The book I have found most influential is Toyota Culture: The Heart & Soul of the Toyota Way by Jeffery K. Liker.
This book is on lean thinking and shares deep insight into the company’s culture, defining the basic principles that led to its success as the global leader in operational excellence and earned it the title of the world’s most profitable car manufacturer that produces high-quality cars with minimum manpower and inventory.
The modus operandi to achieve “Lean” is discipline and continuous improvements at an individual level, or Gemba Kaizen. “Kaizen” means continuous improvement, and involves identification of wastages at every step of the process and reduction or removal of the wastages.
This book gives a deep insight into the revolutionary 4P model (incorporating Philosophy, Process, People, and Problem Solving) for organisational excellence.
It is very well written, and reveals the way Toyota selects, develops and motivates its employees to become committed to building high-quality products and how one could implement the same in one’s company.
(As told to Elizabeth Flock)
(This story appears in the 06 November, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)