Westerners and the Japanese

Westerners tend to value a tough, individualistic and dominating leadership style including the ability to take independent decisions and have them successfully implemented. The higher a Japanese manager rises in a company the more pains he will take to hide his ambition and capability and not to be seen as a forceful leader. Westerners who look for a decisive and charismatic boss are likely to be disappointed. A Japanese manager concentrates on getting his group to work together. He is expected to be accessible, to work as an integral part of the group and to share whatever information he has. Because he has spent his whole career with the company, more often than not in the same type of function, he is expected to be fully knowledgeable about his subordinates' work as well as his own.

One of the problems Japanese managers often have with western subordinates is getting them to show initiative. They complain that Europeans need to be told what to do all the time. And when they have done it they need immediate assurance that they have done it right and a pat on the back. This would be embarrassing to the boss and personally offensive to a Japanese subordinate who expects no more than a vague indication of the job to be done. Japanese do not have personal job descriptions or performance appraisal systems. Japanese job definition is for the group and it is assumed that everyone will do their best to fulfill it.

Their western subordinates on the other hand complain that they are given only vague hints of what they are supposed to do. Without defined responsibility, clear direction, and realistic goals they may find their jobs boring and without scope. When individual descriptions are instituted in Japanese companies in Europe it is usually at the European's insistence. Europeans who discover the ground rules find that they have more scope to make their own jobs than in a circumscribed western environment. The ground rules arc never do anything that is above your status, never do anything that infringes on someone else's status and never cut across hierarchical boundaries. The way to ensure you keep within the boundaries of your status is to keep your boss informed of the smallest detail. Among the sample of people I talked to it was those at the lower level of organization who found this the most stimulating change from a European working environment where junior people are given comparatively little scope of responsibility.

Expand the following statements using information from the text.

• Westerners tend to value a dominating leadership style.

• A Japanese manager concentrates on getting his group to work

• One of the problems Japanese managers often have with western subordinates is getting them to show initiative.

• When individual descriptions are instituted in Japanese companies in Europe it is usually at the European's insistence.

Language

1. Practice reading the following words correctly. If necessary, use a dictionary.

Submerged, awareness, perceive, unconsciously, gesture, counterparts, crumpets, currants, gateau, unwarranted, dartingly, dogged, inadequacies, mixture, stirred, exaggerated, perpetuated, overemphasis, implemented, charismatic, initiative, insistence, environment.

2. Match the English equivalents in the left column with their Russian

equivalents in the right column. Use them in context. (Text 1-5).

1. level of awareness	a. способность к соревнованию
2. to hide one’s ambitions	b. рукопожатие
3. to categorize themselves	c. культурное разнообразие
4. social environment	d. акцент на индивидуализм
5. handshaking	e. относить себя
6. religion minorities	f. скрывать намерения
7. cultural diverse	g. самостоятельный
8. assumption	h. религиозное меньшинство
9. self-reliant	i. предположение
10. ability to compete	j. общественное окружение
11. overemphasis on individualism.	k. уровень сознания

3. Consult the dictionary and find the root words. Complete the table with missing words.

Verb	Noun	adjective
		self-reliant
	independence
to differ
		General
to believe
	Poverty
	Category
to advance
to achieve		-
	Tendency
		Cultural
to conduct
		Competitive
	Ideal
to exaggerate
to compare
	friendliness
		Diverse

4. Match the words with their definitions.

Dominant, non-white, oppress, reinforce, gratification, immigrant, distinguish, assumption, egalitarian, enterprise, counterproductive, alien.

1. most noticeable or important, stronger than the other parts of a system or group

2. not white by face

3. to rule in a hard or cruel way

4. to strengthen by the addition of men, equipment, etc, to add strengths or support to, to make stronger or firmer

5. someone coming into a country from abroad to make their home there

6. to see, hear or notice as being separate, recognize clearly

7. a feeling of satisfaction

8. something that is taken as a fact or believed to be true without proof

9. having or showing a belief that all people are equal and should have equal rights

10. willingness to take risk and do things that are difficult, new or daring

11. tending to work against a desired aim, having an opposite effect from the one intended

12. foreign, strange.

