Over worked and underpaid Japanese employees feel the burden of sabisu zangyo
All I heard from my Japanese friends were tales of long hours. An officemate so overwhelmed by long hours that she had to get medication for depression…it just seemed...
Free Resources
Stating your opinion clearly — Cross-Cultural Meetings part 23
Often Japanese sit quietly in the meeting and do not offer their opinions...
When you want them to do nemawashi — Cross-Cultural Meetings part 22
As each part of the organization is listened to and its needs addressed through one-on-one discussions and small meetings, decisions are made by group consensus…it’s difficult to get something accepted...
Evaluating your options — Cross-Cultural Meetings part 21
At some point, the group has to narrow down its options. The suspension of judgment that prevailed during brainstorming is now over, and it’s necessary to start weeding out...
Encouraging meeting attendance – Cross-Cultural Meetings part 20
There’s not much point to having a meeting if nobody shows up. How can you make sure that people choose to come to your meeting? Today, people have...
Wrapping up the meeting — Cross-Cultural Meetings part 19
It’s necessary to make sure that all the meeting participants are in agreement on what exactly has been decided or accomplished and that everyone knows what they need to do...
Telephone and videoconferences – Cross-Cultural Meetings part 18
In order to make these meetings go smoothly, it’s important to plan for them carefully....
Answering questions in presentation meetings — Cross-Cultural Meetings part 17
Responding to questions skillfully is important in order to maintain a good image both for yourself and for the content you are presenting. Half the battle is to stay...
Extending Japanese firms’ human resource development strength abroad
Japanese firms need to find ways to extend their competitive strength in human resource development to their employees outside of Japan…although such global rotation programs make sense for high potentials...
Rotation fatigue in Japanese companies
The contrast between the specialist-oriented career paths prevalent in the U.S. and the generalist-oriented career paths that are common in Japan can often clash, sometimes causing the parent company to...