Japanese Corporate Culture

Decision-Making
Class Codes:
CB42119, CM42102, CD42102

Class 2
Chiaki Suematsu
April 18, 2024
chiaki.suematsu.d2@tohoku.ac.jp
 Decision-Making
● When you are the leader of an
organization or a group, you have to
make decisions.
● Questions to answer:
● In Japan how do they make decisions?
● Are the ways they decide the same as
those of the rest of the world?
● For the future what should you know?
 Goal of the Course
● Understand the basic principles of consensus
decision-making.
● Through the understandings you are
expected to work as an effective facilitator
who feels comfortable in leading discussions
carried out by Japanese people and in
conducting meetings in your home country.
● Namely, you can conduct group discussions
effectively.
 Course Contents
● Lectures
● Group Discussions
● Case Studies
● Presentations
● Grade:
● The final group presentation and group written
assignment will account for 30% and 20% of
the final grade, respectively.
● The 4 to 5 individual assignments and the
overall class participation will contribute to 30%
and 20%, respectively.
 Textbooks

● Ruth Taplin, Decision-Making & Japan: A

Study of Corporate Japanese Decision-Making
and Its Relevance to Western Companies,
Routledge, 1995
● Sam Kaner, Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory
Decision-Making, Jossey-Bass Inc., 2007
● Copies will be posted in the Google Classroom.
 Grades and Schedule
● Class Participation
● Missing more than three classes will be regarded
as no class participation.
● The instructor grades your statements in the
classes.
Please fill in the form Jessica posted on
April 8.
● Schedule
● Depending on the number of the enrolling
students, one more class may be dedicated to
the final presentation. Will announce the
revision some time in May.
 Instructor Brief Experience
● Engineer in Japan 1980-1989
● Studied at US Business School 1989-1991
● Managed a small US Subsidiary
1991- 2004
● Worked in Japan 2004-2005
● Managed mid-sized US subsidiaries
2005-2009
● Chairman of Neighborhood Association
2012-2022
 The TA/Supporter
TA: Ms. Jessica Lane Rose
Supporter: Mｒ. Nicola Kawawa

They will join and guide your group

discussions when necessary.

Graduate students taking CD42102 or

CM42102, please notify me at this time.
 Decision-Making Process

● The definition of decision-making:

Decision-making is to determine and
choose the best alternative available to you
and the group.
● The questions are:
● What
● How
● Who
● When
 1. What Is an Alternative?
● List available alternatives.
● List attributes (related information) of the
alternatives.
● Examples of the attributes:
costs, probability, operability, availability

Questions to answer:
● Are attributes accurate, not arbitrary?
 2. How Do You Choose the
Best Alternative?
● Maximize the expected value that is the
product of probability and output value.
● May want to choose one with the highest
probability. (Risk averse vs Risk taking)
● May want to choose one you can most
readily work on. (Speed vs Long term)
● May want to choose one that satisfies your
interests most. (Personal interest)
“The best” depends on a lot of things.
 How Do You Evaluate the
Alternatives?
You must be able to:
●List the alternatives.
●Know what attribute comes with them.
●Know what attribute weighs more.
●Know the things that have happened to the
attributes.
●Get the latest information about them.
Namely, you must possess the expertise and
the evaluation of the alternatives is the
decision-making process.
 3. Who Chooses the Best
Alternative?
● The leader of the group
● By majority vote
● The chairperson of the group
Questions to answer:
● Does the leader possess the expertise and know the
decision-making process?
● Does somebody need to take the responsibility?
● Is everybody really happy with the decision?

“Democracy is the worst form of government except all those others

that have been tried from time to time.” Sir Winston Churchill
 Corporate Decision Making
Simple Case 1

● Assume you work for a limousine company

which offers transportation services to
customers. It needs to replace 20 limousine
cars.
● The objective is to increase profits.
● There are four departments, which report to
General Manager: Maintenance Dept,
Operations Dept, Sales Dept, Finance Dept.
 Limousine Cars

Source: Wikipedia, “Limousine”

 Limousine Company Case
Unfortunately, no car satisfies the needs of all
the departments.
● However, none of the department managers
compromises easily.
● You are directly reporting to the President of
the company, who believes the new car will
increase the profit immediately.
● How are you going to decide?
● In a Western company?
● In a Japanese company?

