Final Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview The final project for this course is the creation of an organizational quality plan in which you will focus on a quality issue experienced by a chosen company. Prompt The focus of the final project is to select a company that has endured quality issues and to develop an organizational quality plan. You may select a company that you currently work for or a prior employer. You may also select a well-known company that you are interested in. You are encouraged to select a company that has an ample amount of information available, whether that is through firsthand knowledge (an employer) or through research (a well-known company). The project is divided into two milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. Critical Elements The following critical elements must be addressed in your completed paper: 1. Company Background and History. Provide a brief company history that includes the company’s origins, founders, main products, and services, as well as the industries the company services. 2. Description of Quality Issue. Describe the quality issue and the impact the issue has had on the company. 3. Quality Culture. Describe the company’s quality culture and explain whether the culture played a part in the quality issue. 4. Voice of the Customer. Explain the impact the quality issue has had on the company’s customers and describe the customers’ reactions to the quality issue. 5. Change Management Plan. Provide a detailed plan that includes the following elements to bring about change within the company and to overcome the quality issue. a. Quality Theories. Explain which quality theories you would follow to bring about change and explain why you chose those theories. b. Quality Tools and Techniques. Identify at least three quality tools and techniques that you would implement to improve the company’s quality. c. Implementing Change. Explain the process and procedures you would take to implement these changes within the organization. d. Resistance to Change. Explain some of the potential challenges that may prevent implementation. 6. Expected Outcomes. Provide a summary of the expected outcomes and how these changes will impact the organizational quality culture. Milestone One: Proposal Milestones In task 2-2, you will identify the company you have chosen to research and write about, including company history, your rationale, and the company’s quality issue. This submission will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric. Milestone Two: Outline In task 5-2, you will submit a detailed outline of your final paper, including scholarly resources to be used. This submission will be graded pass/fail based on the Milestone Two Guidelines and Checklist document. Final Project Rubric Requirements of Submission: The final project submission should include a cover page, approximately six to eight ...

1. Final Project Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
The final project for this course is the creation of an
organizational quality plan in which you will focus on a quality
issue experienced by a chosen company.
Prompt
The focus of the final project is to select a company that has
endured quality issues and to develop an organizational quality
plan. You may select a company that
you currently work for or a prior employer. You may also select
a well-known company that you are interested in. You are
encouraged to select a company that has an ample amount of
information available, whether that is through firsthand
knowledge (an employer) or through research (a well-known
company).
The project is divided into two milestones, which will be
submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold
learning and ensure quality final submissions.
Critical Elements
The following critical elements must be addressed in your
completed paper:
1. Company Background and History. Provide a brief company
history that includes the company’s origins, founders, main
products, and services, as well as the industries the company
services.
2. Description of Quality Issue. Describe the quality issue and
the impact the issue has had on the company.
3. Quality Culture. Describe the company’s quality culture and

2. explain whether the culture played a part in the quality issue.
4. Voice of the Customer. Explain the impact the quality issue
has had on the company’s customers and describe the
customers’ reactions to the quality issue.
5. Change Management Plan. Provide a detailed plan that
includes the following elements to bring about change within
the company and to overcome the quality issue.
a. Quality Theories. Explain which quality theories you would
follow to bring about change and explain why you chose those
theories.
b. Quality Tools and Techniques. Identify at least three quality
tools and techniques that you would implement to improve the
company’s quality.
c. Implementing Change. Explain the process and procedures
you would take to implement these changes within the
organization. d. Resistance to Change. Explain some of the
potential challenges that may prevent implementation.
6. Expected Outcomes. Provide a summary of the expected
outcomes and how these changes will impact the organizational
quality culture.
Milestone One: Proposal
Milestones
In task 2-2, you will identify the company you have chosen to
research and write about, including company history, your

3. rationale, and the company’s quality issue. This submission will
be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.
Milestone Two: Outline
In task 5-2, you will submit a detailed outline of your final
paper, including scholarly resources to be used. This submission
will be graded pass/fail based on the
Milestone Two Guidelines and Checklist document.
Final Project Rubric
Requirements of Submission: The final project submission
should include a cover page, approximately six to eight pages of
content, and a reference page. The
paper must use double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman
font, and one-inch margins. You must include a minimum of
four scholarly sources, following APA
guidelines for citations and references.
Instructor Feedback: This activity uses an integrated rubric in
Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade
Center. For more information, review these instructions.
Critical Elements
Exemplary (100%)
Proficient (85%)
Needs Improvement (55%)
Not Evident (0%)
Value
Company
Background and
History
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
includes examples that illustrate all aspects of the company and
the critical elements
Describes the company’s
background and history in sufficient detail

