Why should we learn from Toyota?

Recently, a large number of negative events have cast a thick haze on Toyota, and it seems that the aura on Toyota's head has gradually faded. However, just as the world is not simply "black and white", when we look at an enterprise, especially an enterprise that has made outstanding achievements, we should not adopt the perspective of dichotomy, because its temporary mistakes and setbacks will completely deny it. In fact, many excellent traditions and core concepts of Toyota are quite enlightening to China enterprises at this stage. After decades of exploration and collision, the management mode of enterprises in China is undergoing a new round of sublimation, returning to the theme explored by pioneers a hundred years ago: how to combine the advanced western civilization with the concrete practice in China? At this point, Toyota is a model. In terms of product production and management technology, it is very westernized, but its product culture and management are completely rooted in Japanese culture, which is very important for China enterprises. For Toyota's unique creative effort and power system, we need to understand it from the cultural roots and the deep pursuit of several generations of entrepreneurs-Toyota model is not only an efficiency phenomenon, but also a cultural phenomenon. All this is really worth pondering for China's manufacturing industry, which is in a resource-intensive development mode and is exploring the road of sustainable development. Some mistakes made by Toyota, to a great extent, also stem from its failure to adhere to the low-key, steady and continuous improvement enterprise spirit, failed to maintain the essence of the enterprise, and lost its way under the over-inflated ambition, which just brought us a profound warning. In this interview, Dr. Jiang Ruxiang, a famous strategic consultant who has been paying attention to Toyota's research, has made a detailed and in-depth exposition on Toyota's spirit and culture, the way of "human resources" and on-site management. Based on the current situation and problems in China, he raised the manufacturing industry to the ideological level and advocated "China Creation" based on mainstream cultural values, which I believe will bring profound thinking and enlightenment to readers. The mantle of Toyota spirit Hao Asia: Where is the philosophical root of Toyota spirit? Judging from the details of the Toyota way you introduced, it seems that it also originated from the "cross-cutting method" mentioned by kazuo inamori. This idea of "management", which originated in the Edo period in Japan, still has a deep influence on Japanese entrepreneurs today. For example, Toyota's emphasis on "not wasting" is like an extension of "frugality" in Shimen Heart Sutra. Jiang Ruxiang: First of all, from a macro perspective, most Japanese companies, including Toyota, have a philosophy of geo-existence. Because Japan is an island country with limited resources and the highest population density in the world, coupled with frequent natural disasters such as earthquakes, it has formed a sense of crisis and frugality in Japanese national culture. Secondly, from the cultural tradition, Japanese culture is deeply influenced by East Asian culture, especially China Confucian culture. China's philosophy with Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism as the main body is essentially a philosophy of farming culture, emphasizing thrift and putting an end to waste. Known as the "father of Toyota's revival", the third general manager of Toyota called the Toyota spirit "peasant spirit" and asked Toyota people to carry forward the simple, diligent, earnest, fearless and studious peasant spirit. Moreover, when it comes to Japanese corporate culture, we can't help but talk about the spirit of Bushido. Especially in the middle and late Edo period, the "Mind Learning System" initiated by Meiyan Ishida and Songde Ergong integrated the Bushido spirit with the "Conscience System" and answered the question of "moral value" behind business. Modern Japanese entrepreneurs, from the Analects of Confucius and abacus written by Shibusawa Eiichi, the father of Japanese economy, to the "window philosophy" written by Akio Toyoda, the founder of Toyota Company, to the running water philosophy of Kōnosuke Matsushita and the business philosophy of advocating conscience of kazuo inamori, have all inherited this moral and caring way of doing things. Hao Asia: What is the significance of Toyota spirit to western management thought? What is the significance for the current managers in China? Jiang Ruxiang: From a global perspective, the mainstream management mode refers to the management systems of American and European enterprises, which are basically western. This system has two characteristics: first, it emphasizes the rule of law, and everyone is organized through rules, systems and processes. The second is to encourage individual competition, and the pursuit of individual interests and achievements is the driving force for enterprise development. The biggest breakthrough of Toyota spirit to western management mode is here. In Toyota, the power unit of the enterprise is not the individual achievement, but the praise and recognition of the team and the evaluation from the family and neighbors. Specifically, Toyota's management model has three breakthroughs compared with western management: First, the way of employing people. Toyota management system is a system that fully empowers employees, not an elite management system. This system emphasizes that when problems arise, the main force to solve them should be every employee, rather than relying mainly on managers or technical experts like the American management system. Second, performance management. It emphasizes performance evaluation rather than performance appraisal. Under Toyota's management system, the