Crisis Within an Organization - Research Paper Example

The facts of the crisis shall first be set forth and laid out, including the facts which gave rise to the crisis and the facts relating to individuals in the organization and their response to the crisis. It shall discuss the extent to which the organization had a code of conduct or set of principles, statement of values, or policies in place in order to respond to the crisis. Finally, this paper shall assess whether the individual decision-makers within the organization acted in a morally responsible manner.

In 2000, Toyota launched its ‘Construction of Cost Competitiveness for the 21st Century’ program which was meant to cut the costs of 180 key car parts by 30 percent, with the aim of saving about $10 billion by the year 2005 (Kim & Bailey “Article”). In February of 2004, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) initiated a review of complaints on electronic throttle control malfunction on the Lexus ES300; the investigation was resolved without a finding of defect in the vehicle (Kim & Bailey “Article”).

At about the same time, Private Insurer State Farm informed the NHTSA of some incidents on unintended acceleration in 2002 and 2003 Lexus ES300 and the Toyota Camrys (Kim & Bailey “Article”). By the end of the year, similar complaints added up to 20% of all unintended acceleration incidents in 2004. Another investigation by the NHTSA was conducted on August 2005 on the 2002-2005 models of the Camry, Solara, and Lexus ES300; and still no defect findings were found by the NHTSA (Kim & Bailey, “Article”).

When global recalls on Toyota cars increased in 2006, Toyota head Katsuaki Watanabe issued an apology, citing quality glitches on some of its cars. Consequently, Toyota models were delayed for about a year (Kim & Bailey, “Article”). In March of 2007, another investigation by the NHTSA was initiated, this time on pedal entrapment concerns on the