Building social architecture

Both Toyota’s top management and external observers agree that the Toyota Way is a key ingredient in Toyota’s global success. Every organization is a social or cultural entity in which values, social relationships and employee mindsets make an impact, although Toyota may be quite distinct for the attention it pays to disseminating its culture worldwide. In this chapter we focus on how to build what we call the social architecture of the multinational firm. We will explore three key aspects of social architecture, with an emphasis on how firms use people management tools and practices to construct the architecture that fosters global coordination and collaboration. We begin this chapter with a discussion about social capital - the ways in which personal relationships and networks can serve productive purposes. Social capital among employees contributes to enhanced interunit collaboration and coordination. Shared values facilitate corporate coordination, and we continue by exploring multinational firms through the lens of organizational culture. We discuss positive and negative aspects of strong organizational cultures, identifying ways in which corporations can try to manage their cultures. Then, in the last section, we spotlight practices that help to balance multiple perspectives through the creation of a shared global mindset.