In this comprehensive case study report titled "Unit 6 BTEC Level 5 Managing a Successful Business Project (MSBP) Assignment: Toyota's CSR Project," we embark on a captivating journey to uncover the profound commitment of Toyota to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This assignment provides a unique opportunity to delve deep into the intricacies of Toyota's corporate policies, governance structures, ethical values, and the impactful social contributions it makes. As a pivotal component of the HND program, this case study report serves as a crucial assessment tool, offering students profound insights into the world of management and business. Our exploration of Toyota's CSR initiatives begins with a meticulous examination of the strategic project plan, encompassing essential elements such as project scope, work breakdown structures (WBS), and Gantt charts. Through this lens, students gain valuable insights into the systematic planning and execution of CSR projects within a global automotive powerhouse, enhancing their project management competencies. Central to this case study report is the overarching theme of CSR, a critical concept in contemporary business practices. Employing insightful data analysis and trend analysis methodologies, we unravel the multifaceted dimensions of CSR, illuminating how Toyota seamlessly integrates ethical considerations and sustainability principles into its core business strategies. Topics such as "CSR Strategies" and "Sustainability Integration" underscore the significance of rigorous data assessment and trend analysis in evaluating the effectiveness and impact of CSR endeavors. Moreover, this assignment offers a window into Toyota's dedication to sustainable business practices. By dissecting Toyota's CSR initiatives, students gain a deeper understanding of how a global automotive leader aligns its operations with environmental responsibility and societal well-being. Toyota's CSR commitments extend beyond producing innovative vehicles, emphasizing its dedication to making a meaningful and positive impact on communities and the environment. Additionally, the assignment invites students to explore the dynamic and ever-evolving landscape of CSR within the business world. This entails examining Toyota's CSR journey, from its inception to its current state, and evaluating how it adapts to evolving consumer expectations and global trends. In conclusion, this case study report encapsulates an insightful exploration of Toyota's CSR project, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world business practices. By seamlessly integrating crucial topics such as "CSR Strategies," "Sustainability Integration," "Project Planning," and "Data Analysis," we ensure that this report not only serves as an educational resource but also adheres to best practices, making it readily discoverable and accessible to a diverse audience eager to unravel the captivating world of CSR within the context of a renowned automotive manufacturer like Toyota.
Tables of Contents
2. Project Management Plan: (P2, P3 & M1)
2.3. Milestones List or Schedule Management Plan:
2.4. Work Breakdown Structure:
4. Research Methods: (M2 & D1)
4.5. Participant and non-participant observation:
6. Assessments and Recommendations: (P6, M3)
7. My Own Learning and Performance: (P7)
8. Critical Evaluation: (M4 & D2)
Task 1:
This report intends to provide the assessment of Competitive Social Responsibility (CSR) policy at Toyota Inc. Toyota is working continuously since its foundation for the development of society. It is continuously manufacturing innovative and quality products to improve the living of people. This company is striving to provide best mobility to people with less pollution problems. The company listens to its customers carefully and designs policies according to their comments.
Organization and Structure of CSR at Toyota
The figure above shows the structure of CSR at Toyota. Toyota takes a keen interest in CSR, for this purpose different types of Meetings are held continuously. In Corporate Planning Meeting the basic corporate policies are decided as well as strategies are implemented for business enhancement and growth. The other meeting named Corporate Governance Meeting is held to have a look at corporate ethics of Toyota, its compliance and corporate governance as well as some issues and concerning risks are managed. This meeting also aims to plan and promote the CSR activities of Toyota.
Toyota is continuously working with the global society to contribute in social developments. Toyota is doing much working under its Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 program. These initiatives mostly include helping in solution of environmental issues, climatic changes, water shortage, depletion of resources and problems in biodiversity. Toyota is working with other organizations to work in such way that to keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2oC. Toyota is continuously adding more functions in its vehicles which help in reducing environmental problems and traffic causalities. Some of the main functions are reduction of harmful materials in vehicle wastes like smoke, oils and lubricants. Toyota is continuously working to improve its products in a way that they produce less harmful wastes. The Toyota’s CSR policy was established in January 2005 which was then revised in August 2008. Main aim of this company is to become a most admired and trusted company by society by ensuring that its employs strictly act according to CSR policy.
Corporate Principles of Toyota
The diagram above shows the overall structure of corporate principles implemented by Toyota. The overall policy intends to follow the Toyota Global Vision, on its basis medium and long-term management plans are designed and this vision is updated and communicated via annual directions in which global corporate policy is revised. The regular business activities are performed according to this structure and policies.
The aims and objectives of this research project are given bellow:
· This research aims to measure the performance of previous CSR policy.
· We will also try to get the answers about the effectiveness of this policy for competitive advantage.
· This project also aims to judge how the CSR policy of Toyota is changing the lives of different individuals in the society.
· We will also evaluate how efficiently the company is altering the living standards of individuals.
· We will also have a look at the competitive advantage Toyota have due to its CSR policy and how can it improve this advantage by improving the CSR policy.
· We will recommend some improvements and some new implementations in CSR policy for the company.
· We will also evaluate how these things will improve the performance of the company.
We will evaluate different scenarios from past CSR policy of the company to have a good understanding about how good these policies have performed. At the end we will present some recommendations to get better competitive advantage at Toyota using CSR.
