Japan's Management Style and Bureaucracies

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Japan’s Management Style and Bureaucracies

Japanese management bestows significant emphasis on efficient flow of information from top to the bottom of the hierarchy of any organization or company. Rather than hands on approach, the result leads to the senior officials assuming supervisory roles over the junior staff. Consequently, this management policy in Japan has a tendency of originating from the company’s middle ranks before being communicated to the upward management for ratification (Matanle, 11). However, the positive side of this approach is that those mandated with the task of implementing company decisions often find themselves at the forefront of formulating the policy. The higher an individual will rise in ranks in the Japanese management, the more emphasis is paid being ambitious and unassuming. However, unlike other managements in other various regions, the Japanese management does not view forcefulness and an individual personality as fundamental to effect appropriate management. Japans culture in management forms a large face identity for large hi-tech corporations and businesses as well as manufacturing (Matanle, 18).

The main task of management in Japan is to provide an environment conducive for the success of the work force of the company. For the management to achieve this, they make themselves available at all times to share the company’s issues with the employees. In return for this open-ended approach, the management expects the workforce to inform them of the current updates and developments of the company. This open-ended relationship between the management and the employees forms the foundation towards good teamwork, management, and results. To western workers, instructions directed from the management can appear vague due to communication breakdown, leading to frustration and confusion (Matanle, 25).

The main constituent of Japanese management is that company’s, organizations, institutions, and firms that will employ individuals will normally provide excellent working conditions and working salaries, as well as security in their jobs (Inagami, 14). These kinds of career opportunities are sought after by numerous individuals, but chances are proving hard to come by. The main reason is that the market pool is filled with an educated lot having graduated from the top universities and colleges in Japan. Therefore, companies and organizations will normally view for the top quality graduates in the market in order to get optimum results. As a result, individuals who do not manage to study in top education institutions only have slim chances of working for these kinds of companies. Instead, they are left with an option of joining medium and small sized businesses that do not have the capability of offering prestige and benefits as compared to the elite companies in Japan. In Japan, the college and universities attended as well as quality of education attained is a major determinant of an individual’s career (Inagami, 25).

Once they attain the job, Japan management will consider offering a permanent employment practice to its employees. However, this approach falls under the minority workforce in Japan’s major companies. In some cases, companies and organizations will recruit employees directly from universities and colleges. If they survive a probationary period of around six months, the company expects them to work for them their entire career. Thereafter, these employees are never dismissed on any grounds, unless they commit a serous breech of the company’s ethical values. These companies hire these employees as generalists rather than specialists. They undergo training and are educated on the company’s major divisions and processes. Therefore, within the first few years, an employee will have adequate knowledge on every facet and process of the company, allowing the organization to be more successful and productive (Inagami, 45). Management in Japan is remarkably different in comparison to the like of those in the west. Its attributes make it renowned and successful.

However, with the current market pool in employment, men still dominate the larger share since time immemorial; but it is important to note that that current employment has seen a drastic rise of women participating in the workforce. This increase of women employment has been largely influenced by a major shift in the jobs available. Jobs in manufacturing, arguably a man’s specialty has significantly declined with service jobs beginning to expand, a department where women would comfortably thrive. This is evidenced by the current statistics that declare a ratio of a 100 to 83 between men and women workforce in Japan. Women have evidently been the backbone of the success behind Japans export organizations. Consequently, this has significantly led to a fall in housework value. As a result, these women go on to further employ nannies and cleaners who raise the market pool. Women have now become more alert and with gender equality issues on the front, it has seen them constitute a fair share as entrepreneurs, consumers, investors and managers. This suggests that more women will venture into the market pool and exercise their skills and qualifications altogether. This in itself will form a foundation for the long term growth of Japan’s economy and management.

Works Cited

Matanle, Peter C. D, and Wim Lunsing. Perspectives on Work, Employment and Society in Japan. Basingstoke [England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Print.

Inagami, Takeshi, and D H. Whittaker. The New Community Firm: Employment, Governance and Management Reform in Japan. Cambridge, UK: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2005. Internet resource.