Differences in Japanese & U.S. Companies

The differences between Japanese and American companies can be particularly stark, in part because the cultural differences of the nations, let alone companies based in those nations, can be so different. Japan is an island nation which has preserved its ethnic heritage and which has a largely homogeneous society that is highly structured around a strict hierarchy. The United States, on the other hand, is a vast nation with considerable natural resources built by immigrants who believed that anyone could rise to a position of power within a company or within the country. The culture of the United States and its businesses stresses the individual; the culture of Japan and its businesses stresses the collective.

Such distinct differences do not mean that companies from these nations cannot work together, or that managers from one nation cannot be successful

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ls of the organization and then passed down to lower levels. This is starting to change with "bottom-up" decision-making processes, but it remains the common model. Decisions can be made rapidly in this way, but can require significant implementation time as companies seek "buy-in" from various constituencies in order to bring about a successful implementation. In Japan, consensus is the overriding rule in decision-making, and decisions are often made at lower levels of the organization and then moved upward. At each level, the decision is discussed and evaluated--and possibly modified--so that when consensus is reached, implementation can proceed rapidly. The result is that there is often little difference in the elapsed time for decisions to be implemented between the two countries, but Americans spend more time on implementation while Japanese spend more time on the decision itself (Kato & Kato, 1992). Managing Organizational Conflict In the United States, conflict is often viewed as a creative force that can bring about successful strategies. Conflict is typically viewed as impersonal, and it is possible and even encouraged to disagree with someone--including a supervisor--within the workplace without taking the disagr
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Approximate Pages = 20 (250 words per page)

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