The project manager of this project will have complete authority and responsibility in managing and executing the project according to the plan which will be stated in the start of this project. We will have different members in the team who will collect data and process it. Some of the team fellows will regulate and ensure the excellence of facts in this study and the other members will process and evaluate the collected data. At the end the project manager and other team members will design a list of improvements for the company which will be recommended to the company at the end of this research project. The team will use different techniques to collect data like surveys and questionnaires. The primary data will be derived from Toyota’s previous policy, surveys, questionnaires and annual CSR reports while secondary data will be driven from the primary data after assessment process. This data will then be processed and evaluated using different research techniques.
In this project the team will collect the data about the previous policies of the company and comments of all the stakeholders. In next step this data and comments will be evaluated and processed to get the final recommendations for future policy of the company. The company will finally present some recommendations and intended improvements to the company to get better competitive advantage over its competitors using more effective CSR policy.
All these stated steps will be performed by the team at McLeod and Partners internally and none of the parts of research will be conducted by any other company or person out of McLeod and Partners. The policy will only be recommended by the team and the process of implementation may also be described by the team but the implementation will totally be the responsibility of Toyota’s CSR team.
We have already defined and explained the complete process of this research project. This complete process has been divided into some major milestones. All these milestones may have some sub divisional parts in them. Every milestone will be completed in about a week. The major and minor milestones will be completely explained in Work breakdown Schedule (WBS). If any team member faced any delays in achieving his/her tasks in time they must notify the project directed before time. If there is any change in the milestone list, it will be immediately communicated to the project team by the project manager.
| Phase | Milestone | Description | C. Date |
| 1 | Listing different Initiatives of Toyota | In this phase all the past initiatives taken by Toyota will be listed in a file. | 3/19/18 |
| 2 | Collection of Comments about past CSR policy from all stakeholders | In this step the responses from all the stakeholders about Toyota’s past CSR policy will be collected using questionnaires, surveys and interviews. | 3/26/18 |
| 3 | Processing of collected data | In this phase the collected data and previous policy will be processed and will be arranged in a programmatic way. | 4/02/18 |
| 4 | Creating List of intended recommendations | Using the information being derived from the collected data the team will create a list of intended recommendations. | 4/09/18 |
| 5 | Reviewing the Recommendations for different Hypothetical Situations | In this phase we will review the recommendations for different Hypothetical situations. The team will consider different scenarios that may come along in different cases and will review the recommendations according to the scenarios using cause effect graphing techniques. | 4/16/18 |
| 6 | Collecting Comments about intended recommendations | The individuals will gather the comments of diverse participants about these intended recommendations using questionnaires, surveys and interviews. | 4/23/18 |
| 7 | Data Analysis | The data collected from the phase 5 & 6 i.e. from the testing and collection of comments phases will be evaluated. | 4/30/18 |
| 8 | Creating final recommendations list | In this phase the information derived from evaluation data will be used by the team to design the final recommendations list. | 5/07/18 |
| 9 | Stating the endorsements and final execution guide | the endorsements will be stated to the BOD and execution guide will be presented in the end | 5/14/18 |
The complete work package of this project consists of about 432 hours. This work package is divided milestones and every mile stone doesn’t exceed 48 hours or 6 days of work and these milestones are further divided into smaller milestones, every small milestone doesn’t exceed 8 hours of work. These work packages are further explained in Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and the timeline is also defined in WBS. Every task from these work packages will help the team in planning, completion and ensuring the quality of the results. This schedule was generated with the help of team members using the project charter. The schedule has been reviewed and approved by the authorities.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
| Phase | 3/19/18 | 3/26/18 | 4/02/18 | 4/09/18 | 4/16/18 | 4/23/18 | 4/30/18 | 5/07/18 | 5/14/18 |
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The team members will communicate during the whole process of this project according to the following plan:
| Communication Type | Description | Frequency | Format | Participants/ Distribution | Deliverable |
| Status Report | Project | 7 days | Email | All members | Status Report |
| Team Meeting | Action register review | 7 days | Personally | All members | Upgrade actions register |
| PMR | Metrics | 7 days | Personally | All team members and stakeholders | Presentation of Metrics and status |
| PGR | Project phase close presentation | As Needed | Personally | All team members and stakeholders | Phase report and next phase start |
| TR | Work review | As Needed | Personally | All members | Technical Review |
The project manager will manage and report the cost of the project throughout the process. The cost performance will be presented and reviewed during weekly project status meeting. For this purpose, the manager will use the complete expense and income values. The manager of project will be in charge to keep everything in the predesigned budget.
As the plan contains 9 phases as conveyed, total cost of the project will be divided into 9 parts according to the intended cost of every phase. Every payment will be granted at start of every phase. At the finish of every stage the cost will be evaluated according to the stated budget of every phase. Alteration in cost or performance below 10% will be considered as cautionary while the variance of above 15% will be considered as critical. These problems should immediately be reported to the project manager. In this scenario the team will need some corrections and these corrections will be approved by the CCB before implementation.
The members of research team will ensure the completion of project according to the predefined quality guidelines. The quality team and manager will approve a standard process for quality assurance and all the other members will strictly follow this process to ensure that complete process is followed strictly. If the manager and the specialists approved any change in the plan they will be responsible to communicate this change to all the team members.
The manager and specialists will define the standards to identify the risks and then the team members will help them to manage the risks on the way. The team members and managers will make sure to work proactively to avoid any risks ahead of time. In this project the risks will involve the risks like collection of wrong data or any manipulation in collected data. The team members will avoid this risk by assuring that the collection of data is completed very carefully and then it is processed efficiently. The risk managers will be responsible to update the team about the risks on periodic basis. At the end the managers will evaluate the results according to every risk. According to this analysis the project manager will state some improvements which will be required in future projects.
