HBR Issue: January/February 2010
Article Title: How to Bounce back from Adversity by Joshua D. Margolis and Paul G. Stolz
Toyota Motor Corporation, which had attained global leadership in the automobile industry due to reputation for quality and reliability, was forced to admit safety problems in some of its models and recall those cars in early 2010 in order to fix the safety issues. Discuss how the top management of the company could adopt response-oriented thinking in such an adverse situation. Also, describe how adoption of this approach will benefit the company more than that of cause-oriented thinking.
Resilience Regimen
Human nature is to immediately respond based on the gut feeling whenever any adversity that strikes. Results are that we become angry and disappointed, ranting and raving about the issues, fear and anxious of the future. People commonly fall and react into emotional traps. One is deflation and the other is victimization.
The new headquarters of the Toyota Motor Corporati...
Toyota Corsa "Sophia"
English: Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Co...Deflation normally puts a successful person who has only tasted success all through his life when he faces a sudden issue or a problem that he never faced. It creates a situation of not knowing what to do next and we feel disappointed in ourselves, mistreated and even besieged. On the other hand Victimization puts us in a helpless situation and we start blaming others as the reasons for the issues and play a victims role. Self-doubt may creep in.
Many people will start to take control of things by looking in to the reasons why the crisis occurred. However in this way looking in to the past, we can get in to a negative emotional state, which can cripple our thinking and not help us to find the right solution.
When we experience any crisis, make decisions based on our past beliefs, experiences and quick...