems and air bags. This has often led to the recalling of her products from the market. Only in 2010, the company has to recall volumes of its SUV models for the faulty brake systems. The company has since made efforts to rectify their manufacturing and testing errors with little success.
According to Dedoussis & Littler (2010), strategies put in place by Toyota to deal with her challenges have been communicated by the management on the various occasions the company has been called upon to account for their weaknesses. Mr. Akiyo Toyoda did mention in 2010 that the company was making plans to increase its testing facilities in order to accommodate larger volumes of test cases.
The company also thrives in the fact that it is market specific thus most of its problems hardly affect the entire market. This has been a contributing factor to the company’s growth over the years. Aside from that, the fact that the company has a great consumer appreciation and compensation policy makes it achieve great success with regard to popularity ratings. The company has thus dealt with all its suits and managed to ensure consumer satisfaction even with the defects and challenges with its models from time to time.
With the myriads of success and milestones covered by the company, it would be argued that the company would relent and bask in the glory of her successes. However, there are no limits to what the Japanese auto dealer can achieve. Indeed, with the introduction of relatively cheap automobiles, other manufacturers thought that the practice would be unsustainable. On the contrary, Toyota has continued to prove critics wrong. Not only has the company grown to be more successful, it has consistently led the way in automobile innovations.
Over the last decade, the car that was initially thought of as low class has continued to attract favorites across the globe. Toyota demonstrates that, with proper management accounting principles, any company can achieve success, even with the least amount of time possible. This success nonetheless gets addictive as it sets the benchmark for the next target. As long as the company continuously invests in bettering its products, there are no limits to the amount of income that can be accrued from the same (Zubir, Habidin, Conding, Jaya & Hashim, 2012).
3. Concepts of Change management at Toyota USA
3.1 History of Toyota USA
The Toyota Corporation maintains a subsidiary in the United States dedicated to North American sales. This subsidiary is refered to as the Toyota Motor Sales, USA Inc. The company was founded as an offset of the Toyota Corporation in 1957, and headquartered in Torrance, California. Initially, the American motor market had been controlled by three major market players, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Toyota as an entrant began by attempting market domination with a fleet of luxury cars under the brand ‘Lexus.’
The Lexus model was however not as successful in the United States as it had been in the United Kingdom. Sales for many Toyota brands were also low. The company had to come up with a strategy to guarantee market penetration. This was however not a significant challenge to the mother company as the models from Japan were more popular in Asian and European markets than any other Auto manufacturer. Capturing the United States market would mean a little more investment in research (Bunkley, 2016).
In the early 2000s, the USA subsidiary of Toyota Corporation released a new model into the market. The model dubbed ‘Prius’ to target a different market segment; the young drivers. The sleek design and the fairly low cost gained a lot of traction among American teenagers. The fleet of ‘Prius’ vehicles was so successful that Toyota leased the brand to a subsidiary manufacturer to work on developing the brand; which Toyota still owns to date.
The company (Toyota USA) managed to penetrate the American market using lean management and the incorporation of the concept of economies of scale. Although Toyota did not capture the high-end market and still does not make the most revenue out of the United States market, the company continues to research further and is driven by the principles that drive the mother company; Jidoka, Kaizen and Monozukuri. Toyota USA C.E.O; Jim Lentz has on various occasions hinted on the research into the next generation cars ongoing at Toyota USA. However, not many models have been presented by the company (Undercoffler, 2015).
3.2 Lean Management at Toyota USA
Toyota USA has continued to thrive and achieve unprecedented success due to its management accounting practices. The company has consistently devised new ways to improve productivity thus hardly make any wastage. Toyota can be praised for the great turnaround after the recession of 2009. The company posted a net loss of $4.2 billion but was soon able to emerge successful the following year. The management has been interchanged successfully every few year, but that has not changed the company’s management system.
Consistency in the management of resources and basic management accounting has enabled the company to be efficient in spending and utilization of resources. The trickle effect has been the growth of the company to have subsidiaries and affiliates. However, there has been a consistent focus on development more than management policies. Nonetheless, the management has been on the forefront in driving development agenda for the company (Muller, 2016).
Toyota can well manage its fleet as it ensures that no management wastes are recorded. Fleet management is important since it helps the company know how to maintain a consumer base as well as a consistent demand and supply ratio. The gap in demand is always met by supply. With time, the company has increased fleet production to a record high of 10.1 million in the 2013 financial year. In the automobiles business, mistakes cannot be condoned in the development of vehicles as they have to attract a particular design.
