Setting goals for U.S. and Japanese companies
When it comes to goals set by their organizations, Americans’ sense of practicality tends to take over. In Japan, goals are used to show employees a lofty vision, something...
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Turnover in Japanese firms
American employees of Japanese firms tend to measure their career progress against their peers in American firms and thus expect more rapid advancement. An adjustment Japanese firms will need...
Why do many Japanese businesspeople live apart from their families? Tanshinfunin.
When assigning an employee to a transfer, whether it be within Japan or to someplace abroad, Japanese companies typically do not ask employees “Is now a convenient time for you...
Career planning in the U.S. and Japan
Japanese employees have little control over where they are assigned in their companies… Americans will take career planning into their own hands, deciding what they like to do and what...
Americans paint a picture with words…Japanese tell the story with pictures
Many Americans discover that using more graphics is effective when working with Japanese. Do Americans find this approach more convincing? Or do they accept the need to use...
Saihatsu boshi – “Those who forget the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them”
Japanese are often mystified as to why many Americans seem to not be interested in learning from past problems to prevent future ones…quite a contrast from the way many Japanese...
Mi ni tsukeru –Easier done than said in Japan
When a movement is repeated over time, a long-term muscle memory is created for that task; eventually allowing it to be performed without conscious effort…...
Madoguchi – Your Japanese “go to” person
In Japanese firms, for any project there is always a designated person that people are asked to deal with, and that person is referred to as the madoguchi, which literally...
Overcome kishotenketsu to improve your communication with Americans
For Americans who are used to a more straightforward style, kishotenketsu can be very confusing…It can be hard to follow what Japanese have to say as they go on and...
Kikubari – the Japanese art of paying attention to others
You ascertain the needs of people by paying careful attention to them, and understand their desires before they even need to voice them…to comport yourself in such a way that...