An Assignment on

Employees Involvement Strategies in Japanese Firms

Course Code: BUS 611

Course Title: Total Quality Management

Submitted To

Md. Asraful Islam Chowdhury

Assistant Professor
(Management)
Business Administration
Leading University, Sylhet.

Submitted By
Md. Rasel Ahamed

ID: 1931017026

Business Administration

Leading University, Sylhet.

Date of Submission: 11 February 2021

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 Table of Contents

Name Page No.

Introduction 3

Involvement With the Firm and Dedication to 3

Work of Japanese employees
Employee Involvement 4

Motivating a Japanese team 6

Group Decision Making of Japanese Employee 7

7
Negative Impacts of Employee Involvement
The Ringi System (Ringi-Seido) 8

Strategic Management of Japan 9

Conclusion 10

Reference 11

Introduction

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Today, Japan is the most influential economy in Asia and the second largest economy in the
world. Japanese consumers are among the richest in the world, and the Japanese market still
provides profitable investment opportunities. Not only are the Japanese able to adopt Western
ideas and techniques without problems but they also maintain a very unique perspective of the
world. Japanese management practices are no exception. And this outstanding new book,
Understanding Japanese Management Practices, gives you and other international managers an
in-depth look at Japanese management practices and how these can be implemented into Western
corporations. It examines the cultural foundations of Japanese management and explains the
most famous Japanese business concepts, such as kaizen, just-in-time, and lifetime employment.
It then provides practical advice on how to successfully enter and position Western products in
the Japanese market. Finally, it provides an advice on how to negotiate successfully with
Japanese business partners and reveals what Western managers can learn from Japanese
management practices. Japanese management practices have had an enormous influence on
Western management practices over the past few decades. Many Japanese management practices
have become a standard in Western firms. This book will undoubtedly guide you through
Japanese business practices and how these practices help to improve business processes and to
increase quality and efficiency in numerous corporations worldwide. It will also help you learn
more about what Japanese management is and how do Japan’s management practices differ from
those in the West.

Involvement With the Firm and Dedication to Work of Japanese employees

Even today, Japanese employees exhibit very high motivation when working and dedicate
themselves to their company. Traditionally, salary men had very little time for their families
because they were even expected to spend part of their free time in the company or with their
colleagues. This attitude is also the reason for long working hours and the low number of
holidays. The term marugakae refers to the state of being absorbed in one’s company, resulting
in a total dedication of the employee to the company. Marugakae can also be translated as
completely financed, sponsored, or under patronage. In ancient Japan, marugakae was an
expected attitude for personal servants in their relationships to landlords. The concept of
marugakae stands for the employee’s identification, loyalty, and emotional bond with the
company, with little separation between private and professional life in Japan. But dedicating
one’s life to the company also had negative effects on the Japanese society. Marugakae is often
executed to an excessive level and harms the health of not only many Japanese employees but
also their families. Long work hours are still common in Japan. A phenomenon often discussed
is karoshi, or death by overworking, which became a synonym for the Japanese working style.
The two main causes of karoshi are heart attack or stroke due to stress and fatigue from long
hours in the office. Moreover, there are cases where work-related problems have created
personal problems for employees, leading them to commit suicide.

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Employee Involvement

Employee involvement is when your employees are encouraged to actively take part in the
management and decision-making meetings of an organization. It is the process of keeping the
employees aligned with the organization’s values and work ethics and to actively getting them
involved to achieve organizational goals and objectives.

Involving the employees usually gives them more autonomy for better performances and
thereby, helping them to reach their full potential. Achieving full potential will mean that your
employees will eventually love to work for you. And that itself is great news and furthermore
involvement will make them more loyal towards the organization. Hence, increasing
retention and reducing turnover.

Employee involvement can be achieved with the help of employee involvement programs, open-
communication, suggestion boxes, selective participation and more. This will help the employees
to be more productive at their jobs and also become more responsible for their actions.

