The assignment is to write a paper that summarizes the culture of Japan and how the culture influences the elements of organization design (organization structure, job design, scanning practices, human resource systems, etc.) and management practices. One option for this assignment is to select a multi-national company (you pick one company) that has operations in Japan as the focus of your analysis.
Introduction
Every Organization intends to depict the business expansion to create the positive impact on different revenue streams and profitability. Obviously, every country contains a different culture, which creates an impact on the business process of the company. Based on the different cultural values, the company management intends to make different strategies to gain and sustain the success in an effective and lucrative manner. The cultural integration has emerged as a top strategy for firms, which ensures the success and sustainability of the country. Interestingly, the company has to come up with different strategic considerations or strategic changes in a different country. Strategies, which have been used in the original country, cannot be executed in another county due to these cultural changes. The Sony Company is in the limelight in Japan due to its successful operations. The cultural integration of this company in this region is remarkable. The organizational design of the company is integrated with the cultural values of Japan.
Company Background-Sony
Sony is a Japanese conglomerate multinational company. The company was founded in 1946. The company is producing an immense range of different products and services for customers in different countries. The revenue of the company is ¥6,593 trillion. Products and services of this company are in the limelight due to the high quality and differentiation. It is a well reputed and large organization, which serves many countries.
Operations in Japan
Products of this company are Consumer Electronics, Semiconductors, Video games, Films, Television programs, Music, Computer hardware, and Telecommunications equipment. Different financial services, insurance, banking, credit finance and network service are some key services of this company. The Sony Company has successfully expanded in Japan. This company evolved in this region due to the dynamic Japanese consumer electronics market. Interestingly, customers want varieties and uniqueness in products, and accordingly, the firm has designed some excellent product strategies to enhance the visibility of customer satisfaction. Also, both, internal and external environment of the business is triggered by the Japanese cultural values. It has been revealed that Japan is the highest market for this company regarding sales and profitability. The manufacturing process depicts the employee force, which contain the Japanese cultural values (Sony.Net, 2009).
Culture of Japan
Japan has a unique culture as compared to other countries. People in Japan are formal. People do not seem warm and friendly, as they want to keep some distance from each other. In many countries, it has been observed that people are coming from the different regions shape the culture. However, in Japan, there are only Japanese people. People in this country like to work hard and earn money. Tipping seems rare in this culture, as it can be considered insulting. Gender roles are quite strict, as women’s participation in this country in organizations and politics is low. For Instance, if a woman decides to have a family, she has to quit a job. The Japanese culture also streamlines the social hierarchy in the country. Japanese people believe in collectivism than individualism. People like to be in groups and work in different teams to get the best result. The loyalty has been valued in this particular culture, and people usually work for organizations for life. People are nationalistic. They depict the respect and authority in different things. Comparatively, freedom of speech has not been encouraged in this country. People are disciplined and punctual, and pertinent policies can also be observed in organizations. With the perspective of the business, the innovative culture of Japan has been emerged (Ready, 2015).
Influence of Culture on Organizational Design
After the elaboration of the general Japanese culture, it seems pertinent to elaborate the influence of the Japanese culture on the organizational design. The Sony Company has depicted the unique organizational design in this country, which has helped to ensure the business sustainability.
Organization Structure of Sony
The organizational structure of the Sony in Japan is quite visible, and it seems pertinent to its original country. For Instance, the structure of the company is based on the hierarchy, and all decisions are made at the top level in the company. In the decision making the process at the top level, Sony executives contain the conservative approaches. The company usually takes time in the decision-making process to enable the consistency and preciseness. The Sony Company is using the top-down approach, as people are not encouraged to particulate in the decision-making process. It is a fact that the Japanese culture depicts the smoothness of the process. There is a need to develop a flexible structure of the Sony Company, which can absorb different cultural values. Each division of the company contains the head of the chief, which has to direct the business function. The operations of this company evolved, as the management decided to integrate with the domestic culture through changing the leadership and structure of the company (Sony, 2016).
The most important and prominent cultural aspect is the control. People want to have a control on different things. With the perspective of the business, the company has shaped divisions with a prominent control. Due to the uniqueness of the culture, Sony management has understood the relation between the organizational structure and country’s culture. As mentioned, Japanese culture is integrated with the collectivism than individualism. Therefore, Sony management contains different executives from Japan to run business operations in all divisions. Due to collectivism, all executives like to work together and share information to make decisions. It seems big impact, which has been taken by this company.