income gap between employees is not huge, and the focus of performance management is evaluation to help employees grow. Third, the way to solve the problem. When it comes to solving problems, mechanism is more important than responsibility, and process and method are more important than results. This is a breakthrough for American professional elites to emphasize responsibility and results. It is in this sense that we study the value of Toyota more deeply: First, we study the background of Toyota-the enterprise reform in China for more than 30 years. The management mode has entered a dilemma, and it can only learn from the fur of the American professional elite management system, so it has to go to the traditional "root-seeking" one after another, which indicates that the management mode of enterprises in China is undergoing a new round of sublimation and returning to the theme explored by pioneers a hundred years ago: how to combine advanced western civilization with the concrete practice in China. At this point, Toyota is undoubtedly a model. In terms of product production and management technology, Toyota is undoubtedly very westernized, but its product culture and management are completely rooted in Japanese culture. For example, Toyota's pursuit of "eliminating waste" is almost extreme, and the source is obviously Japan's natural living environment and the corresponding culture lacking resources. Obviously, Toyota's experience is too important for China enterprises. Second, the purpose of learning from Toyota-With the vigorous development of China's economy, the management model should also be established. Any economic power in the world is strong not only in products or brands, but also in the management mode behind it. The United States is the world's largest economic power, and American companies have exported most of their management models to the world. Japan is the second largest economy in the world, and Japanese companies led by Toyota have also exported the "lean management" model to the world. What about China? The orange gives birth to Huaibei: Our dilemma and direction Hao Asia: I suddenly thought of a word: "fear". The so-called Protestant ethics or Shimen psychology all emphasize that kinetic energy comes from "duty", which is actually a kind of fear. I think people should be a little scared, so that things will have a bottom line. What I want to ask you is that entrepreneurs in China often have moral problems. Is it because they are not afraid of anything? Jiang Ruxiang: Yes, "man can conquer nature" and "master his own destiny". These words of reform and opening up for more than 30 years are fatal to the development of the entire business community in China, and the entire enterprise in China has been hurt. Because this makes us Machiavellian, the business class and corporate culture are used by me in a useful level, which seems to be the biggest mistake and broad-minded; And once you succeed, you turn your face and become a snob. This is the problem. China has no religion and is an imperial society. Although China's imperial power was brutal, the game between the people and the imperial power formed a strange balance, that is, "there are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom". The biggest problem brought by this kind of thinking is that we have no sense of awe, because we can find countermeasures for any policy. All rules and constraints are temporary, and a rule (including creating value for customers) has never been regarded as a kind of justice or axiom. When there is no justice, all principles are relative. Therefore, China culture is full of pragmatism. Of course, this is not the fault of China culture itself. In fact, there are awesome genes in China culture. For example, the fundamental truth of the Book of Changes is that all changes originate from "the principle of nature". Confucius' words of correcting the name, interpersonal ethics, the way of monarch and minister, and the way of father and son are all awe of justice. Therefore, Confucius said that once Heaven gave us a rule, for example, according to the rule, a scholar-bureaucrat can only have a band of 1000 people, and you get1000 people, which means that it violates Heaven. Confucius said, "I can bear it!" In fact, from today's perspective, what is the difference in principle between a band with 1000 people and a band with1000 people? But why did Confucius get angry? This shows that it is not a question of how many people there are in a band, but a question of awe of a rule. When we have awe, we won't be so arrogant as to break the rules. "Man can conquer nature" and "master one's own destiny" are very important to the development of the whole business community in China. Because this makes us Machiavellian, I use it in a useful level and look broad-minded; And once you succeed, you turn your face and become a snob. How many such entrepreneurs are there in China? And when nothing is "afraid", doesn't that mean the day when "heaven will make it die and heaven will make it crazy"? Hao Asia: You talked about the unique connotation of oriental philosophy in Toyota spirit. For example, emphasize face and affection. Why do these things often become a stumbling block to enterprise management in China, but they have another effect in Japan? Jiang Ruxiang: Face culture and family motivation are a feature of East Asian culture. Generally speaking, these characteristics conflict with the law and performance-oriented business culture. But why have these characteristics become positive for Toyota? It is because Toyota has established a power system that is completely different from the western management model. It is often heard in Toyota that if there is a quality problem with the product, it is a shame, and this is face. Toyota's motivation to improve the system is largely related to this face culture. Here, Toyota has established