Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results

Summary of Part III

Part III explains Toyota’s improvement kata, the fundamental approach for continuously improving and evolving throughout the organization. The improvement kata cannot be described in a few sentences, but now that it has been explained in Part III, it can be summarized with the simple diagram in Figure P3-3.

The improvement kata operates within an overall sense of long-term direction, which may represent an ideal state that might not ultimately be achievable. It is a direction giver. From day to day, however, the improvement kata often operates within the scope of a nearer and more specific target or need.

Figure P3-3. The improvement ...