Here is a list of why employee involvement matters in every organization

1. Increase in Productivity:
It's a psychological fact, when we do a task or any job with more dedication and involvement, we
become more clear at our thought process. We bring more awareness, handle the situation with
much ease and keep our mind calm.

The first thing employers want from their employees is productivity. Therefore, it would be
absurd to not tap the buttons which can increase productivity. And employee involvement is a
factor that you cannot ignore.

When employees are involved, they act more clearly, make calculated decisions, strategize their
work and also bring more enthusiasm to their jobs. This results in an increase in productivity and
overall growth of the organization.

2. Enhanced Morale:
Employee morale is the overall attitude, emotion and satisfaction of employees towards their
jobs and workplace environment. And these aspects cannot be fulfilled when your work culture
does not give any emphasis on employee involvement.

Employees with high morale stay motivated and work towards the organization’s goals. They
maintain a healthy relationship with anyone they come in contact with. They complete their tasks
more effectively.
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Employee involvement boosts employee morale and makes employees involved both
emotionally and psychologically. An employee with high morale are more engaged, happy and
enjoy their work.

3. Healthier Relationships:
One of the important keys to success is having a positive and friendly relationship with your
employees. Without a transparent relationship in the organization, miscommunications are bound
to happen. This leads to hindrance in the progress towards success.

Involvement gives everyone the perfect opportunity to share their knowledge which also
encourages improving the relationship between managers and employees. This opens up the idea
of accepting each other's ideas and makes the workplace a better place.

4. Commitment Towards the Organization:

A learning environment includes those with good training programs, modules that increase
employee skills, employee advocacy and employee branding. But it also consists of an
environment which has a collaborative exchange of ideas and thoughts in the workplace.

Employee feedback is one medium through which you can provide an opportunity for your
employees to involve themselves in organizational decisions. This will help you to understand
the necessary changes which they want so that they can perform well.

When you listen to them and help them perform better they become more loyal and committed to
the organization and help you build a strong future.

5. Innovative Thinking:
When your employees' are actively involved in your executive meetings, you will be able to keep
them in a loop. A loop where they will be constantly updated about the developments and the
necessary steps taken by the organization for a better bottom line.

Employee involvement makes employees feel truly a part of the organization. And when this
happens they become more responsible about their work and push themselves to find better
results. This enhances the possibilities of innovative thinking and ideas to tackle problems in the
workplace.

Thus, as an employer, you should give your employees the liberty and space to come up with
new thoughts so that they can keep you on a competitive edge. And also provide you with new
ideas that can affect the organization in a positive manner.

6. Managing Change Better:

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As an employer, you have to be open to change and accept the challenges that come with it. In
today’s competitive and dynamic environment you have to be unique and which will keep you in
the upper hand. And the organization that adapts to changes quickly are likely to be front
runners.

When you involve employees in important company issues, you open yourselves to new ideas
and views. It helps you to foresee future changes and deal with it better when the time comes.
You get to know everyone's perspectives and it gives you a broader sense of vision that benefits
everyone.

Rather than discarding the change, involving employees in decision making will help you in
welcoming it.

Motivating a Japanese team

• Always communicate the overall group goal and stress each team member’s responsibility for
reaching the group goal. Individual goals do not motivate Japanese employees very much!

• Make room in your work schedule for social gatherings such as team dinners, karaoke parties,
or an eventual tea break. The Japanese feel more motivated if they have a personal relationship
with all team members.

• Rewards should be team rewards and not stress competition among team members. For big
ambitious projects, Japanese companies often sponsor team travel or an overnight trip to an
onsen (hot spring resort) for their employees.

• Actively show that you are a member of the team. In Japan, team leaders have father like roles
and take care of their employees.

• Take the time to explain expectations and processes very clearly to all team members. Big team
meetings are better than small ones for getting all team members on the same page.

• Work harder than the rest. Since you are considered the most influential and powerful person in
the group, you have to show more dedication and motivation than your team members.

