Executive summary
Strategic management is an important facet of any given organization. The strategy in most cases normally has enduring allegations. In most scenarios, the line of attack is bequeathed to a strategic business (SBU) where the inventiveness are clustered into portfolios of schemes and ventures. The proposals and projects are inclusively imperative in the execution of the methodology. Individuals answerable on deliberate terms as well as emergent techniques act as conduits that exemplify the integrations of schemes or formats to the corporate tactic. The approach is prescribed and premeditated, this includes the capital expenditure project.
While embryonic, strategic leadership is dyed-in-the-wool and unceremonious, making newfangled requirements control and mold the premeditated line of attack. Superior managerial association with the administration system is imperative to the accomplishment of an approach. Leading administration ought to make certain that the operational corporate comprehends the position of program administration embedded on the commerce administrative replica. Better-quality management in most cases, often function as promoters of deliberate schemes and must listen to the feedback present from the scheme administrators for adequate reserves required to deliver in reality.
The instigators designate that reserve administration is an imperative variable in moving from business line of attack to project accomplishment. In the course of this study, the authors clearly depict the context of portfolios, schemes as well as projects with following extraction. The mainstream of tasks takes consign as part of a portfolio of numerous tasks or schemes. Project portfolio administration is the art and knowledge of applying a set of information, skills, artifacts, techniques, and apparatus to a compilation of projects or schemes to assemble or exceed the needs as well as the anticipations of a corporate investment technique.
Managerial is an integral aspect in leadership; it guarantees that the approach is not restricted in a bubble at the apex of the corporate. In this case, management is anticipated to comprehend which channels for strategic execution are readily accessible (Bryman, A., et al. 1996) and the modalities that should be sophisticated for prospect inventiveness. Successively, to move the corporate line of attack to the assortment, proposal, and scheme echelons, administrators must align the business strategy with the project strategy, an augmented scaffold for implementing the strategy in point of fact. In this paper, we’re considering the strategic management as employed by Toyota Japan. Toyota is the leading automobile company globally followed by General Motors. The company’s proficient functionality has been anchored on its strategic administration that is powered by a resounding leadership as will be outlined beneath.
Introduction
Strategic management is the course in which an organization adopts to attain its long term goals. It’s very essential in the efficiency of an organization. It involves resource use competitiveness and available facilities so that the organization satisfies the demand of its clients. Project strategy is more than a plan but a process that requires committed leadership that can develop the organization’s vision, mission and objectives to meet the desires and the needs of the clients.Therefore, it is necessary for leadership and strategic management to improve performance of projects.
For this to be viable organizations have to come up with modules of managerial skills. Leadership is significant in the performance of organizations in the achievement of its project objectives and goals. It also helps project participants to identify leadership skills and ways of improving on them. Leadership in project strategy assists in team building that centers on changing individual employees into groups by identifying objectives, managing resources in spite of problems or pressure. Leadership also builds partnership in project management through the SWOT analysis. That focuses on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that each partner brings in. Committed leaders assist to set scales that help to change and improve performance of organizations by bringing together the organization’s stakeholders leading performance. This project features the company Toyota Japan.
Background
Toyota was launched in 1933 by a division of Toyoda Automatic loom. It is headquartered in Toyota city in Japan. Its management strategy has evolved from the company’s origin reflected in lean manufacturing. This focuses on continuous thinking as a way of decision making, employee development through training, problem solving skills that motivates the performance of the organization.
This strategy has been adopted by other organizations in the world. The company has expanded world wide becoming the biggest auto marker replacing the GM. It has expanded manufacturing or assembly plants in Japan, Australia, India, Canada, US, Poland, South Africa,Indonesia,Turkey,Columbia,UK, Mexico,Malaysia,Thailand Eqypt,France,Brazil,China Vietnam, India, Venezuela among other.
