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6 LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER SCAN

This chapter is the second chapter on motivation and behavior, and examines external influences
on behavior and their relationship to performance. The chapter discusses learning in
organizations as facilitated through reinforcement, punishment, and extinction. Bandura's social
learning theory and Jung’s personality approach to learning are also discussed. Later sections in
the chapter deal with goal setting, the definition and measurement of performance, rewarding
performance, and correcting poor performance.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES PPT Slides 2, 3

After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

1. Define learning.
2. Distinguish between classical and operant conditioning.
3. Explain the use of positive and negative consequences of behavior in strategies of
reinforcement and punishment.
4. Define reinforcement, punishment, and extinction.
5. Define goal setting and identify the purposes of goal setting and five characteristics of
effective goals.
6. Describe 360-degree feedback.
7. Compare individual and team-oriented reward systems.
8. Describe strategies for correcting poor performance.

© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
123
124 Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management

KEY TERMS

Chapter 6 introduces the following key terms:

classical conditioning negative consequences


consensus operant conditioning
consistency performance appraisal
distinctiveness performance management
extinction positive consequences
goal setting punishment
learning reinforcement
management by objectives (MBO) task-specific self-efficacy
mentoring 360-degree feedback

THE CHAPTER SUMMARIZED

I. THINKING AHEAD: QuikTrip – Learning the Business

II. LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS PPT Slide 4

Learning and motivation are related because learning changes behavior as it is acquired through
experience. Learning helps guide and direct motivated behavior. Henry Ford once said,
"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning
stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."

A. Classical Conditioning PPT Slide 5

The first theory of learning developed in the early 1900s. Classical conditioning is
modifying behavior so that a conditioned stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus
and elicits an unconditioned response. Over time, the conditioned stimulus results in a
conditioned response (e.g., salivation in response to a bell). Most students have heard of
Pavlov's research with dogs. They may not be aware that the collaborative efforts between
the Pavlov and Walter Cannon led to the application of the ideas in the United States.

B. Operant Conditioning PPT Slide 5

Operant conditioning is the process of modifying behavior through the use of positive or
negative consequences following specific behaviors. In other words, it is based on the
notion that behavior is a function of its consequences.

C. The Strategies of Reinforcement, Punishment, and Extinction


Figure 6.1; PPT Slides 6

© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management 125

Positive consequences are results that individuals find attractive or pleasurable. In


contrast, negative consequences are results that individuals find unattractive or
aversive.

1. Reinforcement Table 6.1; PPT Slides 7

Reinforcement is the attempt to develop or strengthen desirable behavior by either


bestowing positive consequences or withholding negative consequences. Positive
reinforcement results from applying positive consequences when desired behavior
occurs. Negative reinforcement results from withholding negative consequences
when desired behavior occurs. Schedules for reinforcement are either continuous or
intermittent. Intermittent schedules can be fixed or variable ratio, or fixed or variable
interval.

2. Punishment PPT Slide 7

Punishment is the attempt to eliminate or weaken undesirable behavior. There are


two approaches to punishment: applying negative consequences or withholding
positive consequences both motivate individuals to discontinue undesirable behavior.
Punishment can sometimes have unintended outcomes such as negative
psychological, emotional, performance, or behavioral consequences.

3. Extinction PPT Slide 7

Extinction is the attempt to weaken an undesirable behavior by attaching no


consequences to it. It is equivalent to ignoring the behavior. Extinction is most
successful when combined with positive reinforcement of desired behavior.
PPT Slides 8, 9
D. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory PPT Slides 10, 11

Bandura’s social learning theory adds a component of interaction as a learning approach.


This theory states that people learn by modeling their behavior through the observation of
others. Bandura’s theory also emphasizes the importance of task-specific self-efficacy, or
the belief in one’s ability to satisfactorily perform a particular task, as a positive force for
learning.

E. Learning and Personality Differences Table 6.2; PPT Slides 12, 13

According to Jung’s theory of personality differences, not all approaches are appropriate
for all personalities. For example, introverts learn better with quiet, concentrated periods
of time for reflection, while extraverted individuals learn through expressing themselves
and exchanging ideas with others. Preferences for information gathering and decision
making differ with personality as well.

III. GOAL SETTING AT WORK PPT Slide 14

© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
126 Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management

The process of establishing desired results that guide and direct behavior is goal setting.

A. Characteristics of Effective Goals PPT Slides 15, 16

To be effective, goals should be specific, challenging, measurable, time-bound, and


prioritized. Specific and challenging goals focus a person’s attention on exactly what is to
be accomplished and arouse the person to peak performance. Measurable goals are useful
as a basis for feedback about goal progress. Time-bound goals enhance measurability.
Prioritizing goals allows for effective decision making about resource allocation.

The Real World 6.1: The Goal is 100 Percent Recyclable

Starbucks held its 2008 annual meeting in New Orleans where the company could contribute to
the city’s continuing clean up, too. At the meeting, Howard Schultz set the goal for 100 percent
of Starbucks’ cups being recyclable by 2012. Starbucks introduced paper cups in 1984 and has a
history of positive environmental contributions and responsible initiatives. In 2008, Starbucks
switched its plastic cups from polyethylene to polypropylene because the polypropylene cups
required 45 percent less greenhouse gases to produce. Unfortunately, not every cup that is
biodegradable or compostable ends up in a place where it can break down and become a reused
element in the environment. Nevertheless, this environmentally friendly goal keeps positively
shaping the company’s environmental impact behaviors.

B. Increasing Work Motivation and Task Performance Figure 6.2; PPT Slide 17

Goals can be used to increase employee effort and motivation, which in turn improve task
performance. Three important behavioral aspects of enhancing performance motivation
through goal setting are employee participation, supervisory commitment, and useful
performance feedback.

C. Reducing Role Stress, Conflict, and Ambiguity PPT Slide 18

A second function of goal setting is to reduce the role stress associated with conflicting and
confusing expectations. This is done by clarifying the task−role expectations
communicated to employees. The resulting improved role clarity may be attributable to
improved communication between supervisors and employees.

D. Improving Performance Evaluation PPT Slide 19

The third major function of goal setting is to improve the accuracy and validity of
performance evaluation. One of the best-known methods is management by objectives,
(MBO), which is a goal-setting program based on interaction and negotiation between
employees and managers.

IV. PERFORMANCE: A KEY CONSTRUCT PPT Slide 20

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Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management 127

Performance is closely associated with the concept of task accomplishment. Good


performance depends on both effort and outcomes.

A. Performance management PPT Slide 21

Performance management is a process of defining, measuring, appraising, providing


feedback on, and improving performance.

B. Defining Performance PPT Slide 22

Employees must understand exactly what is expected of them if they are to perform well.
Consequently, organizations must first accurately define what they mean by excellent
performance, set standards for that performance, and then communicate that information
clearly to employees. Organizational citizenship behavior is a dimension of individual
performance that spans many jobs. Performance appraisal is the evaluation of a person's
performance.

C. Measuring Performance Figure 6.3; Table 6.3; PPT Slide 23

Ideally, actual performance and measured performance are the same. In practice, this is
seldom the case. Measuring operational performance is easier than measuring managerial
performance because of the availability of quantifiable data. Performance appraisal
systems should include analyses of the reliability and validity of the instrument chosen for
measurement.

Science: The Effects of Positive and Negative Performance Feedback

Positive performance feedback is not always good, and negative performance feedback is not
always bad. A recent study found that students with performance goals performed better
following positive performance feedback, and students who were assigned learning goals
improved their performance more than those who were assigned performance goals after
receiving negative feedback. Those assigned performance goals performed even worse after
negative feedback than did students assigned no goals. Researchers concluded that the type of
goals interacts with the valence (positive or negative direction) of the feedback in influencing
task performance. Negative feedback can lead to improved performance, and positive feedback
can lead to worse performance, depending on the goal and the individual.

D. Performance Feedback: A Communication Challenge PPT Slide 24

Communicating useful performance feedback that employees will accept and learn from
poses a difficult challenge for nearly all managers. Focusing on specific statements and
changeable behaviors enhances the likelihood of constructive feedback experiences for
both supervisor and employees.

E. 360-Degree Feedback PPT Slide 25

© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
128 Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management

360-degree feedback is a process of self-evaluation and evaluations by a manager, peers,


direct reports, and possibly customers. This practice has received some criticism for the
lack of agreement among perspectives, but the lack of agreement also adds strength to the
process by providing a more well-rounded picture of the employee.

F. Developing People and Enhancing Careers PPT Slide 26

A key function of a good performance appraisal system is to develop people and enhance
careers. Performance appraisals should emphasize individual growth needs and future
performance. Mutual trust is essential. The supervisor must be a skilled, empathetic
listener who encourages the employee to talk about hopes and aspirations. The employee
must be able to take active responsibility for future development and growth.

G. Key Characteristics of an Effective Appraisal System PPT Slide 27

There are five characteristics related to effectiveness of performance appraisal – validity,


reliability, responsiveness, flexibility, and equitability.

V. REWARDING PERFORMANCE

A. A Key Organizational Decision Process PPT Slide 28

Individuals pay close attention to how others are treated in reward and punishment
decisions. These decisions affect the organizational culture, as well as the motivation and
performance of people throughout the organization.

B. Individual versus Team Reward Systems PPT Slide 29

Many organizations are conscious of the competition between individual rewards and
group efforts. Individual incentives can improve motivation and performance, but may
generate excessive or unwanted internal competition. Team reward systems solve
problems caused by individual competitive behavior, but often do not account for
individual contributions.

