6. Conclusion
Due to the fact that there is no single coordination mechanism that is best fit in managing
large and complex organization, a number of coordination mechanisms are concurrently put
into practice so that the MNC can efficiently achieve localization while remaining
competitive in the globalization. To manipulate various subsidiaries among their group
between Japan and Thailand Toyota apply a variety of coordination mechanisms within their
company. In Thailand, the structural mechanism obviously takes part as the fundamental
formation of the organizational structure. Toyota remarkably use of departmentalization as
the structure to manage the business entity according to function and responsibility. The
critical scrutinize regarding centralization or decentralization of decision making is become
blurred since Toyota to some extent delegate the decision authority to its subsidiaries while
the final exclusive decision remain at the headquarters. In addition, the formal written
policies together with standard production system considerably utilize in Toyota subsidiaries
so that its affiliates follow the same principle and maintain the same Toyota standard. To
achieve the same goal, planning in the form of the strategic planning, regional target goal as
well as reward are used as guideline to accomplish the goal. To control the performance of
the company, output control is one of the tools that Toyota use to motivate the performance
of their employee as well as subsidiaries. However, the hierarchical or behavioral control is
coexisting to ensure the employee act in order to fulfill the best performance. The optimum
control is to mix between output and behavioral control so that the finest advantage is
achieved.
Likewise, the informal or subtle mechanisms are broadly promoted within the Toyota
organization. The lateral or cross department communication visibly seen by the messy
organization that employee have to communicate or coordinate with other departments or the
same department in the region among functional and geographical line simultaneously to
undertake the work. The establishment of regional headquarters in Thailand (TMAP-EM) is
one of the cases that put forward lateral communication as the network of exchange in the
region required the lateral communication among the concern departments. Besides, the
informal communication plays as vital mechanism in the organization. The present of
Japanese as employees and also coordinators make possible the informal exchange of idea
between Toyota Thailand and Japan that finally facilitate the subsidiaries action and decision
in line with those of headquarters. Last but not least, socialization regard as informal control
of behavior that extensively exercise in Toyota by mean of socialize employees with
philosophies since starting their work with Toyota until personal development through
training coursed provided so that every employees bearing the same Toyota’s value.
To sum up, there is no particular coordination mechanism that perfectly governs the large and
complex multinational corporation. The combination of several well organized methods is
efficient approach to manage such a complex organization. In various ways, the eight groups
of coordination mechanisms are commonly applied in the organization. The structural as well
as informal coordination mechanisms are being used in Toyota organization to facilitate the
collaboration between headquarters and distance subsidiaries.
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7. Implications
Due to the time constrain, this research focus only on the coordination of Toyota organization
between Japan and Thailand operations. However, there is a need to enhance the study of
coordination mechanism in broader area for instance, the whole Asian region countries as
well as other regions. In addition, the further research on the comparison of coordination
mechanisms and organizational structure between each region can be an interesting point of
study area. However this study require substantial timing lot to implement the research.