Group Decision Making of Japanese Employee

In the West, top managers have a more powerful role than they do in Japan. Leadership is more
individual oriented, and a leader can make decisions for other members of a group (i.e., top-
down decision making). In Japan, however, a company wants to maintain harmony within the
group, and decision making includes many participants and also originates at lower management

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levels (i.e., bottom-up decision making). This does not mean that employees refuse orders or
refuse to show higher managers respect. But when it comes to finding solutions, the idea is,
again, that one person can never be cleverer than all members of the group together. Another
reason for a preference for group over individual decision making is the idea that all members
should more or less agree on a solution or plan and should understand it very well from the
beginning. The actual implementation of the decided plan or change can be carried out much
faster if all people concerned agree to it and are informed about it. Team members can therefore
maintain a harmonious and future oriented relationship. Accordingly, no person alone has the
authority to make decisions on an individual basis.6 Involving a high number of participants in
the process naturally leads to a higher number of meetings, which are a characteristic of Japanese
management, and these meetings often lead to a tiring and time-consuming process until a final
decision is made. In case some unexpected situations turn up, the Japanese need time to adjust
and find solutions that are supported by all members of their group. Work is performed such that
the whole team receives praise.

Negative Impacts of Employee Involvement

Manager-Employee Boundaries: Probst has stated through is findings, having high levels of
employee involvement is a risk as the line of authority between the management level and
employee level can result in blur (Probst, 2005). Managers may appreciate the value of employee
involvement, however a disciplined structure with clear reporting responsibilities are vital to
stability in organizations. A company that allows its employees to attempt to produce ideas and
carry out major tasks or responsibilities without having the authentication from the manager
attempting duties that are specifically assigned for employers at management levels is a risk, no
knowledge and experience with managerial skills.

Miscommunication: Non-effective use of communication, inexperience and poor decision

making skills is a major disadvantage with employee involvement. The more employees that
have input and into managerial decision making tasks, higher levels of communication is
essential to ensure that decisions are consistent across sectors of the workplace to ensure
consistency. Managers may find it a challenge monitoring decisions and activities with employee
involvement, such as ensuring negative consequences and restricting the potential for chaos via
miscommunication, rumors ect resulting in a waste of time on dealing with employee conflicts
and discipline instead of using the time to carry out tasks and responsibilities.

Insufficient Knowledge: An employee that has the potential to make more decisions is
commending to managers, however it can result in negative effects. Hodgkinson explains that

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employees who don't have sufficient knowledge, qualifications, experience or competence on
specific business decisions can misunderstand the organisations success or create internal
conflicts in the business (Hodgkinson, 1999). That is why some decision making roles cannot by
undertaken by an employees as it requires skills from a trained and developed manager. For
example, an employee who works in the sales and marketing section of the organisation who
feels the need to collaborate and contribute to how the accounting section of the organisation
operates will make poor decisions in that arena and will result in various conflicts with managers
and other employees within the company.

The Ringi System (Ringi-Seido)

The ringi system is the formalized version of a group decision-making process. The main idea of
the ringi system is to include and integrate ideas and suggestions of all staff members concerning
new ideas, with the overall goal of gaining consensus and including the creativity and expertise
of each member. By including many members of the firm, lower and middle management and
their knowledge on the topic or task can also be involved. The ringi process starts with a written
proposal at the lower levels, as opposed to the upper levels, of management. An idea or proposal
is first conceived by one or more members of the lower management section and is usually
discussed among coworkers. Permission from higher superiors is required to actually begin the
ringi process. In a ringi document (ringi-sho), a new idea is presented and then improved and
revised by all managers involved. The document is often circulated a number of times
throughout a company. The whole process is finalized once all participants agree on a solution
and sign the document. The ringi-sho must then pass through each lower level sector and receive
approval from most, if not all, other coworkers before being sent to the immediate superior. It
can sometimes be signed by 30 or more people. Their superior will then decide whether or not to
accept the proposal by either sending it to the next sector of management as a form of approval
or sending it back to the coworkers for further adjustments. This process will continue until the
proposal, including any and all adjustments that were made, finally reaches the top, where the
head executives will either give their blessings or decide that it needs further work.