C. The Power of Earning PPT Slide 30

The purpose behind both individual and team reward systems is to shape productive
behavior. Performance management and reward systems assume a demonstrable
connection between performance and rewards. Organizations get the performance they
reward, which may differ from the performance they say they want. The concept of
earning assumes a performance-reward link.

The Real World 6.2: Google’s Pay for Performance

© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management 129

Newly returned Google CEO Larry Page is making changes in the company he ran as chief
executive over a decade ago. Page wants people engaged during meetings, senior leaders to
be available for questioning, and data to be the ultimate decision maker within Google. Page
is connecting bonus pay to performance in the realm of social media. He understands
everyone in the company has a stake in the success of Google’s social media success and he
believes that the bonus multiplier is the best way to reflect that. Depending on Google’s
performance in the social media arena, employee bonuses could increase, or decrease, as
much as 25 percent.

VI. CORRECTING POOR PERFORMANCE PPT Slides 31, 32

If poor performance is not attributable to work design or organizational process problems, then
attention should be focused on the employee. The problem may lie in (1) some aspect of the
person's relationship to the organization or supervisor, (2) some area of the employee's personal
life, or (3) a training or developmental deficiency.

A. Performance and Kelley’s Attribution Theory Figure 6.4; Figure 6.5


PPT Slides 33-35
Attribution is related to performance measurement because supervisors attribute behavior
and performance to either internal or external causes. Kelley proposed that individuals
make attributions based on information gathered in the form of three informational cues:
consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency. Consensus is the extent to which peers in the
same situation behave the same way. Distinctiveness is the degree to which the person
behaves the same way in other situations. Consistency refers to the frequency of a
particular behavior over time.

B. Coaching, Counseling, and Mentoring PPT Slide 36

Important supervisory responsibilities include mentoring, coaching and counseling.


Mentoring is a work relationship that encourages development and career enhancement for
people moving through the career cycle. Executive coaching is increasingly being used as
a way of outsourcing the business mentoring functions.

VII. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS: Performance Management is a Key Task

VIII. LOOKING BACK: QuikTrip – Bonds, Brand, and Performance

YOU

6.1 Task−Goal Attribute Questionnaire

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130 Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management

This exercise is designed to give students insight into their goals for work or school by
examining the importance they place on the task-goal attributes of participation in goal setting,
feedback on goal effort, peer competition, goal specificity, and goal difficulty. It provides a
useful introduction to the topic of goal setting and, once completed, allows students to share
results and personal experiences with goal setting with the class as part of a discussion centered
on the exercise.

6.2 Correcting Poor Performance

The experience of poor performance is universal; everyone has performed poorly at one time or
another. The real significance of poor performance is found in correcting it—understanding why
the poor performance occurred and developing plans to prevent similarly poor performance in
the future. The first step is describing the event in detail, including an assessment of how the
performance came to be labeled as “poor”. The second step involves listing all the possible
contributing causes of the poor performance. In doing so, students should consider internal as
well as external factors. The rest of the process is largely useless if no plan is developed to
ensure better performance in the future. This exercise can be followed up later in the semester
by asking students to discuss the effectiveness of their plans once they have had the opportunity
to implement them.

DIVERSITY DIALOGUE

Race and Rewards at the Harlem Patrol Borough

1. How will Commissioner Kelly’s vow to increase minority representation in the top command
affect the rank-and-file officers?

Given the statement that Commissioner Kelly is widely regarded as fair-minded, in the absence
of blatant discrimination, rank-and-file officers are likely to perceive his efforts to increase
minority representation in top levels simply as an effort to make his organization better reflect
the community. If discrimination becomes apparent, rank-and-file officers will probably become
frustrated and motivation will decline within the organization.

2. Should service organization managers consider their “market” when promoting employees to
higher levels? Why or why not?

Service organization managers should consider their market when promoting employees to
higher levels; EEOC guidelines require that organizations’ workforces reflect the populations in
which they are located as much as possible with regard to diversity. However, managers must
also avoid not only blatant discrimination, but also the perception of discriminatory practices.
Managers have a very fine line to walk in accomplishing the kinds of things Commissioner Kelly
wants to accomplish, not violating EEOC guidelines while at the same time easing tensions
among the local populace.

© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management 131

CHAPTER SUMMARY

• Learning is a change in behavior acquired through experience.


• The operant conditioning approach to learning states that behavior is a function of positive
and negative consequences.
• Reinforcement is used to develop desirable behavior; punishment and extinction are used to
decrease undesirable behavior.
• Bandura's social learning theory suggests that task-specific self-efficacy is important to
effective learning.
• Goal setting improves work motivation and task performance, reduces role stress, and
improves the accuracy and validity of performance appraisal.
• Performance management and 360-degree feedback can lead to improved performance.
• Making accurate attributions about the behavior of others is an essential prerequisite to
correcting poor performance.
• High-quality performance should be rewarded, and poor performance should be corrected.
• Mentoring is a relationship for encouraging development and career enhancement for
people moving through the career cycle.

REVIEW QUESTIONS: SUGGESTED ANSWERS

1. Define the terms learning, reinforcement, punishment, and extinction.

Learning is a change in behavior acquired through experience. Reinforcement is the bestowing


of positive consequences or withholding of negative consequences to develop desired behavior.
Punishment, in contrast, bestows negative consequences or withholds positive consequences to
eliminate or weaken undesirable behavior. Extinction is the attempt to weaken a behavior by
attaching no consequences to it.

2. What are positive and negative consequences in shaping behavior? How should they be
managed? Explain the value of extinction as a strategy.

Managers have access to useful positive and negative reinforcement strategies to assist
employees in their pursuit of goals in the workplace. Consequence-related strategies should be
matched to the specific personalities and situations involved. Extinction is a low intrusion
approach to behavior modification, and an appropriate strategy for situations that allow for
patience and time.

3. How can task-specific self-efficacy be enhanced? What are the differences in the way
introverted and extraverted and intuitive and sensing people learn?

Task-specific self-efficacy can be enhanced through (1) performance accomplishments, (2)


vicarious experiences, (3) verbal persuasion, or (4) emotional arousal. Introverts need quiet time
to study, concentrate, and reflect on what they are learning. They think best when they are alone.
Extraverts need to interact with other people, learning through the process of expressing
themselves and exchanging ideas with others. An intuitive thinker prefers to analyze data and
information, looking for the meaning behind the analysis and focusing on the big picture. A

© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
132 Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management

sensing feeler prefers to learn through interpersonal involvement and focuses on details and
practical applications.

4. What are the five characteristics of well-developed goals? Why is feedback on goal
progress important?

Well-developed goals are specific, challenging, measurable, time-bound, and prioritized.


Goal acceptance is thought to lead to goal commitment and then to goal accomplishment.
Feedback helps employees assess how well their efforts are leading to goal accomplishment.

5. What are the purposes of conducting performance appraisals? What are the benefits of
360-degree feedback?

Accurate appraisals help supervisors fulfill their dual roles as evaluators and coaches. The major
functions of performance appraisals are to give employees feedback on performance, to identify
the employees' developmental needs, to make promotion and reward decisions, to make
demotion and termination decisions, and to develop information relevant to the organization's
selection and placement decisions. 360-degree feedback provides performance appraisal
information from multiple sources including supervisor, self, peers, and subordinates, resulting
in a more well-rounded view of the person being evaluated.

6. What are the two possible attributions of poor performance? What are the implications
of each?

Poor performance may be attributed to the person or the situation. If poor performance is
attributed to the person, interventions such as training, counseling, or disciplinary action may be
appropriate. If poor performance is attributed to the situation, an intervention designed to
remove situational constraints on performance may be appropriate.

7. How can managers and supervisors best provide useful performance feedback?

Feedback should be specific and based on observed behavior. The behavior in question should
be controllable by the individual, and both leader and follower should have ample time to
prepare for the feedback session.

8. How do mentors and peers help people develop and enhance their careers?

Both provide information sharing, career strategizing, job-related feedback, emotional


support, and friendship. The key in both mentor and peer relationships is mutual trust.

DISCUSSION AND COMMUNICATION QUESTIONS: SUGGESTED ANSWERS

1. Which learning approach, the behavioral approach or Bandura's social learning theory,
do you find more appropriate for people?

© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management 133

This answer may have to do with how much importance students place on the task-specific self-
efficacy aspect of Bandura’s theory. It is obviously a more complex set of dynamics to consider.
Students can be encouraged to consider the type of learning (e.g., level of complexity) as another
variable.

2. Given your personality type, how do you learn best? Do you miss learning some things
because of how they are taught?

Students will often be able to determine what they don't like about learning opportunities more
readily than they can identify how they would learn more comfortably. It is interesting to ask
students whether grading completely through group grades would change their view of
individual studying and learning. Many college classes are taught by NTs, who use a particular
style. Have students discuss what the NT teaching/learning style is, and how it affects other
learning styles.

3. What goals do you set for yourself at work? In your personal life? Will you know if you
achieve them?

Encourage students to discuss this question beyond the obvious, "complete a business degree."
They can evaluate their goals using the characteristics of effective goals, and discuss how they
get feedback on their goal progress.

4. If a conflict occurred between your self-evaluation and the evaluation given to you by
your supervisor or instructor, how would you respond? What, specifically, would you
do? What have you learned from your supervisor or instructor during the last reporting
period?

The key is to gather as much information as possible about the other's position. A key in
approaching differing views is preparation. It might be useful to suggest that students respond
only after thinking through the information for a day or so. Students can use their knowledge of
the perceptual process to analyze this question.

