Change Implementation at Toyota Company Term Paper

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Kotter Change Management Model

Many companies around the world have used the emergent change approaches, but many have not been able to stand the test of time. From their experiences, Kotter's model has a long-standing high reputation with flexibility in dealing with the vast issues and problems experienced by companies during the change. Toyota is a lean manufacturing company, and their processes involve change and improvements. The changes that occur in the company require them to have the commitment of both the management and leadership; good channels of communication; team development; cultural readiness and the autonomy of employees. In our case, we are going to apply Kotter's model in dealing with their HR situation where employees wish to be given freedom (Cameron & Green, 2012). They argue that must execute duties but lack that freedom and this has hindered them from giving their best. Additionally, they want the training they are given to be beneficial concerning improving or raising their living standards. Therefore, the model is going to elaborate how each step applies to Toyota's HR situation.

Step 1: Establishing a Sense of Urgency

The urgency relates to the need to achieve the change in Toyota, and since the employees see the need to change, then the management and leadership need to look at the issue at hand. In the case of Toyota, the change is being initiated by the employees who have evaluated the company's competitive situation, technological trends, market position, and financial performance. The aggressiveness of the employees regarding cooperation leaves the HR looking for ways to communicate the information to the top executives of the company. The HR must show the leadership the importance of the change requested by the employees and with this, the change agents will have enough "power and credibility" to initiate the required program change. Employees of Toyota can use consultancy services as a tactic for creating urgency sense and hence, they will challenge the company's status quo (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009). The report of a consulting firm will show the management the importance of giving their employees freedom of making decisions and is a credible source for change. The external information will be given greater believability air and confirmation that the employee is ready for the change and have the urgency needed to persuade the management and leadership.

Step 2: Creating Coalition

In this step, the employees will need to assemble a group of their colleagues with power energy and influence in the organization to be able to lead the change they want to be implemented. Since Toyota is a multinational company, leading and managing the change process is hard and will require the team or group to out together the right members who will guide a coalition of people to lead change initiatives. These people need to have power position so that they can influence the change initiative to the key players on the company's board members. As such, the few people who are still not convinced of the need for change will be easily convinced by their counterparts. Secondly, they need to have the expertise in representing all the relevant points-of-view for informed decisions to be made intelligently. Thirdly, they need to be credible regarding commanding respect from their colleagues and those in the company to enable the pronouncements of the group to attract the attention of key stakeholders in the company. Thereby, they will be taken seriously by even their colleagues at work. Lastly, the leadership should see that the group has proven the eligibility of their issues and willing to take up the wheel of change.

In this case, the change agents need to have a high amount of position power and expertise as they have a positive relationship to implementing success of Toyota's organizational change. Having power position means that their idea will not be blocked, and the HR must depend on having a facilitative management plus visible and continuous support from the top executives. The HR department has good managers who will keep the process of change management at Toyota under control, and the leaders will create the vision towards driving the change. As such, it is important to have a guiding coalition, as it will assist the change process as the employees support them. In this case, it rests upon the HR managers to convince the management of the importance of having the change initiated because it directly affects the productivity of the company and employees performance.

Step 3: Developing Vision and Strategy

Employees need to create a vision of the change they want and tell their fellow employees why the change is needed and how they intend to achieve.

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In the second step, a clear vision and strategy must be stated and or formulated for the transformation effort. The vision of the employees is to have freedom in terms to executing their duties, and the strategy to be employed is that of adopting employee considerations and well-being initiative. The vision of the employees will be able to break their status quo and hence, the employees will use their free will to look beyond their immediate organizational goals (Self & Schraeder, 2009). The employees intend to think beyond the incremental performance of the company about Toyota's goals and address the long-term issues and changes relating to competitive dynamics in the industry. The company managers and leaders are aware of the change efforts and are destined to succeed in implementing the requested change. A significant relationship exists between the perceptions of planned organizational change for Toyota. The response of the employees to the change relates to their cognitive, intentional, and emotional dimensions that reflect their long-term interest of customers, employees, shareholders and others with a stake at Toyota. The employees of Toyota realized the need to have a vision that will give them a systematic methodology that maps their processes to attaining success.

Step 4: Communicating the Vision

Here, they will preach to others by using every possible way and by maximizing the opportunities present regarding the why, what and how of the changes in question. Communication is essential if any change is to be implemented in the organization and since Toyota's employees have communicated to the HR personnel, then they have followed the rights channels of communication. Ideally, they reduced their chances of uncertainty and ambiguity, which affects the response to the change. It is reported that the employees are satisfied with free will and improved training that relates to their standard of living. The communication at Toyota gives the employees and HR managers an opportunity to share their ideas, and this gives them a positive state of mind when it concerns organizational change. Therefore, it lends support to this step because the company holds weekly meetings that have left its employees trusting and open. The discussions they have with managers give them the ability to communicate their ideas and experiences plus thoughts on the success of the company (Self & Schraeder, 2009).

Step 5: Empowering Broad-Based Action

People must be involved in the change effort, and thus, people need to think about the situation they are facing and strategies required so that the change can be realized. Moreover, they should not have negative thoughts about why they do not like the change and look for ways of stopping the change initiative. Toyota emboldens its employees to try new approaches and ideas and the obstacles that are present when it comes to change visions should be managed. Hence, the company empowers its employees to address obstacles such as skills, structures, supervisors, and systems. By empowering employees, the company is going to have a workforce that is committed to attaining or achieving the goals, vision, mission, and objectives of the company (Appelbaum et al., 2012). Motivating employees to speak their mind is a way of empowering them and by giving them the freedom to make decisions. They will be given the power to think critically about the organization.

Step 6: Generating Short-Term Wins

The changes that are working and happening should be noted, and it becomes critical to recognize the work being done by people towards achieving the change. The short-term wins are important in creating self-confidence among employees and give them the belief that bigger successes are possible. As such, momentum is built towards the attainment of long-term goals, which can be done through rewarding and celebrating these small wins. The employees and the management are happy that their efforts are on the right track because the wins are paying off. In this step, the vision is being tested against the company's real conditions and hence, adjustments can be made in the process. In this case, high expectations are set for the leader and behaviors are directed towards the fulfillment of the stated vision.

Step 7: Consolidating Gains and Enhancing Change

By building on success in the change, they will be creating change momentum and hence, will invigorate people through changes, which develop people like the change agents. The short-term wins in the above….....

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