Strategic Management of Japan

Focus on Process Orientation Japanese management has a very strong process orientation. When
working or living in Japan, this becomes evident very quickly. The strong concentration on
performing even the smallest operation with great perfection has a lot of advantages and can be
seen as a strong point of Japanese management. At the same time, it also leads to inflexibility

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and leaves the question of how Japanese management deals with strategic issues. In general,
strategic management in Japan differs greatly from the West.

Following the Crowds

Whereas Western strategic management mainly focuses on being different from others,
differentiating a product, or focusing on innovation and novelty, Japanese companies do not
always feel the urge to reinvent the wheel. In many cases, they are very content to adapt ideas
and strategies shown to be successful at other firms or in other countries. Iitoko dori is the term
for adopting ideas, picking the best parts of them, and then organizing them successfully. Other
reasons for this approach include an aversion to high risk, which can be observed in most
Japanese companies, and a more positive attitude toward copying other people’s ideas. While
copying or adapting others’ ideas may be viewed as a lack of individuality or even a weakness in
the West, in Asia, it is not. It is a risk-free way of achieving success.

Less Specific Goals than in the West

Western strategic management not only differs in its orientation from Japanese strategies;
strategic management in a Western firm focuses on an object or goal that is very clearly
measurable, has a time frame, and is in fact achievable. Once the goal has been defined,
strategies are developed and evaluated, and the best strategy is chosen. After this, plans are
developed in order to put the strategy into practice. In Japan, these processes look similar but are
still quite different. First of all, the goals are not defined as precisely as in the West. Whereas in
the West, goals are very specific and measurable, in Japan, the goals are less clearly defined and
not as specific.

Dealing with Failure

The main difference in strategic management between the East and West can be found once a
strategy proves unsuccessful. In the West, unsuccessful strategies are dropped very easily. If
“strategy A” does not work, one can move on to “strategy B.” Shifts like this are possible and are
even considered good and effective, especially if an original strategy is considered unprofitable.
In Japan, this is not possible. Giving up a strategy and moving on to a new one is not acceptable.
Instead, “strategy A” is molded and becomes strategy “AB” or “A*” and will be adapted until
the overall strategic goal is met. The idea of simply giving up an agreed-upon plan and moving
on to a new one is not at all appealing within the Japanese business environment. This can be
attributed partly to the ganbaru attitude and partly to the fact that giving up is seen as a major
weakness. Typically, because so many stakeholders are involved in developing a strategy, it
cannot be simply abandoned. Specific things to remember when developing strategies with
Japanese include the following:

• Goals are more broadly defined than in the West.

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• “Strategy A” cannot be abandoned, and a “plan B” is not very appreciated, either.

• There is absolutely no problem with adapting an existing strategy to fit changing requirements.

• All changes must be communicated to all team members.

• All strategies must be brought to an end (following the ganbaru attitude).

Conclusion

In conclusion, employee involvement is a system which employees are encouraged to use their expertise
and knowledge to suggest methods for improvements in their work area. Thus employee involvements
play a very important role in the success of any organizations. Moreover, even though employee
involvement have various of negative impact on the organization, it shows that under certain conditions
employees are more committed to decisions and that better decisions are made if they are involved.
Employee involvement also increase teamwork and produce better performances.

Reference

 https://blog.vantagecircle.com/employee-involvement/
 https://www.writemypapers.org/examples-and-samples/impact-of-employee-
involvement-in-workplace-essay.html

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 https://www.uniassignment.com/essay-samples/business/the-importance-of-
employee-involvement-business-essay.php
 https://rudlinconsulting.com/japanese-employee-engagement/
 http://www.businessexpertpress.com/files/pdfs/10409930.pdf
 https://www.assignmentpoint.com/business/management/japanese-management-
style.html

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