LA Times: Toyota's Fractured Structure May be at Root of Safety Problems

Toyota's fractured structure may be at root of safety problems - latimes.com

"The fact that Toyota's quality and safety problems have affected almost every model in its line suggests that the automaker has a systemic management problem, said Robert Bea, a UC Berkeley professor who is studying the Toyota situation in a graduate-level engineering class. Bea, who has accumulated about 800 case studies of corporate and government-agency meltdowns, said the cultural and organizational problems affecting Toyota are similar to those that allowed NASA and the Army Corps of Engineers to ignore structural issues leading to the Columbia space shuttle and Hurricane Katrina disasters.

"It's what I call arrogance, indolence and ignorance," Bea said. "With those three, you have an explosive combination.""