5. What rewards are most important to you? How hard are you willing to work to receive
them?

Encourage students to develop a gradual rating of the rewards. Not all of the rewards are
necessarily worth the cost. They may have some ethical issues related to high performers. The
alternative experiential exercise at the end of Chapter 10, Who Works Saturday Night, compares
rewards and how badly individuals want rewards versus balance in their lives.

6. Prepare a memo detailing the consequences of behavior in your work or university


environment, e.g., grades, awards, suspensions, and scholarships. In your memo, include
your classification of these consequences as positive or negative. Should your
organization or university change the way it applies these consequences?

© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
134 Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management

In response to the final question (Should your organization or university change how it applies
these consequences?) students should provide support, based on material from the chapter, for
why changes should or should not occur.

7. Develop an oral presentation about the most current management practices in employee
rewards and performance management. Find out what at least four different companies
are doing in this area. Be prepared to discuss their fit with the text materials.

Based on the fit between current management practices identified and text materials, students
can discuss how successful they believe the various management practices will be.

8. Interview a manager or supervisor who is responsible for completing performance


appraisals on people at work. Ask the manager which aspects of performance appraisal
and the performance appraisal interview process are most difficult and how he or she
manages these difficulties.

This is also a good opportunity for students to share experiences (both positive and negative)
that they have had as employees being appraised. The contrasting perspectives of the
managers/supervisors and the students (as employees) should provide for some interesting
discussion.

ETHICAL DILEMMA

1. Using consequential, rule-based, and character theories, evaluate Margaret’s options.

Margaret’s options are to insist that her sales team use the company’s preferred process for
completing expense reports or allow them to continue with the process they are currently using.
The choice is to implement a new, more time consuming process that is more accurate but
eliminates the “extra money” they are accustomed to getting or to leave the current process in
place even though it is less accurate and not the process the company wants them to use.

Consequential – Using the new process will likely be unpopular with the sales team because it is
more time consuming and eliminates the extra money they have been getting by using the old
process. However, it will bring Margaret and her sales team into compliance with the company’s
desired process for expense reports, thus saving the company money. Continuing with the old
process will be popular with the sales team and will enable them to keep getting extra money, but
will keep Margaret and the sales team from complying with management’s wishes.

Rule-based – Margaret’s obligation is to comply with the company’s desired method for
completing expense reports. She has no obligation to appease her sales team by continuing to
use the old method.

Character – According to the scenario, the only reason Margaret has been using the current
method for completing expense reports is that it is the method she learned when she was new to
the company. In other words, she does not seem to be keeping the old system out of any

© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management 135

particular loyalty to her sales team. She does seem to care about pleasing her supervisors, as
evidenced by her insistence that the sales team complete expense reports on time and her
gratification that they do so. Using the new method would also please her boss, whereas not
doing so may damage her relationship with her boss.

2. What should Margaret do? Why?

Based largely on the rule-based theory, but also to some extent on the consequential and
character theories, Margaret should switch to the new method for completing expense reports.
Her sole obligation in this scenario is to comply with the company’s desired method for
completing expense reports and it would clearly be unethical for her to continue using a method
that results in employees getting more money than they are entitled to in travel reimbursements.
Additionally, she can save the company money by changing to the new method, which benefits
the entire company, and her desire to please her bosses will be best met by changing to the new
method.

EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES

6.1 Positive and Negative Reinforcement

Instructor's Notes:

The purpose of this exercise is to illustrate the effects of positive and negative reinforcement on
behavior change. This exercise is useful when a class seems unruly and needs a change of pace.
It is similar to the childhood game most students have played. Students will become very vocal
and typically animated. You may want to take care in selecting the volunteers.

Discussion Questions:

• What were the differences in behavior of the volunteers when different kinds of
reinforcement (positive, negative, or both) were used? Most of the time the individual
receiving positive reinforcement will have a number of gestures and nonverbal indicators of
success.

• What were the emotional reactions of the volunteers to the different kinds of
reinforcement?
One of the ways to give the volunteers time to reflect and to get out of the spotlight for a
moment is to have them go to a board or flip chart and list a series of words that described
how they felt. Typical for volunteer #1 will be embarrassment, frustration, quit, etc.
Volunteer #3 may have feelings like confusion, frustration, and ambiguity.

• Which type of reinforcement – positive or negative – is most common in organizations?


What effect do you think this has on motivation and productivity? Students' responses will
depend on their exposure to specific instances.

© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
136 Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management

6.2 Correcting Poor Performance

Role Descriptions

Assistant Director, Academic Computing Service Center

You are the assistant director of the university's Academic Computing Service Center. You are a
skilled information systems software engineer with twenty years of experience at two different
universities. You assumed your current job about three years ago. Within the first year you
became very familiar with the entire information systems infrastructure at the university and
developed a highly successful relationship with all of the technicians and support staff under
your supervision.

With a notable downturn in enrollment since you came, it has been a struggle to obtain the
financial resources necessary to complete all of the upgrades you think are required for a first
rate center and to procure all the latest hardware sought by the faculty, research, and teaching
staff across campus. The center services a wide variety of university customers, such as the hard
science requirements in engineering, physics, and chemistry for massive data analysis and
networking with other universities; the social science requirements in psychology, business, and
social work for specific types of statistical analysis packages; the administrative requirements of
the registrar and financial services offices; and finally the unique needs of the medical school.
Because of the differing needs of these customers, the center experiences conflicting pressures
and demands. These customers are not information systems experts, and you take a lead role in
attempting to educate them about the competing demands and limitations the center faces.

You report directly to the new director of the ACS Center who has been on the job for about
seven months. Although the director appears friendly, she also does not seem to be a real
information systems expert with the technical expertise you would like a director to have. You
are scheduled to meet with a university committee of faculty and staff, although you are not
exactly sure why, though you have heard rumors there is some discontent among the center's
customers.

Role Descriptions

University Committee Members

You are members of a university committee of faculty and staff that the new director of the
Academic Computing Service Center has asked the president to form. You understand that the
new director is a rather new graduate of an eastern university with a M.S. degree in information
systems and some prior computing and information systems experience prior to going back to
graduate school. She has been the director for about seven months, and declines in enrollment
which preceded her arrival by several years have taken a toll on the financial and human
resources of the university at the same time advances in information systems technology have
increased demand for system upgrades and advances across campus.

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Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management 137

The assistant director of the ACS Center has been in the vice of these forces for several years.
The assistant director is a talented, highly proficient information systems expert who grew up
through the technical ranks after getting an undergraduate business degree in information
systems and management science. His technically superior attitude is apparently evident to the
diverse disciplines across campus who see him as increasing the tensions and conflicts flowing
from declining resources and increasing demand. The new director seems a little puzzled as to
how to sort out all the issues and make appropriate attributions as to the behavior and actions of
the various parties involved. A key responsibility for her is getting a clear picture of the
performance of her assistant director, who does seem to have some poor performance problems.

ALTERNATIVE EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE

The Death of Management

Instructor's Notes:

Since this is an editorial page, this is a logical assignment for students to read as homework. A
technique that works to aid in getting to the issues quickly in class is to have the students
highlight the most important issues for their position.

In class, divide into five groups that will discuss this topic with the speaker when he visits
campus. Each group will submit, within 20 minutes, what their issue and discussion question
will be, and who is their designated debater. The instructor takes the position of the editorial
writer, Robert Samuelson. (You may want to let 5 students take his position, and debate for
him). During the debate, students may request assistance from their group, and they will need to
reference the book for their support.

(1) decide who in your group will be the five students to debate this topic
(2) decide which particular point you wish to refute
(3) back up you argument with specific references to this chapter
(4) prepare your group by defining what you believe Samuelson means by the following words:

pseudo skills
all-purpose executives
general managers
skills

(5) What would Mr. Samuelson say about the concepts in this chapter?

* SOURCE: Robert J. Samuelson, Newsweek, May 10, 1993, 55.

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138 Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management

THE DEATH OF MANAGEMENT

We are now witnessing the death of management. By management, I mean the peculiarly
American idea (still taught at many business schools) that a "good manager" should be able to
manage any enterprise, anywhere, any time. Through incisive analysis and decisive action, our
supermanagers supposedly could make any company productive and profitable. The idea has
collapsed with failures at companies that once symbolized U.S. management prowess: Sears,
Westinghouse, and IBM.
With hindsight, we can see the absurdity. We don't imagine a winning football coach
switching to basketball, nor a concert pianist becoming a symphony violinist. We don't think an
orthopedic surgeon would automatically make a good psychiatrist. We recognize that
differences in talent, temperament, knowledge, and experience make some people good at some
things and not at others. Somehow, managers were supposed to be immune to this logic.
They aren't, of course. Indeed, the people who have created great businesses in recent
decades typically confirm the logic. They have not been all-purpose executives, casually
changing jobs and succeeding on the strength of dazzling analysis. Instead, they have been semi-
fanatics who doggedly pursued a few good ideas. People like Sam Walton (Wal-Mart), Ray
Kroc (McDonald's), William McGowan (MCI), and Bill Gates (Microsoft).
What seems astonishing is how such a bad idea survived so long. Our infatuation with it
partly reflected American's optimism that all problems are amenable to reason. In 1914,
Frederick Winslow Taylor's "The Principles of Scientific Management" appeared and set a tone.
Taylor pioneered time-and-motion studies, which analyzed how specific jobs might be done
more efficiently. But his larger purpose was to "prove that the best management is a true
science, resting upon clearly defined laws..."
Up to a point, who can quarrel with the resort to reason? The trouble is that it was taken
too far and became self-destructive. The problem was not that freelance managers constantly
jumped between companies, although that happened. The problem was that the style of running
big companies changed for the worse. The belief that all problems could be solved by analysis
favored the rise of executives who were adept with numbers and making slick presentations.
Huge staffs of analysts served these executives, who created conglomerates on the theory that a
good manager could manage anything.
With bigger bureaucracies, companies couldn't respond quickly to market changes - new
technologies, competitors or customer needs. The more powerful top executives became, the
less they knew. Their information was filtered through staff reports and statistical tables. Some
executives developed what consultant Mel Stuckey calls a phobia of manufacturing: they didn't
know what happened in factories and feared exposing their ignorance.
Roger Smith, GM's chairman between 1981 and 1990, exemplified this sort of know-
nothing executive. When asked by Fortune to explain what went wrong, he answered, "I don't
know. It's a mysterious thing." To fathom what went wrong, Smith truly had to understand how
automobiles are designed and made; he apparently never did, despite a career at GM. As a
society, we have spent the past decade paying for mistakes like Smith's. Inept management,
though not the only cause of corporate, turmoil, has been a major contributor. "Downsizing" and
"restructuring" are but the catch phrases for the harsh process by which companies seek to regain
their edge.

