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Toyota falls foul of caste system

Toyota falls foul of caste system Purpose– The paper aims to analyze the cross-cultural reasons underlying the extreme industrial unrest experienced during the first seven years of Toyota’s operations in India. Design/methodology/approach– It draws on information obtained from 30 personal interviews, field notes, observations and Internet media sources. Findings– It reports how Toyotism shares three common features with Brahminism – renunciation, performance and perfection – and how antipathy toward the manner in which these features were implemented in India caused significant resistance among the production workforce. Practical implications– It suggests that management seeking to implement lean manufacturing in India should concentrate on minimizing the antipathy by production workers. Social implications– It helps to show how employee relations, unrest and antagonism toward lean-manufacturing practices are closely related to cross-cultural issues prevalent in host countries. Originality/value– It considers that the concept of Brahmanism in Indian employee relations is under-researched in comparison with other aspects of Indian culture, and antipathy toward the concept as a source of resistance to the implementation of lean systems needs to be better understood. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Human Resource Management International Digest Emerald Publishing

Toyota falls foul of caste system

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
0967-0734
DOI
10.1108/HRMID-10-2014-0132
Publisher site
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Abstract

Purpose– The paper aims to analyze the cross-cultural reasons underlying the extreme industrial unrest experienced during the first seven years of Toyota’s operations in India. Design/methodology/approach– It draws on information obtained from 30 personal interviews, field notes, observations and Internet media sources. Findings– It reports how Toyotism shares three common features with Brahminism – renunciation, performance and perfection – and how antipathy toward the manner in which these features were implemented in India caused significant resistance among the production workforce. Practical implications– It suggests that management seeking to implement lean manufacturing in India should concentrate on minimizing the antipathy by production workers. Social implications– It helps to show how employee relations, unrest and antagonism toward lean-manufacturing practices are closely related to cross-cultural issues prevalent in host countries. Originality/value– It considers that the concept of Brahmanism in Indian employee relations is under-researched in comparison with other aspects of Indian culture, and antipathy toward the concept as a source of resistance to the implementation of lean systems needs to be better understood.

Journal

Human Resource Management International Digest – Emerald Publishing

Published: Oct 13, 2014

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