an incentive system based on interpersonal relationship and team, so "face", "family" and even "circle", "relationship" and "etiquette" have all been positively motivated, and work ethics and interpersonal ethics are integrated into one. The situation of enterprises in China is different. First of all, over the years, the organizational culture of Chinese enterprises has not really formed a "collective culture" based on traditional ethics, but a pragmatic culture of "being useful is a friend, being useless is a stranger". Second, our management incentive system is a dynamic system with "more work and more pay" as the core. Third, the so-called "public" and "private" were not clearly distinguished from the boss at first. At this time, "family culture" and "face culture" will move towards negative directions such as "cronyism" and "acquaintance society". Hao Asia: The origin of Toyota's "human and financial resources are empty" lies in Japan's national conditions at that time, and its resources were scarce. Entrepreneurs in China grew up in a similar environment, and China was in chaos after the Cultural Revolution. But why didn't the way of "people and money are empty" come into being, but did the opposite? Jiang Ruxiang: Actually, the first wave of enterprise development in China started with policy profit, and a large number of enterprises made money through "reform" rather than competitiveness. Since the late 1990s, China has entered the era of market economy in an all-round way, and the competition among enterprises has only begun to reach a new stage. However, at that time, compared with the early Japanese enterprises, China enterprises faced a completely different market environment, that is, China's huge domestic market and international market demand for OEM. When pent-up demand erupts in a short time, entrepreneurs can make profits through the simplest reproduction, or use costs, especially labor costs. Japan has also experienced the era of "world factory", but its original intention and operation mode are quite different from ours. On the one hand, Japan's traditional morality and interpersonal relationship have not been destroyed, but we have experienced the process of moral disintegration such as the Cultural Revolution. On the other hand, during the growth of Japanese enterprises, the first-generation pioneers like Akio Toyoda regarded talents as the foundation of enterprise competition from the beginning, while the first-generation entrepreneurs in China were mostly market politicians who played a game between planning and market. Therefore, in recent years, there have been many calls for changing the mode of economic development, but the competitive advantage of China enterprises is still mainly reflected in the "low labor cost competition based on resources", which is unsustainable. Therefore, in the future, enterprises in China will definitely move towards the road of "people are rich". In fact, companies like Huawei have set an example. Toyota's Creative Kung Fu VS Western Management Thought Hao Asia: What is the essential difference between Toyota's creative Kung Fu and the "rationalization proposal" in western management? Can you give me an example? Jiang Ruxiang: The rationalization proposal was first put forward by Ford. After visiting Ford, the founder of Toyota thought it was very good, so he borrowed it, but there are essential differences between the two ways. The biggest starting point of western rationalization proposals is based on employees' personal sense of accomplishment, and employees' motivation can be solved through their participation. This makes employees feel that they have participated in the management of this company and gained benefits and personal value from it. The logical basis of Toyota's kung fu creation is not like this. First of all, because Japan is an island country, there are frequent crises, but in the long run, it is these crises that make this nation strong. Especially when Japan surpassed neighboring countries such as China and India in modern times and became a first-class power in Asia and even the world, a group of the best entrepreneurs in Japan reached a consensus that the crisis had created them. As Akio Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, said: The problem is a window. We opened the window and saw a new world. This is the starting point of Toyota-style creative kung fu. The origin of Toyota's creative kung fu lies in the affirmation of problems first, and then the process of solving problems is regarded as a means of team cohesion, not an affirmation of individual self-realization. So they often do it in a team way, such as QC team, improvement team, etc. Emphasize that employees and teams are the masters of solving problems. For example. One of Toyota's most important modes of production is "pulling wires". Employees are on the production line, and whoever finds problems will pull the cord. As long as you pull the wire, the whole production line will stop, which is unimaginable in Europe and America-how much loss the whole production line will cause! But Toyota thinks this means that everyone has another good opportunity to find problems, and individual behavior has been transformed into team behavior. This Japanese creative kung fu system is very different from the management system in Europe and America. Hao Asia: There is an old book called Lean Thinking, written by James. Womach and Daniel. Jones. I wonder if this management concept originated from Toyota was first summed up by westerners. You once said that western management practices can't grasp the essence of Toyota's way. Besides, the concept of "value stream" you put forward is another expression of "avoiding waste"? Jiang Ruxiang: The summary of Toyota in the whole western world is based on the level of efficiency, that is, how Toyota people can produce the best products in the