Comments about ‘Sunstone speaker says church can learn from Toyota’

Ethics are the basis of any successful organization.

Toyota's mission is to make good cars.

The Church's mission is for the 12 million Mormons to share their beliefs (not convert) the other 4.5 billion souls on the earth.

Cheaters in both groups are eventually replaced.

It's a shame that 6 years of study have led the speaker to believe that Toyota came up with this idea. The idea that people are successful is the important bit, and that's been happening since the days of Adam. The modern church has preached the importance of people since it was founded. It seems that Toyota learned the lesson that's been around for all time.

Sounds like this session was a waste of time and it continues to waste time as I read and responded to the article...

Is it Toyota or rather the Japanese business mindset that ought to be emulated?

You have got to be kidding! Who let this twit on the schedule? What a waste of time!

I've heard of the Toyota Production System before. It was developed by the car mfg company for several decades, and has been so successful at solving problems in manufacturing cars that it is now being studied by people as varied as Harvard Business School professors to health care executives. This article caught my eye because of its mention in the headline.

It's definitely not a waste of time to look at it. You might google it or wiki it before rushing to judgement. Personally, I'd love to see the principles of Toyota management applied to our education system. Imagine if you had school administrators asking teachers for their input on how to best use those daily 6 hours for the benefit of students. Imagine if they took the suggestions and systematically analyzed 98% of them to cull out the most productive ones. I guess a person can dream...

If ya wanna dream, dream big. Imagine if the principles of the TPS were applied to government...

If the church used the Toyota model, I suspect many of us would never have received callings to do anything. Having served in a mission run like an insurance company sales department, I have no further desire to have my life run according to any corporate model.

Geezer, that's the point exactly. The Toyota system is just about as unlike corporate America, as a business can be. Everyone who learns about it loves it, except senior management types. It scares them.

I love irony.

I worked for Toyota Motor Sales USA for 20 years. They proved to me they were an honest company with the long-term goal of consistently producing a great product. The Japanese work ethic greatly influenced the whole staff. I served in both Japan and USA. I found the Japanese staff have a sincere desire to do the right things, and do them right - this their true strength. In contrast some of the American staff never let go of their 30-day mentality and competitive, ego driven US management style. The Japan staff focused on team work, long-term education, character building, and refining the employee experience. The fruit of this is loyalty, trust, and a sustainable incentive to do one's best. Whereas US staff had a tendency to be “30-day wonders” who sought promotion by stepping on others in their quest to “get ahead.” “Getting good 30-day numbers” was more important to them than ensuring customer satisfaction for the years ahead. Luckily they soon learned — or quit.