The company has a policy to get it right the first time. There is thus little if any room for improvement. The consequence is that the company develops a highly competitive model every time it releases the same onto the market. These models thus have very high demand even years after they have been released. This is very essential as it certifies that its models can often be recalled and resold to other markets if they do not meet the threshold demand for a particular market (Truett, 2016).
3.3 Impediments to Change management in America
While it is necessary to improve a system or process, this improvement does not come automatically. There is need to identify areas where the change process or areas to make the organization better can be isolated for investment. Opportunities for improvement are not easy to identify. There are many factors that impede the identification of the opportunities to improvement. However, two main factors impede the identification of opportunities for improvement.
The investment in these opportunities is first impeded by the financial cost of changing processes. There is significant financial investment involved in making processes efficient. There is also need for research to identify these areas for improvement. Such research desires that there be funds to actualize the same. This is why it is necessary to consider financial implications (Cummings & Worley, 2014).
The second impediment which is a major concern to the process of improvement is the presence of bureaucratic laws and procedures. Many organizations have very rigid structures that seem to be difficult to change or alter. This is why investment in the change process or identification of change areas may be unnecessary or impossible. Where the change process is impeded by a lengthy process, it has time constraints that may not be in the interest of the organization.
It is thus important review organizational processes and laws in order to ensure that they do not affect the organization’s ability to change. Change is important and as such, should be encouraged within the realms of company law and constitution (Senge, 2014).
3.4 Defects and quality problems at Toyota Motor Sales
3.5 Justification of the case study
Toyota indeed presents a lot of challenges to other corporations not only in the automobiles industry, but the rest of the world economy, as well. Toyota being a leading brand; it would suffice that some of the practices that the company boasts of be borrowed elsewhere. This has been demonstrated by the vast acknowledgement of the Toyota Production System as an international standard in management and overall production. The company prides itself in virtues that have seen it grow over the years.
The management and the staffs are indoctrinated into a tradition that appreciates the significance of hard work, determination and progress in everything they do. This has been the cornerstone behind the company’s success. The leadership style is impeccable, and the management has always been accountable for its decisions. Even when there are numerous complaints due to defects, the management never shifts blame to the production teams but instead owns up and cleans its house internally.
In management accounting, the only success that can be derived from the same has to be tangible evidence of growth in the area of concern. In production and automobile development, Toyota continues to set the pace among other leaders in car and motor developers. The central positioning of the company in a highly industrious economy; Japan also gives it an edge over the rest.
The company consistently manufactures models that fit a particular market. Toyota has specially been credited with the development of cheap brands to suit a low income economy, as well as suffice for the third world markets. Toyota’s efficiency in manufacture has enabled its brand of vehicles to be sold cheaper in comparison to other models, at the same category. This has especially popularized its brands for there is always value for money in the same and more so, the re-sale value for most Toyota cars still remains high.
Toyota is a great case study topic. It has been deemed one of the most successful companies of our time and continues to set the pace in automobile development. Aside from being a corporation that upholds high ethics and moral standards, the company prides itself in being the pioneer behind low energy consumption vehicles. This was achieved by development of electron fuel injection model that allowed the vehicle to run on the battery while the fuel maintained the battery charged.
Toyota models are thus mostly manual and affordable despite the effort in the technology used. Toyota has thus essentially lowered the production through consistent management accounting. This has with time been extended to the consumers who have in turn enjoyed reduced prices and affordable cars for them. It is the greatest illustration of proper application of management accounting principles.
The choice of the case study could not have been better. Despite the numerous challenges Toyota faces, it has proved to the world that none of these is insurmountable. With regular changes being made to their production process, the testing bit has often proved to be a challenge. This has especially occurred due to the sampling methods used in the testing process that have often been unfruitful.
This has led to the development of faulty fleets of models from the same plant. Toyota has nonetheless often taken responsibility about the matter and the company Chief Executive; Akio Toyoda has often come under fire, even as far as the company being accused of being ‘lazy’ in its testing policies. Nevertheless, the company has been ranked the 14th most successful corporation in the world as far as revenue development is concerned (Horngren et al, 2012).
It, therefore, should not come as a surprise that this would be the company to base the study on. Being that only a few companies across the globe match up to the prowess and success record of Toyota, it was an inevitable choice that would be inherently natural. More so, there is a need to appreciate that the company has ever been on an upward trend with its management seeing that no one has entirely exclusive executive powers for an entire decade. This has formed the basis for proper management accounting in the company thus pushing the corporation higher the success ladder.
References
Abdel-Maksoud, A., Cerbioni, F., Ricceri, F., & Velayutham, S. (2010). Employee morale, non-financial performance measures, deployment of innovative managerial practices and shop-floor involvement in Italian manufacturing firms. The British Accounting Review, 42(1), 36-55.