Maintenance Dept, Drivers Dept, Sales Dept, Finance Dept

 Simple Case 1 Limousine Co.
Alternatives and Attributes
Car 1 Car 2 Car 3 Car 4
Style 5 2 3 3
Interior Space 2 5 3 2
Interior Luxury 5 5 3 2
Fuel Efficiency 1 1 3 5
Ride Quality 5 4 3 1
Drivability 5 3 3 2
Max. Passengers 2 5 3 2
Spare Parts Avail 1 2 3 5
Price 1 1 3 5
 Organization Chart

President

General
Manager

Maintenan
Operations Sales Finance
ce
Dept. Dept. Dept.
Dept.
 Corporate Decision Making
Group Discussion

Let’s form the groups having the members as

close to the last week as possible.
● Assign the same roles or missing roles:
General Manager, and four managers
representing each department.
● Discuss which car you chose last week.
● It’s OK to change your decisions if you have
new members.

Maintenance Dept, Operations Dept, Sales Dept, Finance Dept

 Group Discussion

The decision is to purchase Car 1.

●Please explain how you feel about the

decision.
 Evaluation of Alternatives
Attributes

Simple Case 1 Attributes:

● Maintenance Dept: Maintenance Costs, Safety
● Drivers Dept: Safety, Operating Costs,
Customer Service
● Sales Dept: Sales, Customer Service
● Finance Dept: Available Funds, Financial Costs

● Profit = Sales - Costs

 Simple Case 1
How Should You Behave?
● Most likely you, the department managers,
will not be able to make a decision soon.
● The General Manager may let the four
departments get involved in the decision.
● Long discussions, thorough research on the
available cars, would be necessary.
● If you know you suffer, you need to speak
up. But that may cause more arguments.
● How do they typically decide in Japan?
Western Decision-Making
Japanese Decision-Making

execution becomes smoother if

everyone agrees
 In Japan How Do They
Decide?

● Japanese strongly prefer “Group Decision-Making,”

“Consensus-Building.”
● They want to choose absolutely the best
alternative, so they will spend a lot of time to
evaluate alternatives and their attributes.
● Members would like to be involved with the
decision.
● The more members are involved with the
argument, the easier the execution of the decision
becomes.
 In Japan Who Decides?
● Managers can decide but the authority is
ambiguous because no clear job description
exists.
● Due to the corporate governance issue more
and more things are decided in committees.
● At school they teach that the leader is not a
person who decides but a person who controls
the argument.
● At school they don’t learn how to make a point
so much. Instead, they learn how to see
others’ perspectives or how others think about.
 Long Arguments in Japan
● In reality, some attributes of alternatives
are unknown and could be guessing. If
they are evaluated by a different person,
they may change.
● Many believe no decision is better than
worse decision.
● For the smoother execution, they invite
more members for the argument.
● I do not think “Amae,” “Giri,” or “Ninjo”
play major roles in the D.M. process.
 4. When Do You Make a
Decision?
● The sooner the better
● Can the leader decide any time? Does he
or she need to decide in the committee?

Questions to answer:
● Have all the alternatives been analyzed well?
● Which is better, decide and implement it w/o full
analysis or still analyze them?
● Are all the members satisfied with the decision-
making process in case of committee?
 Assignment 1
● Please read Chapter 1 of Decision-Making
and Japan.
● Q1: What are four non-transferable social
elements? Read the rest from page 17 and
explain the first element in your own words.
● Graduate students only: Explain the second,
and the fourth ones. non copiare testo

● Q2: According to the author how can the

safety of the individual be guaranteed in
Japan?
 Assignment 1
● Q3: How do the Western and Japanese
companies differ in terms of profits? Why do
you think they differ? se non sono contento a lungo termine non aiuta
no è detta decisione migliore per armonia ORA lo
sia anche in futuro

● Q4: What is the author’s summary of the

Japanese decision-making processes?
Despite the author’s hard work, the instructor
does not agree to the summary completely.
List and explain the things that you think the
instructor does not support.
Due: Midnight, April 24, Wednesday, JST
Please turn yours in via Google Classroom.
 Assignment 1
● List the question numbers. Except them, the
format is free. The expected number of
pages is two.