Article Abstract
I was employed by Toyota Motor Corporation in 1945. When I think back to those days, it feels as if we are now living in a completely different world with all the advancements that have been made. Likewise, when I think about ten or twenty years from now, the changes that will occur are beyond imagination. People call me the founder of the Toyota Production System. When we were in the initial stages of designing and implementing this method in production, and going through its trials and errors, we had the full support of the company president, Eiji Toyota. In the spring of 1982, I was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class, and they called me the father of the Toyota system.
Appreciation for Employees’ Efforts and the Rational Principles of the Toyota Production System
I must admit that the factory floor employees, with their tireless efforts and without any complaints, endured all the work pressures, bit their tongues, and spared no effort. They are the ones who should be praised. The Toyota Production System is based on three principles rooted in common sense: Produce only what is needed, produce only the right quantity, and produce only at the right time.
“Taiichi Ohno”
Strategies for Success in Implementing Managerial Changes in Gemba
A wise person always improves their path, corrects their way of thinking, and constantly makes it better. I have been asked to present my mindset on Gemba management. I don’t think Gemba changes easily. If it did, managing it would be simple and easy, but Gemba doesn’t have that characteristic. The things that are effective in creating change in Gemba are that the employees in Gemba understand the desired change, meaning they gain a precise and complete understanding of it. Another thing is that employees need to agree with the change. These are things we expect from the people of Gemba, but managers and officials need to convince the people of Gemba to make the desired change.
Strong Foundations to Gain Consent and Increase Persuasive Power in Change Management
To provide the necessary explanations about a change to gain the consent of the people of Gemba, you must have an acceptable foundation for proposing the desired change. When I bring up a topic, I am often asked how to increase one’s power of persuasion. When you are in a position where you can give orders, you can only frame the matter as a request from a higher authority or issue an order if you are confident that what you are issuing will be carried out. However, ideas are usually uncertain things and do not always come to fruition. I find it surprising to be able to make the right decision in even half of the prophecies and appropriate methods presented. There is a saying in our language that goes: “Even a thief makes the right choice in three out of ten decisions.”
Correcting the Way of Thinking: Accepting Mistakes and the Role of Wisdom in Decision-Making
If it’s true that a wrongdoer makes the right choice in 30 percent of their decisions, then a sound mind can be expected to act correctly in half of their choices and not know the right path in the other half. When I was in high school, I studied the works of Chinese thinkers. In these classes, we learned the teachings from the selections of Confucius. This thinker says: A wise person always corrects their way of thinking, and a wise person should not doubt themselves in correcting their way of thinking. Let’s note that this saying comes from a wise person. I am sure that such a wise person is correct in more than half of their choices, and this same person can be wrong in 30 to 40 percent of their choices.
Accepting Mistakes and Correcting the Path: Lessons from Wisdom and Prudence
From Confucius’s words, I have understood that even a prudent person cannot choose the right path in all ten of their choices and may also select wrong paths. What is important is that when a person with wisdom realizes their path is not right, they correct their path and have no doubt about admitting their mistake. A misguided and unwise person may have acted correctly in three out of ten of their choices. An average person normally makes the right decision five out of ten times, and a prudent person makes the right decision in seven out of ten of their choices. Therefore, we must know that a prudent person chooses the wrong path three out of ten times. This is a requirement: no matter who we are, when we realize we have chosen the wrong path, we must admit our mistake and change course.
Admitting Mistakes and Correcting the Path Quickly: The Wisdom of Confucius in Decision-Making
Confucius says it is not right to insist on continuing on the wrong path and be afraid that if we admit our mistake, it will lead to us being belittled by others. There is another saying that goes: “Morning decisions change in the afternoon.” This saying suggests that one should not change a decision quickly, but if we pay attention to Confucius’s teachings, we realize that the time it takes to change course is not important, but rather the nature of the decision which we have realized is wrong. In any case, these explanations do not mean that everyone has the right to issue vague orders about whose correctness they are not confident and then change the order in the afternoon without closely evaluating its results. What is important is that if the result of a study and investigation makes it clear to you that the intended goal will not be achieved, or that conditions have changed in a way that the chosen method will not be successful, you should not even wait until the afternoon and must change the morning decision by noon at the latest.
The Power of Admitting Mistakes: The Key to Effective Management and Gaining Trust in Gemba
Some officials in companies, despite realizing that an order they have issued is wrong, are reluctant to admit they were wrong and insist on implementing the specified method. The behavior Confucius proposes is that if you are certain that an order you have issued is wrong, you must explicitly admit your mistake. It should be noted that if such behavior does not come from higher officials in Gemba, the employees in Gemba will not work for them. If we accept the reality that anyone, in any position, can make a mistake, we must have the courage to admit our mistakes, even in front of our subordinates.
Honesty in Management: The Key to Gaining Trust and Increasing Persuasive Power
If you show such courage and honesty, your power to persuade others will increase. If you act in a intimidating manner, or you don’t know why you are not successful and you stubbornly continue on a path that you yourself know is not right, you will not find out what is really wrong. The result will be that in the long run, others will refuse to inwardly accept your orders. With more time passing and no proper action, it becomes harder to change course, and subordinates will not follow orders.
Humility in Management: A Path to Trust and Real Influence
We are all human and naturally make mistakes in half of our choices. Based on this very hypothesis, half of our subordinates’ decisions are not correct. If the acceptance of mistakes has not started from officials and superiors, then subordinates will turn away from implementing orders. In short, it should be noted that humility and modesty are definite qualities for creating and increasing your power to persuade others.
Book Recommendation for Transformation in Management and Behavior
Given that the book in question has 37 short chapters, interested readers can learn a new lesson from Ohno in less than ten minutes. It is said that almost all Japanese industrialists and many others in Western countries have read this book and benefited from it. It is hoped that this book can be effective for those interested in understanding management methods and creating intellectual and behavioral transformation.
This article was translated by Behzad Kadkhodazadeh from a book titled: Taiichi Ohno, Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management, JUSE
