Jan 26, 2010
What we can learn from Japanese management. (Drucker, 1971)
What we can learn from Japanese management. (Drucker, 1971)
Drawing on lesssons learnt from Japanese managers, this article addresses the problems of (1) effective decision making, (2) harmonizing productivity with other needs, and (3) developing young managers.
> Decisions By Consensus
The Japanese are famous for decisions by consensus. Westerners dread consensus – they view it as slow and leading to compromised outcomes. The history of Japan shows, however, that Japanese-style decision making can lead to sharp changes in direction – as abrupt or more so than the Western model.
* Focusing on the problem
Japanese and Western concepts of ‘making a decision’ are fundamentally different – the Japanese focus on problem definition the West on problem solving. The process of definition is long and usually involves many areas of the organization.
* Undertaking action
At the point a Westerner would call a decision, the Japanese calls the ‘action stage’ – an answer to the problem is chosen by management but it is already obvious to everyone.
* Increased effectiveness
Reaching a decision takes longer than in the West, but once the decision is made the implementation is very efficient (there is no need to gaing post-decision buy-in and no worrying about insider sabotage). During the problem definition stage most alternatives will be considered and this means that once action is decided it is certain (although, of course, not necessarily correct).
* Improved focus
Such a long proces means that big decisions are focused on and time is not wasted on trivial matters (even when it may be needed).
> Security and Productivity
* Myths and realities
It is true that most employees, once hired have almost complete job security – but (1) women are always considered temporary workers, (2) in traditional Japanese businesses workers are hired and paid by the hour, and (3) even in modern industries about 20% of workers are classed as temporary.
Japan’s labor force and costs are very flexible due to the way they treat their older workers (in particular hiring them back as temporary workers when they ‘retire’ at age 55).
* Meeting workers’ needs
While young and old American workers worry about job and income security, both age groups feel secure in Japan. Young men feel they can count on steadily rising pay and older workers can continue working and feel valuable even after they retire.
* More meaningful benefits
The West needs to understand how to tailor benefits to specific groups rather than applying them equally across the board.
* Willingness to change
Because jobs are secure there is more willingness to change in Japanese organizations. Continuous training throughout ones working life, and job rotation are also factors.
* Built-in advantages
Improvements in work quality and procedures are built into the Japanese system – the participants in training understand that the onus is on them to work out how to make what they just learned better. Further, Japanese workers keep learning – working smarter not harder.
* Lifetime training concept
Japanese have a different attitude towards work – what is done is not so different from the West, but the point which the West sees as the end, the Japanese see as the beginning.
* ‘Generalist’ vision
There is great freedom of movement between departments within organizations. Continuous training in all areas of the company facilitates this.
* Adapting the concept
While Japan’s method of starting at bottom and working up through continuous training means that people who have gone to graduate school may be considered too old and inflexible to work in a company, the system does have things to teach the West. Workers should be trained/educated in a wide range of disciplines as opposed to the specialist focus of the West.
> Care and Feeding Of The Young
* Appraisal and assignment
From the outside the Japanese system does not look like it would produce strong leaders. Employees know that their jobs are secure no matter how poorly they perform. Performance appraisal seems absent, and pay raises are based on seniority. At age 45, employees are split into those who are going to be top management and those who are not.
* Informal evaluators
It is hard to understand how this system has bred such strong and aggressive managers, but the training and development of young managers is the responsibility of top management because of the systems of lifetime employment and seniority based pay – this is taken care of by an informal network of senior middle-managers, ‘godfathers’.
* Managerial godfathers
‘Godfathers’ are not direct superiors, but are responsible for the ‘upbringing’ of employees. this is a very informal process, but based on some factors like, for example, the university one has graduated from. The godfather puts in a ‘quiet word’ with the powers that be, directing the course of the employee’s career.
* An outsider’s glimpse
A description of Drucker’s experience of being a ‘temporary godfather’.
* Implications for the West?
Human contact is important, even though relationships in the West are in general less formal than those in Japan. Direct superiors cannot fill this role as they are conditioned to be focused on their own work and not letting ‘good workers’ leave their departments. Japanese style management shows a way to fufill this need.
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