Mutual learning between Japanese managers and foreign subordinates: Enablers for middle-up-down management under role definition flexibility at Japanese headquarters

ABSTRACT

The number of foreign workers at Japanese companies has increased in recent years. Whereas this trend has been promoted by the policies of the Japanese government, Japanese companies face many difficulties in cross-cultural management. This study aimed to reveal how Japanese managers can modify their mindset and behaviours to adopt middle-up-down management for their foreign subordinates. Nine factors were coded from the interview surveys with ten pairs of Japanese managers and their foreign subordinates. Given the nine factors, a hypothetical conceptual framework was developed based on the three-step cultural synergy model. This conceptual framework offers some new perspectives to cross-cultural management theory. First, the homogeneous culture of Japanese companies could be replaced by cultural synergy and inclusive leadership to apply middle-up-down management with role definition flexibility to foreign subordinates. Second, cultural synergy and inclusive leadership could be more effective in Japanese than Western human resource management. These findings need to be fully examined in future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Japanese human resource management
• cross-cultural management
• cultural synergy
• inclusive leadership
• middle-up-down management
• role definition flexibility

Introduction

The number of foreign workers has increased significantly in Japan since around 2010. According to the statistics by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (2019), the number of foreign workers was 1,460,463 in 2018, increasing from 486,398 in 2008. This is a result of the policies of the Japanese government that have strived to increase the number of foreign workers. These policies have mainly focused on two separate targets: highly-skilled foreign professionals (kōdo gaikoku jinzai) and specified skilled workers (SSWs, or tokutei ginō). According to the report of the Council for the Promotion of Acceptance of Highly-Skilled Foreign Professionals (2009), highly-skilled foreign professionals were defined as below:

The quality, unsubstitutable human resources who have a complementary relationship with domestic capital and labor … [and] the human resources who are expected to bring innovation to the Japanese industries, to promote development of specialized/technical labor markets through friendly competition with Japanese people and to increase efficiency of the Japanese labor markets. (Council for the Promotion of Acceptance of Highly-Skilled Foreign Professionals 2009, 4; Original in Japanese. English translation was quoted from the website of the Immigration Bureau of Japan.)

This definition extensively emphasises “innovation through friendly competition”. Friendly competition could be understood as interaction or mutual learning between international professionals and Japanese employees. Therefore, highly-skilled foreign professionals are not expected to act as the supplementary workforce for the Japanese labour shortage, but as promoters of innovation at Japanese companies. Other government documents have reflected this concept as well. One example was the Growth Strategy 2017 (Mirai tōshi senryaku 2017), which stated, “the Government will positively accept excellent foreign professionals […] thereby accelerat[ing] innovation and improv[ing] the productivity of the entire Japanese economy” (Nihon keizai saisei honbu 2017, 105).

SSWs comprise the other target of the policies on international workers, which was a new status of residence begun in April 2019.¹ The government announced a new policy to promote SSWs to cope with high labour shortages, particularly in small- and medium-sized enterprises (Gaikoku jinzai no ukeire/kyōsei ni kansuru kankei kakuryō kaigi 2019). Therefore, these new foreign workers are expected to offer more immediate contributions to specific jobs, unlike highly-skilled foreign professionals, for whom innovation is more emphasised.²

This study focuses only on the highly-skilled foreign professionals who work for Japanese companies, as the category of SSWs is too new to be analysed properly. Additionally, many Japanese companies face difficulties in managing highly-skilled foreign professionals, and many limit or abandon the recruitment of foreign professionals. A survey showed that the greatest challenge for Japanese companies that aim at recruiting highly-skilled foreign professionals is the inadequate capacity to manage them (DISCO 2018). Therefore, it is especially important to consider a solution for how to manage foreign professionals in order to help Japanese companies become more innovative as well as more globally inclusive. Toward this end, this paper examines how Japanese managers can modify their mindset and behaviours and apply role definition flexibility and middle-up-down management to their foreign subordinates.

Literature review

Japanese HRM and internal internationalisation

During the first phase of the research on postwar Japanese human resource management (HRM), many researchers revealed how Japanese HRM was different from HRM in Western countries (e.g. Abegglen 1958; Dore 1973; Lincoln, Olson, and Hanada 1978). Abegglen (1958) pointed out lifetime commitment, seniority-based wages, and enterprise unions as the three pillars of “traditional” postwar Japanese management.

Researchers in the next phase shed light on the components of Japanese HRM that were also found in Western organisations (e.g. Ouchi 1981; Pascale and Athos 1981; Peters and Waterman 1982). Ahmadjian and Schaede (2015) noted that Japanese HRM studies contributed to modern management theory, identifying key concepts of Japanese HRM, such as organisational socialisation, organisational commitment, and organisational capabilities. Japanese HRM was also transferred to Western organisations in terms of practical management. New United Motors Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI), which was the joint venture of Toyota and General Motors, was a well-known example of the transfer of Japanese HRM components outside Japan (Adler 1993).

Since the bursting of the Japanese bubble economy in the early 1990s, researchers have been interested in the changes in the characteristics of Japanese HRM. Many studies showed that long-term employment until the retirement age and seniority-based payment were rather weakened, yet at the same time, still applied especially to core employees (seishain) at larger Japanese companies (Yanadori 2018; Sekiguchi 2013; Morris, Hassard, and McCann 2006; Endo, Delbridge, and Morris 2015). Several statistics supported these perspectives. According to governmental statistics in 2017, more than 70% of respondent companies set the retirement age at 60 years for their employees (MHLW 2017). This trend was affected by the Act on Stabilization of Employment of Elderly Persons (Kōnenreisha no koyō no anteitō ni kansuru hōritsu). While setting a mandatory retirement age is legal in Japan, the act prohibits companies from setting a retirement age younger than the age of 60 (which is related to the age of pension eligibility). The same governmental statistics revealed that 60% of respondent companies counted age or employed years when they determined the base salary of their employees, whereas 40% evaluated performance. These trends suggest that traditional postwar Japanese HRM was still functioning.

