Toyotism and Brahminism

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to analyse the cross-cultural reasons underlying the extreme industrial unrest experienced during the first seven years of Toyota's operations in India. Design/methodology/approach -The paper employs a case study approach using data obtained from 30 personal interviews, field notes, observations, and internet media sources. Findings -The paper reports how Toyotism shares three common features with Brahminismrenunciation, performance, and perfection -and how antipathy towards the manner in which these features were implemented in India caused significant resistance amongst the production workforce.Research limitations/implications -The paper has implications for academics and practitioners in helping to understand how employee relations, unrest and antagonism towards lean manufacturing practices are closely related to cross-cultural issues prevalent in host countries. Originality/value -The concept of Brahmanism in Indian employee relations is under-researched in comparison with other aspects of Indian culture and antipathy towards the concept as a source of resistance to the implementation of lean systems needs to be better understood.

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“…This phenomenon is evident even among top Japanese companies, such as Toyota (cf. Mathew and Jones, 2012), Honda (Saini, 2006) and Suzuki (Bose and Pratap, 2012). In manufacturing, Japanese companies lead in lean supply innovation (Kumar Singh and Modgil, 2023), but additional advancement is necessary to achieve UN SDGs.…”

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“…In implementing Toyotism, it is necessary an integral rethinking of the basic principles of the classic Taylorist-Fordist system, thus becoming difficult its implementation since it depends on a culture shift. Therefore, many companies have tried to apply it and they have failed (Coetzee et al, 2016;Mathew, Jones, 2013;Jayamaha et al, 2018).…”

“…The principles associated with the Toyota system are (a) diversified production; (b) elimination of waste; (c) autonomy; (d) workers with multiple tasks, working in production cells; (e) quality control throughout the manufacturing process; (f) labour rhythm determined by the workers; (g) small-batch structure; (h) production planning based on customer demand; (i) stock in existence; (j) reduction of hierarchy structure (Spear, Bowen, 1999;Mathew, Jones, 2013;Jayamaha et al, 2018). Some of the tools affiliated with this work organisation model are: 5S, JIT, Kanbam, DMAIC, Bottleneck Analysis, Jidoka, Kaizen, Poka-Yoke, KPI, SMED, Gemba, Heijunka, VSM, Hoshin Kenry, Andon and others.…”

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“…From the above discussion, it can be said that the application of the etic value system alone in a unique cultural environment can cause friction and animosity, as explained by Jones and Mathew (2012). Culture does play an important role in determining management culture/practices.…”

“…Jones and Mathew (2012) explain in their research of the Toyota operation in India that the imposition of Japanese values in the Toyota factory in India has been resisted, as many of the unique features of Japanese management are alien to the Indian culture and therefore Indian behaviour. A similar effect on local culture was observed by Choudhury (2000) in the case study of Honda and its joint venture with Hero Honda in India.…”