HR management

What do American engineers want?

Articles, Global management, HR management, North America by Rochelle Kopp

High turnover among the engineering staff is becoming a headache. Other than just money, it seems that American engineers want something else that their Japanese employers may not be...

Role clarity in Japanese organizations

Articles, HR management, Working with Japanese by Rochelle Kopp

Three common issues at Japanese firms –job descriptions, office layout, and correcting of work, may seem unrelated, but actually they all stem from the Japanese concept of organizational roles....

Changes for Japanese working women

Articles, Diversity, HR management by Rochelle Kopp

Japan is no longer the completely male-dominated workplace that many outside of Japan think it to be. Businesspeople from outside Japan need to be aware of is the...

Why do Japanese avoid detailed job descriptions?

Articles, HR management, Working with Japanese by Rochelle Kopp

In Japan it is rare for a company to use any job descriptions. In fact, many employees don’t even have titles…because Japanese companies do little external hiring, there are...

Japan’s disengaged workers

Articles, HR management, Japanese workstyle by Rochelle Kopp

Japanese HR departments are simply not equipped to learn enough about employees’ skills and interests to match them carefully to positions. As a result, large numbers of Japanese are...

why Japanese don't like training seminars

Why don’t Japanese like training?

Articles, HR management, Japanese business by Rochelle Kopp

In Japan training is viewed as impractical and not relevant, individually-oriented and thus selfish....

Dealing with frequent rotations in Japanese companies

Articles, Global management, HR management, Working with Japanese by Rochelle Kopp

Take matters into your own hands. You may not be able to change the rotation system, but you can change what you yourself do about it. Accept frequent...

Japanese and interviewing

Articles, Careers, HR management by Rochelle Kopp

In a typical American-style job interview “selling yourself” and “tooting your own horn” are expected behaviors. Coming from a country where modesty is considered to be an important virtue,...