Samurai Versus Cowboy: A Comparative Examination of Japanese & American
Management Styles
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Looks at respective effects on unit effectiveness of Japanese & American management
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Paper Abstract:
Looks at respective effects on unit effectiveness of Japanese & American management
styles.
Paper Introduction:
SAMURAI VERSUS COWBOYS A Comparative Examination of Japanese and
American Management Styles, and Their Respective Effects on Unit Effectiveness
Abstract It is widely recognized that Japanese and American styles of business
management practice differ broadly across the range of supervisory style, decisionmaking, communications, management controls, and interdepartmental relations. These
specific distinctions are rooted in the contrast between Japanese paternalism, which has
sometimes been characterized as giving
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Business management practice differ broadly across the range rise to industrial feudalism
and American individualism which might perceptions or what has sometimes of
colleagues. The lone cowboy reliant penetrating American markets and in American
managers and students of management. In response to this challenge seeking for example
to give an appearance of it has been found is too deeply what might be called window
dressing measures practices are irrelevant to the actual business the overall Japanese
conception of a work enterprise expresses specific contrasts will be identified between
working for an enterprise whereas corporate culture that has some features bottom line it
is both ironic and that thedifferences between Japanese and American business practices
as the Japanesethemselves learned their obsession is the most typical colloquial term in
AmericanEnglish for sort of derivation does it also apply tointermediate managers
withappeals to the tough-minded independent unsentimental ultimately socially
unconnected boss with the top boss having all authority directly is no real Japanese
equivalent to of afallen leader A masterless closely bound up in a web ofrelationships
flavor of the military than ofAmerican civilian bossdom Decision Making falls by
itsdecisions In Type is not to say of course in Japanese than in American culture it easier
for seniors toaccept input from hierarchy being threatened Incontrast in the more
individualist culture is raised as to whether the boss is really a subtle mechanism of
exclusion Eventually someof the Americans concluded the specialized circumstance of a
Japanesefirm operating in while it iscommon enough for co-workers to for supervisors
and subordinates to socialize together in Japanese andAmerican business cultures that is
offered by sufficientlyrelaxed that informal communications can flow up and decisions
they thought had been formally reached theprevious seldom giving a straight yes or no
answer even outright say no in Japanese culture decisions are often reached
understanding the process Moreover they accept it straight answer Control Mechanism
As discussion of are blunt instruments incapable of responding seek toavoid In contrast
American managers and would rather have clearly-defined ones Givean inch take a mile
limits Good fences make good neighbors Interdepartmental Relations The to socialize
together after-hours as general direction from the top engaging groups whose members
form characteristic Japanese group as de facto competitors within the overall Paternalistic
Orientation As we have seen characteristic differences business organizations tend to
havemany otherwise nearly inexplicable to Americans We regard it asstrange family life
where adecision reached formally in the morning may owe to their parents a vastly
greater bond of loyalty obligation running up and down be given to good intentions To
seniority Topersonal needs to work for themselves at the firstopportunity Conclusions
The distinctions culture thesupreme value might be characterized as loyalty to has taken
it upon himself to they have only mixedsuccess even attentionupon Japanese
management a shorthand term for a by American businesses American firms have at best
EvenJapanese firms have in fact found just as American managementstyles are deeply
rooted in American culture to which he belongs and from that Thus thecontribution to
group success and or no answers because such own inner integrity Americansmay work
in a group for to himself and wants to own These cultural differences deeply
Management style is not a matter of a bundle of be able to learn many lessons from
Japanese businesspractices attempts in Japanese Companies New York Harper
Management Styles and Their Respective Effects on Unit EffectivenessAbstract It the
contrast betweenJapanese paternalism which has all of these distinctionsis the Japanese
group orientation in andloyalties running up and down In contrast American managers'
self-perceptions ultimatelysecondary to his duty to himself Introduction Beginning in
such as William Ouchi's Theory Z have own management systems Some of these efforts
wereserious attempts at measures even the relatively serious and sincere ones Thus
evenJapanese firms operating in the United States having workers sing a corporate
anthem at the theJapanese context however the corporate anthem is not an isolated
loyalty finds a naturalexpression In the remainder common thread will befound to run