4. Describes the company’s history
but with gaps in background
Does not describe the
company’s background and
credentials
9
Description of
Quality Issue
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
includes scholarly examples
Describes the company’s quality
issue in sufficient detail
Describes the company’s quality
issue but with gaps in the description
Does not describe the
company’s quality issue
9
Quality Culture
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
includes examples that illustrate aspects of the critical elements
Describes the company’s quality
culture in sufficient detail
Describes the company’s quality
culture but with gaps in in the description
Does not describe the
company’s quality culture
9
Voice of the
Customer
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
includes specific examples of the voice of the customer
Describes the voice of the
customer and the customers’
reactions with sufficient detail
Describes the voice of the
customer but with minimal detail on customers’ reactions

5. Does not describe the voice of
the customer or the reaction
7
Change
Management Plan
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
includes specific examples of the change management plan
Describes the change
management plan with sufficient detail and actions
Describes the change
management plan with minimal detail and actions
Does not describe the change
management plan
7
Quality Theories
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
includes specific elements of the quality theories
Describes the quality theories
that will be followed with sufficient detail
Describes the quality theories
that will be followed with minimal detail
Does not describe or address
the quality theories that will be followed
9
Quality Tools and
Techniques
Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides three or more quality
tools and techniques with specific examples and impact
Provides three quality tools and techniques with sufficient
detail about their impact
Provides fewer than three quality tools and techniques and/or
with minimal detail about their impact
Does not identify any quality tools or techniques and how they
can help the company

6. 18
Implementing
Change
Meets “Proficient” criteria and includes specific examples of
change implementation
Describes how the company will implement change with
sufficient detail
Describes how the company will implement change with
minimal detail
Does not describe how the company will implement change
6
Resistance to Change
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
includes specific examples of change resistance
Describes how the company
may resist change with sufficient detail
Describes how the company
may resist change with minimal detail
Does not describe how the
company will resist change
6
Expected Outcomes
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
includes specific examples of the expected outcomes
Describes the expected
outcomes with sufficient detail
Describes the expected
outcomes with minimal detail
Does not describe the expected
outcomes
10
Research
Provides more than four sources of scholarly research with
proper APA formatting
Provides three or four sources of scholarly research with proper
APA formatting

7. Provides one or two sources of scholarly research with proper
APA formatting
Provides no sources of scholarly research
5
Articulation of
Response
Submission is free of errors
related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization
and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format
Submission has no major errors
related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization
Submission has major errors
related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization
that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas
Submission has critical errors
related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization
that prevent understanding of ideas
5
Earned Total
100%
OL 324: Milestone Two Guidelines and Checklist
Prompt: Your Milestone Two submission will be a detailed
outline that must incorporate each critical element of the final
project. Use the checklist below as a guideline for each critical
element that must be covered in this outline. For the purpose of
this milestone, copy and paste the critical elements into an
outline and add one to two bullet items per critical element.
Each bullet item should serve as the basis of your information
for that critical element. The intent of this outline is to ensure
that you are on the right track for your final project. A
comprehensive outline will provide a solid foundation as you
develop and complete your final project.

8. This assignment will be graded pass/fail. You must address all
of the critical elements to receive credit for this assignment.
Requirements of Submission: Written components of this
project must follow these guidelines: double spacing, 12-point
Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and APA-style
citations.
Research: Include at least two of the four required sources of
research that you will incorporate into your final project. The
source of the research is all that is required for this outline.
Instructor Feedback: Students can find their feedback in the
Grade Center.
Checklist for Outline
Critical Elements
Are all elements covered?
If not, what is missing?
Instructor feedback
Company Background and History
Description of Quality Issue
Quality Culture
Voice of the Customer

9. Change Management Plan
Quality Theories
Quality Tools and Techniques
Implementing Change
Resistance to Change
Expected Outcomes
Research
Running head: TOYOTA QUALITY
1
TOYOTA QUALITY
6

