20
Nov
O que uns não sabem
As diferenças culturais aplicadas à economia, numa altura de crise.
Tem-se falado na quase-falência de algumas indústrias, a automóvel em particular.
Se estão em situação de quase-falência isso implicará uma gestão deficiente em tempos de bonança. Mas independentemente disso:
Fechar fábricas e despedir, ou fechar fábricas e manter e ensinar e treinar a sua workforce que se quer qualificada e experiente?
American way vs Japanese way. O Tuga way não é excepção à “norma” americana.
«Do you know how many hourly jobs GM has laid off from 2006 to July 2008? Take a guess. How about 34,000? And now, they’re talking about another 5,500 layoffs.
[...]
How many hourly jobs has Toyota’s American production system laid off in the same time frame? Zero. That’s right. ZERO. How? Isn’t Toyota experiencing the same slow down in auto sales as GM is? Yes, it is. And yes, Toyota has halted production at its Texas and Indiana plants for the past 3 months. But the 4,500 people who work at those plants have not been laid off.
[...]
“This was the first chance we’ve really had to live out our values,” says Latondra Newton, general manager of Toyota’s Team Member Development Center in Erlanger, Ky. “We’re not just keeping people on the payroll because we’re nice. At the end of all this, our hope is that we’ll end up with a more skilled North American workforce.”
[...]
“At the end of all this, our hope is that we’ll end up with a more skilled North American workforce.” It means that while these employees were not manufacturing automobiles, they were in training.
[...]
Why would they be willing to spend $50 million rather than lay people off? It’s because Toyota believes that its people, yes, its PEOPLE are its greatest investment and its greatest asset.
[...]
The lesson here: Unlike their counterparts GM and Ford, Toyota has always taken a long-term strategic view about their employees. Toyota understands that laying off thousands of employees for slowdowns or plant retooling is counter productive. They wisely utilize the time to redistribute their workforce to understaffed plants, provide additional training for the new products, and leverage their workforce to speed the transition for newer products. Their philosophy has avoided labor disputes and staffing shortages.»
| April 9, 2007