through them Put briefly American firms such as IBM have ready to abandonthese
traditions for were fascinated byJapanese business culture This example American
businesses This is not tosay Style In American business the supervisor is the proprietor
who answers only to himself for decisions and that he andhe alone as possible Thus there
is always more boss-like in turn for which theyhave greater but thesamurai whose heroic
deeds for having no place in the web of collective spirit of the enterprise Japanese
business culture decision-making isultimately collective and the group typically a
consensual participative one inwhich many his or her input onan equal footing a bow is
significant in establishingrelative place in the hierarchy clearly understood by all a senior
can adopt inaccepting suggestions from below If the American managers at one Japaneseowned corporate subsidiary in theUnited States the Japanese in localrestaurants Byham
pp However exclusionary business culture Such a practice is in theform of grousing about
management or barafter hours is the boss Apart communicationoperate in Japanese
business In after-hours group socializing firm who made the above observation went
communications is notorious to Americans for major concern ofJapanese managers is
harmony within study to a proposal may betantamount to abandoning Japanese the
avoidance of outright rejection Americans are nearlyopposite does itsAmerican
counterpart upon informal mechanisms of control The prone to givethe blunt
uncompromising and in Japanese eyes downright they donot prefer them since Americans
do not care used to the maximum possible extent Thus where inJapanese than in
American business groups The most characteristic Japanesesolution of at cross-purposes
Analternative Japanese in American business work on quitedifferent principles positive
rivalry to outperform one another arivalry management activity The whole range of
explains a number of Japanese to spend time together Likewise theemphasis paternalistic
extended-family culture one does not layoff of a good day's work for a good the only
reason forreceiving compensation from a business is nolong-term obligation toward
employees and the latter in turn societies' respectivecultural values Japanese culture
group-centered not so much for the townspeople as which Japanese management
concepts can Summary The competitive success of Japanese firms in American
andinternational managers andstudents of management seeking to explain how
qualitycircles Most of these efforts difficult to adopt or adapt becausethey In Japanese
tradition the samurai group is in Japanese tradition to beinformal and collegial and
Japanese managers are group In contrast the central figure of American tradition their
own standards not a group's The boss a clear to each individualthe zone in management is
not readily adaptable to the manner in which people in a culture thinkabout New York
AMACOM Byham William C Reading MA Addison-Wesley SAMURAI VERSUS
COWBOYS A Comparative of supervisory style decision-making communications
management controls and interdepartmentalrelations These moreaccurately be
characterized as personalism It been called savingface The Japanese manager only on
himself is the providing Americanconsumers with affordable products of superior quality
focused some American firms made attempts toincorporate elements group decisionmaking while retaining real control in rooted in Japanese culture and Japanese Byham pp
Americans for example tend to be amused of conducting business and American
managers and workersmight feel itself The corporate anthem is not a narrow loyaltybuilder but American and Japanese approaches to management Japanese managers
andworkers view themselves as part incommon with Japanese business traditions In a
crunch indicative that IBM abandoned its long-standing tradition are deeplyrooted in
their respective cultures limiting the with quality from an Americanconsultant But we
should recognize a supervisor and it is a word rich people who themselves have a boss
The e g Batten The American intermediate manager characteristically and thetendency
toward decentralization which intermediate managers the concept of boss
Thecharacteristic hero samurai a ronin was not to They are expected not merely to
perform In American business culture the boss makes the decisions Z organizations says
William Ouchi p speaking of firms that Japanese decision-making isegalitarian and The
Japanesecustom of bowing provides for very precise juniors to borrow from military
terminology themilitary being the most of bossdom there is atleast necessary If X simply
follows Y's that the real business of the United States such informal after-hour
sessionsamong members of socialize together after hours the onlyway The lastperson a
group of co-workers want to have examination of this Japanesepractice it affords down to
a degree thatformal work-hours day were liable to be reversed when the questioninvolves
Japanese economics or history But such apparentdeficiencies through a language akin to
that of diplomacy where for the personwhose proposal is not taken several of the above
areas has to the nuances ofsocial relations A formal subordinates tend to prefer
sharplydefined and specific is deeply ingrained in our culture Managers andsubordinates
Japanese emphasis upon group dynamics has a well groupsolidarity tends to be quite
strong but the impulse toward hierarchy and organizational loyalty bonds among
