Leadership and Management Concepts in Toyota Plc

Pearson BTEC Higher National Diploma in Business Management

Unit 4 - Management and Operations

Leadership and Management Concepts (Part 1)

Leaders and Operations Management (Part 2)

Introduction

The report is prepared to understand the role of management and leadership in the company and analysing ways in which managers and leaders can effectively utilize the resources of the organisations to deliver high quality goods and services to the consumers and achieve organisational goals. To understand this study in a proper way, a detailed analysis of the organisation will be done, the chosen organisation is Toyota Plc. This is a Japanese company that comes under the automobile sector. In this report we will analyse the different functions of managers and other leaders and how they help the employees in achieving their goals in an efficient manner. By analysing the operations management of Toyota Plc, we will study the significance of various management theories and leadership styles in the betterment of the organisation.

LO1 Differentiate between the role of a leader and the function of a manager

P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.

To understand the impact of leadership and management on the various operations of the organization it is necessary to understand the functions of a managers and leaders and their management in the company.

Role of a Manager: The employees of this designation mainly center on driving the objectives and goals of the company by setting short & long terms goals and making plans and roadmap to achieve those plans. To accomplish these set goals, the managers develop and implement various strategies to ensure that the workforce working on those plans is performing their task in an effective and efficient way. One of the most significant aspects of this role is that it can be diversified on various levels which ensure that work can be managed for various sectional departments. The managers mainly determine the work appraisal of the workers working under him so that it can be determined that the appraisal of the team, will be focused on the performances of the employees and whether they are fulfilling their duty successfully or not. (Collings, M., 2021)

Role of a Leader: The role of a leader can be determined as the member of the organisation who motivates the employees of the organisation so that they can complete the work assigned to them in the most efficient way. The main role of the leader is to drive the workforce by using various strategies to motivate the employees by using creative communication and leadership skills. The leaders have defined skills that they use to accomplish the objectives of the organisation by influencing the employees to perform their best in every field.

To understand the various functions performed by both managers and leader, we will study the way they deal with people and how they influence the people in different ways.

It can be understood from this figure that the functions of a leader majorly differ from that of a manager,

A leader is a person who is more focused on being effective, they try to put themselves in the other person’s shoes and try to influence them in a good way. They work on a law of preparation principle which requires them to be committed, cooperative and motivated because the characteristic of a leader is to inspire people to help them in achieving their objectives. The leaders are different from the manager’s, because leaders focus on only one element of the many.(Reynolds,2010)

Whereas, a manager focuses more on getting things done quickly without focusing on the efficiency of the employee this is because the managers have to manage all the departments in the best possible manner which makes them frustrated, uncooperative and resentful.

Differences between leaders and managers

The roles of leader and manager are often mistaken as same, but there is a major difference in their roles because Managers set tasks for the organisation to accomplish to achieve the overall objectives whereas leaders are assigned to inspire the workforce by communicating  with them and showcasing the vision of the organisation to the employees. To understand the difference between the roles of a leader and manager we will study various factors, as shown in the below table. (Lin. et al, 2011)

For the long term success of any business, it is necessary to ensure that the leaders and managers are fully informed and they help the organization is following their roles in a collaborative manner and ensures they have a competitive edge over their competitors.

LO2 Apply the role of a leader and the function of a manager in given contexts

P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different situational contexts.

To understand the role and functions of a manager and a leader, we will study various theories and apply some of them in real life situational contexts, like in Toyota Plc. The company is facing some issue related to the increasing cost of material, fuel and equipment’s, so it is necessary for the organisation to effectively implement the different functions performed by the managers and leaders and the strategies constructed by them so that the company can handle the manufacturing costs to increase the company’s sales and revenue.( McCann, 2011)

1. Behavioural theory of leadership: This theory mainly focuses on the behaviour of a leader and how can they use their skills for the benefit of the company in an effective and efficient way. To measure the potential of a leader in a difficult situation this theory is considered effective to analyse the behaviour of the leader. Toyota uses this theory as the managers and leaders in the company follow various policies to analyse the skills of the employees and use those abilities to effectively communicate with them.

2. Contemporary theory of management: Using this theory the company can deal with its current issue of increased production and purchase cost. As the manager can implement various strategies like searching for suppliers who sell the raw material at low cost. And the role of the leader would be to use their skills to convince and motivate employees to use advanced technologies so as to lower the manufacturing costs and create a positive environment for the employees to retain them for longer period in the organisation.

3. Classical theory of management: It is applied by the company so that the policies made by the managers can help in the enhancement of the overall productivity of the business. Managers of Toyota developed a strategy named KAIZEN, in this strategy the management put in continuous efforts to improve the activities related to production and use participative style leadership with the employees so that they can use inputs in such a way that the production costs can be reduced without hampering the quality of products.( Enescu, 2010)

P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems leadership and contingency.

Situational leadership: In this type of leadership approach the skills and capabilities of the employees are evaluated so that the leaders can influence how the employees are completing their tasks. With this kind of leadership the operations management of Toyota the leaders implement different leadership styles for different situations.

