Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Lean Managers Must be Teachers

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 3; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/19488289.2013.784222

1948-8297

Jeffrey Κ. Liker, Michael Ballé,

Technology Assessment and Management

Since Sakichi Toyoda first began developing automatic looms and improving them through relentless kaizen in the 1890s, the company he founded and its eventual spinoff, Toyota Motor Company, have been revolutionizing products and the way we think about work and organizing. While it is easy to envision lone inventors at their work benches creating breakthrough products, Toyota's model has always been that of teams focused on what seems an impossible goal experimenting with many ideas until they eventually discover their way to the goal. Kaizen is a team sport, and the team must be highly motivated and highly trained. It is the responsibility of leadership to motivate and develop the staff and team. Toyota does not leave leadership to chance; as we discuss in this article, the company is very intentional about developing leaders who acquire over time the corporate DNA and learn to live the role of Toyota leaders.