| Features of Jpn corporate management style (by Department or Function) | ||
| A. References | ||
| Hunt and Targett, 1995 | The Japanese Advantage? | (Butterworth Heinemann) |
| Itoh, 1992 | The Japanese Economy | (MIT) |
| Sakakibara, 1995 | (Touyou-keizai Shinpousya) | |
| Takahashi, 1997 | (Nippon Keizai Hyouronsya) | |
| Taplin, 1995 | Decision-making and Japan | (Japan Library) |
| B. General features of Japanese mgmt style | ||
| Main feature | Corporate family | Organizaitona-based employment relationship (OER) [as against Market-based employment relationship (MER)] |
| intra-firm coordinaiton, harmony and conformity | ||
| The corporate relationship has (Jpn-style) obligations for both of the company and employees. | The company provides benefits, security and welfare during and after the employees' working lives: | lifetime employment |
| promotion and salary based on seniority | ||
| consensus decision making | ||
| enterprise unions | ||
| company housing | ||
| on-the-job training | ||
| pension and other benefits | ||
| sports and recreational facilities | ||
| In return, the employees are expected to be: | loyal to the firm | |
| diligent and working hard. | ||
| Nemawashi = consensus decision making | (literally) the process of separating and binding plant roots to revent damage while replanting. | consensus decision-making, as against the 'top-down' decision making in the Western firms. |
| similar to lobbying in Western mangmt. | Nemawahi is a verbal lobbying which ensures that managers at similar seniority levels can communicate with each other, while having an input into the decision-making process. | |
| In business practice, all relevant parties who will be affected by a decsion are alerted in advance. | Harmony and conformity within a group | |
| Ringi system | When feelings and ideas can be coverted into a written proposal, a document (ringishyo) is prepared by a middle-level manager and circulated to colleagues. | |
| Individuals signify agreement by stamping a personal seal (hanko) on the ringishyo document. | ||
| The system of preparing a written ringisho document allows managers at low levels to inform their superiors of 'grassroots' feeling. | ||
| When used in conjunction, the nemawashi and ringi systems ensure that corporate mgt at both horizontal and vertical levels are kept fully informed. | ||
| Nemawashi means that middle-level managers have the opportunity to put their viewpoint to their superiors, i.e., they keep their superiors informed and avoid any unexpected surprises. | ||
| Decision-making boundaries: | the lack of functional boudaries | Jpn companies tend to have looser distinctions of functional activity. |
| Generalist rather than sepcialist skills are seeked. | ||
| Once recruited by a company, an employee may follow a varied career path, which requires him to serve in a variey of functions. | ||
| Task sharing and team work | The natural ability of the Jpn to organize themselves into working groups; the propnesity of Jpn workers to work as a combined effort. | |
| Jpn office: The close proximity and physical layout of desks encourage team working and constant communication between staff and section heads. | ||
| Work allocated to sections are to be shared between teams of severral members so that no individual has the burdent of responsibility for the work. | ||
| This promotes egalitarianism among various levels of the personnel (while hierachy based on age and seniority is being preserved). | ||
| enterprise unions | ||