How Participative Management Builds the Foundation for Organizational Ambidexterity: Toyota’s 3 Pillar Activity

Participative management, which formed the central theme in the business world during the Japanese management style boom in the 1980s, has attracted far less attention since the Japanese economy slowed down. This paper re-examines the importance of participative management by focusing on Toyota’s recent approach to kaizen (continuous improvement). This approach is referred to as the 3 Pillar activity (Sanbon-bashira katsudo). Toyota introduced this activity to regain kaizen’s original spirit, “full participation,” in its global plants in 2007. This methodology differs considerably from the existing approach to kaizen that stresses the importance of taking countermeasures after problems happen, which often creates a firefighting situation. In contrast, the new approach based on the 3 Pillar activity can be characterized as “proactive kaizen implementation,” where preventive kaizen systems based on the full participation of shop floor staff creates a stable foundation for developing manufacturing innovation as a unique source of competitiveness. This paper discusses the implications, and how organizations manage ambidexterity between exploitative kaizen and explorative manufacturing innovation, by examining the roles of different organizational actors, such as shop floor staff, specialists, and management.