JAPAN

Imagine you are the HR Director for an organization that is planning to do business in one of the countries listed in table 15.2.

Which of those countries fascinates you the most and why? JAPAN

According to the information in that table, what are the key cultural differences between the United States and the country you chose? In that other country, how effective do you think each of the following practices will be and why?
• Extensive assessment of individual abilities for selection
• Individually based appraisal systems
• Suggestion systems
• Self-managing work teams

Week 6 Discussion

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Week 6 Discussion

Japan

As an HR director planning on expanding business internationally, Japan is one of the most attractive countries for my company. This is because the country seems to have a good cultural fit with the organizational culture of my company. An analysis of the cultural dimensions of the country reveals that the culture of Japan scores highly on masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation (Hofstede Insights, n.d.). Japan is also borderline when it comes to being a hierarchical society. This means that while the people respect hierarchy and the top-down approach to management, they also welcome a wide distribution of power or power decentralization. The company would not have problems managing employees in the country.

Some key differences exist between the cultural dimensions of the United States and Japan. The US scores low on long-term orientation, which means that people prefer to maintain the norm and tradition, being suspicious of change (Hofstede Insights, n.d.). Japan scores high on long-term orientation, which means that people take a more pragmatic approach to change, focusing on the preparation for the future. Japan has a collectivist culture where people are organized in groups and are loyal to the goals and interests of their groups (Hofstede Insights, n.d.). The US has a more individualist culture where people look only after their interests and the interests of their direct families.

In Japan, practices such as self-managing work teams and suggestion systems would be effective since society is collectivist. Employees would remain loyal to their work teams and would put the interests of their work team first. They would also provide suggestions to improve work and make it easier for their teams to produce results. Individually based appraisal systems and extensive assessment of individual abilities for selection would be quite difficult since people are not individualistic in the country.

References

Hofstede Insights. (n.d.). Country Comparison. https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/japan,the-usa/