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Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management 139

Truly dead? Consider General Electric. A decade ago, it was "choking on its nit-
picking systems of formal reviews...which delayed decisions...and often made GE a laggard at
bringing new products to market," write Noel Tichy and Stratford Sherman in a new book. The
"mastery of arduous procedures had become an art form" necessary for executive advancement.
GE chairman John Welch Jr. fired thousands and sold 19 major businesses. Profits rose from
$1.7 billion in 1981 to $4.7 billion in 1992, but GE's payroll shrank from 404,000 to 268,000.
Such have been the ultimate social consequences of a bad idea. But is the muddled
notion of "management" truly dead? You can object on two grounds. First, some generalists
still ascend to the top of big companies, the naming of Louis Gerstner - who knows little of
computers - to head IBM is a case in point. Well, maybe. But these executives are often
specialists of a different sort; they specialize in dismantling conglomerates or top-heavy
bureaucracies. Welch played precisely this role at GE; and Christopher Steffen intended to do
the same at Kodak.
The second objective is more serious: it is that business schools still aim to produce
general managers. The present notion of the MBA (Master of Business Administration) is
foolish. It is impossible to take people in their mid-20s - without much business experience - and
educate them as "managers.” Yet business schools cling to the notion, because to do otherwise
would jeopardize their tuition revenues. What's lost is the opportunity for these bright young
people to learn something of value - a specific business, a foreign language, an engineering skill
- instead of the pseudo skills taught in business school.
Until this changes, we shall miseducate a large part of the talent pool for America's
business leadership. The one hopeful sign is that the subject now seems open for discussion.
Indeed, the Harvard Business Review recently conducted a debate about the MBA degree. Most
contributors agreed it is not very useful. MBA graduates are "glib and quick-witted", wrote
Henry Mintzberg of McGill University, but are not committed to "particular industries...but to
management as a means of personal advancement."
A recent MBA graduate said it better, "My main reason for obtaining an MBA, "she
admitted, "was not necessarily to improve my business skills but because the degree is required
to 'get in the door'." When the Harvard Business School can acknowledge that—and act upon
it—American management will have taken a huge stride forward.

Mr. Samuelson has been asked to your campus to debate the Phi Beta Kappa honorary business
fraternity about the accusations presented in this editorial. Your responsibility as a member of
the business school is to practice the question and answer portion of the upcoming event with the
individuals selected to talk with him at the open forum. In order to assist your friends, you must:

(1) decide who in your group will be the five students to debate this topic
(2) decide which particular point you wish to refute
(3) back up your argument with specific references to this chapter
(4) prepare your group by defining what you believe he means by the following words:

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140 Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management

pseudo skills
all-purpose executives
general managers
skills

EXTRA EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES

The following alternative exercise to supplement the material in the textbook can be obtained
from:

Marcic, Dorothy, Seltzer, Joseph, & Vaill, Peter. Organizational Behavior: Experiences and
Cases, 6th Ed. South-Western College Publishing Company, 2001.

The Learning Model Instrument. p. 35-41. Time: 30 minutes.


Purpose: To help students understand learning style preferences and to determine their
own learning style preference.

TAKE 2

BIZ FLIX: Take the Lead PPT Slide 37


Organizations Discussed: A South Bronx High School

Dance academy owner and instructor Pierre Dulaine (Antonio Banderas) offers to help troubled
detention students in a South Bronx high school. His formal ballroom style sharply differs from
their hip-hop moves. After watching a hot tango sequence between Pierre and instructor Morgan
(Katya Virshilas), the students begin to warm up to Pierre’s approach. His work with the students
proves successful and they compete in the 25th Annual Grand Ballroom Competition.

Behavior Modification: Learning Ballroom Dancing

This film sequence has two parts with a title screen between them. The first part starts with
Pierre saying, “So, as your principal has made me your executioner, you will report to me every
morning here at 7:30 A.M.” This part ends after Pierre sings, “You’re dancing, you’re
dancing...”

The second part begins with Pierre saying “The waltz. It cannot be done without trust between
partners.” This sequence ends with Rock (Rob Brown) and LaRhette (Yaya DaCosta) continuing
with their practice.

What to Watch for and Ask Yourself PPT Slide 35

1. Rock and LaRhette are trying to learn the waltz. Which of the two approaches to learning
described earlier in this chapter best apply to this film sequence? Do you see examples of
classical conditioning or operant conditioning? Why?

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Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management 141

Dulaine’s opening statement is an antecedent to behavior—he sets a clear start time for each day.
He also states an antecedent about working out their interpersonal problems. LaRhette and Rock
quickly resist (behavior), but Dulaine does not let them persist (consequence). Dulaine continues
with his instructions (antecedent) to LaRhette about the man leading the dance. Other
antecedents appear in the dance position instructions and walking forward and backward.

2. This chapter discussed strategies of reinforcement, punishment, and extinction. Which of


those strategies appear in the film sequence? Give examples from the film sequence to
support your answer.

Dulaine uses repeated positive reinforcement (“Here you go.”) as Rock and LaRhette simply
learn to walk. Students might think it is extremely mild positive reinforcement and does not have
a strong effect. You can note to students that the entire film sequence shows the effects of such
mild but repeated positive reinforcement. They waltz and Dulaine closes by saying, “You’re
dancing, you’re dancing...,” as a final positive reinforcement.

3. Apply the concepts described in the earlier section of this chapter, “Performance: A Key
Construct,” to the film sequence. Which performance concepts do you see? Give specific
examples of the concepts from the film sequences.

Dulaine clearly states a goal of developing trust between partners. Rock is to take LaRhette on a
journey. LaRhette gives a correction (negative reinforcement) and leads to Rock’s improved
behavior (desired behavior). They each guide the other to a successful, slow waltz.

WORKPLACE VIDEO: Barcelona Restaurant Group

Video Case Synopsis


“We're a chain that's not a chain,” Andy Pforzheimer says of Barcelona Restaurant Group, a
collection of seven wine and tapas bars located throughout Connecticut and Georgia. Launched
in 1995 by Pforzheimer and business partner Sasa Mahr-Batuz, Barcelona is the restaurant of
choice for diners who crave flavorful European tapas, sophisticated modern ambience, and the
largest collection of Spanish wines of any restaurant group in the country.

Barcelona is about more than food: it’s about an experience. According to Pforzheimer, cuisine
is only 50 percent of the total Barcelona experience; the other half is made up of intangibles such
as lighting, clientele, atmospherics, background music, and conversation with managers and wait
staff. “Quality in a restaurant is about lots of tiny details,” Pforzheimer says. The Barcelona
owner explains that managing restaurant performance means managing food quality, wait times,
hospitality, bussing, restrooms, prices, and more. For Barcelona to be successful, each employee
must deliver the European tapas ambience night after night.

To achieve consistent quality, Barcelona gauges its performance with the help of multiple
feedback loops. First, the establishment participates in a Secret Shoppers program. In this
program, undercover restaurant reviewers make unannounced visits each month to dine in and

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142 Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management

rate Barcelona on 120 points of service. Next, the restaurant solicits comments from regular
patrons, and every comment card and email goes straight to Pforzheimer. Finally, managers
monitor activities through restaurant surveillance cameras and by walking the floors to interact
with customers. According to Pforzheimer, the tactic of “management by walking around” has
led to improvements in menu choices, recipes, background music, décor, and more. Although
Barcelona’s various feedback loops provide useful data, the owners and managers are the eyes
and ears of the company—and nothing escapes Pforzheimer’s watchful eye.

In an industry littered with mediocrity, Barcelona stands out for aesthetic and culinary
excellence. As Pforzheimer sees it, there’s a lot at stake if Barcelona fails to control its
performance; failure involves losing money and losing face. “What’s at stake is my business and
my self-respect,” the restaurateur explains. “Making people happy is what motivates chefs.”

Discussion Questions and Solutions

1. According to Barcelona owner Andy Pforzheimer, why do so many restaurants go out of


business?

Andy Pforzheimer says that restaurants go out of business because they fail to effectively and
accurately measure their own performance. They fail to define success, and they fail to appraise
themselves in a thorough, ongoing manner. Quantifying service is especially important in the
restaurant industry where customer satisfaction depends on intangibles such as pleasant servers,
food preparation, and short wait times.