Toyota’s performance management strategy involves:
- Leadership that understands the employees, clients and the work to ensure quality performance. Minimizing overproduction through the ‘pull’ system.
- Use of tested technology that serve both the clients and the employees.
- Develop and recruit highly experienced people who follow the company philosophy.
- Participation of all the company’s employees to ensure well informed decisions.
- Problem solving at their initial stages basing on the root causes to cut on operation costs.
- A culture that ensure performance and not fixing problems.
Glossary
- PPMS –Project Performance Management System
- SWOT- Strength Weakness Opportunities, Threats
- PPR-Project Performance Report
- PCR-Project completion Report
- PPAR-Project performance Audit Report.
Project performance management
In the 1980’s and 1990’s organizations were called upon to develop new strategies to ensure competitiveness. Project performance management is a result oriented approach that helps organizations to monitor, evaluate and implement performance at various stages of the project cycle. PPMS have five components. These components act as designing tools for quality improvement, a platform upon which PPMS operate, an overview that helps stakeholders understand and accept the initiated projects and lastly offers a link between inputs, outputs, missions and objectives. In this context let’s consider Toyota Company. This part covers scope and purpose, limitations and opportunities of project performance management.
Purpose and Scope
Toyota is one of the best run companies in the world. Compared to General Motors, Ford and Dimler Chryslert its market capitalization is big. For it to achieve this it has a performance management system (PPMS) that consists of project framework, project performance report, project completion report, project performance audit report and a report on monitoring and evaluation. This performance strategy incorporates the relationship between the employees and the clients which leads to increase in their output and improves shareholder’s values. The PPMS was adopted to help the company offer quality services to its clients because this tool provides early symptoms of any hardship which can easily be avoided at their initial stages. The project performance report (PPR) acts as a management tool that scrutinizes the implementation of project performance and ensures that it achieves its overall goals. The project completion report (PCR) provides an opportunity to managers at Toyota to make recommendations and ensure the sustainable performance of the completed projects. Then there is the project performance audit reports (PPAR) that deals with the assessment of project usually from 3 to 5 years after they are completed. The project frame offers a foundation for evaluating the PPAR and monitoring
Opportunities and limitations
In past years Toyota has essentially demonstrated its development results. Adoption project performance management system has enabled the company to deliver in their developmental goals. For instance, Toyota mainly deals with marketing, distribution, selling and servicing vehicles throughout the world although the United States is its leading clientele. Therefore; PPMS will ensure product design, building client relationship, technical service support for vehicles, product development, and advertising and sales promotion abilities. With all these in place quality performance will be realized and there is that ability of identifying early signs of danger and their rectification on the onset. It has also ensured strategic leadership in the essence that resources are allocated equitable and lastly provides authority and reliability to the company at large.
Opportunities
A fully adopted PPM promotes
Improved participation: PPM ensures that all organization employees understand their duties and responsibilities in relation to a firm’s objective to realize its goals. With the adoption of quality system the employees are likely to work in teams to ensure that there are in charge of their roles. Improved productivity; PPM system transforms the organization in the manner in which operations are carried out leading to a friendly working environment. As a result stakeholders’ participation improves; problems are able to be identified at their initial stages and even tackled at the lower levels.
Increased performance; with the adoption of PPM in organization quality of the output is the main concern. Eradication of the causes will be the main concern rather than the correcting problems. Also more efforts will be used to identify the requirements and ensure actively incidences. Risks will be identified at their early stages and corrected by professionals resulting in high delivery of services.
Increased client satisfaction: As far as there is open and frequent communication among the bank’s the employees and stakeholders. The clients’ requirements can be identified and adjustments made. Increases competion: With successful adoption of PPM system an organization will be able to survive in the fast growing and changing economic world.
