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Recruiting and Promotion

Company unions

Smaller Companies

Continuous Training

Decision Making

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The quality of one's education and, moreimportant, the college attended, play decisiveroles in a person's career.

Companies provide their own training and show astrong preference for young men who can betrained in the company way.

One of the prominent features of Japanesemanagement is the practice of permanentemployment.

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Another unique aspect of Japanesemanagement is the system of promotion and

reward.

Career progression is highly predictable,regulated, and automatic.

Compensation consists of a

wide range of tangible andintangible benefits

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Individual evaluation, however, does occur.

Early in workers' careers, by age thirty,distinctions are made in pay and jobassignments.

During the latter part of worker's careers,another weeding takes place, as only the bestworkers are selected for acceleratedadvancement into upper management.

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The most regular company employees are obliged to join.

Despite federations of unions at the national level, theunion does not exist as an entity separate from, or withan adversarial relationship to, the company.

Strikes are rare and usually brief.

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Japanese managerial style and decision makingin large companies emphasizes the flow ofinformation and initiative from the bottom up.

Consensus is stressed as a way of arriving atdecisions, and close attention is paid toworkers' well-being.

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The new recruits are placed under skilledsenior specialists.

They are trained to develop deeperunderstanding of specific areas of skills.

Produce work of higher quality using fewsimple tools

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Mostly managers are trained (to developcertain technologies and to improvespecialized skills)

Educators are the older employees and

senior managers.

Universities only take a limited role in

training future managers.

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A task is not assigned to an individual;

instead several tasks are assigned to agroup, which consists of a small number ofpeople are treated like family members.

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Change and new ideas should come primarilyfrom personnel belonging to lower levels inthe hierarchy.

The ‘ringi system’ refers to decision-makingby consensus.

‘rin’- which means submitting a proposal toone’s superior and getting his approval

‘gi’ meaning deliberations and decisions

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LIFE TIME EMPLOYMENT

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Lifetime employment refers to recruitment ofemployees immediately upon graduationgeneration of employment until retirement, andmandatory retirement.

It´s merely a custom and is not prescribed bylaw.

Is strongly tied to promotions and pay raises.

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Salaries in Japanese companies are relativelylow for younger employees, but rise when the

employee reaches his/her mid-thirties.

Many companies do not recognize previous

work experience when workers switch jobs(so far few people change jobs)

About 80% of Japanese companies are tryingto observe lifetime employment.

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ADVANTAGES

Increases mutualunderstanding and trustbetween employer and

employee.Long-term projects areno problem (= higheconomic growth)

Makes sure thatLayoffs are the last wayof Dealing with

managerial difficulties.

DISADVANTAGES

Difficult to let peoplegoBudget for salaries is

stretched if the companyhas a lot of middle-agedand older employeeswith high salaries

Makes it difficult tofind talented people(midcareer employment

is difficult)

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Seniority-based wages have been adopted asan incentive to maintain lifetime employment .

Provide privileges to older employees who havebeen with it for a long time.

Promotion and wage increases are based onemployees length of service in the company,not job performance.

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ADVANTAGES

Balance between youngerand older workforce.Stable workforce,because younger

employees first earnvery little.Little animosity betweenemployees.

Employees do not worryabout demotions andsalary reductions.Employees can calculateincome.

DISADVANTAGES

Not very competitive,does not necessarilymotivate employeesMore effective when thecompany is in a field withlittle variety in workcontentsDoes not allow muchflexibility in increasingthe number of employees(older employees arevery expensive)Motivation problems

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PLANNING

ORGANIZING

STAFFING

LEADING

CONTROLLING