How did Toyota-inspired management practices help Wipro improve operational efficiency and competitiveness?

"With multibillions in revenues, thousands of employees, and a U.S.-traded stock that advanced 230 percent in a two-year period, Wipro is a star of India’s burgeoning information technology industry. The company’s paperwork processing operations bear a clear resemblance to a Toyota plant. Two shifts of young people line long rows of tables. At the start of each shift, team leaders discuss the day’s goals and divide up tasks. And just like in a Toyota factory, electronic displays mounted on the walls shift from green to red if things get bogged down. This obsession with management efficiency has helped India become the back-office operation for hundreds of Western companies, resulting in the transfer of many thousands of jobs offshore. “If the Indians get this right, in addition to their low labor rates, they can become deadly competition,” says Jeffrey K. Liker, a business professor at the University of Michigan and author of The Toyota Way , a book about Toyota’s lean manufacturing techniques. If Kurien’s management initiatives succeed, experts may soon be extolling the Wipro way. Critical Thinking Questions 1. What type of manager is T. K. Kurien? How would you characterize his leadership style? 2. What managerial role does T. K. Kurien assume in his approach to attaining his division’s goal of improved customer service? 3. What management skill sets does he exhibit?"