2. What tactics do leaders at Barcelona use to help measure and control the restaurant’s
financial performance?

In the video, Barcelona uses multiple methods of controlling financial performance. First,
managers hold weekly meetings in which chefs and general managers review key financial data.
Group members review P&L numbers for the restaurants, and owner Andy Pforzheimer
confronts managers if they let food costs rise above 25 percent. Second, each of Barcelona’s
seven restaurants generates monthly financial statements, and managers track their financial
progress against the financials of the other Barcelona restaurants. Competition between
Barcelona restaurants motivates managers to improve food and service while maintaining low
overhead costs.

3. How does Barcelona reward managers and chefs?

In the video, Chief Operating Officer Scott Lawton says that Barcelona managers receive a
financial bonus for achieving profitability. In fact, Barcelona offers a 12 percent bonus on annual
restaurant sales earned above the company’s base operating profit. The bonus money is
significant and can be adjusted upward or downward slightly to reflect the scores from Secret
Shopper reports. Lawton says the company does not provide financial bonuses to chefs because
chefs would inadvertently compromise quality by having to pinch pennies. During group
meetings, Barcelona’s owners offer praise to employees that stand out for good performance as
measured by customer feedback and meeting financial targets.

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Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management 143

CASE SOLUTION: Sir James Dyson: Learning to Achieve Success

Linkage of Case to Chapter Material

This case describes James Dyson’s unusual and challenging path to entrepreneurial success with
the design and marketing of the vacuum cleaner bearing his name. Dyson’s life journey is one
based on a desire to solve problems and learn from mistakes, to persevere and excel. In the late
1970s, Dyson began developing a vacuum cleaner based on the belief that “people actually
wanted to see the dirt that they were collecting.” [I]nspired by an industrial cyclone at a timber
mill,[Dyson] created a vacuum that used centrifugal force to separate the dust and dirt. No
bag, no clogging, no loss of suction. It didn’t look great, but it worked. After five years of
testing, tweaking, fist banging, cursing, and more than 5,000 mistakes⎯or prototypes, as
engineers call them⎯it was there.” Dyson says, “[e]ach iteration of the vacuum came about
because of a mistake I needed to fix. What's important is that I didn't stop at the first failure, the
50th, or the 5,000thI love mistakes.” Dyson’s life experiences in being willing to experiment
and run the risk of making mistakes, to learn from those mistakes, to persevere in light of
daunting circumstances, and to achieve excellence relates very directly to the learning and
performance management concepts discussed in Chapter 6.

Suggested Answers for Discussion Questions

1. Why is the opportunity or freedom to make mistakes crucial to learning?

Although success is positively reinforcing and therefore helps in learning, failure can play a
valuable role as well. Success demonstrates what a person does well; failure identifies what an
individual does not do well and therefor needs to learn. Failure helps to define one’s current
limits and identify areas where further competency development is needed. People who do not
experience failure are not fully aware of their developmental needs.

James Dyson was well aware of the value of making mistakes and learning from them. This was
made clear to him in his first job. Dyson recalls that his first boss, Jeremy Fry, taught him that if
people are allowed to make mistakes, they will learn very quickly. Fry also taught Dyson to
mistrust experience, especially the experience of entrenched individuals and organizations
because they tend to loathe innovation. Often innovation comes about as a consequence of
failure⎯sometimes repeated failures.

2. How can the opportunity or freedom to make mistakes contribute to performance


improvement?

As indicated in the suggested response to discussion Question 1, making mistakes enables a


person to discover first-hand what works and what does not work. Direct experience with
making mistakes is a more powerful learning force than is observing others making mistakes. It
can also provide for more powerful learning than perpetual success.

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144 Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management

Making mistakes also serves to identify one’s developmental needs. If people are fearful of
making mistakes, they will not take risks, they will not innovate, and they will not experiment.
Avoiding risk-taking, innovation and experimentation may make a person feel safer, but are
unlikely to improve performance substantially. However, risk taking, innovation, and
experimentation are more likely to create the potential for sustained performance improvements.

James Dyson, reflecting on his arduous, mistake-laden development of the Dyson vacuum’s dirt
collection system, states: “[e]veryone said that the clear bin would repulse people. By that point
I'd stopped listening to everyone and went with my instinct. I’m particularly adept at making
mistakes⎯it’s a necessity as an engineer. Each iteration of the vacuum came about because of a
mistake I needed to fix. What’s important is that I didn’t stop at the first failure, the 50th, or the
5,000thI love mistakes.”

3. What advice do you think James Dyson would give to a recent college graduate who is just
starting his/her career?

James Dyson probably would stress two things: (a) be willing to make mistakes and learn from
them, and (b) persevere, even when the conditions or odds are unfavorable.

With regard to learning from mistakes, the students could cite case information that has already
been brought up in the suggested responses to Questions 1 and 2. First, Dyson recalls that his
first boss taught him that if people are allowed to make mistakes, they will learn very quickly.
Second, in recalling the arduous development process for his vacuum cleaner, Dyson, states: “By
that point I'd stopped listening to everyone and went with my instinct. I’m particularly adept at
making mistakes⎯it’s a necessity as an engineer. Each iteration of the vacuum came about
because of a mistake I needed to fix. What’s important is that I didn’t stop at the first failure, the
50th, or the 5,000thI love mistakes.”

The advice regarding perseverance also can draw on his experience with making mistakes.
Clearly, persisting despite making over 5,000 mistakes is a powerful lesson in perseverance. So
is the insight that Dyson shares regarding his childhood passion for running. Quoted on the
company’s Web Site, Dyson recalls: “I wanted to give up almost every day. But one of the
things I did when I was young was long distance running, from a mile up to ten miles. They
wouldn’t let me run more than ten miles at school⎯in those days they thought you’d drop down
dead or something. And I was quite good at it, not because I was physically good but because I
had more determination. I learned determination from it.” Dyson also says: “A lot of people
give up when the world seems to be against them, but that’s the point when you should push a
little harder. I use the analogy of running a race. It seems as though you can’t carry on, but if
you just get through the pain barrier, you’ll see the end and be okay. Often, just around the
corner is where the solution will happen.”

4. What advice do you think James Dyson would give to someone would is in charge of training
people and evaluating their performance?

The response to this question should build on the suggested response to the preceding question.
Most importantly, James Dyson would likely advise trainers and evaluators to give people the

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Chapter 6: Learning and Performance Management 145

freedom to make mistakes and to learn from them. Secondly, he would advise trainers and
evaluators to encourage people to work hard and to persist in developing their competencies and
achieving their goals.

SOURCE: This case solution was written by Michael K. McCuddy, The Louis S. and Mary L.
Morgal Chair of Christian Business Ethics and Professor of Management, College of Business,
Valparaiso University.

© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Another random document with
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THE THRONE OF 1868.

