BookTitleToyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Summary

Toyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Section 2 Promoting Internal Reforms1 Creating an Organization That Can Respond Quickly to ChangeIn the 1990s, as the management structure was strengthened and a shift to a newbusiness structure was required, the company was reorganized with the aim ofbeing able to respond quickly to change.In July 1991, Toyota Tsusho introduced the Organization Flattening and JobQualification System with the goal of vitalizing people and organizations. The aimwas a shift to a meritocracy that would enable quick decision-making and agilityas an organization. As part of efforts to flatten the organization, the previousdepartment and section system was abolished and replaced by a department andgroup system, and the deputy general manager and manager posts were abolishedand replaced by a new group leader (GL) position. In addition, organizationalintegration based on product-specific organizations, known as generalization,was introduced, as were a division structure and a general executive system. Inresponse to the fact that the position-based promotion system stopped functioningdue to organizational expansion, a separation of position and job qualification wasattempted.In June 1999, a large-scale organizational reform centered on products wasconducted. After integrating the previous 12 divisions into 7 divisions, there werethree goals: (1) Maximize synergies and streamline operations by broadeningdivisions, (2) Accelerate decision-making by promoting division management,and (3) Strengthen planning functions by strengthening and establishing planningorganizations.Revitalizing the organization was a consistent management theme for thecompany throughout the 1990s.2 Personnel System ReorganizationThe personnel system was also reorganized. Socially, the traditional Japanesemanagement system had lost its substance, and Toyota Tsusho was progressingwith a shift to a merit-based and performance-oriented personnel system thatcorresponded to changes in the industrial structure.In April 1992, occupations were revised, and what was previously called aregular position was changed to a comprehensive position and what was formerlya clerical position was changed to a regular position. In addition, the Region-OnlyCourse was introduced to enable recruitment of regional sales specialists, and newcomprehensive positions for women were added to improve female careers in asystem that allowed changing job types from regular to comprehensive.In July 1993, Toyota Tsusho revised the self-assessment system in which eachperson designed his or her own career and assessed his or her own progress. Thecompany also introduced the Challenge Rotation System, in which employeeswho have been in the same department for five years are given priority to changejobs.In April 1994, the method of determining promotions was revised fromautomatic promotion based on years of service to selective promotion. Also, inNovember of the same year, Toyota Tsusho introduced a life plan system thatprovided paid leave for one year to employees who were over 48 years of age anda second life pension system in Japan.90