The nation’s growth was for a long time higher than in any other country. It chose to take the best from other nations, and implement it the Japanese way. Technologies from the developed countries of the West were taken to Japan, thus speeding up the Japanese transformation. However, this transformation took place only on the economic side of Japan. The Japanese traditions were kept in the society.
Most of the traditions in Japan have roots in its feudal history. Three major influences can be pointed out. The first is Confucianism 1), which stressed the superiority of men to women, stating "A woman is to obey her father as daughter, her husband as wife, and her son as aged mother." (Source: Women in Japanese Society: Their Changing Roles) Combined with the Samurai code, which was introduced in 1603 and emphasized obedience and unlimited loyalty to the emperor, these codes wrought group mentality deep into the people. During the Samurai era, the country was divided into local disciplinary sub-units, which could be collectively punished for wrongdoing of individual members. Individual thinking and any displays of attitude were inappropriate, and punishable by execution. The third influence on Japanese traditions is Buddhism, which also puts group above individual. In the early stages, this philosophy was highly discriminatory towards women, stating that salvation is not possible for women.
From these influences, which created a system of traditions almost unchanged because of the Japanese isolation, the life of people in every generation emerged as set by rules of the society. The emphasis is on the group, and individuality is not shown. Every decision has to be a consensus of the group, and without a group a person will achieve nothing. The society is seniority based, with more stress upon males. From the tradition, older people are more worthy, they deserve respect and humility from the younger. Based on the Confucian-Samurai view, made extreme in the period 1602-1868, women didn’t officially exist, they could not own property and were in all ways subordinate to the man. They did not work and spent their time looking after the household and children, and preparing everything for the husband when he came home.
These values, more or less unchanged, are present till the present. They have found their way into the employment environment, making it thus unique for Japan. They can be seen in the older generation, with the younger generation obeying them, but also changing a little. There has been some change from the Western world’s entry into the country, but traditions and customs are kept in families. In the business world, the tradition is kept in the way Japanese view their work. In families, the role of woman is changing, more power comes to her through more control over the family life and money.
III. Employment
The traditional employment practice emerged from the feudal system, and remained virtually unchanged. It is based on three main principles: life-time employment, seniority-based system and ringi system. Life-time employment is available to high school and university graduates, who receive one chance to choose a company and work there for all of their productive life. About 35% of Japanese workforce (see Figure 1-1) is employed for life in a company. This employment is based on loyalty to the company and thus better conditions for the employees. The employees identify themselves with the company, and often place their work before their family life. These employees are the key employees of the company, from which the management is chosen, and only they have the chance to enter the highest levels of management in the organization.
Seniority based system of rewards and promotion is based on the Japanese traditional approach to older people. This system is applicable only to life-time employees, who enter the company at low level with no or little experience and are gradually moved through the company. They move according to their professional age in the company, and their pay is calculated in relation to this age. As their job-description is not always clear, it would be hard to evaluate these employees on the basis of performance. The employees calculate with the raises in their wage according to the length of service, and this encourages their loyalty to the company. Since they have only one chance in their life to get a life-time employment, they remain with their company. Since they are the key employees, they have a certain degree of job security, which makes them devoted to their company. Influenced by the traditional group mentality, they become a part of the group, in this case the company, and they have no reason to leave this environment.
Figure 1-3-1 |
The third feature of Japanese employment practice is the ringi system. It is a system of decision-making, through which lower-level management passes their opinions to their superiors. The decision must be a group one. Even though it is originated by one manager, he has to get the support of all managers at the same level, thus creating a consensus of opinions. Only such ideas will be passed higher and considered by the managers. The group mentality in this process is evident, when a proposal has most managers’ agreement, the others will agree as well. Usually the ones who will stay outside the group will not reach a consensus next time when they try to put through their idea.
