Difference between Japanese and US management
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American Management Systems!
(i) Comparison of Managers:
A study conducted by Haire Ghisell, and Porter show that Japanese managers are quite different from other managers generally and from American managers specifically.
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Japanese managers (when compared to American managers) are more apt to embrace reciprocal participative attitudes and values and to perceive higher levels of self actualization flowing from their roles and positions.
Japanese managers, more than American managers, have internalized organizational goals concerning high productivity, organizational growth and organizational stability. The behavioural relevance of personal goals achievement and creativity is higher for Japanese managers while the behavioural relevance of job satisfaction and individuality is higher for American managers.
(II) Comparison of Workers:
Japanese workers have greater trust and acceptance of management decisions concerning application of practices and policies than do American workers. Japanese workers value working at high levels of capacity and assisting other workers to a greater extent than do American workers, and that this difference is increasing over time.
High level of work effort and commitment, organizational involvement and cooperation, acceptance, and trust in management policies and practices — all are the norm of Japanese workers; they are not for American workers.
(iii) Comparison of Societies:
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Japanese people endorse social norms whereby uncertainty is reduced through systems of rules leading to stability. The Japanese tend to view themselves in collective terms rather than in individual terms. These are the elements of Japanese social norms which are very consistent with theory Z of management as described by Ouchi. Americans score in the opposite direction, high on individuality and low on uncertainty avoidance and it is hardly consistent with theory Z management practices.
Conclusions and Implications:
The real differences between Japan and the United States in general social values and norms and in manager and worker belief systems concerning work raise serious questions about widespread transferability of Theory Z management to the United States.
In Japan, Theory Z practices are consistent with the general social norms and are generally supported by the actions of labour organisations and governmental bodies. Japanese organisations form a highly consistent and integrated theoretical framework whose application works well in the Japanese setting.
American management has not found an internally consistent framework of management practices that develops long term employee involvement, and our productivity suffers from this. Thus, Theory Z management is not likely to become the accepted norm in American companies to the extent it has in Japan.
The theory Z as given by Professor William Ouchi simply suggests that involved workers are the key to increased productivity. Such workers in large Japanese organizations result from an internally consistent set of norms, practices, and behaviours which are grounded in trust and interpersonal intimacy.
Japanese organizations foster life time employment, slow evaluation and promotion, non- specialized career paths, implicit control mechanisms, collective decision making, collective responsibility, and holistic concern in internally consistent ways which produce worker’s involvement and thus higher productivity. This is the Japanese way according to Ouchi and it is theory Z way in which some American Organizations now seem to operate.
(i) Comparison of Managers:
A study conducted by Haire Ghisell, and Porter show that Japanese managers are quite different from other managers generally and from American managers specifically.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Japanese managers (when compared to American managers) are more apt to embrace reciprocal participative attitudes and values and to perceive higher levels of self actualization flowing from their roles and positions.
Japanese managers, more than American managers, have internalized organizational goals concerning high productivity, organizational growth and organizational stability. The behavioural relevance of personal goals achievement and creativity is higher for Japanese managers while the behavioural relevance of job satisfaction and individuality is higher for American managers.
(II) Comparison of Workers:
Japanese workers have greater trust and acceptance of management decisions concerning application of practices and policies than do American workers. Japanese workers value working at high levels of capacity and assisting other workers to a greater extent than do American workers, and that this difference is increasing over time.
High level of work effort and commitment, organizational involvement and cooperation, acceptance, and trust in management policies and practices — all are the norm of Japanese workers; they are not for American workers.
(iii) Comparison of Societies:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Japanese people endorse social norms whereby uncertainty is reduced through systems of rules leading to stability. The Japanese tend to view themselves in collective terms rather than in individual terms. These are the elements of Japanese social norms which are very consistent with theory Z of management as described by Ouchi. Americans score in the opposite direction, high on individuality and low on uncertainty avoidance and it is hardly consistent with theory Z management practices.
Conclusions and Implications:
The real differences between Japan and the United States in general social values and norms and in manager and worker belief systems concerning work raise serious questions about widespread transferability of Theory Z management to the United States.
In Japan, Theory Z practices are consistent with the general social norms and are generally supported by the actions of labour organisations and governmental bodies. Japanese organisations form a highly consistent and integrated theoretical framework whose application works well in the Japanese setting.
American management has not found an internally consistent framework of management practices that develops long term employee involvement, and our productivity suffers from this. Thus, Theory Z management is not likely to become the accepted norm in American companies to the extent it has in Japan.
The theory Z as given by Professor William Ouchi simply suggests that involved workers are the key to increased productivity. Such workers in large Japanese organizations result from an internally consistent set of norms, practices, and behaviours which are grounded in trust and interpersonal intimacy.
Japanese organizations foster life time employment, slow evaluation and promotion, non- specialized career paths, implicit control mechanisms, collective decision making, collective responsibility, and holistic concern in internally consistent ways which produce worker’s involvement and thus higher productivity. This is the Japanese way according to Ouchi and it is theory Z way in which some American Organizations now seem to operate.
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