Japanese Manufacturing Owners in U.S.

INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS IN MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENTS: JAPANESE OWNERS IN

An electronics manufacturing plant located in Litchfield, Illinois has been closed by its owners. A Japanese electronics manufacturer, however, has expressed an exploratory interest in the plant. One issue that must be addressed if Japanese managers are to successfully operate the electronic manufacturing plant is the necessary intercultural relationship between management and staffmanufacturing and administrative.

This research develops informational tools that may be used to facilitate the development of a positive intercultural environment at the manufacturing plant should the Japanese company acquire the facility. These informational tools are (1) a cultural guide to Illinois workers for Japanese managers, and (2) a cultural guide to Japanese managers for Illinois workers.

Litchfield is a community of less than 10,000 people located in downstate Illinois. The community is approximately 40 miles southwest of Springfield, Illinois, and is approximately 50 miles northeast of St. Louis. Ethnically, the population of Litchfield is predominantly white (81 percent). Perspectives on political and social issues in Litchfield tend to be conservative in character and small townrural in outlook.

The electronics manufacturing plant was originally sited in Litchfield to permit the owners to take advantage of a lowcost environment. Re

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ronics manufacturing plant in Litchfield by Japanese. Japanese managers responsible for the training of personnel in an intercultural environment must be aware of such cultural differences, and must be prepared to deal with them. Within a society, intercultural relations are generally perceived as an interaction between cultural groups which, over the longterm, leads to improved understanding and societal harmony. Within the managerial community, intercultural relations is all too often a slogan to indicate that a company is socially aware. In far too many instances, the managerial approach to intercultural relations is to move in the direction of other cultural groups only to the minimum extent required to maintain some prescribed efficiency goal (Heerema, 1993, pp. 59). For Japanese managers to be successful in the operation of the electronics manufacturing plant in Litchfield, they must be prepared to take the time to understand the value, outlooks, and practices of their American workers (Can U.S. Match Japan's Success? 1991, pp. 1112). The typical Illinois worker is accustomed to an adversarial relationship between management and labor. Thus, these workers will be suspicious of the efforts of Japanese management to

Category: Business - J