Becker, W. S., Carbo, J. A., & Langella, I. M. (2010). Beyond self-interest: integrating social responsibility and supply chain management with human resource development. Human Resource Development Review, 9(2), 144-168.
Bunkley, N. (2016). Carter: Toyota’s bullish on U.S. sales. Automotive News, (6720).
Dedoussis, V., & Littler, C. R. (2010). Understanding the Transfer of Japanese Management Practices. Global Japanization?: The Transnational Transformation of the Labour Process, 4, 175.
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Hibadullah, S. N., Fuzi, N. M., Desa, A. F. N. C., & Zamri, F. I. M. (2013). Lean manufacturing practices and environmental performance in Malaysian automotive industry. Asian Journal of Finance & Accounting, 5(1), 462-471.
Muller, J. (2016). Toyota Recharges. Forbes, 197(7), 50-56.
Prakash, D., & Kumar, C. (2011). Implementation of lean manufacturing principles in auto industry. Industrial Engineering Letters, 1(1), 56-60.
Senge, P. M. (2014). The dance of change: The challenges to sustaining momentum in a learning organization. Crown Business.
Sui Pheng, L., & Shang, G. (2011). Bridging Western management theories and Japanese management practices: Case of the Toyota Way model. Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 1(1), 1-20.
Truett, R. (2016). 5 minutes with … Ed Laukes, vice president of marketing, performance and guest experience, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Automotive News, (6712).
Undercoffler, D. (2015). Toyota targets big leap in U.S. sales for RAV4. Automotive News, (6702).
Yamao, S., & Sekiguchi, T. (2015). Employee commitment to corporate globalization: The role of English language proficiency and human resource practices. Journal of World Business, 50(1), 168-179.
Yang, C. C., Yeh, T. M., & Yang, K. J. (2012). The implementation of technical practices and human factors of the toyota production system in different industries. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, 22(6), 541-555.
Zubir, A. F. M., Habidin, N. F., Conding, J., Jaya, N. A. S. L., & Hashim, S. (2012). The development of sustainable manufacturing practices and sustainable performance in Malaysian automotive industry. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 3(7), 130-138.
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Operational Conflicts
With the current globalization of the business environments, it is common for one to find themselves managing a company in a country away from theirs. Therefore, one has to get used to the culture in the country because it dictates the way the people of the environment do things. Usually, many aspects of culture among different people differ greatly, leading to environments that encourage operational conflicts. Therefore unless the manager understands the cultural diversity of different places, the operational conflicts may hinder the accomplishment of goals of the organization. There are several operational conflicts that the paper will examine.
One of the types of operational conflicts is time. While members of one culture may value time saving and the use of deadlines, individuals from another country may view time otherwise. An example of such differences in the view of the importance of time is between the America and the Arabic cultures. While Americans put deadlines and value keeping their time, the Arabs may see deadlines as disrespectful, and the word “bukra” is used to mean tomorrow (Al-Kandari & Gaither, 2011).
Change is another aspect that may result in conflicts in international organizations. While some cultures are skeptical about changes, others openly embrace change (Rinne, Steel, & Fairweather, 2012). Therefore, a person from a culture that is less skeptical about changes in the environment of work or even strategy may encounter a lot of hardship in another country. For instance, according to Hofstede’s cultural model, Russians a have higher degree of uncertainty avoidance index and therefore they may not like changes.
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Individualism may also result to operational conflicts in international organizations. The Hofstede’s cultural dimension model presupposes that some cultures are more individualistic and prefer that people’s achievements are attributed to individual employees rather than organizations (Rinne et al., 2012). In such cultures, people who believe more in teamwork may run into conflicts while trying to work with colleagues.
In summary, people from different cultures hold different beliefs and therefore operate differently. Hence, working in multicultural environments or foreign countries may present the challenge of many conflicts unless as a manager, one understands the local culture. The sources of conflict, among others, may include time, changes and the degree of individualism.
References
Al-Kandari, A., & Gaither, T. K. (2011). Arabs, the west and public relations: A critical/cultural study of Arab cultural values. Public Relations Review, 37(3), 266–273. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.04.002
Rinne, T., Steel, G. D., & Fairweather, J. (2012). Hofstede and Shane Revisited: The Role of Power Distance and Individualism in National-Level Innovation Success. Cross-Cultural Research, 46(2), 91–108. http://doi.org/10.1177/1069397111423898
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Alphabet Inc Leadership Model and Organizational Structure
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Leadership Model and Organizational Structure
Background Information
Organizations today have recognized that their success and competitive nature relies on the need to heavily depend on information technology (IT) in enhancing their management practices. This has resulted in a demand for qualified IT leaders and professionals who have the capacity to increase the performance of an organization; an aspect that confronts the element of boundary spanning that requires the collaborative efforts of different users in ensuring the success of projects.