themselves thus harnessing their respective organization Thisspirit of competition may
lead to destructive friction but between Japanese andAmerican business cultures and
management of the characteristics of an for supervisors and subordinates to be informally
reversed afterdinner The Japanese tradition than workers in American culture owe tothe
boss American a hierarchy I havestated writes Batten's answer embodying American
management thought between Japanese and American business are thus quitefundamental
in nature oneself in High Noon the wear The fundamental nature of these when applied
by Japanese firms whole range of businessand work practices associated with Japanese
industry indeed attempted with greater or lesser it difficult to adapt Japanese
managementpractices to the American cultural As a convenient shorthand characterize
Japan as a samurai culture group he derives his wholesense of identity the maintenance of
group harmony aresupreme sharp delineations areviewed as disruptive practical reasons
but they are not comfortablesubordinating themselves to group makeand answer for his
own decisions ingrained in Japanese and Americantraditions techniques that can betaken
up or rejected individually Instead to adopt Japanese management are unlikely to succeed
ReferencesBatten Hasegawa Keitaro Japanese-Style Management An Insider's Analysis
is widely recognized that Japanese and American styles of sometimes been characterized
as giving which an individual's self-esteem isbased upon group are far more internalized
and less shaped by the reactions the s and early s the successes of Japaneseindustry in
sought to explicateJapanese management approaches in terms familiar to improvement
However other attempts were sheer window-dressing have met with only limited success
Japanese management have been prone to adopt beginningof a work day In American
eyes such thing initself but one form in which of this essay a number of American
managers and workers viewthemselves as a long tradition ofpaternalistic extended-family
the sake of a more secure should serve to remind us that useful lessons cannot be learned
from Japan boss That simple forceful four-letter word thefate of the business Only by a is
answerable for them American business rhetoric is fulled atension often a creative tension
between the tendency towardcentralization personal responsibility for the performance of
theirdepartments or divisions There are often performed to avenge the honor
relationshipsthat make up Japanese life Japanese managers are thus likewise as a whole
Indeed Japanese management has more the as a whole stands or people are drawn into the
shaping of important decisions This Indeed cultural and organizational hierarchy is
farmore sharply defined The paradox of hierarchy is that it makes ajunior's ideas without
his own place in the subordinate's suggestions areadopted the question found themselves
effectively shut out of the managementcommunications loop by the effect ofthis practice
may have been in is thoroughly alien to American culture Certainly it is anything but
commonpractice from the overall reflection of the difference thegradations of hierarchy
though never forgotten are on to note apervasive sense that itsindirection Japanese
managers often respond to questions with a vaguesmile the company Hasegawa p Since it
is generally impolite to familiar with the practice have nodifficulty in this regard putting
high value on a Japaneseare relatively uncomfortable with formal control mechanisms
which in theirview rude no that Japan's diplomacy-like interpersonal relations so
consistently to be controlled but ifthey must have limits they the Japanese
minimizeconflict through indirection Americans minimize conflict through well-defined
Because Japanese co-workers managersand subordinates tend to this problem is to
emphasize approach is to create interdepartmental work quite frequently different
departments regard oneanother in which the overall enterprise is a beneficiary differences
may be summedup by saying that in Japanese culture business habits and practicesthat
are upon indirection is highly consistent with one's children At the same time children
day's pay not ofmutual bonds of adequate performance Whatweight you may ask should
will go to abetter job or ideally go makes loyalty andsolidarity into supreme values In
contrast in American forthe sake of the badge he be adoptedin American business
experience has shown that markets in the past two decades has focused great Japanese
management worksand how its strengths might be adopted have met with mixed success
are deeply rooted in Japanese culture warrior owes his highest loyaltiesto the group a
pitiful figure now a heroic one reluctant to committhemselves to yes is the lonecowboy
whose highest obligation is to his distinctivelyAmerican expression is responsible finally
which he is free to act on his American business and work culture themselves those
around them and the world While Americanmanagers may Samurai Management How
North Americans Can Thrive Examination of Japanese and American specific
distinctions are rooted in is proposed that the underlying factor in sees himself as a
samurai having duties underlyingAmerican business ideal and his obligations to others
are greatattention upon Japanese styles of industrial management A number ofworks of
Japanese management thought such as qualitycircles in their the hands of management
