Working Culture differences between US and Japanese companies
Going global had been the goal for many companies, but it is not as simple as going to a new country. Understanding and adapting to the working culture is important for the success of market entry. As a professional that had experience working in international environments, I would like to share my thoughts.
As a base, I will talk about Hofstede Insights. Hofstede points out the main six points of Cultural Differences. All these definitions are from Hofstede Insight.
- Power Distance: The extent to which members of institutions and organizations within a country accept that power distribution is equal.
- Individualism: The degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members.
- Masculinity: This indicates the degree of society whether it is driven by competition and achievement, or by caring for others and quality of life.
- Uncertainty Avoidance: The degree that society deals with the fact that the future can never be known.
- Long Term Orientation: Society has to maintain some links with its past while dealing with the challenges of the present and future.
- Indulgence: The extent to which people try to control their desires and impulses.
These six societal norms affect the business processes in different countries. In this article, we will talk about four of them: Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Long-Term Orientation. We will talk about the other two in the next article, Organizational Hierarchy Differences.
Decision-making process
The US and Japanese have a different culture in deciding because of their level of individualism and uncertainty avoidance. In the US, as shown in the graph, individualism is high. Therefore, every individual has their own authority for decision making, and in a lot of time, one person is enough to decide. Although it is similar in Japanese business documents, the reality is different. Japanese like to keep the “和(wa)” or “harmony” of the group. Decisions need to be agreed upon by the group through many meetings, so the harmony will not be disrupted.
Japanese uncertainty avoidance is high, which means they like to avoid any possible risk. Often, this mean longer time to take decisions. Holding group meetings also mean that risk is low since everybody agreed to the decision. On the other hand, American is more willing to be face uncertainty. Although it makes decisions faster, it is riskier.
If you have a Japanese partner or client and you are expecting them to decide something at that moment, the business might fall through. Time is the key here. Do not rush, but instead be patient. Keep following up while continuing to build your relationship.
Building the long-term relationship
A relationship is one of the keys that can make or break your deal with the Japanese. In the US, people tend to keep their work and life separated. There are not a lot of after-office meeting. Follow-ups are usually done through email or phone only. It is not rare to change to new suppliers if a better option comes up. While the Japanese base their business relationship through interpersonal relationships that are built over times. They prefer to choose partners that they trust for the long-term. This is the reason why they like to not only have business meetings during the business hour, but also face-to-face meetings even after working hours.
Come and invite your Japanese counterparts to some social gatherings such as “飲み会(Nomikai)” or drinking meetings and you will understand them better. Building your relationships over times can help you to gain trust and help you seal the deal.
Conveying your message
Restraining desires and impulses (indulgence) is another point that differentiates Japanese and American. Western people are usually more straightforward, while Japanese people are more restrained and care about emotion or atmosphere. In Japanese meetings, 空気読む(Kuuki Yomu)” or “Read the atmosphere” is very important. Even though the person is not directly saying the message, the other party is expected to read the situation and react accordingly.
It might be tough to understand at first, but through experience, it will be easier to read the situation. Try to see the emotion from the other party’s face and pay attention to other people’s reactions if there are any other attendees in the meeting. The key is to be careful when taking in what other people say and be mindful.
My Experience
As an example, I’ll talk about a project I had experience with. I had a multinational client that is interested in working with a Japanese company. Together with the client, we visited the Japanese company that had shown interest in partnering up with the multinational company. However, during the meeting, it was very awkward. There was no feedback from the Japanese side. At the end of the meeting, the Japanese side only said that they were going to have a meeting about this with the management. Time had passed after the meeting but there was no answer. There were no face-to-face follow-ups from the multinational company because they thought the Japanese company was still making a decision. So, after two weeks, we encouraged the multinational company to follow-up. We visited the company, but again, there was no feedback nor conclusion. The multinational company thought the meeting went well since there was no negative feedback. However, in reality, my manager understood the situation and told me: “ It seems that the Japanese side thinks that they do not want to work together, but they do not want to say it.” I was surprised since there was no definite answer of “NO” to the idea. In the end, the Japanese side just stopped responding, and the partnership fell through.
I think the problem lay in the cultural differences in working styles. Misunderstandings and inefficiencies could have been avoided by having a deeper understanding of each other’s culture. The multinational company could have built a better relationship through improving communication. The Japanese side could have brought up the issues that they had which could have created a more effective meeting. Understanding and adapting to each other’s working culture is a crucial steps towards a successful collaboration.