5. Find in the texts № 1-5 sentences with the following expressions and read them aloud. Translate them into Russian and let your groupmates translate them back into English without a textbook.

1. internal culture

2. the behavioural level.

3. "melting pot."

4. a cultural "cookie-cutter

5. mainstream values and behaviours

6. unique physical and social environment

7. assumption of individual achievement

8. personal or economic endeavours

9. overemphasis on individualism

10. rugged individualism

11. intimate relationships

12. competitive individualism

6. Match the halves.

1. To understand the political, economic, social and even personal behaviour of any group of people,

2. Culture shock is the psychological reaction of stress that

3. There may be a single European market but.

4. Nobody actually wants to cause offence but,

5. In Germany, as you walk sadly back to your hotel room,

6. To an American the whole purpose of living, the one constant confirmation of continued existence,

7. The need to feel we are all one big family - a collective –

8. Rugged individualism in America has meant that

9. Many of young people may have difficulty

10. The higher a Japanese manager rises in a company

11. Because a Japanese manager has spent his whole career with the company

12. Western subordinates on the other hand complain

13. Japanese job definition is for the group and

14. The ground rules arc never do anything that is above your status,

1. it does not mean that managers behave the same in Greece as they do in Denmark.

2. it is assumed that everyone will do their best to fulfill it.

3. never do anything that infringes on someone else's status and never cut across hierarchical boundaries.

4. you may wonder why your apparently friendly hosts have not invited you out for the evening.

5. is to cram as much sensual pleasure as possible into one's mouth more or less continuously.

6. many elderly would rather live alone - self-reliant and independent - than rely or depend upon their children.

7. co-operating with others and forming intimate relationships because they cannot stop competing as individuals.

8. the more pains he will take to hide his ambition and capability and not to be seen as a forceful leader.

9. we must first know the dominant values of their culture which are passed down from one generation to another through learning.

10. sometimes occurs when an individual enters a culture very different from their own.

11. as business becomes ever more international, it is increasingly easy to get it wrong.

12. he is expected to be fully knowledgeable about his subordinates' work as well as his own.

13. may be even greater in the US because of the overemphasis on individualism.

14. that they are given only vague hints of what they are supposed to do.

7. Fill in the gaps with the suitable words.

Mould, overwhelming, impact, oppression, cookie-cutter, to interfere, unlimited, persecuted, assumptions, dominant, approximately, allegiance, subordinate, perceiving, to sojourn.

1. Internal culture includes our way of thinking and … . 2.There is no way to explain the behaviour of Americans unless you know their …. culture. 3.A more historically accurate metaphor is that the US has had a cultural … with a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, male … or shape. 4.Those immigrants who had the most dramatic … on American culture were Calvinists, who were … for their religions in Europe. 5.It is forbidden for government … with any religious practices. 6.In Europe, there was no realistic hope of escaping poverty and … . 7.These immigrants happened to a land where there were … natural resources and a very small population. 8.Some individuals, when they … across a cultural boundary, especially for an extended period of time, experience a phenomenon called culture shock. 9.Market capitalism and free enterprise were built upon the … of individual achievement, social mobility within a class system, and anti-government philosophy. 10.Since 1964, … 1 million immigrants each year have come to the US – the … majority from Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa. 11.Immigrants are often more fanatical about their …to America and its values than natives of the U.S. 12.One of the problems Japanese managers often have with western … is getting them to show initiative.

8. Complete the sentences. (Text 1-2)

1.To understand the political, economic, social and even personal behaviour…

2.Internal culture includes… 3.The real collision of cultures occurs… 4.The collision of internal cultures causes us… 5.Individuals, sojourning across a cultural boundary… 6.Culture shock is… 7.Phenomena that contribute to the stress that some people experience when they move to another culture are… 8.Nobody actually wants to cause offence but, … 9.In France it is not good manners to … 10.In Europe the most common challenge is… 11.In Italy the biggest fear… 12.In Germany, as you walk sadly back to your hotel room ... 13.In Italy the question of title is…