Cultural Conundrums / Follow the leaderif you can
Kate Elwood Special to The Daily Yomiuri
Sometimes I lead--if I may use that word--cross-cultural training sessions for Japanese employees who are going to be sent overseas or non-Japanese employees who have been assigned to work in Japan. My goal in these seminars is to introduce participants to potential differences in the ways work gets done in various cultures.
I hope to encourage them to view such diverging values and approaches not as good versus bad, but simply as varying modes and systems. Of course, trying to grasp what is going on when working and living in a foreign culture is far from simple and often downright murky. But the ability to calmly recognize the types of cultural mechanisms that may be coming into play and to have some strategies for bridging cultural differences can make the experience less overwhelming and fraught with tension and resentment.
For my own part, I enjoy the chance to discuss these types of issues with the trainees. Many already have some overseas experience or have heard about situations encountered by colleagues, and they ask thought-provoking questions. A range of baffling and perhaps troubling things may happen in a foreign context, and what is of interest is the process of generating various possible interpretations for the occurrences. The training session discussions are lively and usually relaxed rather than stressful.
Except for one time.
A few years ago, I was in charge of a seminar for non-Japanese employees at a major Japanese electronics manufacturer. Because the trainees were already in the thick of it in terms of dealing with cultural difference, they had lots of questions and seemed relieved to find that their non-Japanese colleagues were frequently encountering similar mystifying or frustrating practices or incidents. The spirit of the session was good-natured until the topic of decision-making styles came up, and in particular, the role of a leader in a Japanese company.
Most of the participants were familiar with the notion that some aspects of Japanese decision-making involve a bottom-up approach in which subordinates are expected to come up with proposals that are then approved or not approved by higher-level management. However, when I suggested that a leader in Japan often plays a role of synthesizing the ideas of the group rather than laying down a strong policy right from the start, one American man, whom I'll call Fred, became quite agitated.
Fred did not disagree with the content of what I had said, which was in line with his own experience, but he objected vigorously to one piece of terminology. In short, he asserted that the person I had described as a "leader" could not be so labeled without, as he put it, taking down all the dictionaries in homes, libraries and bookstores throughout the world and drastically rewriting the definition of the word "leader."
Fred continued, telling me, "Here's what a leader does. He says, 'OK, team, here's where we're going. Follow me!'" With this, Fred made a huge circling "come on!" type of motion with his arm, then sat back, crossed his arms and looked at me defiantly.
Leaders in Japan don't fit Fred's characterization in many cases. Often they sit quietly, noncommittal, as various team members wrestle and wrangle with ideas. At times it seems they might even be dozing. And yet, as the end of the meeting draws near, they will speak up, summarizing the points made and fitting everything into a neat package that might be titled "the direction it appears best to take based on what everyone has said." Fred might find it hard to recognize this style of leadership, but it is an approach that most Japanese understand and appreciate. After all, no one desires rudderless confusion.
Business researcher Rosalind Forrester interviewed Britons who were part of innovation teams in the auto industry, working for either a Japanese manufacturer or an American manufacturer in Britain. Forrester found many interesting differences in the ways these teams operated, but one of the biggest was in the generation of ideas. While the Japanese company saw innovation as the role of all employees, the U.S. company viewed it as the responsibility of a much smaller group, who then got the rest of the employees involved in implementing the ideas. This U.S. model corresponded to Fred's vision of leadership: The ideas are already in place, and it is their execution that is the domain of subordinates.
When I first graduated from a Japanese university I worked at the headquarters of a Japanese carmaker. During the orientation sessions for the many new employees, we heard speeches from various people in top management. I remember that one of these executives said he would tell us the most import!ant thing we needed if we desired to become the future president or chairman of the company. I could just feel all the ambitious new employees lean forward a bit in their seats. What was the essential expertise that would open the way to the uppermost echelons of power? The executive paused and looked at us. Then he told us that it was the ability to listen to others and get along with everyone.
It sounded rather like the kind of talk that a kindergarten teacher might give. But the executive seemed earnest, and he even went on to claim that the current chairman and president were by no means the smartest or most skilled of their peers, but that they had the essential leadership trait.
As I've worked in Japan since then I can understand more deeply what the man was trying to tell us, and I've been grateful for my many chances to be involved in deciding what will be accomplished rather than just toeing the line.
I'm not sure if I was able to convince Fred that Japan does indeed have its leaders and that in many cases they do their job very well--albeit differently from how their American counterparts might go about it. He was not eagerly nodding in agreement after I spoke, but he was no longer full of indignation either.
His comment led me to actually look up the word "leader" in my Merriam-Webster dictionary at home, which basically defined it as someone who guides others on a way, especially by going in advance. I could see Fred's point, but I suppose part of the fun for me in living in another culture is in fact the very process of rewriting my mental dictionary.
I refrained from drawing a big black X across the entry.
Elwood is an associate professor of English at Waseda University's School of Commerce. She is the author of "Getting Along with the Japanese" (Ask, 2001).
