International Business Paper

Arious Salley

Leading People- 6510

November 8, 2011

Watercooler Discussion

Name:  Arious Salley

Date: November 8, 2011

APA Citation of the source:

Guyette, W. & Piotrowski, C. (2010). Toyota Recall Crisis: Public Attitudes on Leadership and

Ethics. Organization Development Journal. 28(2), 89-97. Retrieved from Business Source Complete Database

Synopsis:

This article discusses Toyota’s Recall Crisis and how leadership issues, brand loyalty, and ethics all played a role in this ordeal. Over the past 30 years Toyota Motor Corp has been one of the leading entities in the automotive industry; in fact, Toyota not only was the envy of the automotive industry but also held a high esteem as a symbol of manufacturing and leadership excellence (Guyette & Piotrowsk, 2010). Unfortunately, the year 2007 brought about a series of car model recalls that escalated into a crisis, leading to a number of their top selling cars being flagged with defects.

Furthermore, the article discusses the impact made on Toyota’s corporate brand reputation, by the media. More specifically, how brand loyalty was a benefactor in preventing the Toyota Motor Corp from losing their existing customers. In general, the author focuses on three components in Toyota’s evolving crisis: the company having leadership issues, brand loyalty, and ethics violations. He then comprises solutions to these problems and outlines approaches Toyota could have taken to prevent a known internal problem, from becoming a public issue.

Analysis: 

The article relates to the course in the means that it covers what happens when a leader has not developed himself into a well versed manager. One of the most important assets of a good manager is their ability to think critically and strategically. Critical thinking is the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a view of improving it (Elder & Paul, 2009). Toyota showed their inability to do this when they ignored the warning signs of them...