Since the 1970’s, when the Japanese auto manufacturers started competing successfully with U.S. carmakers (now, there’s an understatement), you could fill a library with books and journals which contain articles on Japanese management. The search term "Japanese style management" in the Questia Online Library returns 15,068 book titles alone.
There is no question, especially in the areas of manufacturing and high-tech electronics that Japanese management practices have been successful in producing some of the world’s highest quality and most innovative products. Despite recent recession and economic problems, Japanese manufacturing and high-tech businesses remain vital.
So just what is this phenomenon called Japanese style management? Specifics are open to debate. Valuing cooperation over competition, long-term or life-time employment, consensus decision-making, and teamwork have been presented as the trademarks of Japanese management.
In his book, The Sun Also Rises Over Toledo, WIN President Sada Honda distills the characteristics of Japanese management into three essential features: people orientation; long-term view; and process culture.
Sada on People Orientation:
One of the most striking things I observed at the beginning of my job with the Japanese firm in Detroit was to see the visiting Japanese executives insist on meeting American employees. They went through all the names and the backgrounds of the employees before the visit and greeted each one of them. There was a dinner at night to which all the employees were invited. . . . I could see [the Americans’] increasing sense of belonging. The act was certainly a motivating factor for every American and a confidence builder in their working for a Japanese company. The important observation here is that this kind of action comes naturally to even the upper echelons of a Japanese company.
In Trends in Japanese Management: Continuing Strengths, Current Problems, and Changing Priorities, author Toyohiro Kono calls this characteristic Respect for People, reporting it "is evident in various personnel management practices, such as job rotation, the status ladder system and job security. The high morale created by this system contributes significantly to the quality of products."
Long Term View
Successful Japanese corporations tend to focus on long-term goals while U.S. corporations emphasize short-term profit. These long term goals manifest in the expenditure of large sums for research and development and the esteem Japanese corporations hold for their workers. The practice of life-time employment, at one time prevalent in some Japanese industries, has given way to long-term employment. However, the initiative Japanese companies have taken to develop people and professional career paths is evidence of remaining long-term human resources commitments.
Process Culture
The term process culture comes from a focus on how the work gets done, rather than the end result. Though this concept has been criticized, it has been extremely successful in the manufacturing and high-tech fields; areas where it is clear that a focus on how the pieces fit together or how a product is built from the ground up results in a higher-quality product. A by-product of this process culture is that Japanese managers expect and reward effort, even though it may not immediately result in short-term gain. (More evidence of long-term view.) That’s not to say that the goal is not important. However, recognition is given for effort and value placed on what is learned from mistakes.