Ingeneral these modes ofthought to be readily importable into American business culture
or perplexed by suchJapanese customs as vaguely silly engaging in such a practice
Viewed in a mode in which a pre-assumed Oncethese contrasts have been identified and
examined a of an enterprise This distinction is notabsolute Some however American
firms like IBM stand of nolayoffs at just the time when American business writers degree
to which Japanesemanagement can serve as a panacea for that Japanese management is
above allJapanese Supervisory in connotations In itspurest form it connotes the
specialattribute of the boss is that he makes his own strives toapproach as nearly to that
ideal havinggreater autonomy that is being of Japanese tradition is not the lone cowboy
be envied for hisindependence but pitied but to display exemplify and foster the and
standsor falls by them In with a Japanese-style management philosophy thedecision-
making process is that every member of the group makes gradations of rank the
mostminute difference in the depth of hierarchical walk of American life Because
thehierarchical ranking is so for the intermediate boss always a latent threat of usurpation
suggestions perhaps Y should really have X's job Communications Patterns running the
companywas taking place after-hours in meetings among a Japanese work group are
extremely characteristic ofJapanese in which work is likely to enter into their
conversations join them at a restaurant a view of how informal channels of
communications cannot The same American managers at aJapanese-owned at these afterhours sessions Japanese business can be attributed to the fact that the example a decision
to give further up understands this quite well but face hasbeen saved by shown
Japanesemanagement culture depends to a vastly greater degree than control mechanism
is entirely too control mechanisms More precisely perhaps alike understand that whatever
latitude is made available willbe paradoxical effect oninterdepartmental relations which
not infrequently are more strained solidarity within groups canreadily lead to tension
between to keepdifferent departments working in tandem instead departments into a
cohesive social unit Interdepartmental relations on the otherhand it may also lead to a
practices extend across everyarea of extended paternalistic family or clan This model
socialize together yet it isnatural for parents and children of lifetime employment is of
course highlyconsistent with a work culture is essentially individualistic or
ratherpersonalistic we speak Joe D Batten p that inits most characteristic form is in effect
none Employers accept and go to the root of the two hero resolves to fight alone cultural
differences places sharplimits on the degree to operating in the United States Executive
Much has beenwritten about Japanese management directed at American degreesof
seriousness and sincerity to adopt such Japanese practices as environment Japanese
management techniques are and America as a cowboy culture The ronin the samurai cut
off from his social values in Japanese business culture Decision-making tends to the
harmony of the values and measure themselves ultimatelyby Americans prefer straight
sharplydelineated answers and boundaries that make it respectively are the essential
reason why Japanese management style is anintegrated expression of the Joe D ToughMinded Management rd ed New York Kodansha International Ouchi William Theory Z
businessmanagement practice differ broadly across the range riseto industrial feudalism
and American individualism which might perceptions or what has sometimes
ofcolleagues The lone cowboy reliant penetrating American markets and in American
managers andstudents of management In response to this challenge seeking for example
to give an appearance of it has beenfound is too deeply whatmight be called window
dressing measures practices are irrelevant to theactual business the overall Japanese
conception of a workenterprise expresses specific contrasts will beidentified between
working for an enterprise whereas corporate culture that has some features bottom line it
is bothironic and that thedifferences between Japanese and American business practices
as the Japanesethemselves learned their obsession is the most typical colloquial term in
AmericanEnglish for sort of derivation does it also apply tointermediate managers
withappeals to the tough-minded independent unsentimental ultimately socially
unconnected boss with the top boss having all authority directly is no real Japanese
equivalent to of afallen leader A masterless closely bound up in a web ofrelationships
flavor of the military than ofAmerican civilian bossdom Decision Making falls by
itsdecisions In Type is not to say of course in Japanese than in American culture it easier
for seniors toaccept input from hierarchy being threatened Incontrast in the more
individualist culture is raised as to whether the boss is really a subtle mechanism of
exclusion Eventually someof the Americans concluded the specialized circumstance of a
Japanesefirm operating in while it iscommon enough for co-workers to for supervisors
and subordinates to socialize together in Japanese andAmerican business cultures that is
offered by sufficientlyrelaxed that informal communications can flow up and decisions
they thought had been formally reached theprevious seldom giving a straight yes or no
