An Investigation of Japanese Corporate Culture, Its Trends And Changes Essay Example For Students

An Investigation of Japanese Corporate Culture, Its Trends And Changes Essay An Investigation of Japanese Corporate Culture, Its Trends And ChangesJapanese Business Culture bus 258.1Table of Contents1.0 Introduction2.0 Procedure3.0 Findings3.1 Changing social culture. 3.2 Business Culture in Japan3.3 Why change is needed3.4 What is Japan and her corporations doing to develop and change4.0 Conclusion5.0 BibliographyJapanese Business CultureAn investigation Japanese corporate culture, itstrends and changes.1.0 IntroductionThis report is based around the followingquote: Japans corporate culture is the product of uniquely Japanese social andhistorical influences, so deeply rooted as to easily repel outside influences. Bur Japanese corporations need to change their basic goals. This report willdiscuss nature of corporate culture in Japan, and why change is needed. Themaximum length is 2,000 words2.0 Procedure The report was produced using library based research because ofthe time scale and cost. The sources used include text books, journals andnewspapers.. The references have been made Harvard Style and can be found inthe Bibliography. 3.0 Findings The Japanese business culture has been described by Beedham as aculture that acts like a clan, in that there is a large amount of authoritygiven to the man at the top, and in the commitment that is shown by the peoplearound him, Beedham points out that this can be evident in the way that theircar factories, investment banks and government ministries are ran. This clan-like-behaviour has the effect of making decision making painfully slow,with compromises having to be met in all directions, but this is starting tochange, as the people of Japan are starting to change and have differentpriorities. These changes can be put down to several factors that are changingin Japanese society as a whole. 3.1 Changing social culture. The increasing and speeding up of urbanisation isone way in which corporate culture is being changed. Because of thisurbanisation there is less commitment to groups as people become more individualand have their own priority in life. Marriage and family ties are also startingto loosen. Links between children, parents and grandparents are not the same asthey were ten years ago. The greatest impact on peoples commitment to their work is money. As theJapanese become richer, they are starting to see that there is a lot more tojust working every hour possible. With this extra money they have been giventhe opportunity to make friends out of the workplace and focus on otheractivities such as clubbing, music, football etc. and they are seeing sparetime differently. But this is only taking place on the outside edge of Japanesesociety and the core of Japan which includes the big businesses, are stilloperating in the traditional way of life and it has been estimated that it willtake a further fifty years before a new way of living and lifestyle becomes thenorm. (Beedham)3.2 Business Culture in JapanBusiness Culture is said to be the product of the mind and is often describedas: how we do things round here. (source unknown) Before describing thecorporate culture within Japan it is useful to understand the corporate culturein the West as a comparison.In the West, busin ess is simply about profitseeking. Its Managers and workers are there to increase profit for the owners ofa corporation. The employees are evaluated by how much of a contribution theymake towards the generating of this profit. The Western corporation is designedlike a profit machine and operated like a profit machine. Within the Japanese business world, the corporation is not seen as been therefor just profit. Profit is important, but it is not the only reason for thecompanys existence, but involves people and their future. The community factoris as important, and sometimes more important than, short term profitability. The Japanese business people see their company as a community, this communityhas within in it people who happen to live together by working together. Thecompany is a living society which needs profit as sustenance for growth. Western Europe and China, has seen many revolutions throughout their history inareas such as their religions, politics, industry and culture. When theserevolutions occur new system of thinking replaced the old, sometimes thesechanges are forced upon the population. It was not so in Japan, where newsystem of thought, whether made internally or introduced from abroad, was addedto or mixed with what was the current ideal. Endangered species Act EssayDuring this period, world responsibility for a series of key RD projects wasswitched away from its headquarters in Tokyo to the US, France and Britain. Since this there have been more Japanese corporation follow this lead. (FT 96Nov 18 page 14)It is generally accepted that because of the structure and culture withinJapanese corporations that their RD is not as effective as it could be, aseverything is from the grass roots up. The people at the bottom of the chainare asked and checked and so on. This is the reason behind these changes. The Prime Minister of Japan, Ryutaro Hashimoto, has said that he wants to putin place far-reaching financial reforms. A great surprise to all was the ideathat the Ministry ofFinance, which is the very heart of Japans bureaucratic oligarchy, should bebroken up. With the policy ideas of Ryutaro Hashimoto concerning deregulation, there hasseen a mobile phone boom, a lowering in air fares and the establishment ofJapans first proper supermarketsIn the corporate sector, cross-shareholdings are to be slowly dissolved, and abig change is in the perception that corporation have on profit. Companies arenow starting to set targets for their financial returns. (FT 96 Dec 02 page20)4.0 ConclusionThe Japanese business culture is very different from that in western countriesand China and this is a consequences of their history. Japan has never beeninvaded but different ideologies, religions and ways of thinking have beinterwoven into the Japanese character. There is however change occurring within the Japanese social structure. This ismainly down to the speeding up of urbanisation and this has the knock on effectof changing the corporate culture slightlyJapanese corporations are not seen as been there for just profit. Profit isimportant, but it is not the only reason for the companys existence, butinvolves people and their future. This is however changing with corporationsstarting to set financial targets for themselves and cut costs. Ways in which the Japanese corporate culture is starting to change can be foundin the way that promotions are decided. In the past seniority meant everythingand no some positions are given on merit. Also, management positions arestarting to be taken up by foreigners, as well as RD relocation outside Japan. Japanese politics are also helping in the change of culture. Deregulation andliberalisation promote a more dynamic organisation culture and structure butthese developments need backing up with further proposals to deregulate andpromote entrepreneurship5.0 BibliographyBrian Beedham, Tomorrows Japan, The Economist, July 13th 1996 Various Internetarticle with no title or author. FT 96 Dec 05 page 6/ Survey JapaneseIndustry: Routes to the top FT 96 Dec 02 page 20/ Lex Column: Japan FT 96 Nov18 page 14/ Management: Time to pull back the screen