Thread: japanese management style

She was shocked in the beginning at how casual we are at the phone company. Dress codes are not enforced most of the time. Some people get and make personal phone calls all the time. Rumor control is nonexistent. We all know examples of employees who seem to serve no purpose and who produce nothing. Of course, she knows that not all U.S. companies are like this. Powered by her work ethic, it didn't take her long to impress the hell out of management. She went through several significant raises faster than I did. She burns through projects faster than all the other CAD Techs--and some of those people have been doing this for 20 years. They are what I call comfort zoners I also believe my wife's sales management experience at Nova contributes to the way she does things. Combat hardened commissioned sales people are a special breed. She's a shark and she knows how to listen. I keep suggesting to her that she get a license to deal real estate. We'd be making a fortune. She thinks her English skills are not advanced enough yet. One good thing, however, is that she has shown interest in trading.

Lol, i wish i got to see here adjust to the new style of dealing in american. How did she like the rules here? they are alot less strict than that of japan for sure.

Sometimes casualness here in the western office space actually causes her stress. The Japanese are very regimented and that works for them. The office is for talking about work and every other subject can be discussed in a bar or in the bedroom. For example, I am her husband and I almost never talk to her about anything not work related while we are at work. It simply isn't necessary and we have been comfortable with that for years. However, some of the American women we work with want to stand around and bullsh*t gossip too much. That pisses her off. Fortunately, she's better than them at the job so she has leverage enough to request isolation. She asked management to move her workstation to the opposite side of the building from a woman that was chewing her ear off recently and she was moved to a better location the next day.

thanx guys for ur input i will be using most if not all of what u have said.

I'm about to start an internship at a car manufacturing plant in CA called NUMMI (New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.... and 2/3 is owned by toyota, and 1/3 by GM. They borrow alot of management style from Japan. For example, teamwork is stressed very heavily. Also, rank is a big thing as well. We have "kaizen" teams which go around the plant trying to improve things.

Originally Posted by Psyduck

I'm about to start an internship at a car manufacturing plant in CA called NUMMI (New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.... and 2/3 is owned by toyota, and 1/3 by GM. They borrow alot of management style from Japan. For example, teamwork is stressed very heavily. Also, rank is a big thing as well. We have "kaizen" teams which go around the plant trying to improve things.

I think that's a great opportunity

I don't know so much into the details, but I think Toyota's management style is regarded as something not traditionally Japanese in Japan. Like the 'kaizen' system, it started off as a bottom-up movement which is quite the opposite of the old top-bottom management still rooted in many Japanese companies today.
Teamwork I guess it works both positively and negatively, but is probably something that contributed to Japan's growth, that is to say 40 years ago...