A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TEAMWORK AT TOYOTA MANUFACTURING COMPANY (TMC) AND MICROSOFT COMPANY (MSC)
1. Introduction
Modern and prudent organizations realize that the best way to achieving business goals, effectively and efficiently, is to organize work in definable units by pulling together various talents and skills. In fact, Ian Brook (2003) confirms that no one can be the best at everything, however when all of us combine our talents, we can be the best at virtually everything. Palmer, A. (2004) adds that such benefits, like improved customer service, increased staff motivation, low turnover, low absenteeism, improved and increased quality of output cannot be gained if organizations stick to traditional ways of production and management. A team, therefore, has been proved to be an ideal way of managing work process.
2. Purpose
This paper aims at examining team working in TMC and MSC by comparing them on the basis of the types of teams they use, why they use teams, degree of autonomy of their teams, how spread is the use of teams in these organizations; and possible indications of their teams successes.
3. Definition
The concept of teamwork allows multiple interpretations. Creif, M (1991) claims that in some instances, teamwork pertains to groups whose daily activities are extremely autonomous. Others suggest teamwork as weekly meetings to keep abreast of current events and problems. However, Mullins, L.J.(2006) claims that teams occur when a number of people have a common goal and recognize that their personal success is dependent on the success of others. Teamwork, therefore, can be defined as a process of having organization work done by small groups of employees while keeping the organization overall goal at heart.
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