Kotter's 8-Step Approach - Research Paper Example

However, the deployment of the change-fostering process improves the company’s ability to change and improves the level of change, both in the present and the future. The Toyota Motors company has employed crucial company and business changes, including the diversification of the company’s production at 26 countries – where the brands produced are differentiated. In effect, the company’s business outlook is highly innovative. This paper will diagnose the Toyota Company, so as to expose the needs for change, and then discuss a plan for organizational transformation, utilizing Kottler’s 8-step approach.

Company Overview of Toyota Motors The Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese, global automaker. The company is headquartered at Aichi in Japan. As of 2010, the company had 300,734 employees, across its areas of operation. The Toyota Company was the third-largest automaker in 2011, in terms of the levels of production, after the Volkswagen group and General Motors (GM). The Toyota Motors Corporation ranks at eleventh position globally, in terms of the revenues realized. As of 2012, Toyota Motors reported that it had produced its 200-millionth unit (vehicle) during its history in auto making (Toyota Motors, 2013).

The company was started by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937, after the production of the Type A engine during 1934 while still a department of the parent company, Toyota industries. The Toyota group owns the Scion brand, Daihatsu, Lexus and Hino Motors, together with other non-automaker companies. The company offers a wide range of vehicle models, ranging from mini cars to large trucks. The company’s global sales for its different auto companies totaled 6.78 million in 2003 (Toyota Motors, 2013). Diagnosis of need for Change at Toyota Motors Leading and causing change entails leading the people within a company, towards the realization of a specific modification in the affairs and the processes employed at the organization.

The process of change can be exceptionally quick and straightforward. In this case, the change process can also be time consuming and immensely complex. These facts lead to the conclusion of Paton and McCalman (2000) that the managers of change at any organization should deploy the change process through the following chain of stages. Figure 1: The Change Process in an Organization by Paton and McCalman (2000) One area of change that can be identified for Toyota Motors draws from the company’s innovation to develop more eco-friendly and fuel-economical engine models.

The innovation was a major success, as it placed the company among the top players in the auto making industry, in the areas of perceived sensitivity of fuel efficiency, increasing driving performance and in response to environmental responsibility demands (Tabuchi, 2009). The innovative car’s drive train system was launched by the company in 2004, and the company enjoyed the success of the technology for more than five years, but was not dynamic enough to employ the technology in the development of all their car models (Tabuchi, 2009).

This successful area of technology points out the need to capitalize on the hybrid technology, throughout the production of all the vehicles produced by the company. However, that has not been the case. Therefore, this is one area of change that will improve the quality of the vehicles of the company. It will increase the