Systems leadership: In this leadership the company communicate the strategies with the leaders and employees and ask them to perform changes according to the changes planned by the company to improve the operational management of the company, like to implement KAIZEN the leaders of the company communicated with the employees about the changes in the operations of the organisation and how this strategy improves the situation of high manufacturing costs. ( A.V et al., 2012)

Management by Objective: This plays a very significant role in solving the issues related to operational management by communicating freely with the employees and sharing some decision making strategies with them to get their views on how to solve the problem and with the help of their ideas and manager’s expertise solve those problems as well as motivate the employees to work in an efficient way.

Contingency theory: This theory focuses on changing the strategies of the organisation according to the changes that may occur in business situations. The role of the leaders is to convince and influence employees to meet the challenging requirements that may occur in the market. In this case the managers of the company observed that the reasons of the increased manufacturing costs are the high prices of the materials and equipment and they found that change in operational activities can help bringing down the high prices as well as change the policies of the company to adapt the recent changes in production and operation department.

LO3 Demonstrate an appreciation of the role leaders and managers play in the operations function of an organization.

P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers play.

The operations management is considered as an important part of the organisation as it administers the various activities that take place in the company and focus on improving the production quality of the organisation. To understand the role of managers and leaders in the global development of the business strategies of Toyota we will study various approaches to the operations management.( TopMBA.com, 2021)

Six Sigma is one of the methodologies applied by the organisation to improve the quality of production process and focus on increased efficiency in the business. In the company, managers use six sigma methodologies to eliminate the different types of wastes from the organisation; those wastes according to Toyota are defects in production process, motion, over processing, wait, inventory and transportation.(Otley,2016)

The next approach used in the operations management of the organisation is Total Quality Management to develop the global business strategy of Toyota Plc and explain the role of managers and leaders in using the TQM approach to bring consistent improvement in the quality of the services and products and fulfilling the objectives of the organisation. The core principles of TQM are teamwork, customer orientation; constant improvement and quality maintenance to focus on approaches for strategic improvement in the organisation, like in Toyota managers apply TQM to apply strategies like KAIZEN to bring continuous improvement in the organisation’s management.

P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.

Importance of Operations Management

For any organisation operations management is a significant part as it focuses on making the organisation optimally utilize its resources in an effective and efficient way. They also improve the quality of various products and services on a continuous basis and try to convert the raw material into finished goods while reducing the production costs. This management also helps the organisation in eliminating the wastes that are hindering the growth of the organisation.( UKEssays,2018)

Business Objectives of TOYOTA

• To have a competitive edge over all its competitors in the market

• To deal in quality manufacturing of automobile.

• To attain maximum level satisfaction.

• To focus on enhancing the technology for cars with green energy

• To focus on building sustainability in business.

• To enhance the production competency.

Approaches To Achieve Organisational Objectives

To sustain the objectives of the organisation the operations management can use various methods like,

Transformational Leadership: The Company can use this approach to gain a competitive edge over the competitors, in this approach the leader work together with the subordinates to execute changes and uprate the superiority position of the company in the market as well as overcome the challenges in the market.

Corporate Governance: To achieve maximum satisfaction and maintain sustainability in the business the companies bring in corporate governance to maintain the proper ethical standards of the business as well can keep stakeholders best interests in mind and focus on enhancing the use of environmental factors at the time of production which will help the company to achieve its objectives. (Lindgreen, 2010)

These are some of the ways how operational management help the organisation in achieving its objectives and the constant improvement in the productivity with help of various approaches like TQM and Six Sigma which can be applied in the company to enhance its productivity. Through these functions of operational management, the company can be competent, maintain sustainability, have enhanced technologies and attain maximum satisfaction levels to gain advantage over the competitors of the company.

LO4 Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between leadership and management in a contemporary business environment

P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers.

Toyota operates its business environment by focusing on the need to maintain sustainability, values and ethics in the company and improve their customer relationship and provide maximum satisfaction by providing best quality services and adhering to the ethical standards of the company. To gain a competitive edge over other competitors in the market, the company adopts the concept of sustainable business development as well as focus on corporate social responsibility as the relationship between management and leadership affects the social responsibility of the company towards the society as the managers try to implement specific policies and strategies in terms of environment protection.as well as providing maximum satisfaction to its employees as well as customers, provide high quality products and value of money.( Michie,2012)

Managers of an organisation work on communicating the policies, rule and regulations to the organisation and direct the employees on what to achieve and within what time period. Whereas the leaders of the company communicate the plans and policies constructed by the managers to the employees and inspire them to perform according to the strategies defined in the organisation and they also focus on defining and allocating different tasks to employees according to their skills and provide them training and development so that they can contribute towards achieving the objectives of the organisation.

Some of the factors of business environment of the company that affect the decision making and operational management of leaders and managers can be work efficiency of employees, as the major strategies of managers as well as leadership is implemented through employees only so it is important for the organisation to focus on the performance of the employees and implement approaches like total quality management and six sigma to effectively manage the operational management. The company should also focus on the resources available in the organisation as if not optimally utilized these resources can seriously affect the environment of the company.

Conclusion

To conclude this report, it can be said that the management and leadership of any organization are different in their own way but what matters is that both the managers and leaders work towards the same goal, i.e. growth of the organization by achieving the goals and objectives set by the company. Using various theories and styles of management and leadership, the company can perform various tasks and make decisions as these theories help the managers and leaders in decision making and improving the operational and production process of the company so that they can reduce the car cost all the while maintaining its quality. To effectively fulfill the goals and objectives of Toyota Plc, various operational management theories are used to eliminate waste and improve the organizational overall performance.

References

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