Japan has been famous for its work culture that global enterprises can learn and adapt for their business growth and solidification of their own culture. Below are 25 most interesting things about Japanese business culture shared by those having spent years working for Japanese companies. Explore them and you will see why those practices are so effective; they have positively changed people’s behavior.
1. If a Japanese worker says he can complete the job, he will work his best and deliver exceptional results.
It is commonplace that many employees claim to be able to complete a certain task even when it apparently exceeds their capabilities. By contrast, the Japanese accept the job at hand modestly whilst producing exceptional results.
2. From a Japanese perspective, customer is God.
While Westerners tend to follow the ideology that the customer and customer service are on an equal footing. This is rooted from the idea that customers exchange money for the service and the view that both are equal components. Still, in Japan, the customer service is considered paramount, which also brings the benefit of keeping customers happy and maintaining healthy mutual relations.
3. The Japanese don’t see the company conference room as a place for discussion but somewhere to report progress.
From the Westerner’s viewpoint, a conference room is a place for discussion about the current work projects and reach a conclusion about something. For the Japanese, the meeting room is dedicated for employees to represent their status reports. This is, to some extent, a positive approach for product efficiency. Indeed, contacting the involved parties, and reaching a decision prior to the meeting can bring the benefit of making everything go more seamlessly in the meeting itself.
4. A delay on decision making isn’t a reflection of a Japanese person’s inefficiency.
Undeniably, the Japanese often take time to reach a decision, but this, by no means, reflects inefficiency. Rather, it is related to the difference in the decision making process. They will see all the risks and chances of their decision and how it affects the overall result. Their decisions are really cautious, and sometimes slower than U.S enterprises. The stages of decision making are backed by plentiful meetings and documentation. This would minimize error and bring consistency at all levels. Their spirit of striving for high quality is admirable.
5. Alcohol let many Japanese reveal their true thoughts though, drinking with business colleagues is also deemed as work.
From a Westerners’ viewpoint, a beer with your fellow workers after a hard working day is just something that you do with those that you are close with. Still, it is recommended for anyone working in Japan to exert a positive effort to go drinking with their subordinates. That’s because alcohol help relax and enables people to share opinions that they keep to themselves in the working place. During the daytime conference meeting, a subordinate might have seemed to agree with a decision, but after some drinks, it becomes clear that his feelings are otherwise. Indeed, speaking what is on your mind doesn’t harm your reputation and it definitely doesn’t make anyone get mad at you.
6. Prefer face-to-face communications
While in the U.S, contacting clients via email or on the phone seems more natural in developing business relationships, the Japanese respect meeting each other face to face. That is important for their conducting business relationships.
7. Don’t make excuse but fix the problem
The Japanese don't make excuse for the fault but...
The Japanese train their employees not to blame but find out the problem and fix it. Nobody never makes mistake throughout their life, and what is different is that you accept the mistake, find ways to correct it and avoid the recurred ones. That’s what the Japanese have in their working styles.
The Japanese have no interest in laying blame. Instead, when talking about why something is going wrong, they are calm and focus on solving the problems. This way makes employees feel part of the team and work far harder to get the team out of the predicament.
8. Don’t rest on your laurels
Don’t expect that the Japanese will praise and acknowledge you for certain achievement. They are not just interested in the absolute results but the process and how you can do it better next time. This is seen as part of the Kaizen process (also, continuous improvement).
For the Japanese, Kaizen is not only seen in the context of quality control. In many areas, they plan something, do it, see the result and determine how it could be done better. The Westerners tend to be task oriented. They set a goal and strive to attain it. Meanwhile, the Japanese consider seeing the result as an opportunity to reflect and learn. Both the Westerners and Japanese may set the same target and both hit it. But when the Japanese rock it, they keep going, while the Westerners tend to stop and rest on their laurels before they pursue the next goal. So the Japanese achieve more, in the end. They continuously strive for perfection.
Still, when it comes to employee motivation, it’s not really a good idea to withhold praises. Most of us respond better to constructive criticism when it’s balanced with certain thanks and compliments.
9. Stay focused
Like Japanese artists, Japanese businessmen prefer to improve something they are already doing. Most of Japanese artists choose a subject or a style, and stick with it forever. For example, Yoshiharu Kimura – a wood-block artist, has done nothing but birds for over 20 years. Shigeki Kuroda – a printmaker, has dedicated 10 years to depicting just bicycles and umbrellas in every conceivable permutation. Those artists consistently enhance their work by staying focused and applying Kaizen technique. Toshiba is striving to be a king of PC laptop, and they strive for that mission and have no intention of going into another area.
10. Quantify everything
Quantify the goal
The Japanese insist on quantifying everything, even intangible ones. They take management by numbers and don’t completely trust personal judgment.
11. Know the whole person
Many business visitors to Japan are struck by how easily Japanese people can change gears. They intensely grappled with heavy duty business problems during the day, but at night, they completely drop the subject and socialize. They get to know each other as whole people, which is important to business relationships. This develops trusts and makes communication far easier.
12. Get people to buy into the decision
The Japanese try to get everyone to buy into decision, which seem a royal waste of time. But it isn’t. When people buy in, they buy in with commitment. When you finally settle on one idea, all the players feel they own the idea. They are all equally determined to realize that idea. You may lose more time in the beginning getting everyone focused though, things will move quickly after that.
13. Structured working styles
Most Japanese enterprises work regular office hours, and they don’t permit working at home. The working environment is set like the school class that the department head is at the top of a desk row. They are often group oriented without walls, cubicles, closeness.
Replies to This Discussion