world at the lowest cost. Even the study of Toyota's organization and culture can not get rid of the western paradigm, that is, these organizations and cultures are subject to efficiency arrangements. Western management scholars define the Toyota model as "lean production", and the earliest summary in Toyota's book is "machine (car) that changes the world", which is a typical performance. Therefore, a large number of books about Toyota look at how Toyota can improve efficiency and achieve "lean production" from the perspective of consumers, value streams, processes and even organizational culture. However, I believe that the initial appearance of Toyota model is not entirely an efficiency phenomenon, but more a cultural phenomenon, and it is a way for the oriental nation represented by Japan to pursue how to build a powerful enterprise organization. If we look at Toyota's lean production from the organizational point of view, we will find that it exists widely in Japanese government, schools, families and even streets. This living observation is the closest to the core of the Toyota model. Where did this come from? At least push it to the root of culture, which must include understanding the historical process of Japanese learning and inheriting Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in China and learning the West from the perspective of Confucian culture in China. Only in this way can we understand the reasons why outstanding entrepreneurs such as Akio Toyoda, Ichiro Toyoda, Hideyoshi Toyoda and Taiichi Ono did this. In this sense, the essence of Toyota management, if not understood from the cultural roots and the pursuit of several generations of entrepreneurs, will only be regarded as a representation. That's why I think western works are very helpful to understand the structure and mechanism of Toyota model, but they don't touch the essence of Toyota model. The concept of value stream is the same as that of avoiding waste. Value flow is from the perspective of supply chain, but eliminating waste contains more meaning than value flow-eliminating waste contains moral meaning, while value flow is only instrumental meaning. Hao Asia: You have a book called "If there is a problem, solve it on the spot". Can you explain the concept of "site"? This seems to be a management concept beyond the physical category. Jiang Ruxiang: In Japan, the concept of "scene" is an object on the spot, which is a very strange word with two meanings: first, the scene is an organization, and the Japanese organizational power source [9.68 8.76%] is from top to bottom, and the team works hard, so the scene is very important. Because only the scene can make middle and senior managers and employees integrate, and also can make employees feel that "the scene is mine." In Japan's management system, executives, middle managers and employees are not clearly divided into "ours" and "theirs". But in western management, this distinction is very clear, and people at the grass-roots level and at the top do their own things. At the scene in Japan, you can see the chairman come to the workshop in person, which has become a part of the system. So in this sense, Japan's original objects are organized, which is also the entrance of powerful organizations. Second, the site is a way to improve efficiency and the whole operation. Because the Japanese way to improve efficiency and eliminate waste is based on the fact that employees are the masters of solving problems, the scene is very important. Therefore, most of the training classrooms of Japanese companies are built in workshops, which are called on-site learning, and the progress of many employees is solved through on-site learning. Therefore, the on-site solution of Toyota model, more importantly, has risen to the significance of a management model, including improvement. In other words, in Japanese workshops, workers will collectively draw the value stream or the whole logistics and ask if there is any waste in it. Is there a problem? If there are problems, they will pull relationships, and there are various improvement teams. Therefore, the on-site object should be the core of the whole Toyota model. It is not only a way to solve problems, but also a way to improve efficiency, let organizations evolve and gain cohesion. Foxconn Phenomenon and Made in China: Japanese management philosophy seems to emphasize the role of informal organizations. Is this a common phenomenon of oriental management? Are all enterprises in Taiwan Province Province like this? Jiang Ruxiang: It should be said that almost all oriental management has to face a basic problem, that is, the role of informal organizations. In Japanese-style management, the role of informal organizations is very powerful, especially Toyota's proud improvement system, which is basically a model that uses the interpersonal relationship between informal organizations to stimulate employees to participate in company management. The reason for the deterioration of general informal organizations is that some people "hitchhike" for profit through interpersonal relationships and "acquaintance groups". For example, in the past, in state-owned enterprises, interpersonal relationships became an important part of people's work because they could help people hitchhike. Theoretically speaking, if we have a mechanism to curb this, in fact, informal organizations have made great contributions to an organization. At that time, X theory, which emphasized humanized management, was an affirmation of the role of informal organizations. Japanese companies have a strong restraint mechanism for hitchhiking. As a defeated country, Japan has a strong sense of humiliation. More importantly, collectivism in Japanese traditional culture, or bushido spirit, as well as field work and teamwork units in management, make people's motivation in informal organizations positive, and