Xavier Aptitude Test 2011 Paper

DIRECTIONS (Qs. 87-90) : Read the following discussion/ passage and provide an appropriate answer.
Of the serveral features of the Toyota Production System that have been widely studied , most important is the mode of governance of the shop-floor at Toyota. Work and inter-relations between workers are highly scripted in extremely detailed ‘operating procedures’ that have to be followed rigidly, without any deviation at Toyota. Despite such rule-bound rigidity, however, Toyota does not become a ‘command-control system’. It is able to retain the character of a learning organization.
In fact , many observers characterize it as a community of scientists carrying out several small experiments simultaneously. The design of the operating procedure is the key. Every principle must find an expression in the operating procedure-that is how it has an effect in the domain of action. Workers on the shop-floor, often in teams, design the ‘operating procedure’ jointly with the supervisor through a series of hypothesis that are proposed and validated or refuted through experiments in action. The rigid and detailed ‘operating procedure’ specificaion throws up problems of the very minute kind: while its resolution leads to a reframing of the procedure and specifications. This inter-temporal change (orflexibility) of the specification (or operating procedure) is done atthe lowest level of the organization; i.e., closest to the site of action.
One implication of this arrangement is that system designcan no longer be rationally optimal and standardized across theorganization. It is quite common to find different work norms incontiguous assembly lines, because each might have faced adifferent set of problems and devised different counter-measuresto tackle it. Design of the coordinating process that essentiallyimposes the discipline that is required in large scale complexmanufacturing systems is therefore customized to variations inman-machine context of the site of action. It evolves throughnumerous points of negotiation throughout the organization. Itimplies then that the higher levels of the hierarchy do not exercisethe power of the fiat in setting work rules, for such work rules areno longer a standard set across the whole organization.
It might be interesting to go through the basic Toyotaphilosophy that underlies its system designing practices. Thenotion of the ideal production system in Toyota embraces thefollowing –’the ability to deliver just-in-time (or on demand) acustomer order in the exact specification demanded in a batch sizeof one (and hence an infinite proliferation of variants, models andspecifications), defect-free, without wastage of material, labour,energy or motion in a safe and (physically and emotionally),fulfilling production environment’. It did not embrace the conceptof a standardized product that can be cheap by giving up variations.Preserving consumption variety was seen, in fact, as one mode ofserving society. It is interesting to note that the articulation of theToyota philosophy was made around roughly the same time thatthe Fordist system was establishing itself in the US automotiveindustry.