Negotiation is a familiar way of doing things in Japan, but that doesn't mean that every decision has to meet all the requirements of the team. Japan's various organizations and groups often need to spend a lot of time on the upfront work in order to reach internal agreements. And as a number of foreign "Japanese experts" have written, negotiations are not just bottom-up, but sometimes top-down. For example, mid-level cadres make a proposal, senior cadres adopt it or amend it, and then call on subordinate levels to cooperate and follow up. When he launched the Walkman, Mr Morita half-jokingly told staff: "If I don't sell the Walkman, I will resign as chairman." The reason for this is to make employees understand that "based on my years of marketing experience and knowledge, the Walkman is a promising product." Akio Morita explained to them in detail and sincerely, and was not afraid to take responsibility, so they would give 100% to help me succeed. If the Walkman turns out to be a flop, I can't blame some consulting firm's market research.
Regardless of whether the proposer is at the bottom or the top, once the company has decided to implement the policy, all employees should do their best to make it happen. This is how Japanese companies do it. Because the opinions of all the staff were consulted in advance and were agreed by all the staff, it will not appear in Europe and the United States, and there is no malicious slander, and no one is disruptive. Not only that, Japanese employees tend to do their job properly, so there is a sense of solidarity. To do this requires a long process and great effort, and such early work may seem like a waste of time to foreigners. And in my opinion, it's good for business.
In order for employees to "participate in politics" and contribute to the long-term development of the company, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in meetings, so that the discussions and plans are gradually concrete and rich. In this process, corporate philosophy can be spawned and passed on. The employment system of Japanese companies enables employees to stay in a company for decades, so employees can have a long-term and stable career plan.
Attach importance to spiritual communication
A US company hires someone from outside the industry to become a senior executive. When he took office, he took a drastic approach, closing several factories and laying off thousands of workers. The Wall Street Journal praised him as a "good entrepreneur with quick action," but the Japanese are the most scorned. In the Japanese view, closing factories, laying off workers and reducing the scope of operations in a bad economy is only a low-level expedient. It may make the balance sheet look pretty in the next financial quarter, but it will destroy the vitality of the entire company. How on earth will the company be able to recruit loyal employees who can produce quality products when the economy recovers? That will be hard, says Akio Morita.
The oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 brought many industries and companies into crisis, but many Japanese companies showed their ability to respond flexibly. Some shipbuilders are making eco-friendly equipment, computer software and even dishwashers. Some mining companies started making bowling machines; Some textile companies began to enter the field of cosmetics, and now occupy a lot of market share in Japan... As a Japanese entrepreneur, and from what he had seen in the United States, Morita felt that these Japanese companies' transformation methods were much more reasonable than their American counterparts. Americans often boast of their ability to make "scientific and sound" business judgments, but in my opinion, the management lessons taught by US business schools, while plausible, lack human care.
The Japanese people pay attention to the "time, geographical location, and people" in doing business, and if they only pay attention to theory or logic, they will not be successful. If you want to be efficient and productive, you must first improve employee morale. Therefore, we must pay attention to the communication with their hearts. Sometimes trust takes precedence over everything else, and sometimes you have to make decisions that seem unreasonable. If the object is a machine, it may be right to only pursue logic, but since you are working with people, mutual understanding is more important than theory.