Limitations
All people related to company that is Toyota need to be incorporated in the PPM implemention. However; there are problems this company is likely to encounter they include; Lack of awareness: most organization consider adoption of PPM through participation as the only way but it involves more than that such as devolved decision making and training of stakeholders in project strategy.The training mostly focuses on personal development as most of senior mangers do not have adequate knowledge Project cycle. Therefore this calls for management and stakeholders to be fully trained about PPM within Toyota to ensure its prosperity, Brannen, J. (2004).
Inadequate participation: commitment and teamwork are essential in the adoption of PPM. In organizations most of the decisions are made by senior management without consulting other employees/stakeholders as result of this the organization ends up with projects that do not meet the users’ needs and desires, Bryman, A., Stephens, M., Campo, C. (1996).
Organizational strategy and project management
With the evolving economic world there is need for project managers to come up with ways of integrating organizational strategy into their system to achieve competitiveness and a thorough analysis of organizational strategy, implementation process and manage the expectation of the stakeholders by integrating them into the process. For instance, PPM enables Toyota employees to share knowledge be independent goal seeker that enables them to use problem skills and serve the client. As a result there is incorporation of all the employees in the strategic planning of the project, enterprise the project and execution of the project as shown below.
Since Toyota clients in general accentuate performance and results, transparency, accountability, input, devolving decision making, and a client-oriented focus. In the context of Toyota can ensure the association between organizational strategy and project management through: Identification of key results, establish a task force to execute recommendations, and capacity building to ensure performance of the project
Description of key results areas: Toyota fosters on economic growth and collaboration to speed up client needs and satisfaction either individually or as a group. After key results were recognized then the technique for economic development was ensuring social equity with particular consideration focusing on people and processes. Task forces and working Groups that have been influential in the PPM implementation within Toyota. The task force that improves the performance of the company through centering all the operations within client satisfaction attains quality by focusing on individual or team leaning.
Concepts of project Strategy and leadership
Corporate leadership stretches back to the nineteenth century, an interlude when integration with restricted became a fact of life, a factor that necessitated legislation as well as control. Contemporary arguments surrounding (John R. 2008) leadership is oriented on the answerability of those with influence in most organizations and that of the shareholders with an outstanding monetary interest in a company’s proficiency.
Some of the attributes related to corporate governance include
- Restraint- an obligation by top administration to hold fast to actions that are unanimously acknowledged as accurate and fitting
- Lucidity– transparency exposes the echelons at which investors might acquire a true image of what is happening in the corporate, and is attributed by administration’s capacity to make information reachable in a sincere, accurate, in a judicious manner.
- Autonomy- it connotes mechanisms that have been entrenched to curtail prospective antagonism of interest as well as the dominance of brawny factions, such as the chief executive or large shareholder.
- Responsibility- device might exist and be proficient to enhance decision proliferators to be answerable for their pronouncements as well as activities.
Conscientiousness
This passes on traits that facilitates for remedial accomplishments as well as for chastising mismanagement, and needs that the panel functions responsibly towards all stakeholders.
- Evenhandedness- structures need to be balanced by considering all that might be having interest in the company.
- Communal accountability– rejoinder to social issues with an elevated priority, based on moral specifications.
Leadership Traditions
Immediately the leadership configuration has been erected, administration might facilitate the establishing of panels for proficient functionalities and credible pronouncement creation. Throughout the scheme lifespan as well as informational spheres will bring about yields that will augment to the holistic accomplishment of the development. Pronouncements regarding whether or not the yields are available, and if they can be executed will have to be taken within diverse leadership committees. One of the rationales for scattering the (John R. 2008) pronouncement creating on yields flanking the committees is to make certain that the fitting dimension of information is employed to the pronouncement creation.
Strategic documentation
This offers a rejoinder to executive administration and to the board on project presentation in opposition to the project aims and in opposition to the holistic business aims. Integrated in this region of documentation need be a bi-yearly hazard evaluation as well as mitigation scheme. The statistics reassures administration that threats are being identified, evaluated and administered, in addition to informing administration whether there are any risks facing the project that warrant terminating the task, or crafting any other strategic variations to the project aims.
