The Different Assumptions between American and Japanese Management

Just as Douglas Mac Gregor's theory X and Y were based on management assumptions about people, so too is Ouichi's Theory Z approach. Here are 5 Theory Z principles.

1.     Job Security :

The Japanese Theory Z approach believes that people are a far too valuable resource to be lost when the economy has a downturn. In a recession, the Japanese don't fire people, they'll reduce their hours until things pick up. By contrast, when a US company is in trouble, they waste no time laying people off and as a result lose all the knowledge, skills, and expertise that go with them.

2.     Trust :

The Japanese feel that you should never give people a reason to distrust you. Loyalty is expected of all employees. In American companies, distrust and suspicion are endemic. If a person or supplier is not delivering, the company will go elsewhere for a better deal.

3.     Decision-Taking :

There are two differences between the Japanese and American approaches to decision-making. In Japanese companies, everyone gets involved in the decision-taking process as part of their commitment to the organization. As a result, the process is slow. In the US, decision-taking is the responsibility of the few and so is quick.

4.     Teamwork:

In Japan, organizational success is viewed as the result of team effort, so it is illogical to reward individuals. In the US, there is still a belief that, if you do the work and claim the results, you should get the reward.

5.     Motivation and Target-Setting:

The Japanese corporation rarely sets individuals targets as a way of motivating them. They believe that individual motivation comes from others in the team. As a result, it often takes years before a Japanese employee receives their first performance evaluation and even longer before they are promoted. By contrast, the American corporation believes that the role of management is to set their subordinates targets and ensure that these are met, using evaluation and promotion as incentives and rewards.

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Define management and Explain its nature

Definition of Management

Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources and natural resources. Since organizations can be viewed as systems, management can also be defined as human action, including design, to facilitate the production of useful outcomes from a system. This view opens the opportunity to 'manage' oneself, a pre-requisite to attempting to manage others.

Nature of Management

In for-profit work, management has as its primary function the satisfaction of a range of stakeholders. This typically involves making a profit (for the shareholders), creating valued products at a reasonable cost (for customers) and providing rewarding employment opportunities (for employees). In nonprofit management, add the importance of keeping the faith of donors.

In most models of management/governance, shareholders vote for the board of directors, and the board then hires senior management. Some organizations have experimented with other methods (such as employee-voting models) of selecting or reviewing managers; but this occurs only very rarely.

In the public sector of countries constituted as representative democracies, voters elect politicians to public office. Such politicians hire many managers and administrators, and in some countries like the United States political appointees lose their jobs on the election of a new president/governor/mayor.

1.     Universality:

Management is an universal phenomenon in the sense that it is common and essential element in all enterprises. Managers perform more or less the same functions irrespective of their position or nature of the organization. The basic principles of management can be applied in all managerial situations regardless of the size, nature and location of the organization. Universality of managerial tasks and principles also implies that managerial skills are transferable and managers can be trained and developed.

2.     Purposeful:

Management is always aimed at achieving organizational goals and purposes. The success of management is measured by the extent to which the desired objectives are attained. In both economic and non-economic enterprises, the tasks of management are directed towards effectiveness (i.e., attainment of organizational goals) and efficiency (i.e., goal attainment with economy of resource use).

3.     Social process:

Management essentially involves managing people organized in work groups. It includes retaining, Developing and motivating people at work, as well as taking care of their satisfaction as social beings. All these interpersonal relations and interactions makes the management as asocial process.

4.     Coordinating force:

Management coordinates the efforts of organization members through orderly arrangement of inter-related activities so as to avoid duplication and overlapping. Management reconciles the individual goals with the organizational goals and integrates human and physical resources.

5.     Intangible:

Management is intangible. It is an unseen force. Its presence can be felt everywhere by the results of its effort which comes in the form of orderliness, adequate work output, satisfactory working climate, employees satisfaction etc.

6.     Continuous process:

Management is a dynamic and an on-going process. The cycle of management continues to operate so long as there is organized action for the achievement of group goals.

7.     Composite process:

Functions of management cannot be undertaken sequentially, independent of each other. Management is a composite process made up of individual ingredients. All the functions are performed by involving several ingredients. Therefore, the whole process is integrative and performed in a network fashion.

8.     Creative organ:

Management creates energetic effect by producing results which are more than the sum of individual efforts of the group members. It provides sequence to operations, matches jobs to goals, and connects work to physical and financial resources. It provides creative ideas, new imaginations and visions to group efforts. It is not a passive force adapting to external environment but a dynamic life giving element in every organization.

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What are the three levels of analysis in an organizational behavior?

Individual level:

In individual level organizational behavior involves the study of learning, perception, creativity, motivation, personality, turnover, task performance, cooperative behavior, deviant behavior, ethics, and cognition. At this level of analysis, organizational behavior draws heavily upon psychology, engineering, and medicine.

Group level:

At the group level of analysis, organizational behavior involves of the study of group dynamics, intra- and inters group conflict and cohesion, leadership, power, norms, interpersonal communication, networks, and roles. At this level of analysis, organizational behavior draws upon the sociological and socio-psychological sciences

Organizational level:

At the organization level of analysis, organizational behavior involves the study of topics such as organizational culture, organizational structure, cultural diversity, inter-organizational cooperation and conflict, change, technology, and external environmental forces. At this level of analysis, organizational behavior draws upon anthropology and political science.

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Define organizational behavior

Organizational behavior is the study of the way people interact within groups. Normally this study is applied in an attempt to create more efficient business organizations. The central idea of the study of organizational behavior is that a scientific approach can be applied to the management of workers. Organizational behavior theories are used for human resource purposes to maximize the output from individual group members.  

There are a variety of different models and philosophies of organizational behavior. Areas of research include improving job performance, increasing job satisfaction, promoting innovation and encouraging leadership. In order to achieve the desired results, managers may adopt different tactics, including reorganizing groups, modifying compensation structures and changing the way performance is evaluated.

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