According to the text, in the1970's there was an increase in global economic competition. Because of this the U.S. compared there management style to other more successful nations' styles of management. One nation that did particularly well in motivating employees was Japan.
Japanese culture is often more collectivist compared to the U.S. which tends to focus on individual achievement. Because of this tactic Japan was a leader in the global economy. Ouchi was one man who tried to emphasize community in the workplace as part of the workplace culture. This was an attempt to move toward the more succesful Japanese model.
Some elements that kept the Japanese model at the top were individual efforts with close informal contacts, research and development of of new products and services, and clever competitive tactics and strategies. While these workplace elements were mentioned a few elements of the Japanese culture at large were not mentioned. For example many Asian countries employees tend to have lifetime employment compared to the U.S. This type of employment also fosters a more cohesive workplacve because the people you work with will remain relatively the same over the course of your career. This also allows relationships to form because there is less movement of employees in and out of the workplace. This begs the question "How do we change workplace culture?" I would answer this in saying that workplace culture is unique in each organization but often reflects the culture of the locality from which the employees and clientel are drawn.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Esther great post on organizational culture; the history and background of Japan is uniquely collectivist and brought about by the increasing global competition. Japan's culture flourished finding great profitability in the 1970s with companies like Toyota. I agree that workplace culture is very localized and very seemingly embedded in greater social environment. But symbols, language, and interpretations can change and alter the routines and rituals of a community, an organization can find ways to do so too. The norm where an employee stayed with a company their entire life existed in America, too. IBM used to have great pension for lifelong employees who grew within the company. But as culture on a national, state, and localized (Silicon Valley) level changed, so did IBM. Employers and employees were guilty of swaying alway from the normalized contract. Whether it was because of global pressures, change in information technology, change in social norms, it has made what we see today in our communication with organizations.
ReplyDelete