corporate ethics is largely personal ethics. However, there are some problems with this mechanism in Chinese mainland, especially in Taiwan Province Province, China, because there is no fault in the latter, while in Chinese mainland, the management cost of enterprises is very high because of cultural fault, which is why quite a few entrepreneurs advocate militarized management or "quasi-pyramid selling personal deification", because militarization or personality worship can help reduce the phenomenon of hitchhiking in informal organizations. Hao Asia: What do you think of the Foxconn phenomenon in combination with the previous questions? On the one hand, Guo Taiming is the leader of manufacturing industry, on the other hand, the "people" of this enterprise are less and less like "people". Jiang Ruxiang: The Foxconn phenomenon should be an extreme case of China's manufacturing industry, or an extreme manifestation of the "Made in China" model in the past 30 years of reform and opening up. First of all, Foxconn is a resource-intensive development model. Through large-scale mechanization, it will achieve the ultimate mechanized production and make world-class products, showing the highest level of China OEM enterprises; But on the other hand, it completely treats employees as machines. In Foxconn, employees' wages and benefits are not low, but this standard is structural, not proactive, just as Foxconn's machines are higher than most manufacturing enterprises in Chinese mainland. Therefore, Guo Taiming regards himself as a "machine emperor" and bases his hegemony on machines and production. So I call Foxconn's development path "moving mode": from Taiwan Province province in China to the mainland, from the mainland coast to the inland, and then I want to move from China to Vietnam or other places. In short, where there is cheap labor, the emperor can go there for expedition and settlement. But putting all the responsibility on Foxconn simplifies the cultural significance behind the Foxconn incident. Behind Foxconn's suicide is China's deprivation or predatory development of migrant workers during its development for so many years. From the perspective of development, we should thank this era; From the perspective of plunder, we should curse the annihilation of a considerable number of entrepreneurs' conscience. Of course, the greater background of this annihilation is the social moral decay and the supremacy of money. Perhaps the ultimate goal of this curse is each of us. For example, we can ask ourselves, in front of the lives of more than a dozen brothers and sisters of Foxconn, how much responsibility do we have for their deaths? I think, at least I feel it is impossible to be a bystander. Hao Asia: You corrected the concept of "manufacturing". Perhaps the enterprises in China are so entangled with these two words that it is difficult for us to understand what you said: "Manufacturing is also an idea". What do you think is the ideological connotation of "manufacturing"? Cultural fault makes the management cost of enterprises high, which is also the reason why quite a few entrepreneurs advocate militarized management or "quasi-pyramid selling personal deification", because militarization or personality worship can help reduce the phenomenon of hitchhiking in informal organizations. What is the practical significance of understanding these for China enterprises seeking transformation at present? Jiang Ruxiang: When talking about the concept of "manufacturing", it is very important to be clear-what is the purpose of manufacturing? From the perspective of Japanese companies like Toyota, the purpose of manufacturing is to provide more and more cutting-edge products while saving resources as much as possible. Panasonic's tap water philosophy, Toyota's lean production, Sony's quality products, etc. , all answered where is the purpose of manufacturing. Then why don't many companies treat manufacturing like Toyota, Panasonic and Sony? The answer is obviously not on the technical level, but on the moral level of people themselves. Because people's conscience and motivation have not been stimulated, we have used so many resources and made so many mistakes, which makes the price of products very high, but the quality is very poor. In other words, the so-called manufacturing is actually a moral activity: first, the starting point is wrong, and the product is broken because it is not done seriously; Secondly, many entrepreneurs don't give full play to their wisdom, which virtually takes up a lot of resources and does a lot of useless work. In the end, it turned into cost and was bought by consumers, which was unacceptable to the conscience advocated by mainstream Japanese culture. From the purpose of manufacturing, let's take a look at American manufacturing. By combining it with the American dream, we can understand "Made in America": the purpose is to promote the glory of God; If not from a religious point of view, it is to promote people's personality, dignity, creativity and dreams. If this is the purpose of manufacturing, American manufacturing will definitely lead to creation, because demand injects human dignity and creativity into the connotation of products, so that products can be accepted by mainstream American culture. Why Apple is loved by so many people is not entirely at the product level. This kind of love definitely contains the values of mainstream American culture. What is it made in China? In China, "manufacturing" is a word that deviates from the purpose and mission of the enterprise from the beginning. It is defined as how to make a product to make money-how to occupy resources, enlarge the scale, reduce labor costs as much as possible, and do a good job in product quality, so that you can make money. This is made in China. So we don't like the word "made". We should use another word instead, that is, China created it.