Toyotism and Brahminism: Employee relations difficulties in establishing lean manufacturing in India
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the cross-cultural reasons underlying the extreme industrial unrest experienced during the first seven years of Toyota’s operations in India. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a case study approach using data obtained from 30 personal...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Emerald
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75013 |
| _version_ | 1848763413735407616 |
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| author | Kunju Kunju Mathew, Sagi Jones, Robert |
| author_facet | Kunju Kunju Mathew, Sagi Jones, Robert |
| author_sort | Kunju Kunju Mathew, Sagi |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the cross-cultural reasons underlying the extreme industrial unrest experienced during the first seven years of Toyota’s operations in India.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a case study approach using data obtained from 30 personal interviews, field notes, observations, and internet media sources.
Findings – The paper reports how Toyotism shares three common features with Brahminism – renunciation, performance, and perfection – and how antipathy towards the manner in which these features were implemented in India caused significant resistance amongst the production workforce.
Research limitations/implications – The paper has implications for academics and practitioners in helping to understand how employee relations, unrest and antagonism towards lean manufacturing
practices are closely related to cross-cultural issues prevalent in host countries.
Originality/value – The concept of Brahmanism in Indian employee relations is under-researched in comparison with other aspects of Indian culture and antipathy towards the concept as a source of resistance to the implementation of lean systems needs to be better understood. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:03:04Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-75013 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:03:04Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Emerald |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-750132019-03-11T08:50:41Z Toyotism and Brahminism: Employee relations difficulties in establishing lean manufacturing in India Kunju Kunju Mathew, Sagi Jones, Robert India Lean production Employee relations Employees attitides Toyota Lean manufacturing Brahminism Toyota production system Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the cross-cultural reasons underlying the extreme industrial unrest experienced during the first seven years of Toyota’s operations in India. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a case study approach using data obtained from 30 personal interviews, field notes, observations, and internet media sources. Findings – The paper reports how Toyotism shares three common features with Brahminism – renunciation, performance, and perfection – and how antipathy towards the manner in which these features were implemented in India caused significant resistance amongst the production workforce. Research limitations/implications – The paper has implications for academics and practitioners in helping to understand how employee relations, unrest and antagonism towards lean manufacturing practices are closely related to cross-cultural issues prevalent in host countries. Originality/value – The concept of Brahmanism in Indian employee relations is under-researched in comparison with other aspects of Indian culture and antipathy towards the concept as a source of resistance to the implementation of lean systems needs to be better understood. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75013 10.1108/01425451311287871 English Emerald restricted |
| spellingShingle | India Lean production Employee relations Employees attitides Toyota Lean manufacturing Brahminism Toyota production system Kunju Kunju Mathew, Sagi Jones, Robert Toyotism and Brahminism: Employee relations difficulties in establishing lean manufacturing in India |
| title | Toyotism and Brahminism: Employee relations difficulties in establishing lean manufacturing in India |
| title_full | Toyotism and Brahminism: Employee relations difficulties in establishing lean manufacturing in India |
| title_fullStr | Toyotism and Brahminism: Employee relations difficulties in establishing lean manufacturing in India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Toyotism and Brahminism: Employee relations difficulties in establishing lean manufacturing in India |
| title_short | Toyotism and Brahminism: Employee relations difficulties in establishing lean manufacturing in India |
| title_sort | toyotism and brahminism: employee relations difficulties in establishing lean manufacturing in india |
| topic | India Lean production Employee relations Employees attitides Toyota Lean manufacturing Brahminism Toyota production system |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75013 |