Presentation documentation
Administration will set fastidious performance criteria for the task as well as for administering the same task. The task administrator is required to document the project performance in opposition to this criterion. Variables like area, such as cost and time, might be probable to quantify objectives in opposition to the degree of performance, in addition to determining real quantified performance in opposition to these objectives.
Triple foundation procession/sustainability coverage
Myriad factors from the tactical as well as presentation documentation might be repetitive in this region. Nevertheless, this region will be inclined on the monetary, communal as well as ecological presentation. Monetary documentation will constitute monetary presentation as well as presentation in actualizing myriad non-monetary aims. Ecological presentation (John R. 2008) documentation must be centered on contributions to enhancing or sustaining the corporeal backdrop of the task, or in opposition to any backdrop administration objectives prescribed by the monitoring establishments.
Communal documentation must be oriented on objectives of initiating employment equity as well as black fiscal empowerment into the project administration backdrop. Black fiscal empowerment objectives might protract to the acquirement procedure, as well as might not be confined to the corporate solely. The panel will establish these objectives in accordance with holistic company leadership demands. Communal documentation might also protract to any society-inclined schemes that the task administration or staff is pursuing in the remote communities where the task is centered. An additional imperative factor of sustainability documentation will be reporting conformity with the business policy of morals. This is imperative in a task backdrop, given the integration of task employees (John R. 2008) with contractors as well other purveyors through the acquirement procedure.
Monitoring and evaluation
Analysis of the proficiency and competence of the leadership within a task backdrop, and also within the corporation in entirety is imperative. Competence of certain factors of project administration- such as projecting of objectives as well as aims and presumptions in addition to the efficacy of documenting- could be analyzed due to the task of the backdrop when pronouncement creation panels analyze the committee presentation. Administration might illustration the occurrence with which the leadership configuration should be reviewed, and the degree in opposition which the study should be carried. Significant it is that the strengths as well as deficiencies are illustrated in the leadership configuration as well as the protocol, and that they are reported and employed either to modify mainstream procedures or to serve as lessons when sketching new fangled procedures. In the event that an eminent danger to the corporate operations, a review might be requested by the interior inspection utility, or inspect of the development as well as headship configurations within the project administration backdrop. Adoption of PPM is very crucial because it helps an organization to work as a team and to achieve its goals and be competitive in the highly growing economic world. (Hood, C. 1991).
Project performance management system helps the organization to;
- To work together as one team that allows information sharing
- Accomplish high reliability in the operations they are engaged in including providing quality products or services to it clients.
- Decrease projects operations costs that is symptoms are detected early within the project that assist in the rectification during their initial stages which is cheap compared to when they are severe.
- Increase competence and sufficient by humanizing the use of time and the available resources.
- Identifies and improves Client satisfaction since everyone is incorporated in the process.
- Market the organization to the rest of the world.
- Discover other areas that they can engage in. For instance, Toyota main responsibility is service and market vehicles , with the involvement in such they can also engage in areas like improve standards of living or sponsoring education.
- Control growth more efficiently by making it easier to incorporate new employees and stakeholders in all the bank’s activities.
Roles HR and team management in implementing performance management
Globalization is forcing organizations to view PPM as a competent tool in the market. PPM is the organization’s viewpoint that endeavors for client fulfillment by seeking fewer imperfections in products and services. Hence, it’s the duty of the HR to act an overall manager to ensure the success of PPM adoption through appraisal, recruiting experienced and competent staff in a number of ways. Thus through designing the PPM philosophy in (Hood, C. 1991) various departments within the organization. Second, the HR office with the assistance from senior managers can help in adoption of PPM through long-term training that develops the employees and adoption of a reward system to excellent performing employees. HR is the role model in the PPM process within the organization that is serving the clients that is make sure that taskforce make clients as their priority in all departmental operations.