When the Emperor gave his first audiences after the Restoration,
in 1868, he occupied a newer throne in the Shishinden, a large
audience hall with a lofty ceiling supported by round wooden
columns. On the lower part of the rear wall are some very old
screens painted with groups of Chinese and Korean sages. The floor
is of polished cedar, and the throne is like that of his ancestors, but
with the curtains rolled up from the front and two sides. It stands on a
dais, guarded by the Chinese dogs brought as trophies from Korea,
and holds within it a simple lacquered chair, with lacquer stands for
the sacred sword and seal. After those audiences of 1868 the
Emperor travelled to Tokio in a gold-lacquered norimon, or closed
litter, guarded by a train clad in the picturesque dress and armor of
centuries before, and equipped with curious old weapons. He,
himself, wore voluminous silk robes and a stiff lacquer hat, and the
faithful kugés were attired in gorgeous brocades and silks. When the
Emperor and court returned to Kioto in 1878, to open the railway to
the seaport of Hiogo-Kobé, he was dressed like a European
sovereign, alighted publicly from his railway car, and drove to the
palace in a smart brougham, escorted by troops with western
uniforms and weapons.
The Shiro, or Nijo castle, half a mile south of the palace, where the
Shoguns flaunted their wealth and power, is a splendid relic of feudal
days. The broad moat, drawbridge, strong walls, and tower-topped
gate-ways and angles date from the middle of the sixteenth century.
The great gate-way inside the first wall is a mass of elaborate metal
ornament, from the sockets of the corner posts to the ridge-pole, but
the many trefoils of the Tokugawas have been everywhere covered
by the imperial chrysanthemum. All the rooms, but especially the two
splendid audience-chambers, with a broad dais before each
tokonoma, are marvels of decorative art, rich in gilded screens, with
exquisite paintings and fine metal work, wonderfully carved ramma,
and sunken ceiling panels, ornamented with flower circles, crests,
and geometric designs. But, alas! a hideous Brussels carpet, a round
centre-table, and a ring of straight-backed chairs have crowded their
vulgar way into these stately rooms, as into every government
building and office, large shop, and tea-house in Kioto.
The Shoguns had the Kinkakuji, the Ginkakuji, and other suburban
villas to which they might resort, and in which many of them ended
their days as abbots and priests. The Emperors had only the
exquisite Shugakuin gardens at the foot of Mount Hiyeizan for their
pleasurings, until the Restoration gave all such rebel property to the
crown. The Kinkakuji (the gold-covered pavilion) and the Ginkakuji
(the silver-covered pavilion) stand at opposite sides of the city, each
surrounded with landscape-gardens, from which nearly all Japanese
gardens are copied. Both are as old as the Ashikaga Shoguns, and
both are now monasteries. The Kinkakuji is the larger, and was even
more splendid before it was despoiled of so many rare and historic
stones and garden ornaments, but the place is still a paradise.
Yoshimitsu, third of the Ashikaga Shoguns, built the Kinkakuji, and
thither the great Ashikaga retired to end his life. This refuge figures
in the many novels of the time of the Ashikagas, when the War of the
Chrysanthemums, the Japanese War of the Roses, raged, and the
Emperors with the kugés suffered actual want and privation. The
memory of this third Ashikaga is abhorred, because he paid tribute to
China and accepted from that country in return the title of “King of
Japan;” but he so fostered luxury and art that some of his other sins
are forgiven him. The pretty little palace at the lake’s edge, with its
golden roof and lacquered walls, has successfully withstood the
centuries, and is still intact. In the monastery buildings near the gate-
way are shown many wonderful kakemonos and screens, and in one
court is a pine-tree trained in the shape of a junk, hull, mast, and sail
perfectly reproduced in the feathery, living green needles of the tree.
It is most interesting to see how the patient gardeners have bent,
interlaced, tied, weighted down, and propped up the limbs and twigs
to produce this model, with the slow labor of a century.
To the Ginkakuji retired the dignified Yoshimasa, eighth of the
Ashikaga Shoguns, to found a monastery and to meditate, until with
Murata Shinkio, the priest, and Soami, the painter, he evolved the
minute and elaborate ceremonies of cha no yu. The weather-beaten
boards and finely thatched roof of the first ceremonial tea-house in
Japan, built before Columbus set sail for the Zipangu of Marco Polo,
are greatly revered by Japanese visitors. Beautiful is the way to the
Ginkakuji, past the high walls and gate-ways of monasteries, past
the towering gates of countless temples, up their long shaded
avenues, and on by bamboo groves and terraced rice fields. You buy
wooden admission tickets for ten sen, which you give to a little
acolyte, who opens the inner gate-way. This chisai bonze san (small
priest) might have been twelve years old, but looked not more than
five when I first knew him, and from shaven head to sandaled foot he
was a Buddhist priest in miniature. This Shinkaku, leading the way to
the lake with solemn countenance and hands primly clasped before
him, suddenly broke forth into a wild, sing-song chant, which recited
the names of the donors of the rocks and lanterns to the great
Ashikaga Yoshimasa. He made us take off our shoes and creep up
the steep and ancient stair-way of the Ginkakuji to see a blackened
and venerable image of Amida. Morning, noon, and night service is
said before the altar in the little old temple by the lake, and this small
priest burns incense, passes the sacred books, and assists the
wrinkled and aged priests in the observances of the Zen sect of
Buddhists. Back of the monastery buildings is a lotus pond, where
the great pink flower-cups fill the air with perfume, and every
morning are set fresh before Buddha’s shrine.
Going westward from Kioto the traveller crosses rice fields, skirts a
long bamboo hedge, and comes to the summer palace of Katsura no
Miya, a relic of the Taiko’s days. An aunt of the Emperor occupied it
until her recent decease, and to that is probably due its perfect
preservation. An ancient samurai with shaven crown and silken
garments receives, with a dozen bows, the handful of official papers
that constitute a permit to visit the imperial demesne. Dropping his
shoes at the steps, the visitor wanders through a labyrinth of little
rooms, each exquisite, simple, and charming, with its golden screens
and gold-flecked ceilings. The irregularly shelved recesses, the
chigai dana of each room, the ramma, the lattices and windows, are
perfect models of Japanese taste and art; and the Taiko’s crest is
wrought in silver, gold, and bronze on all the mountings, and is
painted and carved everywhere. The open rooms look upon a lovely
garden, and paths of flat-topped stones lead through the tiny
wilderness of lake, forest, thicket, and stream; over old stone
bridges, stained and lichen-covered, to picturesque tea-houses and
pavilions, overhanging the lake. Stone Buddhas and stone pagodas
stand in shadowy places, and stone lanterns under dwarf pine-trees
are reflected in the curve of every tiny bay. It is an ideal Japanese
garden, with the dew of a midsummer morning on all the spider
webs, and only the low note of the grasshoppers to break the
stillness.
Although all tourists spend a day in shooting the rapids of the
Oigawa, it seems to me a waste of precious Kioto time and a
performance out of harmony with the spirit of the place, although in
May the blooming azaleas cause that wild and narrow cañon to
blaze with color. The flat-bottomed boats dart through the seven-mile
gorge and dash from one peril of shipwreck to another, just saved by
a dextrous touch of the boatmen’s poles, which fit into holes in the
rocks that they themselves have worn. The flooring of the boats is so
thin as to rise and fall with the pressure of the water, in a way that
seems at first most alarming. The passage ends at Arashiyama, a
steep hill clothed with pine, maple, and cherry-trees, which in cherry-
blossom time, or in autumn, is the great resort of all Kioto, whose
pleasurings there form the theme of half the geisha’s songs and the
accompanying dances. From the tea-house on the opposite bank the
abrupt mountain-side shows a mat of densest foliage. A torii at the
river’s edge, stone steps and lines of lanterns lead to a temple on
the summit, and down through the forest float the soft, slow beats of
a temple-bell. The tea-house is famous for its fish-dinners, where tai,
fresh from the cool, green river, are cooked as only the Japanese
can cook them, and the lily bulbs, rice sandwiches, omelettes, and
sponge-cake are so good that the place is always crowded.
Katsura no Miya is just below Arashiyama, and after one morning
spent in the little palace, with its restful shade and stillness, our half-
naked coolies ran with us through the glaring sunlight to the tea-
house beside the cool waters of the Oigawa. They barely waited for
us to step out of the jinrikishas before they plunged, laughing and
frolicking, down the bank and leaped into the river, splashing and
swimming there like so many frogs. They had run ten miles that
morning, half of the way under a baking sun, the perspiration
streaming from their bodies, and they plunged into the river as they
were, taking off their one cotton garment and washing it, while they
cooled themselves in the rushing waters. Then, lying down quite
uncovered in their own quarters of the tea-house, they ate
watermelon and cucumber, drank tea and smoked, until they
dropped asleep in the scorching noonday of a cholera summer. In
the late afternoon, when it was time to begin the long ride back to
Maruyama, they limped out to us, lame and stiff in every joint and
muscle, coughing and croaking like ravens. We felt that they must
die in the shafts, but exercise soon relieved the cramped and
stiffened limbs, and they trotted on as nimbly as ever over the hills to
Kioto.
The coolie and his ways are matters of much interest to foreigners,
but after a time one ceases to be amazed at their endurance or their
recklessness. After the most violent exercise, ninsoku, the coolie, will
take off his one superfluous garment and sit in summer ease in his
decorated skin. Back, breast, arms, and thighs are often covered
with elaborate tattooed pictures in blue, red, and black on the raw-
umber ground. His philosophy of dress is a simple one. When the
weather is too hot to wear clothes they are left off, and a wisp of
straw for the feet, a loin-cloth, and a huge flat hat, a yard in diameter,
weighing less than a feather, are enough for him. When there is no
money to buy raiment he tattoos himself with gorgeous pictures,
which he would never hide were there not watchful policemen and
Government laws to compel him into some scanty covering.
The diet of these coolies seems wholly insufficient for the
tremendous labor they perform—rice, pickled fish, fermented radish,
and green tea affording the thin nutriment of working-days. Yet the
most splendid specimens of physical health are reared and kept in
prize-fighting condition on what would reduce a foreigner to
invalidism in a week. I remember that while resting one hot morning
under Shinniodo’s great gate-way, my coolie, who by an unusually
early start had been interrupted in his breakfast of one green apple,
asked for some tea-money. I watched the hungry pony while he
treated his companions to a substantial repast of tea and
watermelon. Strengthened and recuperated, he came back,
shouldered camera and tripod, and as he walked down the hot
flagging, complacently picked his teeth with the sharp point of one
tripod stick—a toothpick four feet long!
CHAPTER XXVI
KIOTO SILK INDUSTRY

