Orientation at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, USA
Let us try to understand the process of orientation better by
going step by step through the following orientation
programme being followed in “Toyota Motor Manufacturing,
USA”
Orientation (it is called “assimilation”) at Toyota Motor
Manufacturing, USA is a case in point. While it covers
traditional topics such as company benefits, it’s mostly intended
to socialize new employees, that is, to convert Toyota’s new
employees to the firm’s ideology of quality, teamwork, personal
development, open communication, and mutual respect. It
lasts four days, as follows:
Day One : The first day begins at 6:30 a.m. with an overview of
the program, a welcome to the company, and a discussion of
the firm’s organization structure and human resource department
by the firm’s vice president for human resources. The vice
president devotes about an hour and a half to discussing
Toyota history and culture, and about two hours to employee
benefits. Another two hours are then spent discussing Toyota’s
policies about the importance of quality and teamwork.
Day Two : The second day starts with about two hours
devoted to “communication training-the Toyota Motor
Manufacturing way of listening.” Here the importance of
mutual respect, teamwork, and open communication is
emphasized. The rest of the day is then devoted to general
orientation issues. These include safety, environmental affairs,
the Toyota production system, and the firm’s library.
Day Three : This day also begins with two-and-a-half to three
hours devoted to communication training, in this case “making
requests and giving feedback.” The rest of the day is spent
covering matters such as Toyota’s problem-solving methods,
quality assurance, hazard communications, and safety.
Day Four : Teamwork is stressed in the morning session.
Topics include teamwork training, Toyota’s suggestion system,
and the Toyota Team Member Activities Association. This
session also covers what work teams are responsible for and
how to work together as a team. The afternoon specifically
covers fire prevention and fire extinguishers training.
Employees thus complete the four-day orientation/assimilation/
socialization process having been steeped in-and it is
hoped converted to— Toyota’s ideology, in particular its
mission of quality and its values of teamwork, kaizen/
continuous improvement, and problem solving. That is a big
step toward winning new employees’ commitment to Toyota
and its goals and values.
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