Support for Leadership Wavers at Auto Giant

[DainBramaged]

While Top Management Backs President Akio Toyoda, Middle Managers and Rank-and-File Express Doubts Amid Crisis


As Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda prepares to be grilled by members of Congress on Wednesday, doubts have grown among rank-and-file employees and middle managers about whether he is the right man to pull the Japanese auto maker through the recall debacle that threatens to tarnish its hard-won reputation for quality.

The crisis has shone a harsh light on Mr. Toyoda's management style, and on the company's management structure as well. Mr. Toyoda's actions since the safety crisis unfurled—including flying to Davos, Switzerland, just as the U.S. recalls were announced, vacillating last week on whether he would attend the congressional hearings in Washington and generally staying behind the scenes—have led onlookers to question whether he is a decisive, confident leader.

Some employees complain that they feel they have been left in the dark. Other critics outside the company also say the Toyota president has surrounded himself with a coterie of Toyoda-family loyalists who have trouble delivering tough messages to their top executive.

The questions about Mr. Toyoda's leadership come amid intense legal and political pressure on the company in the U.S. over suspected vehicle safety issues. On Monday, the company disclosed subpoenas from a federal grand jury and the Securities and Exchange Commission related to sudden acceleration in its cars, while the leaders of a congressional panel accused Toyota of misleading the public about safety problems.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703494404575081102279562036.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Oh good grief.

threatens to tarnish!!

That reputation is shredded beyond belief.

Toyota has painted itself into a well-deserved corner.

It will be a very long time (if ever) before they recover.

[DainBramaged]

2. Hello my friend

I fully understand people having made a choice in the past to buy a Toyota over a GM or Ford product. But with what people know now about them and what they did over the past 15 years(sludge, rusting frames, cover up of unintended acceleration) anyone who trusts them truly is blind.