140 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT, VOL. 52, NO.

1, FEBRUARY 2005

Book Reviews___________________________________________________________________________
The Toyota Way J. K. Liker (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004) However, what really sets the book apart and above so many others
Reviewed by Scott Gallagher was its explicit integration with other management theories and well-
known books. Having read The Machine that Changed the World [1]
The Toyota Way delivers on its central premise to explain Toyota’s
back in 1990, I felt I was reading “the rest of the story” in this book. The
incredible rise from a small power loom manufacturer to one of the
linkage to motivation theories in Chapter 16 concerning developing ex-
titans of today’s automotive industry. The book is filled with stories
ceptional people and teams is especially well done. However, while the
and examples of the advantages of Toyota’s “lean” production system.
book stands out in this area, there seemed to be numerous additional op-
The book’s successful portrayal highlights its only limitation—the
portunities for links to be made, such as between purpose and profits,
full implementation of the Toyota Way is culture dependant so readers
as found in Collin’s Good to Great [2] with Toyota’s long-term phi-
may be hard pressed to see directly how the exciting insights pre-
losophy principle. Well read students of management will find many
sented in The Toyota Way can be immediately applied to transforming
such linkages, which adds to the book’s credibility and supports the
their organization.
contention that Toyota is a remarkable firm that has developed incred-
A frequent criticism of management books is that they are “books
ibly productive manufacturing techniques. Toyota’s success with a U.S.
of lists,” e.g., ten things to do, 20 things not to do. The problem with
workforce clearly demonstrates that its success is an organizational, not
such books is that even if they are read and understood, it is frequently
a national culture, phenomena.
hard to retain the list of things to do or not do, much less integrate them
This last issue highlights the central tension of the book. The book
into one’s work. While The Toyota Way is no exception, promising 14
is an unqualified success in explaining the organizational culture of
principles of “lean,” Dr. Liker does a great job minimizing the neg-
Toyota and the potential advantages of “lean.” Naturally, I read the
ative impact of his list by first grouping the 14 principles into four
book with an eye toward being able to implement some of the ideas
broad categories—problem solving, people and partners, process, and
from Toyota into my own organization. In the last chapter where the
philosophy. His categories are closely aligned with Toyota’s own in-
lessons of Toyota are distilled and 13 tips provided for how to apply
ternal classification of its process as Challenge (philosophy), Respect
The Toyota Way, I kept finding myself running back to the “short term
and Teamwork (people and partners), Genchi–Genbutsu (“see for your-
toolbox,” which did not seem to offer much promise and hinted at “look
self” corresponds to problem solving), and Kiaizen (“continuous incre-
for another position.” So, while it seems that over time someone with
mental improvements,” which spans process, people and partners, and
total authority could apply the lessons of the book by changing pro-
problem solving). However, even more helpfully, the principles are fre-
cesses and building a “lean” trusting culture over time, those of us with
quently linked to other management theories and work.
more humble stations find ourselves quite constrained. The book ex-
The 14 principles are have a long-term philosophy, create contin-
plicitly states that a prerequisite for success is top management team
uous process flow, use “pull” systems, level the workload, build a cul-
commitment to having a broad and long-term philosophy. However, in
ture of stopping to fix problems, use visual control, use only reliable
places the book provided stories of unqualified successes on a smaller
technology, grow leaders who understand the work and live the phi-
level such as on a single production line. Given the Toyota Way’s co-
losophy, develop exceptional people, respect your extended network,
evolution with the culture of Toyota, descriptive cases of how it was
go see for yourself, make decisions slowly through consensus, and be-
successfully applied (e.g., going beyond things like “build trust”) on a
come a learning organization. As this listing attests, the book is full of
smaller scale without the benefit of Toyota’s culture or a similar com-
interesting insights on how Toyota accomplishes many key manage-
mitment by top management would have been especially instructive.
ment practices, e.g., becoming a learning organization and from his
Unfortunately, pseudonyms are frequently used for these small-scale
descriptions of the principles I learned a lot about not just the Toyota
examples and details are not provided. This lack of details on exactly
Production System, but the history and culture that surrounds it, what
how the principles could be translated into actions at the suborganiza-
Dr. Liker terms “The Toyota Way.” Three of the principles have short
tional level was the most frustrating aspect of the book for me.
case studies following them from organizations other than Toyota, such
As a result, I finished The Toyota Way in the same concerned state
as a naval shipyard, further adding to their power.
of mind I finished The Machine that Changed the World 14 years ear-
Interesting stories, insights, and examples drawn from Toyota and
lier, enlightened but not encouraged. Toyota is making higher quality
other companies that exhibit at least some aspects of its production suc-
cars less expensively than their competitors. This cannot be a long term
cess fill the book. Insights such as how the Toyota Production System
happy picture for their rivals. While U.S. automakers may have gotten
focuses on level production and is not a build to order system but rather
a reprieve from the sport utility vehicle craze (with its corresponding
a “change to order” system I found especially interesting and informa-
higher tariff level in the U.S.) and Japanese firms may have been slowed
tive. Principles such as be guided by a long term philosophy, go see for
by the decade long recession at home, The Toyota Way clearly demon-
yourself, ask why, and be wary of the latest technology, are ones that
strates that Toyota is on to something and other firms, especially its
I frequently stress in my classes and so were especially welcome.
competitors, would be wise to take notice.

Manuscript received September 1, 2004. Review of this book review was ar-
ranged by Editor-in-Chief G. F. Farris.
The reviewer is with the College of Business, James Madison University,
Harrisonburg, VA 22807 USA (e-mail: gallagsr@jmu.edu).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEM.2004.839963
REFERENCES
[1] J. P. Womack, D. T. Jones, and D. Roos, The Machine that Changed the
World. New York: Rawson, 1990.
[2] J. Collins, From Good to Great. New York: Harper Business, 2001.

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