Kioto remains the home of the arts, although no longer the seat of
government. For centuries it ministered to the luxury of the two
courts, which gathered together and encouraged hosts of artists and
artisans, whose descendants live and work in the old home. Kioto
silks and crapes, Kioto fans, porcelains, bronzes, lacquer, carvings,
and embroideries preserve their quality and fame, and are dearer
and better than any other.
Silk is the most valuable article of export which Japan produces,
and raw silk to the value of thirty millions of yens goes annually to
foreign consumers, while the home market buys nearly seven
millions of yens’ worth of manufactured fabrics. The Nishijin quarter
of Kioto and the Josho district, north-west of Tokio, are the great silk
centres of Japan, and any silk merchant, fingering a crape gown, will
tell instantly which of the rival districts produced it. Recently Kofu,
west of Tokio, and Hachioji, twenty miles south, have become
important centres of manufacture as well. The silk market has its
fluctuations, its panics, and its daily quotations by cable; but raw silk
has so inherent a value that it is a good collateral security at any
bank, and the silk-broker is as well established and important a
personage in the mercantile world of the Orient as the stock-broker
in the Occident. Next to specie or gems, silk is the most valuable of
commodities in proportion to its bulk, the cargo of a single steamer
often representing a value of two million dollars in gold. The United
States is the greatest consumer of Japan’s raw silk. In 1875 fifty-
three bales only of raw silk and cocoons were shipped to America. In
1878 there were two thousand three hundred and thirty-six bales, in
1887 some sixteen thousand eight hundred and sixty-four bales, and
in 1901 the export of raw silk to America amounted to forty seven
thousand six hundred and sixty-two bales. Our share of the raw silk
is nearly all consigned to Paterson, N. J. With the opening of this
great foreign trade, silk is dearer to the Japanese consumer than
twenty years ago; and while it still furnishes the ceremonial dress,
and is the choice of the rich, cotton and, of late, wool have taken its
place to a great extent.
Everywhere the rearing of the worms goes on. The silk districts
and villages are always thriving, prosperous, and tidily kept, forming
peaceful and contented communities. Each house becomes both a
nursery for the worms and a home factory, where every member of
the family engages in the work. Wages in silk districts range from
eight to twenty cents, in United States gold, for a day’s work of
eighteen hours, the higher price being paid to the most expert and
experienced only. The houses are all spacious, kept most exquisitely
clean, ventilated, and held to an even temperature. Sheets of paper
coated with eggs, and looking like so much sand-paper, will in a few
days fill the waiting trays with tiny white worms. The mulberry-leaves
have to be chopped as fine as dust for these new-comers, which are
daily lifted to fresh trays by means of chopsticks, the fingers being
too rough and strong for such delicate handlings. For a week at a
time the tiny gluttons crawl and eat, then take a day and night of
sleep, maintaining this routine for five weeks, when, having grown
large enough, they begin to wind themselves up in cocoons. Then
the cauldron of boiling water and the whirling reel change the yellow
balls into great skeins of shining silk, ready to be twisted, tied, and
woven either at home or across the seas. Compressed into bales of
a picul’s weight, or 133½ pounds, the raw silk finds its way to
market, or, woven in hand looms in the usual thirteen-inch Japanese
widths, or in wider measures for the foreign trade, it is again sold by
weight, the momé being the unit. One hundred and twenty momé are
equal to one pound. Twenty-five yards of fine white handkerchief-silk
weigh from 150 to 200 momé, and 100 momé of such silk varies in
price from six to seven dollars, gold.
Steam-looms are fast supplanting the old hand-machines in
Nishijin and Josho. The Government sent men to study the methods
in use at Lyons and bring back machinery, and now there are
filatures and factories in all the silk districts. Private corporations are
following the Government example. At the Kwangioba no Shokoba
the first exhibition of foreign machines, with instruction in their use,
was given. To-day the lively clatter of the Jacquard loom is heard
above the slow, droning noise of the hand-loom behind Nishijin’s
miles of blank walls. Slowly the weavers are abandoning the rude
loom, which was probably in use, like gunpowder, at an age when
Europeans clothed themselves in skins and lived in caves; and the
singing draw-boy is descending from his high perch, where he has
so long been lifting the alternating handful of threads that make the
pattern.
In a tour of the Nishijin factories, one scorching August day, we
saw many of these primitive hand-looms, with half-clad weavers
tossing the shuttles of silk and gold thread, their skin shining with the
heat like polished bronze, and marked all over with the scars of
moxa cones. Everywhere were gathered books upon books filled
with samples of superb brocades, many of them more than a century
old. Everywhere we were regaled with sweets and thimble-cups of
lukewarm amber tea, that seemed harmless as water, but murdered
sleep. Everywhere we found a new garden more enchanting than the
last, and everywhere the way in which work-room and kitchen, living-
room and sales-room were combined; women, children, family,
workmen, and servants were ruled over by the master of the home
and factory, offered a curious study in political economy and
patriarchal government.
Until the Emperor, and finally the Empress and court ladies
abandoned the national dress, the court-weaver of brocade
remained a considerable personage, for he and his ancestors had
been both tailors and dress-makers to those august personages. We
visited the beautiful garden and lantern-hung verandas of this artistic
dictator, and sipped tea, fanned the while by attentive maids, while
the stout, dignified, and prosperous head of the ancient house and
our Japanese official escort conversed. Afterwards we were shown
the books of brocade and silks manufactured for the imperial family
and court. The gorgeousness of some of these, especially the
blazing red brocade, stiff with pure gold thread and covered with
huge designs of the imperial chrysanthemum, or the Paulownia crest
of the Emperor’s family, fairly dazzled us. We saw the pattern of the
old Emperors’ ceremonial robes, and patterns designed by past
Empresses for their regal attire. Several of these were of a pure
golden yellow, woven with many gold threads; one design half
covered with fine, skeleton bamboos on the shimmering, sunshiny
ground. The splendid fabrics that bear the imperial crest may be
woven only for the reigning family, and their furniture coverings,
draperies, and carriage-linings are as carefully made and guarded as
bank-note paper. Squares of thickest red silk, wrought with a single
gold chrysanthemum, are woven for the Foreign Office, as cases for
state papers and envoys’ credentials. Rolls of the finest white silk
were ready to be made into undergarments for the Emperor, who,
never wearing such articles twice, obliges his tailor to keep a large
supply ready; and these garments that have once touched the
sacred person are highly treasured by loyal subjects.
The weaver exhibited flaming silks covered with huge peonies, or
fine maple-leaves, or circles of writhing dragons, which the outside
million may buy if they choose, but not a sixteen-petalled
chrysanthemum are they privileged to obtain from him in any way. In
discussing the changeableness of the American taste, Kobayashi
and his staff wondered that the mass of our people did not care for
silks that would wear forever, rather than for the cheap fancies of the
moment. The Japanese cling to the really good things that have
stood the test of a century’s taste, and Japanese ladies had a pride
in wearing the brocade that had been theirs for a lifetime and their
mothers’ before them. In noble families inherited ceremonial dresses
are as highly treasured as the plate and jewels of European families,
though they are now seldom worn. Rolls of such silks and brocades
were often presented by Emperor and Shogun to their courtiers, and
the common saying, “He wears rags, but his heart is brocade,”
attests the esteem in which these nishikis (brocades) were held in
olden times, and those yesso nishikis, with their reverse a loose
rainbow of woof threads, are far removed from the thin, flat, papery,
characterless stuffs known as Japanese brocades in the cheap
foreign trade.
A heavy silk tapestry, peculiar to Japan, although suggested by
Chinese models, is best woven now at the Dotemachi Gakko, an
industrial school for girls, maintained by the Government. The art
had nearly died out when the aged tapestry-weaver was brought to
the school and given a class of the most promising pupils. The fabric
is woven on hand-frames, the design being sketched on the white
warp threads, wrought in with shuttles or bobbins, and the threads
pressed down with a comb. Each piece of the design is made by
itself, and connected by occasional cross threads, or brides, as in
lace. The fabric is not dear, considering its superior beauty and
durability, as compared to the moth-inviting tapestries of the
Gobelins and Beauvais, and conventional and classic designs are
still followed, the old dyes used, and gold thread lavishly interwoven.
The gold thread employed in weaving brocades and tapestries is
either a fine thread wound with gold foil, a strip of tough paper
coated with gold-dust, or threads wound with common gold-paper.
The fineness and quality of the gold affect the cost of any material
into which it enters, and in ordering a fabric or a piece of embroidery
one stipulates closely as to the gold-thread employed. The fine gold-
wires of Russian brocades are very rarely used, because of their
greater cost. The manufacture of gold thread is an open secret, and
women are often seen at work in the streets, stretching and twisting
the fine golden filaments in lengths of twenty and thirty feet.
The old dyers were as much masters of their craft as the old
weavers; and in trying to match the colors in a piece of yesso nishiki,
I once went the round of Paris shops and dress-makers’
establishments in vain. Nothing they afforded would harmonize with
the soft tones of the old dyes. A distinguished American connoisseur,
wishing to duplicate a cord and tassel from one of his old lacquer
boxes, took it to a Parisian cord-maker. The whole staff looked at it,
and the proprietor asked permission to unravel a bit, to decipher the
twist and obtain some long threads for the dyer. But with months of
time allowed him, he could not reproduce the colors nor braid a cord
like the original, nor even retwist the Japanese cord he had
unravelled.
Velvet-weaving is one of the old arts, but it was accomplished by
the most primitive and laborious means, and the fabrics, dull and
inferior to foreign factory velvets, do not rank among the more
characteristic productions of Japanese looms. Kioto’s painted velvets
are unique, however, and charming effects are obtained by painting
softly-toned designs on the velvet as it comes from the loom, with all
the fine wires still held in the looped threads. The painted parts are
afterwards cut, and stand in softly-shaded relief upon the uncut
groundwork.
The crape guild of Kioto is as large, and commercially as
important, in this day, as the brocade guild, whose members rank
first among manufacturers. All crape is woven in tans, or lengths of
sixty Japanese shaku, two and a half shaku being equal to an
English yard. On the loom this material is a thin, lustrous fabric,
hardly heavier than the gauze on which kakemonos and fan mounts
are painted. It is so smooth and glossy that one cannot discover the
smoother warp and twisted woof threads, alternately tight and loose,
which give it its crinkly surface. When finished, the web is plunged
into a vat of boiling water, which shrinks the threads and ensures the
wrinkled and lustreless surface. Once dried the tans are tied like
skeins, and lying in heaps, look like so much unbleached muslin.
Crape must be dyed in the piece, and stretched, while damp, by
bracing it across with innumerable strips of bowed bamboo. In the
bath the pieces shrink from one-third to one-half in width, and a full
tenth in length, but the more they shrink the more cockled is the
surface. When finished the tan may measure from seventeen to
twenty-four yards in length, but weight and not measure determines
its value, and the scales are used instead of the yard-stick.
KABE HABUTAI

While the Chinese weave only the original Canton crape, with its
heavy woof and firmly twisted threads, the Japanese have produced
a dozen kinds, each wrinkled, cockled, waved, and crinkled in
different ways. The great Joshu district produces not as many kinds
of crape as Kioto, and Nishijin’s looms are busier each year, weaving
crapes as light and thin as gauze, or as heavy and soft as velvet;
some costing only thirty or forty cents a yard, and others two and
three dollars for an arm’s length. The soft, thick, heavily-ribbed kabe
habutai, once kept for ceremonial gowns and the favorite gifts of the
great, is most expensive, having heavier threads and larger cockles
than other crapes, and never showing crease or wrinkle. Plain crape,
or chirimen, differs as the fineness of thread and the closeness of
weaving add to its weight. Ebisu chirimen might be called repoussé,
from the scale-like convexities of its surface, and is a most
fascinating fabric. Finest and most exquisite of all is the lustrous kinu
chirimen, or crinkled silk, which shows only the finest lines and
parallel ridgings marking its surface lengthwise. Used chiefly for the
carelessly tied obi of the bath kimono, or as obishime, tied over the
women’s heavy satin and brocade obis to keep their stiff folds in
place, these stringy scarfs add a last artistic touch of color to a
costume. Kinu chirimen shrinks half its width, but loses nothing in
length in the bath, and a tan a yard wide ranges from eighteen to
twenty-eight dollars in price. Kanoko chirimen is plain crape dotted
over with knots or projections in different colors, a result arrived at by
processes similar to those employed at Arimatsu for dyeing cotton
goods.