10. Toyota Quality
Toyota Quality
Brief Company History
The company that I have chosen for my project is Toyota
Motors Manufacturing Company. This company has recently as
well as historically experienced quality issues. This company
started in 1933 as a division of the Toyota Automatic Loom
Works that specialized in the production of automobiles under
the control and direction of its founder Kiichiro Toyoda.
Kiichiro had traveled to Europe and to the US to search for
information on the production of automobiles in 1929. He
started his research on gasoline powered engines the following
year. The Japanese government encouraged the Toyota
Automatic Loom Works to develop their own automobile
production since the country was in need of domestically
produced vehicles. This was a necessity directly resulting from
war that Japan was involved in with China (Fujimoto, 1999).
In 1934, the division was able to produce its first type A engine
which was used in the production of the first model A1 and G1
passenger car and truck in 1935 respectively. The vehicle
produced resembled the Chrysler DeSoto and a Chevrolet sedan
(Toyota Motor Corporation). Through design or circumstance,
some of their parts were interchangeable with the American
originals. In 1937, the Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. is established as
an independent and separate company. The name changed from
Toyoda to Toyota because the new word had eight strokes. The
number eight was considered to be a lucky number to the
family’s culture which is East Asian.
After the war, the company was about to collapse. Instead, they

11. took a loan which helped it to revive and increase its sales once
more despite many challenges and obstacles. In the 1960’s the
company began to penetrate into the global market thus
establishing its presence worldwide through a large volume of
exports. This has currently made the company win a substantial
advantage over its competitors and also increased its market
share by a great extent.
Issues in Quality
Despite its large market share, the company has experienced
quality issues in the past for. Some of the quality issues in the
company were first signaled in 2009 in the United States due to
the problems arising from its floor mats. In October 2009, the
consumers of the company’s products were astonished after the
announcement of the recall of the Toyota vehicles which was
highly publicized. The recall was citing the quality issue on the
poorly placed and incorrect floor mats that were placed in the
vehicle under the driver’s seat. It was revealed after research
that these floor mats had a possibility of leading to uncontrolled
accelerations in a variety of the model of vehicles from the
company (Liker & Meier, 2006). The primary incident leading
to the recalling of the vehicles was triggered by the death of one
of the drivers. The death came as a result of a crash in
California after the accelerator of the vehicle, a Lexus Sedan,
got stuck in the mat. More information on unintended
acceleration, a direct result of the sticking gas pedal, made the
authorities in charge of the highway pressure the company. This
resulted in the recall of more models of vehicles in addition to
the initial 3.8 million vehicles recalled in the US.
There are other quality issues. One such quality problem that
the company has experienced in the past is fire hazard related;
there was a problem with brakes. The company had to recall
approximately 1.75 million vehicles to ensure the safety of
consumers. Among other quality concerns that the company has
experienced in the past was an improperly shaped part in the
braking system. This led to a change in the normal feel of the
brake pedal that consumers had become used to over time. This

12. problem adversely affected 802,000 vehicles which were mostly
used in China and Japan. These vehicles had been produced
from 2007 to June 2012. The company revealed that the braking
system was not defective, but its performance was likely to
degrade slowly thus reducing the quality and the
competitiveness of their products. Another quality matter in the
company was in the fuel delivery pipe and the fuel suction
plate. The company realized that the pipe installed in the
vehicles manufactured between January 2005 and September
2010 was not very safe as it was prone to increase the chances
of fire if they were exposed to an ignition source. The company
had to recall off about 759,000 vehicles which included the
Crown Majesta and Lexus models as they were the ones mostly
affected. About half of the affected vehicles had been sold to
the United States. The company had to recall vehicles that were
already in the market even though there were not any reports of
fires, injuries or even accidents that were linked to the problems
(Agence France-Presse, 2014).
Choice Rationale
There are a few reasons I chose this company for this research.
One reason deals with my personal interest in the company.
Toyota is known for lean manufacturing. The company I
currently work for has modeled some manufacturing ideas after
Toyota. I have done a bit of research on Toyota previously. A
second reason is because Toyota is a world leading motor
vehicle company known for producing quality vehicles in the
world. The company has a large market share which depicts its
popularity and the trust that the company has gained from its
consumers since its beginning. A third reason for choosing this
company is because it is a company that produces products
which are used by many people in the world. In doing so, its
failure to offer quality can have adverse effects by exposing the
lives of the consumers to risk. Seemingly, Toyota has been able
to ensure quality throughout the life cycle of the product to
include post customer delivery.

13. References
Agence France-Presse. (2014, October 15). Retrieved February
18, 2016, from Industry Week: Advancing the Business of
Manufacturing: http://www.industryweek.com/quality/new-
toyota-recall-targets-175-million-vehicles-3-separate-problems
Fujimoto, T. (1999). The Evolution of a Manufacturing System
at Toyota. New York: Oxford University Press.
Liker, J., & Meier, D. (2006). The Toyota Way Fieldbook: A
Practical Guide for Implementing Toyota's 4Ps. London:
McGraw-Hill.
Toyota Motor Corporation. (n.d.). Toyota Global Site. Retrieved
February 18, 2016, from History of Toyota: http://www.toyota-
global.com/company/history_of_toyota/