Now, in Japan, due to this cultural factor, the company has a rigid structure, which provides different opportunities to individuals to come forward and enhance the visibility of their contributions in groups. The organization structure of the company depicts some groups, which demonstrate the collectivism. In Japanese culture; power distance is a prominent factor. Similarly, when operating in Japan, express the power distance through the top-down approach. The organizational structure is not flexible in Japan, as the management does not want to take high risk. Therefore, the uncertainty avoidance is quite high. Sony Company is looking to streamline its operations through optimizing some key cultural values. From production to marketing, processes are integrated (Sony.Net, 2009).
Job Design in Sony
Due to cultural difference, job design elements have been directed by the company management. Different job elements are tasks, job enlargement, job rotation, and job enrichment. The job design is an integral part of the organization, design, especially, when conducting an integral national business. People in Japan like to learn or develop some skills to streamline their contribution to organizations. Thus, accordingly, when assigning tasks to employees, the management usually predicts skill levels, qualifications, and expertise. The right task to the right person in the company is a good approach in Japanese firms. The Sony Company has initiated this approach in many Japanese departments. People usually stick to their work, and it is the main factors behind this approach in this company. Comparatively, Sony design in other countries demonstrates flexibilities in task allocation. People can be shifted from one task to another task in another culture. Japanese culture depicts the adaptation process, as people like the change and makes some improvement. However, Sony TV struggled to adopt different things. Thus accordingly, when designing tasks, this element needs to be considered. In addition, there are some complexities when designing the job for employees. The cultural adaptation seems tough due to lack of adaptation (Harlan, 2012).
The concept of job enlargement is successfully in western culture; In Japan, the job enlargement has not included in the job design process. In the competitive electronic market of Japan, Sony human resource managers work with departments to find some alternatives regarding the job enlargement. Interestingly, in the production process, the management has experienced the success of local employees through the routine and repetitive process. People like to be special through routine work and sustainability, which create the impact on the job design. The culture also creates an impact on the job enrichment. This impact is positive, as this home electronics company takes benefits of people ‘s interest in having power and control. Thus, in the production process, people are usually promoted. People in this company like to work under the supervision. Thus, the autocratic approach has been implemented by the company, which is also a cultural aspect. In past, outputs of Sony Company were generally accepted, as through better cultural integration, outputs were streamlined (Harlan, 2012).
Scanning Practices in Sony
The scanning practice of the firm streamlines business insights, which are goods to utilize in the decision-making process. For making strategic changes and decisions, firms are using strategic analysis tools to shape some strategies. The organizational design of the Sony Company in Japan streamlines the cultural factors. For Instance, when conducting the business, environmental scan, through pestle analysis tool, the firm derives insights from the social-cultural element. Also, most of the businesses scan needs cultural perspectives such as peoples’ behavior, attitudes, income level and buying patterns. In the scanning process, the Sony Company intends to obtain information regarding home electronics and different financial services. Thus, the culturally oriented business scanning is good for this company, which makes some outputs quite visible in the Japanese market. Importantly, the firm has to obtain information or data and streamline some key cultural elements, which can enhance the visibility of the cultural integration. When analyzing the customer and the market, the company may take the culture as a top variable. Similarly, the Sony Company made the different advertisement and promotional campaign through cultural integration. The culturally oriented business, environmental scanning provides a roadmap for this firm to increase the competitive positioning. The emotional and sentimental attachment to people in Japan seems worthy to make the difference and enable the sustainable competitive advantages. The Sony Company has evolved its operations successfully through this cultural oriented scanning process. Different international firms, which are also top competitors of Sony Company, are targeting the national culture to ensure the sustainability, growth, and expansion. However, for investors, driving the change is tough, due to uniqueness of the culture. However, it may take time to depict the difference (Kelly, 2013).
Human Resource Systems in Sony
Japanese culture creates an impact on the human resource process of Sony Company. The requirement and talent management process are two top human resource elements in the company, which are related to the culture of the company. As elaborated, it has been revealed that long-term employment is a part of the culture, as people give value to loyalty and routine work. Thus, relative to the strategic human resource management of this company, the management recruits’ employees for a long run. Sony company has an effective human a resource management strategies, which have been executed for better employee retention. Thus, we can see the number of employees in departments of this company, which are working for many years (Koh, 2012).
On the other hand, the talent management process enables the respect for age and seniority. Ideas of senior people in the company are usually streamlined, and juniors participate in this process to enhance their learning. Critically, it reduces opportunities for junior people. Different countries, the equal opportunities are provided for growth in the company due to their broad culture. However, in this country, junior people or talented people can emerge only when senior people leave the job. Thus, the internal recruitment in Sony Company shows the influence of culture. It looks the international environment for this company, and this element of the human resource management is shaped accordingly. The compensation system of the country is also made on the seniority and contribution. This home and consumer electronics firm does not design the overall compensation plan for all employees. For Instance, due to respect and honor for senior people in the country, the human resource management designs limited pay scale for newly hired people with no experience. Even in the recruitment process, people’s outfit and fresh entry level suits are actually the depiction of the cultural integration (Koh, 2012).