Alphabet Inc is one of the multinational conglomerates in America that was founded in October 2015. The company is an affiliate of Google among several other entities that bases its portfolio on life sciences, technology, research, and investment capital (Eshaq et.al. 2015).
Alphabet Inc Leadership Model and Organizational Structure
Alphabet Inc has a cross-functional organizational structure that uses the element of function as an approach in grouping its employees. The company has a developed engineering and design team, sales operators, and project management teams.
On the other hand, Alphabet also uses products as a form of grouping its employees and achieves this by grouping its employees in developing Nexus products and devices (Eshaq et.al.2015). Lastly, the employees of the organization are also grouped on the bases of its fiber business, an aspect that depicts the flatness of the company’s structure. This clearly indicates that the employees, groups and teams of this company have the capacity to bypass the management team and directly report to the CEO.
Alphabet’s structure is developed to prosper through its strong leadership systems that give its management independence in conducting the functions of the organization (Vaccaro, et.al.2012). Generally, the company’s model is based on an approach that gives the CIO an opportunity to run the business of the company. The CEO is assisted by manager’s who are tasked with handling the company’s capital allocations. They also ensure that the business functions of the organization are executed.
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Comparison and Contrast of Two Leadership Theories
The transactional leadership approach as employed in Alphabet Inc is a style that primarily maintains a normal flow of functions within an organization. Transactional leaders within this organization keep shifts afloat by incorporating disciplinary powers and incentives in an approach aimed at motivating employees to achieve their goals.
Alternatively, the transformational leadership approach incorporates approaches aimed at crafting strategies directed towards improving the performance and success levels of an organization, an aspect that draws its strength from collaboration, motivation and team-building within employees (Vaccaro, et.al.2012). It is imperative to acknowledge that both the transactional and transformational leadership styles ensure that leaders set their goals and motivational approaches aimed at ensuring subordinates achieve their goals while ensuring that opportunities are available in advancing their personal growth.
On the other hand, transactional leaders are not driven towards guiding an organization to a market position of leadership since the leaders are primarily focused on ensuring an organization flows in a smooth way daily (Zhiqiang Liu, et.al.2012). However, transformational leaders apply the element of charisma as an approach of inspiring their subordinates to achieve goals. This aspect is inspired by the inclusion of ideals, values, and morals in the process.
Table 1: Transaction and transformational leadership styles
Transformational Leadership
Transactional Leadership
1
Encourages change and thinking outside the box
Works to maintain things the same, tends to avoid change
2
Private and public acknowledgment of accomplishments – higher-level needs
Punishments and rewards – low-level needs
3
Concerned with ideas over processes
Concerned with processes over ideas
4
Delegates tasks for members to act in small groupings or independently
Micro-manages teams to make sure that the set standards are attained
5
Inspires followers
Does not inspire followers. Improves productivity
It is essential to establish that these two leadership theories are applicable to IT management leadership since transactional leaders have the capacity to address small operational details efficiently. In this case, it is essential to ascertain that transactional leaders build strong reputations within a marketplace through their efforts of ensuring the employees are productive (Zhiqiang Liu, et.al.2012).
However, a transformational leadership approach remains effective in IT management since it aids an organization to achieve its goals through a well-developed strategy that incorporates the element of team-building within the functions of an organization.
Leadership Theory Used In Alphabet Inc
Alphabet Inc believes in the transactional leadership model, an aspect that results in its leaders basing their style on transactions with their subjects. In this case, the leaders of this organization view their human relations as transactions, and thus rewards, reciprocates, and punishes their subjects as a basis of this approach (Norshima&Vimala, 2015). This approach gives the leaders of this organization an opportunity to emphasize on the importance of meeting their short-term goals. The employees are consequently required to adhere to the procedures and standards that are set by the organization.
In addition to this, the leaders of Alphabet invest in efforts aimed at enhancing the employee’s creativity, an aspect that has enabled the organization to improve its productivity and cut its costs. This leadership model is evident in the company’s functions since it makes its followers empowered, satisfied, and self-motivated in achieving their goals more than what is contained in their job descriptions (Norshima&Vimala, 2015).
