Working for the Japanese: Myths and Realities: British Perceptions PDF
Preview Working for the Japanese: Myths and Realities: British Perceptions
WORKING FOR THE JAPANESE: MYTHS AND REALITIES Also by Stephanie Jones BUSINESS DOCUMENTS: Their Origins, Sources and Uses in Historical Research (with John Armstrong) TRADE AND SHIPPING: Lord Inchcape, 1852-1932 *TWO CENTURIES OF OVERSEAS TRADING: The Origins and Growth of the Inchcape Group *THE HEADHUNTING BUSINESS * Also published by Palgrave Macmillan Working for the Japanese: Myths and Realities British Perceptions Stephanie Jones Forewords by Sir Peter Parker and Haydn Abbott M MACMILLAN ©Stephanie Jones 1991 Foreword© Sir Peter Parker 1991 Foreword© Haydn Abbott 1991 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1991 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, London WClE 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1991 Published by MACMILLAN ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Jones, Stephanie, 1957- Working for the Japanese: myths and realities : British perceptions 1. Great Britain. Japanese companies I. Title 338.704941 ISBN 978-1-349-11671-3 ISBN 978-1-349-11669-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-11669-0 To Sara Thomas much more than a researcher Contents List of Plates viii Foreword by Sir Peter Parker, Mitsubishi Electric ix Foreword by Haydn Abbott, Sony X Author's Preface and Acknowledgements xi List of Contributors to the Survey (the names of responding executives' companies) xiii 1 Introduction 1 2 The Theory of Japanese Management: The Origins of the Myths 13 3 Japanese Enterprise Overseas 24 4 Japanese Companies Come to Britain 49 5 Working for Japanese Companies in Britain Today: Myths and Realities 60 6 Working for Japanese Companies in Britain in the Future 186 Postscript: Toyota Comes to Britain 200 Appendix 1: Strategy for British Executives to Make the Most Out of Working for Japanese Companies in Britain 207 Appendix II: Glossary of Words and Phrases in Common Usage in Japanese Companies in Britain 216 Appendix III: A Brief Guide to Japanese Business Etiquette for British Executives 218 Appendix IV: Notes and Advice from Executive Search Consultants Currently Working with Japanese Clients in Britain 220 Appendix V: Survey of British Executives with Japanese Companies in Britain: the Quantitative Results 250 Bibliography, including a Guide to Further Reading 258 Index 263 vii List of Plates These photographs were commissioned especially for Working for the Japanese, and were taken by photo-journalist David Watson on 3-4 May 1990. 1 Myth No. 6: "Working conditions are often bad in Japanese offices and factories", but there are exceptions . . . 2 Myth No.3: "The Japanese are very hard working", but never too busy to smile for a camera. 3 Myth No.2: "The Japanese believe in consensus decision making", but will argue their convictions as strongly as anyone else. 4 Myth No. 7: "All senior positions in Japanese companies are held by Japanese", but times are changing ... 5 Myth No. 12: "The Japanese are sexist", but now they employ both British and Japanese women alongside the men. 6 Myth No. 17: "Japanese companies employ as many Japanese and as few foreigners as possible", but in the largest Japanese securities houses in London, there can be as few as 10 per cent Japanese. 7 Myth No. 11: "It is impossible for a foreigner to communicate effectively with a Japanese", but money is a universal language ... 8 Myth No. 16: "Foreigners feel no loyalty to Japanese companies", but Irene Wales has been with YKK since 1968. viii Foreword by Sir Peter Parker I have worked long enough with the Japanese to know them to be as varied and as cussed, as likeable and unlikeable as British managers and workers, as individual as their fingerprints. To over-simplify them is idiotic. Of course, they are very different in culture and, therefore, in the way they go about things. When a distinguished industrialist from Japan was asked how organisations in Japan compare with those of the West, he said lightly and firmly that they were 95 per cent the same but different in all important respects. We would be wise in the West to consider that 5 per cent carefully. And Stephanie Jones helps us do just that. Stephanie Jones has just the right verve and nerve to hunt down cliches and stereotypes - she has moved like an exocet to where the heat is. Surely one of the hottest priorities in the world business scene must be to understand the Japanese and to be able to work alongside them. And this book is based on the experience of people who are doing that. My own reflection on experience with Japanese enterprise is that - whatever else the Japanese are-they are surprising. And they themselves are as surprised with their phenomenal success over the past decade as the rest of the world. It is over only that time that the country has turned from a deficit to a titanic surplus in the trade. Furthermore, the success is based on a management style which has fallen out of fashion in recent years: action is based on consensus. "Nemawashi" is the art of binding the tender roots of a plant before transplanting it. "Nemawashi" is at the heart of Japanese management and the movement of ideas and decisions. That very often means that it is a slow business dealing with Japanese: they take time to prepare for a decision, but then the action can flash like lightning. The importance of communication and consultation - the human dimension of enterprise - is something that shows through in the findings of Stephanie Jones' investigations. During the Meiji Revolution of the last century, the national motto in Japan was "to catch up with the West". The significance of this book is that it gives us a most readable opportunity to catch up with the Japanese. SIR PETER PARKER Chairman, Mitsubishi Electric UK ix Foreword by Haydn Abbott Most of us have some vague perception of the Japanese, a perception gained perhaps from a hazy idea of life in Japan or from the frequent and often misleading articles in the press and on television. This book sets out to test these perceptions, particularly in the case of the Japanese company as an employer in the UK. What emerges is that most of the commonly held beliefs are untrue, that working for a Japanese company can be both rewarding and stimulating, that they offer as wide a range of experience and opportunity as any employer and often much more. In recent years there has been a massive growth in both the number and the size of Japanese companies in Britain, involved in manufacturing, finance, distribution and increasingly in research and development. With this growth has come the rapid creation of employment in the new companies and hence opportuniti~s at all levels in the new organisations. It is therefore essential that there should be a better understanding of working life in Japanese companies in Britain. After three years in Sony my own experience confirms the general conclusions of this book. The Japanese have learned to mix the better features of UK management style with the Japanese approach. A Japanese company will in general be concerned about its staff, their welfare and their attitudes towards the company. Increasingly Japanese subsidiaries are headed by UK managers, not just as some kind of local figurehead, but as executive directors. As this happens a new kind of corporate culture is emerging, a culture that brings together the best of the two worlds. What is perhaps outside the scope of this book is the enormous effort made by Japanese companies to contribute and be part of the community in the UK. This is not just the kind of business sponsorship that promotes the company's name or brand but working with education, the arts, local charities and the local community. There is a strong desire to become part of the community. The Sony companies have always looked towards being "good local citizens", a phrase first used by Akio Morita, Sony's founder. Part of being a good citizen is to be clearly understood. This book makes a sound contribution towards that understanding and will help dispel the myths. HAYDN ABBOTT Managing Director, Sony (UK) Ltd. X
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