This research examines the application of Japanese manage ment techniques in the United States. A specific interest in this examination is a consideration of why some Japanese man agement techniques may not always produce satisfactory results when they are applied in American organizations.
JAPANESE MANAGEMENT AND JAPANESE CULTURE
Contemporary Japanese management practices, and, indeed, the contemporary success of Japanese enterprise may be traced to the Meiji Restoration. The Meiji Constitution was implemen ted in 1889, and, subsequent to its introduction, Japan entered into a period of rapid development (Toland 62). The Tokugawa governments had opposed the opening of Japan to outsiders, or to outside ideas (Smith 370). Subsequent to the implementation of the Meiji Constitution, this attitude changed to some extent. The Japanese government remained opposed to the open ing of the country to outsiders, but it began to welcome out side ideas, as those ideas applied to economic development (Hirschmeier, and Yui 157). In the last quarter of the twen tieth century, it is the United States which is resisting the importation of foreign ideas.1
Social values were also significant in the industrializa tion of Japan. The rationalizing tendencies of Japanese reli gions provided the catalyst for the development of these values (Reischauer 83 84). From this religious environment evolved the Shingaku movement, which became the ethical foundation of the Japanese merchant class in the nineteenth century, which, in turn, played a central role in the industrialization of Japan (Bellah 8 9). The religious and ethical environment, thus, provided a rationalization for social and economic change, while retaining an appreciation for tradition. The social environment so created was characterized by (1) a high level of toleration, and (2) a high level of reconciliation of opposing principles and ideas (Bendix 179).
When the strong central...