Comparison and Contrast of Two Organizational Structure Models
The organizational structure of Alphabet Inc influences the manner in which the company conducts its functions. In accordance to how the company is organized, the organization incorporates the functional and product structure in order to meet its goals. In this case, it is essential to establish that an organization that is developed around a functional structure delivers its tasks based on the aligned skills and training of team’s and employee’s (Clegg, Kornberger, Pitsis, 2011). This structure remains simple to explain to employees, customers, and suppliers while incorporating effective approaches of communication and problem solving since knowledge is identified and shared.
Figure 2: Functional Organizational Structure
In comparison to the product structure model, companies are attracted by responsive changes that occur as a result of the new trends in technology. This aspect enables such organizations to group employees and groups on the basis of skills and expertise, and is additionally supported by infrastructures within a unit.
On the other hand, the functional structure helps in the development of leaders and functional leaders, superiors, and peers that can be accessed within the functions of an organization (Clegg, et.al.2011). In contrast to this, the product structure ensures that the aspect of skill expansion and diversification can be incorporated within an organization. However, this model has the capacity to initiate unnecessary competitions internally between particular product groups and business units, an aspect that may be detrimental to the functions of an organization, and an aspect that may inhibit a negative implication in the IT industry.
Figure 3: Product Organizational Structure
Alphabets organizational structure allows the interaction between employees and their leaders, an aspect that makes them feel free to share their opinions and ideas. Innovation remains the centre piece of Alphabet Inc, thus requiring every employee to contribute innovative ideologies towards the development of the company (Clegg, et.al.2011). In this case, the company is structured in a manner that supports the element of excellence and innovation through an approach that enables the employees to share their capabilities and ideas within the organization.
Organizational Structure Model used in Alphabet Inc.
Alphabet Inc is developed on the foundations of a simple organizational structure that is comprised of hierarchical functions consisting of executive leaders who have the capacity to delegate authority and responsibilities down to the leaders within the organization (Strese, et.al. 2016). This approach is effectively implemented in the company and allows the founders of the organization (Google) to direct its operations to the leadership of the organization in regulating the manner in which the organization operates.
This approach ensures the initiation of tight compliance approaches that requires the leaders within the organization to adhere to procedures and policies. The structure remains effective in Alphabet since it coordinates activities through its line of authority and slowly reacts of external factors since information travels up the chain of command in the organization and instructions are expected to travel back down (Strese, et.al.2016). This critically impacts the manner in which decisions are processes and the application of an efficient leadership style that matches the structure of the company.
The Relationship between Leadership Style and Organizational Structure
Alphabet Inc builds its competitive advantage is critically seen in its approach to enhance and enlarge its functions through the company’s organizational structure. In this case, it is important to note that Alphabets IT governance changes require that the company makes its decisions to organize its processes and efficiently define its organizational culture (Strese, et.al.2016).
The leadership style of Alphabet Inc influences the culture of the organization as detailed in its vision. On the other hand, the leadership element shapes the manner in which values and morals are instilled within the organization that defines the manner in which employees conduct themselves.Decisions within the company are made by the leaders who make consultations from teams, an aspect that is evident in the top down system in which decisions are made by the senior management and the implemented down (Strese, et.al.2016).
For instance, when the company undergoes some management problems, the leaders within the organization conduit a solution to such a problem and additionally acts as adapters to these factors. Once the decisions are arrived at, the company dispenses the solution to the bottom leaders who are expected to implement these solutions within the organization.
Eshaq M. Al Shaar, Shadi Ahmed Khattab, RaedNaserAlkaied, &Abdelkareem Q. Manna (2015). The Effect of Top Management Support on Innovation: the Mediating Role of Synergy between Organizational Structure and Information Technology. Leadership Quarterly.Retrived From:www.irmbrjournal.com
NorshimaHumaidi&VimalaBalakrishnan (2015): Leadership Styles and Information Security Compliance Behavior: The Mediator Effect of Information Security Awareness. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 5, No. 4, April 2015
Strese, S., Meuer, M. W., Flatten, T. C., &Brettel, M. (2016). Organizational antecedents of cross-functional coopetition: The impact of leadership and organizational structure on cross-functional coopetition. Industrial Marketing Management, 5342-55. doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.11.006. Retrived From: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=112743859&site=ehost-live
Vaccaro, I.G., Jansen, J.P., Van Den Bosch, F.A. J., and Volberda, H.W.(2012). Management innovationand leadership: the moderating role of organizational size. Journal of Management Studies, 49(1), 28-67
Zhiqiang Liu, ZhenyaoCai, Ji Li, Shengping Shi &Yongqing Fang (2012): Leadership style and employee turnover intentions: a social identity perspective. Retrived From: www.emeraldinsight.com/1362-0436.htm
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