Management Practice in Sony
The culture of Japan has been streamlined by the Sony management when operating in Japan. For Instance, regarding the control and power elements in the culture, the management has demonstrated the autocratic management style. It is a fact that the management of the firm has harmonized the employee security through the productivity, flexibility, cost, and acceptance of change. The development of professional managers in the company has enabled to shape the work process. It helped to produce the high-quality consumer electronic products. The culture of this region portrays the number of people, which like to be controlled by the authorities. Thus, the autocratic leadership of the management has worked in this company, which enabled the employee sustainability. Especially for local employee force, which is organized to streamline ideas and solutions, this management practice, is quite pertinent (Mahinfo, 2010)
Another management practice in this company in the Japanese business environment is the rational decision making. Working with the different Japanese stakeholders is quite interesting, as it enhances the collectivism and participative decision-making process. Making delayed decisions to reduce the visibility of risk is an important factor of the culture. Thus, the impact is the visibility rational decision-making process in the company. Another management practice is focusing on the problems. Interestingly, Japanese people are usually focused on their work. They do not support any change intervention when doing a specific. Thus, in the Sony Company, the management has different problem-solving techniques to enable different groups to solve different problems. The focus has been inherited from the culture, which helps this consumer electronics firm to get out of different problems, even in crises; management usually gathers people at the same platform and work on the same agenda
The cultural influence on the management practice is visible. People like to contain the rapid work approaches to gain some outputs within the expected time. They only take time in the decision-making process. When the decision is made, it is an action stage of the management. The management does not wait after making some key decisions
The cultural integration has also been shown through the limitations in training, research, and development process. For Instance, as compared to other countries, the company contains the limited research and development process. These processes are related to specific tasks only. It is due to the cultural influence, and the management wants to keep focusing on one particular area. Different competitors such as Panasonic and many other have gained and sustained the success due to effective cultural integrations. It enabled the strong existence of companies in this region The role of the management is in the limelight when navigating the rise and fall of Sony. Sony struggled several times, and the management, through an appropriate leadership or management practices, sustained operations (Solis, 2013)
Thus, all these business aspects are triggered by the culture of Japan, which demonstrates the perfect cultural integration.
Conclusion
In the end, it is to conclude that the Sony Company has gained the success due to successful cultural integration in Japan. In each aspect of the business, the most important thing is to make the decision, which reflects the culture of the new country. The organizational design in the international, business environment is effective. The business growth, expansion, sustainability, improvements, and stakeholder engagement integrate with the national culture. The cultural integration is the best approach for this company to make some strategic changes. In an intense rivalry, it is imperative to take advantage of local and international consumer electronics firms.
References
Harlan, C. (2012, March 29). Sony struggles to adapt, like Japan itself. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/sony-struggles-to-adapt-like-japan-itself/2012/03/29/gIQAtNk6iS_story.html?utm_term=.d9690b236b91
Kelly, T. (2013, May 21). Is Sony un-Japanese enough to entertain change? Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sony-thirdpoint-activism/is-sony-un-japanese-enough-to-entertain-change-idUSBRE94K17A20130521
Koh, Y. (2012, January 7). Sony Throws Away Japan Recruitment Rulebook. Retrieved from https://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/01/07/sony-throws-away-japan-recruitment-rulebook/
Mahinfo. (2010, July 13). Made in Japan- Akio Morita and SONY. Retrieved from https://mahinfo.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/made-in-japan-akio-morita-and-sony/
Ready, K. (2015, November 10). Japan’s Emerging Culture Of Innovation: The Invisible Things Can Be The Hardest To Change. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinready/2015/11/10/japans-emerging-culture-of-innovation-the-invisible-things-can-be-the-hardest-to-change/#6136b81a4f4d
Solis, B. (2013, December 5). The Rise And Fall Of Sony, Panasonic, And Sharp And How To Survive Digital Darwinism. Retrieved from http://www.briansolis.com/2013/12/the-rise-and-fall-of-sony-panasonic-and-sharp-and-how-to-survive-digital-darwinism/
Sony. (2016, March 25). Sony Corporation announces changes to organizational and management structure. Retrieved from https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201603/16-028E/index.html
Sony.Net. (2009, May 14). Realignment of Manufacturing Operations in Japan. Retrieved from https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/200905/09-053E/index.html
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