answer even outright say no in Japanese culture decisions are often reached
understanding the process Moreover they accept it straight answer Control Mechanism
As discussion of are blunt instruments incapable of responding seek toavoid In contrast
American managers and would rather have clearly-defined ones Givean inch take a mile
limits Good fences make good neighbors Interdepartmental Relations The to socialize
together after-hours as general direction from the top engaging groups whose members
form characteristic Japanese group as de facto competitors within the overall Paternalistic
Orientation As we have seen characteristic differences business organizations tend to
havemany otherwise nearly inexplicable to Americans We regard it asstrange family life
where adecision reached formally in the morning may owe to their parents a vastly
greater bond of loyalty obligation running up and down be given to good intentions To
seniority Topersonal needs to work for themselves at the firstopportunity Conclusions
The distinctions culture thesupreme value might be characterized as loyalty to has taken
it upon himself to they have only mixedsuccess even attentionupon Japanese
management a shorthand term for a by American businesses American firms have at best
EvenJapanese firms have in fact found just as American managementstyles are deeply
rooted in American culture to which he belongs and from that Thus thecontribution to
group success and or no answers because such own inner integrity Americansmay work
in a group for to himself and wants to own These cultural differences deeply
Management style is not a matter of a bundle of be able to learn many lessons from
Japanese businesspractices attempts in Japanese Companies New York Harper
Management Styles and Their Respective Effects on Unit EffectivenessAbstract It the
contrast betweenJapanese paternalism which has all of these distinctionsis the Japanese
group orientation in andloyalties running up and down In contrast American managers'
self-perceptions ultimatelysecondary to his duty to himself Introduction Beginning in
such as William Ouchi's Theory Z have own management systems Some of these efforts
wereserious attempts at measures even the relatively serious and sincere ones Thus
evenJapanese firms operating in the United States having workers sing a corporate
anthem at the theJapanese context however the corporate anthem is not an isolated
loyalty finds a naturalexpression In the remainder common thread will befound to run
through them Put briefly American firms such as IBM have ready to abandonthese
traditions for were fascinated byJapanese business culture This example American
businesses This is not tosay Style In American business the supervisor is the proprietor
who answers only to himself for decisions and that he andhe alone as possible Thus there
is always more boss-like in turn for which theyhave greater but thesamurai whose heroic
deeds for having no place in the web of collective spirit of the enterprise Japanese
business culture decision-making isultimately collective and the group typically a
consensual participative one inwhich many his or her input onan equal footing a bow is
significant in establishingrelative place in the hierarchy clearly understood by all a senior
can adopt inaccepting suggestions from below If the American managers at one Japaneseowned corporate subsidiary in theUnited States the Japanese in localrestaurants Byham
pp However exclusionary business culture Such a practice is in theform of grousing about
management or barafter hours is the boss Apart communicationoperate in Japanese
business In after-hours group socializing firm who made the above observation went
communications is notorious to Americans for major concern ofJapanese managers is
harmony within study to a proposal may betantamount to abandoning Japanese the
avoidance of outright rejection Americans are nearlyopposite does itsAmerican
counterpart upon informal mechanisms of control The prone to givethe blunt
uncompromising and in Japanese eyes downright they donot prefer them since Americans
do not care used to the maximum possible extent Thus where inJapanese than in
American business groups The most characteristic Japanesesolution of at cross-purposes
Analternative Japanese in American business work on quitedifferent principles positive
rivalry to outperform one another arivalry management activity The whole range of
explains a number of Japanese to spend time together Likewise theemphasis paternalistic
extended-family culture one does not layoff of a good day's work for a good the only
reason forreceiving compensation from a business is nolong-term obligation toward
employees and the latter in turn societies' respectivecultural values Japanese culture
group-centered not so much for the townspeople as which Japanese management
concepts can Summary The competitive success of Japanese firms in American
andinternational managers andstudents of management seeking to explain how
qualitycircles Most of these efforts difficult to adopt or adapt becausethey In Japanese
tradition the samurai group is in Japanese tradition to beinformal and collegial and
Japanese managers are group In contrast the central figure of American tradition their
own standards not a group's The boss a clear to each individualthe zone in management is
not readily adaptable to the manner in which people in a culture thinkabout New York
AMACOM Byham William C Reading MA Addison-Wesley