Jul 15, 2009
A comparison of U.S. and Japanese management styles and unit effectiveness (Culpan and Kucukemiroglu, 1993)
A comparison of U.S. and Japanese management styles and unit effectiveness (Culpan and Kucukemiroglu, 1993)
“The findings indicate that U.S. and Japanese management style differ significantly both in overall management styles and in each of the six dimensions. They also show that managerial perception of departmental (unit) effectiveness in each country differs significantly.”
> Model for Management Style and Unit Effectiveness
Six Principal Dimensions of Management Style:
(1) Supervision Style
(2) Decision Making
(3) Communication Pattern
(4) Control Mechanism
(5) Interdepartmental Relations
(6) Paternalistic Orientation
> Hypotheses
H1: Management style differs between the U.S. and Japan
H2: U.S. and Japan managers consider and place differing degrees of emphasis each dimension.
H3: U.S. perception of unit effectiveness differs from that of Japanese.
> Method
Sample: Top and middle managers from U.S. and Japanese manufacturing firms.
Questionnaire: Questions about manager characteristics, managements style, and unit effectiveness.
> Results
Management styles and perception of managerial dimensions differ significantly. U.S. managers emphasize supervisory style, decision making, and control mechanism. Japanese managers emphasize communication pattern, interdepartmental relations and paternalistic orientation. Further, Japanese managers consider their units more effective than U.S. managers do, and with less variance. Management styles are opposite in each of the six dimensions.
American managers: Emphasize results, are less participative and focus on individual responsibility and top-down decision making. Control mechanisms based on close supervision and formal control are favored.
Japanese managers: Favor open, face-to-face communication which reduces barriers to information flow. Interdepartmental communication is fostered . Paternalistic orientation is high – managers show concern for employees’ non-work situation.
The results suggest that U.S. managers should transform some of their managerial styles for better performance. In particular: a more democratic supervisory style, consideration of both decision results and process, more power to employees to identify causes of problems and fix them – that is, more employee involvement.
On the other hand, as Japanese firms come into more contact with Western companies some of their management styles may change – for example more individualism, merit-based rewards and a reduction in the importance of the lifetime employment system.
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