Notes from Toyota-Land: An American Engineer in Japan
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.38 (672 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0801442893 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-03-10 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Mehri also describes a surprisingly unhealthy work environment, a high rate of injuries due to inadequate training, fast line speeds, crowded factories, racism, and lack of team support. For example, he learned that male employees treated their female counterparts as short-term employees, cheap labor, and potential wives. In 1996, Darius Mehri traveled to Japan to work as a computer simulation engineer within the Toyota production system. Once there, he found a corporate experience far different from what he had expected. Notes from Toyota-land, based on a diary that Mehri kept during his three years at an upper-level Toyota group company, provides a unique insider's perspective on daily work life in Japan and charts his transformation from a wide-eyed engineer eager to be part of the "Japanese Miracle" to a social critic, troubled by Ja
rdf said An interesting memior of a first job. As other reviewers have mentioned, parts of this reflect experiences the author would have at any first job.Japan is definitely different (from the US anyhow) especially in the way women are treated, and consensus is created (and desired).Sure parts are a bit naive and parts are unreflective, but that's what makes it interesting.. Misleading Title R.Sudhagar Raghavan I am a certified Lean Expert and have worked for the Japanese for some years. Generally speaking I would say that from sociological / anthropological perspective, Darius has accurately captured the culture in Japan and the Japanese manufacturing firms.However from his description, I don't think Nizumi can be considered as a Lean company that practices the Toyota Production System. I am not even sure if Nizumi is a part of Toyota family. As such his book's title is rather misleading.As for his comments about the workplace culture. "Brilliant Critique of Japanese Management Practices" according to L. Davis. Written by Darius Mehri, an American of Iranian descent who worked in Japan for three years as a design engineer for a Toyota supplier, Notes from Toyota-Land provides fascinating insights into life, work, and corporate culture in contemporary Japan. This book is largely a devastating critique of Japanese management practices that, according to Mehri, promote unsafe work habits in the name of speed and efficiency, require employees to put in long hours of "voluntary" overtime, and inspire a wasteful and stifling groupthink attit
While some of Mehri's recollections are not engaging and some parts of the book could be more fleshed out, the narrative has moments of genuine insight.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. At times, the Dilbert-esque bureaucracy at Toyota seems similar to that common among large American corporations. Mehri argues that the dominant culture at the company is a "culture of rules," consisting of rules written on signs and in memoranda, unwritten rules that employees pick up instinctively and rules regarding language and manners "that are learned culturally, simp