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ROLE CLARITY IN JAPANESE ORGANIZATIONS
Jan 03, 2012
By Rochelle Kopp, Managing Principal, Japan Intercultural Consulting
In this article I would like to address three common issues at Japanese firms –job descriptions, office layout, and correcting of work. At first glance they may seem unrelated, but actually they all stem from the Japanese concept of organizational roles.
Why do Japanese avoid detailed job descriptions?
In many Japanese organizations operating abroad, locally-hired employees complain that job descriptions are non-existent, or are outdated and irrelevant. It seems that Japanese mangers don’t care about job descriptions. But for westerners, accurate up-to-date job descriptions are essential. Without them, we feel lost, unsure what we are supposed to be doing.
Why is there this difference in views on job descriptions? First of all, in Japan it is rare for job descriptions to exist. In fact, many employees don’t even have titles, they are only known as members of a particular team. Typically, only managers at the level of section chief (kacho) and above get titles, and these are normally no more descriptive than their rank and the name of their department.
Rather than relying on set definitions of what they are supposed to be doing, Japanese tend to work like amoebas, shifting their work and taking on new activities as the organization’s needs require. Everyone is expected to be on the lookout for things that need to be done but that no one is taking care of, so that nothing falls between the cracks. When a new activity becomes necessary, the members of a team typically decide among themselves who will take care of it – often without consulting with their manager. Japanese are used to working in this style due to their early training. Japanese grammar schools emphasize a lot of group work, so it’s very comfortable for Japanese to work in teams.
In addition to being unfamiliar with them, another reason for the Japanese aversion to job descriptions is the fear that having a set job definition will limit the amoeba-like flexibility that they so value. For a Japanese, one of the most horrifying things that an employee can say is “that’s not my job.” In Japan, people are hired to join the company as a whole rather than take a specific position, so they are willing to do whatever is needed, even if it’s something that’s a very basic task (such as sweeping the floor) or not in their area of expertise or interest. It’s this extreme flexibility of employees that makes the lifetime employment custom possible, and enables Japanese firms to be innovative in response to market changes. Thus, for Japanese, the idea of someone refusing to do something that needs to be done just because it’s not written on a piece of paper is extremely distasteful. It smacks of putting the employee’s desires above the needs of the company – in other words, of selfishness and disloyalty.
I believe that for Japanese firms operating internationally, the best way to bridge this gap is to create a working style that is a hybrid of both approaches. Job descriptions need to be prepared because they make locally-hired employees more comfortable, and ease compliance with various local HR regulations. At the same time, non-Japanese employees need to be flexible to take on a vari
ety of tasks as necessary.
Why do Japanese like open plan offices?
For the westerner coming to work at, or even visiting, a Japanese office, it’s a shock. Rather than the individual offices or cubicles that are typical of western offices, in a Japanese office there are no walls between desks.