(Oct. 2, 2007)
Kate Elwood Special to The Daily Yomiuri
Sometimes I lead--if I may use that word--cross-cultural training sessions for Japanese employees who are going to be sent overseas or non-Japanese employees who have been assigned to work in Japan. My goal in these seminars is to introduce participants to potential differences in the ways work gets done in various cultures.
I hope to encourage them to view such diverging values and approaches not as good versus bad, but simply as varying modes and systems. Of course, trying to grasp what is going on when working and living in a foreign culture is far from simple and often downright murky. But the ability to calmly recognize the types of cultural mechanisms that may be coming into play and to have some strategies for bridging cultural differences can make the experience less overwhelming and fraught with tension and resentment.
For my own part, I enjoy the chance to discuss these types of issues with the trainees. Many already have some overseas experience or have heard about situations encountered by colleagues, and they ask thought-provoking questions. A range of baffling and perhaps troubling things may happen in a foreign context, and what is of interest is the process of generating various possible interpretations for the occurrences. The training session discussions are lively and usually relaxed rather than stressful.
Except for one time.
A few years ago, I was in charge of a seminar for non-Japanese employees at a major Japanese electronics manufacturer. Because the trainees were already in the thick of it in terms of dealing with cultural difference, they had lots of questions and seemed relieved to find that their non-Japanese colleagues were frequently encountering similar mystifying or frustrating practices or incidents. The spirit of the session was good-natured until the topic of decision-making styles came up, and in particular, the role of a leader in a Japanese company.
Most of the participants were familiar with the notion that some aspects of Japanese decision-making involve a bottom-up approach in which subordinates are expected to come up with proposals that are then approved or not approved by higher-level management. However, when I suggested that a leader in Japan often plays a role of synthesizing the ideas of the group rather than laying down a strong policy right from the start, one American man, whom I'll call Fred, became quite agitated.
Fred did not disagree with the content of what I had said, which was in line with his own experience, but he objected vigorously to one piece of terminology. In short, he asserted that the person I had described as a "leader" could not be so labeled without, as he put it, taking down all the dictionaries in homes, libraries and bookstores throughout the world and drastically rewriting the definition of the word "leader."
Fred continued, telling me, "Here's what a leader does. He says, 'OK, team, here's where we're going. Follow me!'" With this, Fred made a huge circling "come on!" type of motion with his arm, then sat back, crossed his arms and looked at me defiantly.
Leaders in Japan don't fit Fred's characterization in many cases. Often they sit quietly, noncommittal, as various team members wrestle and wrangle with ideas. At times it seems they might even be dozing. And yet, as the end of the meeting draws near, they will speak up, summarizing the points made and fitting everything into a neat package that might be titled "the direction it appears best to take based on what everyone has said." Fred might find it hard to recognize this style of leadership, but it is an approach that most Japanese understand and appreciate. After all, no one desires rudderless confusion.
Business researcher Rosalind Forrester interviewed Britons who were part of innovation teams in the auto industry, working for either a Japanese manufacturer or an American manufacturer in Britain. Forrester found many interesting differences in the ways these teams operated, but one of the biggest was in the generation of ideas. While the Japanese company saw innovation as the role of all employees, the U.S. company viewed it as the responsibility of a much smaller group, who then got the rest of the employees involved in implementing the ideas. This U.S. model corresponded to Fred's vision of leadership: The ideas are already in place, and it is their execution that is the domain of subordinates.
When I first graduated from a Japanese university I worked at the headquarters of a Japanese carmaker. During the orientation sessions for the many new employees, we heard speeches from various people in top management. I remember that one of these executives said he would tell us the most import!ant thing we needed if we desired to become the future president or chairman of the company. I could just feel all the ambitious new employees lean forward a bit in their seats. What was the essential expertise that would open the way to the uppermost echelons of power? The executive paused and looked at us. Then he told us that it was the ability to listen to others and get along with everyone.
It sounded rather like the kind of talk that a kindergarten teacher might give. But the executive seemed earnest, and he even went on to claim that the current chairman and president were by no means the smartest or most skilled of their peers, but that they had the essential leadership trait.
As I've worked in Japan since then I can understand more deeply what the man was trying to tell us, and I've been grateful for my many chances to be involved in deciding what will be accomplished rather than just toeing the line.
I'm not sure if I was able to convince Fred that Japan does indeed have its leaders and that in many cases they do their job very well--albeit differently from how their American counterparts might go about it. He was not eagerly nodding in agreement after I spoke, but he was no longer full of indignation either.
His comment led me to actually look up the word "leader" in my Merriam-Webster dictionary at home, which basically defined it as someone who guides others on a way, especially by going in advance. I could see Fred's point, but I suppose part of the fun for me in living in another culture is in fact the very process of rewriting my mental dictionary.
I refrained from drawing a big black X across the entry.
Elwood is an associate professor of English at Waseda University's School of Commerce. She is the author of "Getting Along with the Japanese" (Ask, 2001).
(Oct. 2, 2007)