Lessons From the Japanese

Konnichiwa. (Hello)

Years ago I had the privilege of working for a Japanese company. The way they conducted business has influenced me ever since.

The Japanese are very honorable people. They treat their employees with respect, and expect the same in return. They reward employees for jobs well done, as well as seniority in the company.

I was amazed at the amount of respect that was given to the executives of the company. As we all know, the Japanese bow when they meet. If you watch them bow, the one who bows lower is the one who is lower on the totem pole. The men were addressed as “Mr. “, and any women who visited, were addressed as “Ms…..”. Even if you were to tell them to call you by your first name, they explained that wasn’t proper. The employees were addressed by their first names, but the employees used “Mr.” to address their superiors, especially if they were Japanese.

One of my bosses was an Assistant Vice President. He totally admired and respected the Vice President. I never heard back stabbing, nor witnessed disrespect. The Vice President had the final say, and it was never questioned. The chain of command was set in stone, and the lower you were on that chain, the more people you were required to “obey” (and that wasn’t a bad thing). It appeared that when these individuals were chosen for their positions, a lot of thought went into the process. It’s like they “knew” who to put where. It was like a well oiled machine that ran smoothly most of the time.

The Japanese also showed tremendous respect for their customers. The red carpet was rolled out, and the customers were treated like royalty. The Japanese believed the customer was always right, even though at times, I knew they weren’t. It was never questioned.

As an employee, hard work was rewarded. We went through a lengthy evaluation system every year, and our raises were based on some type of a number system. Obviously, the higher you scored, the higher your raise. When they gave bonuses, it was done the same way. I feel this motivated employees to produce more and perform more efficiently. If a coworker was making more money than you, obviously they were doing a better job. However, wages were kept highly confidential, as were any changes that were coming up in the organizational chart. If someone wasn’t performing as they should, they would be transferred to another position, possibly better suited to their strengths. There wasn’t any “slacking off”, nor did you see over staffed departments. Cross training was very common, so in the event, you were done with your job ahead of time, you would help a co-worker, whose load might have been heavier that day, finish on time.

I was amazed to see how the executives of the company took the time to learn the names of all of the employees. As they passed through the different departments, you would hear them say “Hello, John, Hello, Mary”. This couldn’t have been an easy feat, as we had over 300 employees. But, that made the employees feel important. The executives didn’t make you feel like they were better than you, but you did know they had earned their positions. They appeared very humble.

There were no instances of sexual abuse, poor conduct, or any other improper behavior on the part of the Japanese. They would spend thousands of dollars to send all of the supervisors and managers to seminars on all of the new, “hot” employment issues. Anyone in a position of authority knew if they crossed the line, they would be terminated on the spot.

In fact, their employee manual and the procedures they followed, were such that, an employee was given three written warnings for minor infractions. If an employee messed up three times, it wasn’t uncommon for them to go to the manager and say, “I know I’m fired”. And they were. Second changes weren’t an option (after all, they already had three).

The Japanese dressed to the “nines”. The men all wore suits and ties, and often even a vest. If they were in their office, you would sometimes see them without their suit coat, however, if they left their office, their suit coat was on. If they knew they had an appointment, they would be “all suited up” and ready for their guest. They never rushed their guest(s), even if they had a mountain of paperwork on their desk. It just meant they might me burning the midnight oil.

When I first started working at this company (which has since been dissolved), I noticed that people were wearing different color “hats” (or baseball caps). I was confused about that, so I asked my boss, who was wearing a white hat. He explained that the hourly employees wore blue hats, the supervisors wore red hats, and the upper management wore white hats. There was no being confused as to who was higher in the chain of command.

After working there for some time, I remember telling my boss, who was Japanese, that my goal was to be wearing a white hat before I left the company. He politely told me that was unlikely as the company had never had a woman manager. I didn’t take that as discrimination, but that there had never been a women in the company with my goal. Well, I worked like I never worked before. If something needed to be done, I would volunteer. I took classes in Japanese and was able to speak a little, but understood more. I “overdressed” for my hourly position. I was dressing for success, and acting the part as well. I earned respect from my co-workers, so when I got promoted to Supervisor (and got a red hat), no one was surprised. I continued to do more than was expected of me, and I strived to learn all I could. Ironically, when my boss got a promotion, guess who they turned to? Yes, I got my white hat. I had pushed through, what I later learned was called “the glass ceiling”. That was a proud moment for me. I continued to work for them until I came to a fork in the road, called life, and chose to leave their employ for another adventure.

I don’t know if Japanese companies still operate in this fashion. I would like to believe they do, but times change. However, it would be sad to think that the old culture is lost. It was a good format for success.

Reflecting back to those 6+ years, I must say I feel honored to have been hired by them. I say a big “Domo Arigatou Gozaimasu” to Mr. Fujii, Mr. Kobayashi, Mr. Goto, and the late Mr. Sasaki. It was a pleasure being in your company (both literally and figuratively).

Sayonara (Good Bye)

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April 8, 2007 | Filed Under Archives, At Work

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2 Responses to “Lessons From the Japanese”

Asako on August 31st, 2007 6:11 pm

You are so right that the respect and harmony “wa” are really the core of the culture. Your article is describing the culture so well, although of course no culture is that great all the time. And I am glad that you understood the position of women in the Japanese corporation. In the US, often I get comments that Japanese are discriminative to women, and I have a difficult time explaining to them that they can not interpret what you see in the US framework. There had not been women with the ambition, not because Japanese women were weak, but because they were happily respected taking care of their family as their roles. In fact, women ruled the household and family budget, they were the boss at home.

Of course, the corporate culture is changing today. I have been away from Japan for already 8 years, but according to my sister-in-law who works at Nissan, it is becoming more competitive and political. I also witnessed in an European company I worked for the last 5 years, it is changing from stable, seniority based culture to competitive, political culture.
Barbara on September 2nd, 2007 1:27 am

Asako,

Domo arigatou gozaimasu!

I appreciate you input on this post. Your fellow Japanese taught me so much. I will be forever grateful.