To Prof. Metildah Management

In any given scenario the norm is that changes are scary. The workplace is not an exception, in fact they can be even scarier and met with a lot of resistance. But the truth of the matter is they are a necessity in today market place in order to business relevant. Soon skills like knowing how and when to do changes will be a requirement in many positions. Right now the employees that are experiences big changes in their companies should see this as an opportunity to learn and adapt to this new normal state of constantly evolving. Those who take advantage of this now are the ones that will still be around in the future of the organizations. In this paper we will discuss the organizational changes Toyota of Puerto Rico is suffering right now and how the employees are adapting to these.

Toyota’s Overview

Toyota’s vision is “Be the most successful and admired organization in Puerto Rico”. To reach our vision we must sustain continuous innovation in are process and vehicles. Our primary goal is to fulfill customer needs and expectations and maintain a lifetime relation with them. Toyota incorporate and sustain in their culture and associates the Corporate Philosophy “Toyota Way”. This philosophy consist in two primary principles; respect for people and continuous improvement. All Toyota team members, at every level, are expected to apply these values in their daily work and relations with others (Liker & Convis, 2011).

According to the Toyota Way 2011 Philosophy, as part of the continuous improvement principle they encourage us to follow these steps:

· Challenge: To maintain a long-term vision and meet all challenges with the courage and creativity needed to realize that vision.

· Kaizen: Continuous improvement. As no process can ever be declared perfect, there is always room for improvement.

· Genchi Genbutsu: Going to the source to find the facts to make correct decisions, build consensus and achieve goals.

· As part of the respect for people principle they encourage us to follow this step;

· Respect: Toyota respects others, makes every effort to understand others, accepts responsibility and does its best to build mutual trust.

· Teamwork: Toyota stimulates personal and professional growth, shares opportunities for development and maximizes individual and team performance.

Understand the vision and the principles of the culture of our organization helps us to align our work with the organizational goals and success. It is very important to achieving success that the organization makes it feels the employee as an integral part of the process. Each employee adds value to the company and is what sets us apart and helps us to become a leading organization.

We are managing the changing process of integration to our parent company. This is a very important change because all of our actual processes are manual. That implies that with the new systems every processes will change and evolve. The integration project will impact directly every department with the automation of the systems. Because of our vision and culture we embrace the change and see it as a new opportunity. Obviously is challenging and we are going to need trainings and support for the new systems and also creates new SOP’s (Standards Operational Procedures), but it will simplify in a long-term all our actual processes.

Our culture is one of continuous improvement and we already incorporated this principle in our daily work. The Organization promotes employees to provide ideas Kaizen of continuous improvement and these are awarded and are integrated into the daily work processes. This exercise encourages employees to be open to change and feel owners of this changes. Toyota stimulates and encourages employees to grow and gives them the opportunity to learn and develop constantly.

The organization provides an environment of stability and clear and effective communication, and this means that employees do not have fear or uncertainty which facilitates the process of change. Another thing that also helps us to be open to change is that the organization provides a rotation program allowing employees to change of position and department periodically. This allows us to know and understand the operations of the various departments that make up Toyota.

Toyota also encourage their employees to do not stay in the comfort zone. Even if you are not having any problem in your daily work take time to evaluate what you are doing and if it’s effective to the organization. This exercise is helpful to minimize “MUDA” is a Japanese word meaning "futility; uselessness; idleness; superfluity; waste; wastage; wastefulness". For example, if I generate a weekly report that consume time then I ask to myself; it adds value to my work, it is effective for the company, it complies with a specific purpose, etc.

In case I am having a problem with my work or one of my daily processes a use the TBP (The Toyota Business Practice) and proceed to;

· Clarify the problem: Make ambiguous problem clear.

· Break down the problem: To break down the problem a look at the process to find the point of occurrence through “Genchi Genbutsu” gathering qualitative and quantitative facts.

· Set a target: With enthusiasm and commitment, set challenging but realistic output measurement guidelines.

· Analyze the root cause: In order to clarify the root cause, thoroughly investigate the process involved.

· Develop countermeasures: Broadly considering all stakeholders and risks involved, develop countermeasures with the highest added-value.

· See countermeasures through: Coordinated and speedy implementation.

· Evaluate both results and processes: Evaluate both results and processes and learn from both success and failure.

· Standardize successful processes: Establish successful processes as precedent, and continue to raise the standard level of success.

As a former employee of Toyota de PR Cop. and also certified in Toyota Way by Toyota University I have in my DNA the continuous improvement principle and always looking forward for new opportunities and challenges. I can say that all my coworkers feel the same way because it is in our culture and we practice this principle in a daily basis. For all the reason mention above it is easier for our culture to embrace the change.

Conclusion

Learning to embrace these changes and new procedures companies all over the world are experience we ensure our career and personal growth. By applying these new knowledge acquire in class and by making research we can honestly say we will prepare to receive change at our workplace and analyze it before jumping to conclusions or simply fall into denial. We will be ready to study the changes and make an informed decision as to support these changes or simply recommend a second look to them.

References

Liker, J., & Convis, G. L. (2011). The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership: Achieving and Sustaining Excellence through Leadership Development . : McGraw Hill Professional.

Liker, J., & Franz, J. K. (2011). The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement: Linking

Strategy and Operational Excellence to Achieve Superior Performance . : McGraw Hill Professional.

Rother, M. (2009). Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results . : McGraw Hill Professional.