Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the Japanese for the Westerners to comprehend is the strong belief in
collective values , particularly a collective sense of responsibility. Let me illustrate with an anecdote about a visit
to a new factory in Japan owned and operated by an American electronics company.
In the final assembly area of the company's factory , long lines of young Japanese woman wired together
electronic products on a piece-rate system : the more you wired , the more you got paid. About two months after opening ,
the head foreladies approached the factory manager. " Honorable manager ," they said humbly as they bowed , " we are
embarrassed to be so forward , but we must speak to you because all of the girls have threatened to quit work this
Friday." To have this happen , of course , would be a great disaster for all concerned. " Why ," they wanted to know ,
" can't our factory have the same payment system as other Japanese companies ? When you hire a new girl , her
starting wage should be fixed by her age. An eighteen - year - old should be paid more than a sixteen - year - old. Every
year on her birthday , she should receive an automatic increase in pay. The idea that any of us can be more productive
than another must be wrong , because none of us in final assembly could make a thing unless all of the other people in
the factory had done their jobs right first . To single one person out as being more productive is wrong and is also
personally humiliating to us." the company changed its payment system to the Japanese model.