Organizational Structure in Japan compared to US and Indonesia
After graduating with my MBA in Japan, a number of individuals around me came to me and initiated conversations that could all be summarized by the following conversation. “Are you going to work in a Japanese company? I heard they are tough to work for and mean to the lower-level employees. Also, since you are a woman you won’t ever be in a management position. Anyways, don’t they only hire Japanese because of their lifetime employment policies?” Within these conversations there were three stereotypes about Japanese companies that kept coming up: There is a huge emphasis on seniority, the workplace is male-dominated, and it requires lifetime employment. Let us debunk each of these stereotypes and see the reality through the eyes of a foreigner that has worked within several different countries.
Seniority
The stereotype about high levels of seniority within Japan come from the senpai (先輩) and kohai (後輩) relationship. In this relationship the senpai, which is a senior member within an organization, will have more influence, while a kohai, or a junior member, will not have very much power of influence in the organization. The truth is that since senior members have more experience, of course they will have more valuable input, which is derived from their more numerous working experiences. The more important part of this relationship though, is that the senpai is responsible for helping the kohai to integrate themselves into the organization. This means the seniors will guide and mentor the juniors, so that over time the juniors will be able to grow their skillsets and become more experienced while seamlessly integrating within the organization. When I first started working in Skylight Japan, I had a hard time due to some cultural differences, but there were senior employees that invited me to dinners outside of work where they gave me advice and useful knowledge so that I could better understand and get used to the company.
Using the Hofstede Insights to understand the Japanese culture, we can see that Power Distance in Japan is in the middle between Indonesia and the US. In Japan, the level of power or their position means more responsibility, and it also means that they will have a higher level of influence within the organization. Using Indonesia as a comparison, where power distance is the highest, instead of having a Junior/Senior relationship, it is more of a Teacher and Student relationship. Junior member expects the Manager to tell them what to do. While in the United States, the Power Distance is low which is shown by equal relationships within the workplace. Although some companies do have mentorship programs, it is not the responsibility for all seniors to guide new members.
Bringing the conversation back to Japan, for future employees that are interested in working in in the country, the key is to listen and understand what it is that your seniors have to tell you, and to try hard to integrate more into the company. For companies that are looking to partner up with Japanese companies, you need to know that seniority still plays a part in Japan, and that seniority will have a large impact on their decision-making process.
Male-Dominated
The next stereotype of Japanese companies is that they are all male-dominated. So, if we look at the Hofstede Insight indicator for masculinity it might come as no surprise that Japan is one of the most masculine societies in the world. When compared to Indonesia and the United States, the difference can be quite drastic. In Japan, more males are working and become managers within their organizations. The truth behind this is that the rate of women quitting their jobs and leaving the workforce after getting married is very high in Japan. After all, in Japan it’s a widespread belief that it’s the man’s responsibility to provide for the family. This practice leads to women in managerial positions being a rarity. However, this occurrence of women leaving the workforce after marriage has slowly been changing. More and more women in Japan are choosing to continue working even after they get married. A study by Skylight x Btrax has shown that there has been more than a 50% increase in the number of dual-income families in Japan in the last few years. This has also been influenced by the Japanese government pushing for women to come back to the workplace.
This change in women within the workforce can be good news for foreign companies that are interested in recruiting more Japanese workers. As recruiting Japanese talent can be difficult as many prefer to work for Japanese companies, there may be a growing number of women in the workforce that might be more open to working for companies outside of the traditional Japanese company.
Life-Time Employment
Traditionally, Japanese companies hire fresh graduates to fill their vacancies two times a year, during Spring and Fall right after University graduations. This timing is because once a student graduates, they will get hired by a company and work for them their entire life and the company will not discontinue their employment even if there are some problems. This is indicative of the standard form of employment within Japan, which is called lifetime employment. However, this practice of lifetime employment is seeing some changes. Headhunters are becoming more prevalent and it is not rare anymore to see individuals choosing to change careers. Despite this though, many Japanese are still loyal to their employers and prefer job stability and security, so there’s still a large number of people which prefer to stay in one company for their entire careers.
The preference for sticking with a single employer is quite different when looking at the United States as people tend to move from company to company in order to advance their careers. Indonesia however, is more similar to Japan in that they tend to work with their chosen company for a longer period of time. It is not uncommon within Indonesia to see employers throwing parties for their employees reaching their 25 year working anniversaries.
The Japanese lifetime employment system is characterized by many pros and cons. One pro is that it is comfortable for the employees as they are able to continue working in a familiar position. On the other hand, from the employer’s perspective, if an individual is not a good employee, it is extremely hard to get rid of the employee.
For a foreign company that is looking to enter Japan it is incredibly important to be familiar with the different types of employment within the country. Additionally, an employer should provide continuous training to their employees so that the employee can grow and become a better asset for the company in the future.
Note: To download the E-book by B-trax and Skylight “Insights on Japan’s Changing Workstyle”, please visit https://btrax.com/skylight-btrax-collaboration