Instructions: Read the following case study on how teamwork and its motivation help succeeding

Toyota.

Resources

MBO $($Managing Business Operations$)$

Motivation, Engagement and Flow, McClelland$$s$,$ Herzberg$$s motivation theory of hygiene,

Maslow$$ hierarch of needs, Teamwork

Toyota Teamwork and the Prius Case;

If you watch a future movie, you could witness cars that are powered by the sun, water, or even

rubbish. Those scenarios would have looked unlikely, if not outright absurd$,$ ten years ago, but the

Toyota Prius has altered the way we think about alternative vehicle power. When the Prius debuted

in $2000,$ it was heralded as the automobile of the future: a gasoline$-$electric hybrid available to the

general public. It was no simple task to design this future vehicle. Early on$,$ the Toyota Prius design

team realised it was on its own. Satoshi Ogiso, the team's principal power train engineer, says, $"$We

had to design something absolutely novel." We'd have to build it from scratch, blueprint and all the

team knew it would take countless hours and strong teamwork to create this innovative piece of

machinery.

Without the tenacity of its engineering crew, the Prius would not have existed. Toyota has been

toying with the notion of developing a car with a gasoline electric powertrain for years. However,

the concept remained a constant topic of contention. Engineers felt that this sort of vehicle would

solve the world's carbon emissions problem, but management recognised other difficulties. They

concluded that the premium pricing, which was around US$$25000,$ would not be worth it to the

ordinary customer. Toyota's executive vice president, Akihiro Wada, sided with the engineers. For

the $1995$ Toyota Motor Show, he directed the team to create a Prius concept vehicle. It was a tall

objective to attain, especially in such a short period of time. Wada's decision to listen to the engineers

instead of the executives may be unusual in most corporate settings, but it is a common practice at

Toyota. In fact, in Toyota's list of guiding principles, "foster corporate culture that enhances

individual creativity and teamwork value, while honoring mutual trust and respect between labor

and management" is listed as number five. The confidence Wada showed in his design team pro$-$

vided the motivation the team needed to have the concept model ready on time. Impressed with the

results, Toyota president Hiroshi Okuda put the Prius into production.

The original $10-$person Prius design team quickly grew to thousands. The team encountered

many problems while trying to turn a concept into a fully functional product. The battery was the

main issue. The team had to come up with a way to make a battery that was big enough to power a

car engine but not so big that it would overheat. The production of the engine became an ongoing

process of trial and error. The first prototype wouldn't even start the second only went $530$ feet $(100$

meters$)$ before puttering to a stop. However, the constant stream of failures and setbacks did not

thwart the design team's mission. After gathering vital input from all engineers involved and testing

meticulously for months, all the design kinks were worked out. In October $1997$ Toyota revealed

the Prius: a five passenger car that could get $66$ per gallon $($almost $4$ liters per $100$ kilometers$).$

The car was not an immediate success during its first few years on the market. However, after

celebrities such as Leonardo Di Caprio and Cameron Diaz purchased the Prius sales gained

tremendous momentum. "It's the hottest car we've ever had." stated Jim Press, president of Toyota

Motor North America. The Prius design team proved it could lower carbon emissions while raising

Toyota's sales. Time magazine named the crew "Heroes of the Environment" for their dedication

and creativity.

How do they solve the following problems? $($Questions$)$

$1.$ Why do you think the Toyota Prius design team was so motivated to create the car? What

needs were being fulfilled in the development and production process? Where do you think

it would fall in Herzberg's motivator$-$hygiene model of the workplace?

$2.$ Review Toyota's guiding principle above. What style of leadership does this principle

encourage?

$3.$ Since the design of the Toyota Prius was completely new to all members of the design team,

how do you think the phenomenon of groupthink affected the process? Why do you think

the Toyota Prius design team was ultimately successful?