Chrysler and Honda USA

Two research questions were investigated. The first question asked: Are their major differences between the American and Japanese approaches to manufacturing management as these approaches are applied in the domestic automobile manufacturing industry in the United States? The research found that the major difference was the applications of the principles of Japanese management at Honda USA and an absence of such application at Chrysler Corporation. The second question asked: Has the Japanese approach to management achieved superior operating outcomes to the American approach to management in the domestic automobile manufacturing industry in the United States? This question proved to be more difficult to answer, as each company appeared to have attained the goals sought. In the case of Honda USA, the goals were long-term financial gains and increased market share, while the primary goal at Chrysler corporation was short-term profitability. Without question the Japanese management approach contributed to the success of Honda USA; however, that approach to management would not have been as much benefit in the pursuit of short-term profitability.

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ucture groups staff into functional areas, with temporary assignments to special project groups, or teams. Such special project teams are multi functional in character. This approach to the team concept "produces a matrix in which the columns represent projects and the rows represent functional departments" (p. 110). The matrix is "a fairly complex form of organization and is generally both costly and time consuming to administer because of all of the crosscutting of lines of authority and accountability that must be coordination" p. 110). The self-directed, or self-managing, work team (SMWT), the latest manifestation of the team-based organizational structure, places such matters as personnel, training, and promotion in the hands of the team, causing the team, in effect, to become almost a separate company within a company (Owens, 1991, pp. 53-65). The SMWT is a high-performance work team (Gerber, 1994, pp. 36-39). The self-managed work team tends to affect three aspects of organizational structure. The affected aspects of structure are lines of managerial authority within an organization, responsibility and accountability within the organization, and the informal organization within the organizational structure. The de
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Fucini Fucini, American Japanese, Levy Teramura, Krishnan Thompson, Szilagy Wallace, Kimberly Rottman, SMWTs Barton, Toyota Managing, Mahler Nicholson, Warren Bennis, 1992 pp, organizational structure, japanese managers, japanese management, american workers, approach management, 1992 pp 66-87, sullivan 1992, american japanese, sullivan 1992 pp, pp 66-87, 1990 pp, fucini fucini 1990, fucini 1990 pp, japanese approach management,
Approximate Word count = 9513
Approximate Pages = 38 (250 words per page)

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