Motivation
In any organization, workers behaviors are influenced by the management and leadership styles. Motivation is a crucial endeavor, particularly in the attempt of improving employee performance. The desire of a company to achieve its objectives and goals can be manifested in the management and leadership styles applied to influence workers in performing their responsibilities and duties accordingly. In any organization, workers are the most valuable asset since they are key to realization of desired objectives and goals set by the organization. Consequently, it is wise to invest in human resources through varying dimensions in order to ensure each employee performs as desired. The business world has increasingly become sophisticated with competition from various aggressive companies. Motivation, for decades has been viewed as the most imperative discipline that is worth paying attention to and in the event it fails to be exemplified in an organization, there are high chances that various predicaments will arise. This paper provides highlights of Toyota Corporation’s strategy for employee motivation in the attempt to recover from its quandary which was the result of previous performance failure.
In recent times, customers raised incredibly numerous complaints regarding Toyota automobiles mechanical breakdown. As a result, the company was forced into recalling close to 10 million cars globally. According to Press (2013), the error was the result of failure on the part of the employees to perform their responsibilities and duties as expected due to lack of motivational strategies that would push them into good performance as well as organization behavior influence. Despite this fact, employees cannot be blamed as it is likely the problem arose from factors that go beyond their power which includes factors affecting overall behavior within the company. Some of these factors include inadequate job training, inappropriate decisions and actions on the senior managers part, use of inputs that were faulty to carry out various processes, lack of proper rewards and proper motivation strategies implementation which influenced employee behavior. Consequently, the predicament of the company is due to poor decision making amongst employees, improper motivation techniques and failure by management in upholding good culture with the aim of influencing desired behaviors among employees. Indeed, this has obliged the company into employing various motivation strategies in the bid to mobilize employees and develop good behavior so employees can make appropriate decisions regarding specific critical processes as well as equipping them with important knowledge in improvement of performance.
According to Marksberry (2012), the corporation is the largest in the world dealing with automobile manufacture and it is based in Toyota, Japan. Kiichiro Toyota in Aichi, Japan was founded in 1933 by the organization. Today, the company has close to 400,000 employees situated in branches throughout various cities across the globe. The company takes pride in having produced more than three hundred million cars since it was incepted into the business world. Its products range has seen it through numerous successful profits and ventures over the years with quantity and quality being the company slogan. It operates with numerous nonautomotive companies across the globe a fact that makes it serve as the largest conglomerate throughout the globe. Liker and Ogden (2011) explain that through the years, the company has experienced turbulent times in operations which range from experiencing high losses as a result of natural calamities like tsunami and major earth tremors etc to major financial crises which have led the company into emergency borrowing in the bid to finance operations. According to Liker and Ogden (2011), recently, the company was hit by financial crisis in aftermath of engineering failure that saw the company experience the hugest loss ever since it was incepted. A meticulous of management procedures and processes of the business were carried out and the company was able to find a loop in employee motivation by varying management, forcing the company to crack down on such strategies as a way of recovering from its worst ever performance in history.
The endeavors of the company to review its processes of motivation as a measure to improving good behaviors and performance will have a positive influence on its effectiveness and avoid such horrible incidents. Beaudan (2012) explains the company looks forward to encouraging behaviors that are favorable among employees and persistence in excellent performance through recognition and rewards as significant motivation for employees. It is a fact the company experienced shock that emanated from rapid growth that was unbelievably immense with varied accrued benefits concealing crucial information regarding its production procedures but realized too late since the products were available and already made throughout the world. Therefore, the strategy will discourage these incidents and make managers aware of faults before it is too late..
The company, according to Beaudan (2012) has embarked on training extravaganza as the most important step towards motivating employees and promoting good behavior as well as making sure workers are equipped with relevant knowledge needed to deal with a variety of processes. Therefore, the training is going to furnish the employees within the organization with knowledge and skills worth handling various arising challenges, motivating them to identify confidently unusual changes as well as act accordingly in order to avoid misfortunes. According to French (2011), practices of good hiring are important as part of motivational endeavors as they encourage good employee behavior and this is translated to absorption of competent and quality personnel with skills that are relevant and the effectiveness of tackling complex and emerging situations in an organization. This is significant to any company since poor recruitment strategies demotivate other hardworking workers and their morale for performing great in a consistent manner. According to Press (2013), the strategy of retention adopted by the company will make it possible to recognize highly skilled and reliable personnel in terms of mastering the legacy of the company as well as upholding critical mission status.
On top of this, the organization also seeks to improve the process of performance management in the bid of appraising the performance of employees as a crucial motivation agenda. Liker and Ogden (2011) explicate that this significantly affects the behavior of employees regarding their response to negative information while making it easy for the company to flourish profitably. Indeed, there are situations which are similar in a couple of organizations that battle with performance improvement by investing in various motivation strategies for change of behavior. According to Marksberry (2012), a large number of organizations have already realized the essential nature of motivating employees as the measure to persistently encourage good performance through application of strategies that are necessary and worth taking in order to enhance the potency and skills of employees. This has the impact of influencing them to act and behave responsibly in various situations thus ensuring employees made excellent decisions regarding various processes and procedures that don’t jeopardize the reputation of the organization.
The topic on leadership in relation to this situation of motivation heavily relies on various leadership approaches towards employee mobilization to improve performance and behave in a responsible manner. According to French (2011), good styles of leadership encourage positive behavior among employees while at the same time rallying their support in quest for realization of organizational objectives and goals in the long run. Employee motivation affects future trends in Toyota Corporation through encouraging the workforce company to seek perfection in terms of good performance and handling of various situations confidently and effectively.
To conclude, this paper has highlighted importance of employee motivation of Toyota as an important step in shielding it from prior financial crisis triggered by mechanical error that cost the company huge losses. Through motivation, it is possible for the company to mend the hole that caused the company to become vulnerable a situation that was so devastating and it will inspire the personnel to be good managers in terms of accountability and decision-making. Consequently, this will play a major role in helping the company scale the height of success as well as avoid making similar errors that could jeopardize the reputation and brand of the organization. In turn, this is going to influence the company in respect to its strive for excellence.