Is Japanese management culturally-specific: An examination of employee/employer values of Japanese and American banks in California

Many Americans believe that Japanese management practices are culturally-specific and unsuitable for implementation in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Japanese management practices and organizational values clash with American values. The introduction outlines human resource policies practiced by Japanese firms in Japan and postulates reasons for failures of Japanese techniques in American corporations.; Nonmanagement employees (n = 326) of Japanese- and American-owned banks in California were used for the study. Congruency between corporate and personal values were assessed with a self-constructed values questionnaire based upon England's Personal Values Questionnaire (1967). Human resource management techniques, organizational commitment, and job involvement were also assessed.; The results indicate that Japanese managers don't use management practices common in Japan because of their concern that such practices won't work with an American workforce. However, American employees of both banks expressed interest in incorporating Japanese techniques in their organization. Employees of Japanese-owned banks feel that their current job security policy is much better than those of previous banks in which they worked. In addition, American-owned banks have more extensive training programs and use participation in decision-making more than their Japanese counterparts.; The centralized decision-making policies of Japanese-owned banks appear to be caused by cultural confusion and a resultant lack of trust between parent company nationals and American employees. This, in turn, has created a rigid corporate culture where lines of authority are clear. Conformity and obedience were among the most prominent corporate values for Japanese-owned banks whereas personal initiative and ambition were valued in American-owned banks. No overall differences were found between the banks in employee acceptance of corporate values. Finally, no differences were found between Japanese- and American-owned banks in organizational commitment and job involvement.