American and Japanese Executives: A comparison

American and Japanese Executives: A comparison

Introduction

The economic success and growth of Japanese have become increasingly obvious on the global level. Japanese executives and their adopted practices have become a topic of prodigious interest to the executives of the United States and the U.S. practitioners and researchers have started analyzing the Japanese practices that appears to be distinctive and critical factors to the Japanese success. These studies are related to the processes such as processes of new product development, zero defect programs, buyer vendor networks and just in time inventory controls. Many of the U.S. organizations have attempted to incorporate the above mentioned practices to increase their organizational efficiency (Kotha, et.al, 1995).

These work management practices are diverse and variations among these practices vary from country to country, however, the primary basis of this occurrence of variation is rooted in the culture of a country. Some countries are known to possess a loyal as well as well-rewarded taskforce while the employees of other countries undertake frequent transfers between the companies both at national and international level and are seldom taken care of in their financial crisis or instabilities. Many critical differences are observed to exist due to the dissimilarity of the American and Japanese cultures in the professional organizations. The difference associated with the work management practices of the executives of both countries is significant and is based upon many factors (Kotha, et.al, 1995)..

The primary difference between the executives of both nations is the dissimilarity of the culture and societal differences. The practices of the U.S. organizations are primarily characterized by the emphasis on individualism and the reassurance of impartiality in the interpersonal relationships. The participation of the worker, elitism and competition environment promotion with low belonging or loyalty sense to the company are among the common traits of American organizations while the practices of Japanese management system are based on the collective approach which favors the welfare of all employees alike (Hopkins, et.al, 1977). A Japanese executive maintains a two way relationship with his/her organization with high sense of loyalty and dedication which in turn affects the behavior, performance and association of an executive to the organization

Discussion

Many modern theories were developed on the perceived difference between the executives and work management practices of the United States and Japan including the Theory Z by William Ouchi and Excellency theory by Waterman and Peters. In multinational organization, a primary concern is the extent of similarity in the management principles, attitudes and practices of the organization (Beechler, et.al, 1996).

Staying with the Firm

While the executives of the American firms tends to move between the companies and their professional profile includes the experiences from a handful of companies over the course of their professional careers, the Japanese executives are often observed to stay associated with a single organization for the period of whole career. The executives of Japan are more inclined towards the view of organizational developments as an opportunity of learning of the employer and its functionality such as the ...