CHIRIMEN

Yamamai, so little known outside the home market, is a most


artistic fabric, roughly and loosely woven of the threads of the wild,
mountain silk-worm, that is fed on oak-leaves. Yamamai has the
natural yellow color of the cocoons, is considered both a cure and
preventive of rheumatism, and is often worn at the command of
foreign physicians. It is softer to the touch than the Chinese pongee,
not being weighted with the clay dressing of Shantung pongees,
while much heavier than the Indian tussores, all three of these
fabrics being the product of the same wild oak-spinner.
EBISU CHIRIMEN
KINU CHIRIMEN

The painted crapes of Kioto, specially designed for children’s


holiday dresses and obis, are works of art, in the manufacture of
which the old capital holds almost a monopoly. All the elaborate
processes of patterning such crapes were shown us one morning at
Nishimura’s great establishment. First, on a square of white crape,
wrung out in water and pasted down at the edges on a board, the
outline of the principal design was sketched in indigo. This line was
then carefully covered by a thread of starch, drawn from a glutinous
ball held upon the point of a stick, while the painter turned and tilted
the crape to receive it. This starch, or “resist,” as occidental dyers
term it, is to prevent the spreading of the colors by capillary
attraction, and the limits of every color must be carefully defined,
unless the fabric is to be made one of those marvellous studies of
blended and merging tints. As soon as the first color dried, the first
starchy outline was washed out, and another drawn for the second
color. After the removal of each “resist,” the square was stretched on
bowed bamboos and dried over a hibachi. The artist had purposely
worked out his design with such cunning that it was only when the
last touches in red had been given that we discovered the Daimonji’s
fires burning on the mountain-side, and a troop of men, women,
children, and jinrikishas, all with glowing lanterns, figuring as
silhouettes on Sanjio bridge.
When a whole tan of crape is to be painted, much of the design
may be stencilled through perforated card-board, but, in general, the
best painted crapes display free-hand sketches, with patterns never
exactly repeated, nor exactly matching at the edges. After the
general outline is sketched, the tan, sewn together at the ends, is
made to revolve horizontally on two cylinders, like a roller towel,
passing before a row of seated workmen, each of whom adds a
single color, or applies the “resist,” and slips it along to the next.
Sitting on the mats, the soles of his feet turned upward in his lap, in a
pose that a circus contortionist might envy, each workman has a
glowing hibachi at his knees, over which he dries his own work. And
such work! Hazy rainbows on misty skies, flights of birds, shadows of
trees and rushes, branches of pines and blossoming twigs, comical
figures, animals, and fantastical chimeras, kaleidoscopic
arrangements of the most vivid colors the eye can bear. These
painted crapes are beyond compare, and the English and Dutch
imitations in printed delaines fall absurdly short.
Following the Chinese example, Kioto silk-weavers now make silk
rugs equalling the famous ones of Pekin. Even when new they have
a finer bloom and sheen than the old prayer-rugs of western Asia,
but their designs, first made from the suggestions of an American
house, are neither Japanese, Turkish, nor at all Oriental, nor do they
allow the best effects to be obtained. At two dollars a square foot,
these thick, soft rugs make the costliest of floor coverings in a
country where the cotton and hemp rugs of Osaka sell for a few
cents a square foot, and the natural camel’s-hair rugs of North China
for eighteen cents a square foot.
CHAPTER XXVII
EMBROIDERIES AND CURIOS

Their range of stitches, their ingenious methods and combinations,


and the variety of effects attained with the needle and a few strands
of colored silk, easily place the Japanese first among all
embroiderers. Although China taught them to embroider, they far
surpass the Chinese in design, color, and artistic qualities, while they
attain a minute and mechanical exactness equal to the soulless,
expressionless precision of the best Chinese work. They can
simulate the hair and fur of animals, the plumage of birds, the hard
scales of fishes and dragons, the bloom on fruit, the dew on flowers,
the muscles of bodies, tiny faces and hands, the patterned folds of
drapery, the clear reflection of lacquer, the glaze of porcelains, and
the patina of bronzes in a way impossible to any but the Japanese
hand and needle. Sometimes they cover the whole groundwork with
couched designs in a heavy knotted silk, and this peculiar
embroidery has the name of kindan nuitsuké. With floss silk, with
twisted silks, with French knots, and with gold and silver thread,
couched down with different colored silks, with silk threads couched,
and with concealed couchings, a needle-worker attains every color
effect of the painter; nor does the embroiderer disdain to use the
brush, or to powder and spatter his designs with gold, nor to
encroach upon the plastic art by his wonderful modelling of raised
surfaces, rivalling the sculptor with his counterfeit faces. His
invention and ingenuity are inexhaustible, and the modern craftsmen
preserve all the skill of their ancestors.
The oldest existing piece of Japanese needle-work is the mandalla
of a nun, kept at Tayema temple in Yamato, which is certainly of the
eighth century, although legend ascribes it to the divine Kwannon.
Pieces of equal antiquity, doubtless, are in the sealed godowns of
Nara temples, but very little is known of them. The latest triumphs of
the art, pieces showing the limit of the needle’s possibilities, are the
ornamental panels and makemono executed for the Tokio palace,
and other work by the same artists exhibited at Paris in 1889. This
exhibition work was executed under imperial command at
Nishimura’s, the largest silk-shop in Kioto, a place to which every
visitor is piloted forthwith. Solid brown walls, black curtained doors,
and the crest of three hexagons are all that one sees from without;
but the crest is repeated at door-ways across the street and around
corners, until one realizes what a village of crape-weavers and
painters, velvet-weavers and embroiderers, is set in the heart of
Kioto by this one firm. The master of the three hexagons has taken
innumerable medals, gold, silver, and bronze, at home and abroad,
and, in response to every invitation to make a national exhibit,
Government commands are sent him at Kioto. The blank outer walls
and common entrance, the bare rooms with two or three accountants
sitting before low desks, do not indicate the treasures of godown and
show-room that lie beyond. In an inner room, with an exquisite
ceiling of interlaced pine shavings, curtains, kakemono, screens, and
fukusa are heaped high, while others are continually brought in by
the small porters. In spite of the reputation and the artistic
possibilities of the establishment, it sends out much cheap, tasteless,
and inferior work to meet the demands of foreign trade, and of the
tourists who desire the so-called Japanese things they are used to
seeing at home.
For the old embroideries, those splendid relics of the national life
with its showy and picturesque customs, the buyer must seek the
second-hand clothes-shops, the pawn-shops of the land. In the
Awata district lives the great dealer who gathers in old kimonos,
obis, fukusas, kesas, temple hangings, brocades, and embroideries
from the godowns of nobles, commoners, priests, actors, saints, and
sinners, to whom ready money is a necessity. Geishas and actors,
with the extravagant habits of their kind, are often forced to part with
their wardrobes, and the second-hand shops are half filled with
beautiful and purely Japanese things which they have sacrificed.
When I first beheld “my uncle” of Awata, his was a dark, ill-smelling,
old clo’ shop, with two bushy-headed, poorly-dressed attendants.
Gilbert and Sullivan unwittingly made his fortune, and the old dealer
could not at first understand why the foreign buyers, hitherto
indifferent, should suddenly crowd his dingy rooms, empty his
godowns, and keep his men busy collecting a new stock. Three
years after my first visit there was a large, new building with high-
heaped shelves, replacing the dirty old house and its questionable
bales tied up in blue cotton, and horribly suggestive of smallpox,
cholera, and other contagions. Prices had trebled and were
advancing steadily, with far less embarrassment of choice in the
stock than formerly.
The gorgeous kimonos of actors and geishas offered at such
shops far outnumber those richly-wrought gowns worn by women of
rank at holiday times and at the palace, and most of the showy and
gorgeously-decorative gowns displayed in western drawing-rooms
have questionable histories. Even the stores of No dance costumes
have been drawn upon, and choice old brocades are rarer now than
good old embroideries. The priest’s kesa, or cloak, a symbolic
patchwork of many pieces, and the squares and bits from temple
tables, for a long time offered exquisite bits of meshed gold-thread
and colors, and on the back of such pieces one often found poems,
sacred verses, and fervent vows, written by the pious ones who had
made offerings of them to the temples.

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