HR can also demonstrate commitment in PPM principles by conducting internal research within the organization on the current HR services to establish that HR is not seizing departmental privilege, but is instead a helpful teammate supporting each department in attaining quality performance. As the organizations historian, the HR is charged with (Hood, C. 1991) conveying the PPM culture to the members of organization through orientation. The HR ensures cooperation between the senior management and employees through regular communication. Open communication creates trust that is necessary in PPM implementation. This initiates the idea that employees are the major asset in the organization who assists in the implementation of PPM. HR also scrutinize the individual employees attidude.This assessment is important as it helps in the fine tuning of the efficiency of PPM and also identify trouble spots in the current operations. The significance of HR in the adoption of PPM begins with understanding of principles within PPM. (Hood, C. 1991)
The PPM Principles
As a preferred technique for improving performance within organizations. PPM has been implemented within various organizations as a participatory approach by empowering employees and stakeholders to take responsibilities to improve performance (Hood, C. 1991) and quality. PPM calls for adjustments for an all inclusive culture where there is open problem solving, responsibility for goal attainment and decentralized decision making. These PPM principles link the people within the organization which cannot be applied by only one department making performance as the core feature of the organization strategy.
Risks in the adoption of PPM
Inadequate information: efforts to implement PPM systems have failed in many organizations because of insufficient information. For instance, senior management is not committed in sharing available information with the rest of the staff they only consider the responsibilities are performed. Training: this can be the form of awareness of the underlying concepts and detailed training of other features in PPM. Internal reports demonstrated that ADB employees lack the necessary skills to prepare the PPM and (Binnendijk, A. 2000) majorities were looking forward for further training. Lack of strategy: Many organizations aim at managing all operations. Most of them lack policies that guide these operations.
Mitigation
It is evident that PPM is very important in an organizational performance. Therefore the above problems can be solved through the following strategies: Training and education: organizational employees including the senior management should be involved in continual training on various PPM systems. Basics such as knowledge and skills should also be considered. Training can be on individual or team work. If possible there should be assessment examinations to evaluate the employees understanding of PPM. During these meeting principles governing the PPM system should be put in place. Regular departmental meetings to be held after trainings to ensure that viable results are realized, Binnendijk, A. (2000). Communication; this strategies can also be employed to ensure effective implementation of the PPM. With regular communications between senior management and other employees. Everyone will feel (Hood, C. 1991) appreciated and their will be minimal cases within the organizations. Further, as a result of communication, employees can come up with other strategies to help improve the organization’s performance.
Participation
Allowing participation of the organizational stakeholders including the clients and even the employees assists in the control of problems encountered during implementation of PPM. This will automatically lead to acceptance of the implemented system. As a result of incorporation of the entire stakeholders they will be able to identify a likely problem in the initial stage and assist in solving it before it becomes severe as leading to investment of huge funds to deal with it, Brown, K., Waterhouse, J., Flynn C. (2003).
Recommendations
In addition, training manuals on PPM need to be upgraded to ensure an earlier project processing cycle. Toyota should implement a promotional role for PPM and in the framework of public sector reform initiatives. Provision of resources to complete the PPM manual and goal should be inclusive of all projects. Create a department Jacobs, C. and Heracleous, L. 2007 responsible for PPM and PPM training to oversee its integrity; presently there is no one responsible for such expand PPM in private sector operations.
Conclusion
Implementation of the PPM system is very crucial because it helps senior managers know the performance of the organization. That is with all the performance system in place such training, participation and decentralized decision making in organizations will ensure that there is open and free communication and they will treat one another as equals irrespective of positions which promotes performance. Toyota has made considerable improvement in improving the implementation of PPM and in rising and implement processes for managing on the basis of performance. Even with inadequate (Jacobs, C. and Heracleous, L. 2007) resources in DMS, ADB worked hard to promote PPM. Which in turn provide information for decision making to help in the improvement of current and proposed projects.
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