How The Japanese Work Culture Differs To That Of American Work Culture

The Japanese work culture significantly differs to that of American work culture. Work tensions, negative attitudes, and disagreements are therefore bound to arise whenever American and Japanese workers are in the same work environment. American workers usually focus on individual well being while their Japanese counterparts focus on the group. Other issues that may have caused such disagreements include Japanese salespeople tend to have more respect for company authority and decisions compared to American salespeople. Also, American salespeople work to live and are more concerned with self-gratification while Japanese salespeople live to work and are more concerned with self-sacrifice (Takahashi, 2015). The inherent differences in work culture between workers from the two nationalities inhibit work productivity and are an obstacle that prevents the company from attaining its set objectives and profitability goals. Incorporating a motivation plan that will take into account the existing cultural differences among the workers will help foster relationships, cooperation, and teamwork, which is essential in maintaining the company’s market competitiveness and profitability. 

Organizations design motivation plans to boost and maintain the morale productivity of its workforce. The best and effective motivation plan for this group of people should take into account both the individualistic culture of American salespeople and the group/team culture of Japanese salespeople. According to Takahashi (2015), most Japanese view American workers as self-centered and an arrogant lot who are only interested in placing their individual needs first above company or group needs. The system of structured individualism adopted by American workers has made them accustomed to thinking about ‘self’ and what the company can do for them. Such individualistic approach towards work has made the Japanese portray or view Americans in a bad light. Most Japanese think that Americans have a little self-discipline, little loyalty to the company, and low tolerance for personal discomfort (Takahashi, 2015). The Americans, on the other hand, think that the work culture adopted by the Japanese makes them gullible and susceptible to work-related exploitation. Most Japanese are focused on taking pride in their work as opposed to their individual or family needs. Japanese workers put the company first, loyal, and married to their companies for a lifetime (Steers & Sánchez ‐ Runde, 2017). To a majority of Americans, the Japanese are enslaved by work and to their companies. Japanese workers are more concerned with what they can do for the company and in most instances exhibit a high tolerance for personal discomfort to attain the goals and objectives of the company. Most times, Japanese workers decline vacations and sick days and work for long hours to crave meaning in their work (Herbes & Goydke, 2016). 

The best motivation plan for this group should be inclusive of both the individualistic spirit of American workers and the group spirit of Japanese workers. The motivation plan will strive to ensure that all employees share in the company’s success; creates a culture of autonomy and agency; encourage workers to voice complaints; and ensures both self-fulfillment and group fulfillment (Shields et al., 2015). Such a motivation plan should take into consideration both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for it to be successful. Intrinsic motivation will foster employees’ inner desire to perform a particular sales task assigned to them with minimum complaints. Rewards used in intrinsic motivation are usually intangible and include giving employees a sense of praise or appreciation for their contributions (Kobersy et al., 2016). Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is an external motivation which uses tangible rewards, such as job promotion, fringe benefits, or cash bonuses to motivate employees. Kobersy et al., (2016) assert that such a motivation plan should strive to give employees autonomy (an opportunity to self-direct themselves and independent at their work), mastery (a chance to excel in their responsibility areas by finding creative solutions to overcome challenges, and purpose (having a feeling that their efforts are helpful in bettering the company. 

However, it will be crucial for the company to use private recognition while motivating employees in its Tokyo branch. Though Japanese workers value teamwork over individualism, they also value recognition for their efforts. Most Japanese workers shun away from public recognition because of the belief that it destroys relationships and team spirit. The company’s leadership should, therefore, find a one-on-one way to motivate its employees without making others feel phony privately. Other Japanese motivation approaches include giving employees the ability to work on high-profile projects, an invitation to share a meal, coaching employees on job areas that need further improvement, organizing group social outings, and structuring work as team projects that promote group solidarity (Herbes & Goydke, 2016). Approaches for motivating American employees include the use of job promotions, giving them the freedom to make decisions in their responsibility areas, extra vacation, and monetary rewards (Steers & Sánchez ‐ Runde, 2017). While developing the motivation plan, the management should strive to create teams among people involved in the sales department. Teams in the workplace are an essential tool for ensuring employee satisfaction. Employees who are in a group are motivated to support the views and decisions of their peers who share common goals (Kobersy et al., 2016). The management should also adopt a participative leadership approach to ensure that employees can communicate at ease with the organization leadership when voicing their complaints. The management will, therefore, have the opportunity to solve any disagreement among employees before they get out of hand and negatively affect the performance of the organization. 

Culture shock in the workplace can lead to disagreement among employees which may, in turn, hinder performance and overall profitability of an organization. It is, therefore, important for organizations to use motivation as a tool to settle such disagreement and in turn create positive workplace environment, increase employee commitment, satisfaction, and efficiency, which will, in turn, lead improved organizational performance (Steers & Sánchez ‐ Runde, 2017). 

References 

Takahashi, N. (2015). Japanese Work Ethic and Culture. Annals of Business Administrative Science, 14(5), 261-278. 

Steers, R. M., & Sánchez ‐ Runde, C. J. (2017). Culture, motivation, and work behavior. The Blackwell Handbook of Cross ‐ Cultural Management, 190-216. 

Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P. ... & Plimmer, G. (2015). Managing employee performance & reward: Concepts, practices, strategies. Cambridge University Press. 

Herbes, C., & Goydke, T. (2016). Leaders and leadership in Japanese companies. Routledge handbook of Japanese business and management, 210-223. 

Kobersy, I. S., Khasiyeva, L. G., Yakhina, V. D., Ignatyeva, O. V., Goloshchapova, L. V., Shkurkin, D. V., & Sadykova, L. R. (2016). Approaches to implementation of motivation as the complex conditions of increase of efficiency of social and labor relations: International experience. International Review of Management and Marketing, 6(1S), 208-217.