...head: Assignment 1: Leadership Styles of NHTSA and Toyota Recalls Leadership Styles of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Toyota Recalls By Michele L. Ennis, MS February 2010 Abstract The purpose of this research is to apply theoretical approaches of leadership styles and skills to the recent events of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Toyota automobile recall. Following a thorough examination of the issues involved in both events, the application of Blake and Mouton (1964) theory to the leadership styles will be separately applied to the NHTSA and Toyota cases in order to examine the ineffectiveness of leadership in both organizations. Toyota’s delayed and misleading consumer responses regarding the vehicle safety issues that lead up to the recent sticky accelerator recall has left consumers angry and concerned for the company’s ability to uphold its mission of producing “high-quality” vehicles (cbsnews.com, 2010; Toyota.com, 2010). Parallel to Toyota’s case, NHTSA’s failure to thoroughly investigate years worth of consumer automobile safety complaints because there was an absence of statistical trends, left consumers uncomfortable with the government agency’s ability to uphold its mission of “safety.” In both cases, the leaders’ failure to integrate task and relations orientations could be harmful to the outcome of both...
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...Preferred Courses of Action Through Ethical Analysis of the 2009 Toyota Motor Company Automobile Recall In September 2009, Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota issued a recall of 3.8 million vehicles due to “unintended acceleration” that was believed to be caused by loose floor mats becoming lodged under the gas pedal due to a design flaw in the pedal layout. Since the initial recall, which affected seven models ranging from 2004 to 2010, more details have emerged. Instances of surges in acceleration in Toyota vehicles have been investigated by the NHTSA on six separate occasions since 2003 and over two thousand owners have claimed to experience the phenomenon. Consumer Reports examined cases of unintended acceleration surges in the United States for 2008 and forty-one percent of all instances involved Toyota vehicles. Most tragically, sixteen people have been killed in accidents resulting from unintended acceleration in Toyotas and over two hundred-forty have been injured. As a short-term fix, Toyota brand dealers began removing floor mats or fastening them to the floor pan in order to prevent lodging under the accelerator. More recently, dealerships have begun reshaping or shortening accelerator pedals until replacements become available for installation. However, some consumer groups have criticized Toyota’s sluggish and secretive response, and a national class-action lawsuit has been filed against Toyota alleging that the floor mats and pedal layout do not explain...
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