That Japanese corporate culture often conflicts with American management styles is partially due to a basic underlying assumption of Japanese culture.
Generally, Japanese companies offer lifetime employment subject to few layoffs.
Layoffs are much more common in the United States. North American managers are mostly trained at theory-based business schools that employment must be subject to corporate profitability and therefore is often short-term.
Japan: General Careers and Slow Promotions
Because many Japanese companies offer lifelong tenure, career paths in Japan are more general when contrasted with their much more specialized American counterparts. Also, job promotion is much slower in Japan with higher emphasis on age and seniority. Promotions for top performers in American firms are granted many times faster than in the Japanese system.
A major difference between Japanese and American mindsets is that Japan focuses on the long-term while Americans frantically chase short-term goals.
Japanese Corporate Decision-Making
U.S. executives sent to manage an American subsidiary in Japan might suffer culture shock if they try to assign corporate decision-making powers to individual Japanese managers.
That’s because Japanese businesses traditionally make decisions in groups. Responsibility for those decisions is shared collectively, unlike in America where individual managers are held accountable.
Japanese Employee Controls
Japanese management is much more focused on relationships with their employees than rules to ensure corporate goals are met. Therefore, Japanese performance control mechanisms are informal. Managers in Japan depend on the honour system to get work done, relying on their workers' trust and good will.
These informal employee controls come down to the fact that Japanese employers are concerned for their employees’ interests -- both at work and home with their families. American businesses mostly focus on their employees’ work lives.
Japan’s Guided Missile Project Culture
Alfons Trompenaar designed an organizational model based on Japan’s strong emphasis on equality in the workplace and the strong Japanese task orientation.
Trompenaar used the guided missile as a metaphor for Japanese corporate culture because of the following characteristics that distinguish businesses in Japan:
- Formal hierarchal considerations are given low priority.
- Teams and project groups are common.
- While individual expertise is important, all project team members are treated as equal.
- Japanese teams take a problem-centered approach to their tasks.
- The Japanese focus intently on the work with all members committed to the team goal.
- Japanese managers use extensive suggestion systems and quality circles to solicit employee feedback, and are always available to listen to team member concerns.
- Because supervisors and subordinates work closely together, changes are executed quickly.
Japan has successfully implemented its guided missile project culture around the world. For example, Japan’s Toyota automotive plant in Cambridge, Ontario (Canada) continuously encourages front-line workers to suggest improvements to Toyota’s component-based, vehicle assembly processes.
Toyota’s Canadian workers suggested recycling the plastic coverings used to cover vehicle windows and mirrors during the automated painting performed by giant robotic arms. Previously the plastic coverings were discarded in the trash, but recycling now saves the Japanese corporation millions of dollars. Canadian team members were rewarded with pay and credit for both their performance and problem solving.
References
This article presents independent calculations and insights based on geert-hofstede.com and research from International Management, Culture, Strategy and Behavior (6th edition, Hodgetts-Luthans-DOH) as well as Charles Hampden-Turner and Alfons Trompenaars’ The Seven Cultures of Capitalism.
Daniel Workman - A senior business and finance writer who also does French translations, notably international trade and insurance materials.
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