Job Discussion Forums

[shmooj]

Time and again we hear people complaining about how "badly" their management treat them as teachers. This seems to be common not only in Japan but in many posts in the Asia forum.

I too have have come up against many management policies that seem to me to be completely idiotic. When I challenge them, I feel resistance even when I present what seem like very reasonable arguments for change. Sometimes, I find that there is a very good cultural reason why something is done the way it is. This humbles me and has made me cautious. I've now come to the point where I start to ask myself...

As with different societies and, say eating habits, are there different forms of management in different cultures?

If so, do we, as, say westerners working in Japan or other Asian countries, have a right to complain about how we are managed and demand that we are managed "properly"? In doing this, are we not as guilty of ethnocentrism as the teacher who insists on wearing shoes in their Japanese apartment?

What do you think? Have you had management culture shock and is there a basis for suggesting that when we are "mis"managed, we are in fact simply being managed in a thoroughly legitimate albeit different way from that we expect?

[denise]

I'd say it depends on the nature of the "mismanagement." If it's a matter of having to do extra paperwork, sit in the office when we're not in class, etc., then I would ask--are those the same conditions that Japanese teachers/employees face? If so, then yes, our whining is a bit ethnocentrist and we need to just deal with "reality" here.

If, however, foreign teachers are not being paid on time, are having their schedules changed with no notice, are being lied to about their contracts, etc., and Japanese teachers/staff are NOT facing those same problems, then I'd say any complaints are justified.

For the record--I have had no management problems in my very short stay here. In fact, they've been excellent, going above and beyond what I would expect/hope for. I am very grateful.

d

[Glenski]

denise makes some good points. I don't agree with one of them, however. If management changes your schedule with no notice and this is a routine "culturally acceptable" thing, you have no right to wave your own cultural perspective at him and demand that he stop. This is hardly something so culturally specific, however. I know of this instance happening a lot with foreign and non-foreign workers, and everyone is ticked off.

As for the original proposition...

[chinasyndrome]

[quote="shmooj"]

[Dr.J]

On a survival level, I accept most stupid things. If I didn't I couldn't live here. On a deeper level (not sure what to call it) I question and criticise many things, because whereas some things are just different, many other things are just wrong. It's a constant effort to distinguish the two.

[Sherri]

Interesting points made here. I worked as a middle manager (between teachers and the Japanese management). We were mainly in charge of the academic decision-making, while they were making the business-related decisions, but of course there is some over-lap as each has its effect on the other.

I found that the major decision-making was not being made in the meetings where I thought, ideas were being discussed before making a decision. Actually the decision would have already been made and the meeting was to rubber stamp it. I found that to get my ideas properly heard and a chance to get them picked up by senior management was to do what is called in Japanese "nemawashi" or groundwork. So before a meeting, I found that the discussions and decision-making actually took place over lunch and late-night drinking sessions with the Japanese managers. So that is what I did. I didn't try to change the way they worked, anyway I was in the minority and I like a drink after work, it wasn't a hardship for me.

One thing I did try to change to no avail, was to get the Japanese management to make and follow an agenda in a meeting. Very frustrating sometimes!

[lajzar]

Well, if a company dickers with my pay, I get very leery of them very quickly. While the other parts of a contract are nice, that is the core reason for doing any work with them in the first case.

Getting schedule changed on short/little notice also bugs me a lot. One time, a teacher apologetically asked me to reschedule the English class from friday to the next period. I flat out refused (politely of course). It just isnt possible to present a decent lesson without preparation.

Rescheduling someoens work in a factory where there is no brainwork involeved is different though.

[markosonlines]

Alternatively, I wonder how the Japanese, or other Asian people, find the western management models. I imagine they may be a little confused in not getting direct answers to their queries, but I'm only speculating.

I found in South Korea my manager would often ask me or one of my colleagues for advice and when we thought her ideas were not so hot we could often get her around to our way of thinking. She was a teacher though, and young, about 32. My current boss has never been a teacher and sometimes it really seems to show. Her management style is, in my opinion, poor and, like Sherri claimed, the management decisions seem to be made beforehand and we have little say in changing anything. When we have tried it has been flatly rejected, no reason given . She tends to recruit young submanagers she can dominate and there is no chance to go out for a drink and discuss it first as it has already happened in her head. We have no input on teaching materials, programs, or what level class a student should join. Currently there is one program we are teaching which I think is complete bollocks, but I don't know how to even begin to suggest we dump it. More likely I will leave first.

However I have found instead of asking management permission for something and getting a flat no, it is sometimes easier just to do it on the sly. Of course there are dangers involved but I am rarely supervised, etc. and so long as everybody is happy........

[Roger]

If you emploly foreigners then you must accept some responsability, and that means you learn to accept at least to compromise if not to change some of your own habits.
What I mean is:
- My Chinese overlords simply have to accept that cancelling classes at short notice is not their privilege based on "culture"; it's a bad habit,
full stop!
If I am LATE I am the first to get a dressing-down, and if I cancel classes, ditto! Yet, cancelling classes is so prevalent here that you can say not cancelling a class is the exception (and I include in this phenomenon the irksome last-minute scheduling of inofficial and official holidays).
- CHinese love ad hoc decision making, and they must be aware of how
much we hate them. Sorry, but there is a saying that Christians and Confucians alike are familiar with: "Don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you...". Today Yes, tomorrow no, the day after tomorrow it's nyo, and then yen - what's going on? People need stability, business thrives when promises are being kept. Contracts are a Western invention that the Chinese love to respect when they have more staying-power.
- I noticed that some employers resort to using different channels to give you conflicting tidbits of instructions or information. They entrust one person with telling the goods news, another with telling you a slightly or seriously different news, and a thrid person to contradict all previous ones. That's simply not "culture" - that's macchiavellianism!
And, you can't talk direct to the head - you must follow the path scrupulously that leads to one of the go-betweens who in turn has to report to a higher-up until it finally reaches the head. This is convoluted, obviously with the intention of giving maximum freedom of action to the head, while at the same time burdening the wrong people with responsabilities. Again, I question the use of the word "culture" - to me, this is a patriarchal and parochial system fit for a medieval society!
-

[shmooj]

[shmooj]

[Gordon]

So Schmooj, are you saying that we should just accept everything that is given to us and not try to have a more reasonable work environment?

One example in Japan is that most employees are given 2-3 weeks holiday/year. But they usually only take 1 week, so as not to be a liability to their company. In the West, we'd laugh and take every day we're entitled to.
What are you suggesting?

[shmooj]

Who said I was suggesting anything? I don't have an opinion to tout re this issue. I simply want to discover whether there are ground to posit a Sino/Japanese approach to management which is culturally unique and, if so, get some clarity on what it is.

[Sherri]

Last night my (Japanese) husband came home. He was made part of a project team whose function was to make recommendations to the upper management on policy. It turned out to be just a rubber stamp function for decisions that the management had already made. They were all so frustrated. So it is not just the foreigners who don't like this.

[shmooj]

Sherri - thanks for the very interesting insight.

So, what we may have established is that everyone is frustrated by this kind of thing - foreigners and nationals alike. Now, while in the west, such policies would not be tolerated and heads would roll, why here in Japan do such things go on without change?

Perhaps you'll be able to comment on this with your longer experience here and insight through your husband's work.