Traditional Japanese HRM also emphasises fresh college graduate recruitment. Japanese companies with more than 300 employees still recruited more fresh college graduates than people who had working experience at other companies. Among the newly recruited employees by those companies in 2017, the ratio of fresh graduates to experienced workers was approximately 60% (Recruit 2018).

Altogether, these statistics showed that most companies still followed to some extent the traditional Japanese HRM even after 2015, although several scholars pointed out that distinctive and unique components of Japanese HRM have been eroded. On the other hand, several studies suggested that Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs) faced challenges in transferring traditional HRM practices to their local subsidiaries (James and Jones 2014; Yanadori, (2018); Conrad and Meyer-Ohle 2017). Conrad and Meyer-Ohle (2017) proposed that managing foreign fresh graduates in headquarters (HQs) might be a solution for Japanese MNCs to transform traditional Japanese HRM practices into more applicable ones in local subsidiaries. Sekiguchi, Froese, and Iguchi (2016) described internal internationalisation as the situation in which non-Japanese employees participate in managerial decision making in the HQs of Japanese companies. Therefore, given the recent national policy trends to increase highly-skilled foreign professionals in Japan, it is important to consider how traditional Japanese HRM will shift when dealing with internal internationalisation. Several studies revealed processes and challenges for foreign employees to adapt to Japanese workplaces (Conrad and Meyer-Ohle 2017; Huang, Yang, and Sekiguchi 2020; Liu-Farrer 2020; Sekiguchi et al. 2019). Nevertheless, little is known about the learning process of Japanese supervisors to manage their foreign subordinates. This study focuses on the interaction between Japanese managers and their foreign subordinates to consider possible avenues of change in Japanese HRM.

Role definition flexibility and middle-up-down management

Sekiguchi, Froese, and Iguchi (2016) pointed out that traditional postwar Japanese HRM had led to the creation of homogeneous organisations. The reasons why Japanese HRM requires homogeneity could be attributed to role definition flexibility and the Japanese middle-up-down management style. First, Japanese HRM avoids clearly stated job descriptions and embraces a much simpler and broader job classifications than Western HRM (Morishima 1995; Kono and Clegg 2001; Pudelko 2005). This flexibility of role definition aims at decentralising decision-making. Ishida (1985) compared frontline employees in Western and Japanese companies and noted that Japanese frontline workers had more competencies, more motivation, more shared information about their organisations, and more commitment to them. Additionally, Japanese frontline employees exercised greater agency in solving problems at their workplaces and thinking of and creating solutions by themselves (Ahmadjian and Schaede 2015; Froese, Sekiguchi, and Maharjan 2017; Ishida 1985; Ichniowski and Shaw 1999). In other words, frontline employees in Japanese companies could exercise much greater autonomy in their jobs than those in Western companies.

Second, Japanese managers play important roles. As Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) mentioned, “middle managers are the key to continuous innovation”, noting the Japanese “middle-up-down” management model (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995, 127).

In the middle-up-down model, top management creates a vision or a dream, while middle management develops more concrete concepts that front-line employees can understand and implement. Middle managers try to solve the contradiction between what top management hopes to create and what actually exists in the real world. (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995, 129)

Japanese HRM also encourages managers to develop the autonomy of their subordinates. Japanese managers stimulate “training in decision-making” and “learning from failure” to develop their competencies and skills (Kono and Clegg 2001). Managers tend to ask their subordinates about their opinions, plans, and proposals so that employees can make decisions by themselves. When employees fail or make mistakes, they are not reprimanded extensively by their managers, but instead, they are asked to revise their plans to avoid similar failures or mistakes in the future.

The role definition flexibility and middle-up-down management in Japanese HRM require a certain level of homogeneous organisation to make frontline employees work autonomously. If frontline employees share an organisational mission, strategy, and corporate culture, it becomes easier for managers to ensure the autonomy of frontline workers. Traditionally, assimilation has been a solution to these requirements. The functions of Japanese HRM, characterised by the employment of fresh graduates, long-term employment until retirement age, job rotations across divisions within a company, and long working hours have been effective enablers of employee assimilation. It resulted in homogeneous organisations dominated mainly by male Japanese employees.

Hence, Japanese HRM has embraced autonomy among homogeneous employees with a specific demographic, at the cost of diversity. On the other hand, highly-skilled foreign professionals at Japanese companies demand more specified job descriptions (MHLW 2018). Given the conflict of role definition flexibility and middle-up-down management between highly-skilled foreign professionals and their managers, it is worth considering how to overcome the conflict from the perspective of cross-cultural management. Cross-cultural management could be crucial to make role definition flexibility and middle-up-down management applicable not only to Japanese employees but also to highly-skilled foreign professionals.

Cross-cultural synergy and inclusion

Some scholars in cross-cultural management have proposed that the research focus should be shifted from a distance approach to an interaction approach (Shenkar 2001; Luo and Shenkar 2011; Adler and Aycan 2018). The distance approach – famously utilised by Hofstede – aims to measure the differences in national cultures by using a specific set of dimensions. Hofstede (1980) initially identified four dimensions to distinguish national values and, subsequently, two additional dimensions were developed, resulting in six dimensions (Hofstede, Hofstede, and Minkov 2010). Using these six dimensions, Hofstede, Hofstede, and Minkov (2010) ranked how strong or weak each dimension was in a certain country.

The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Program (GLOBE) is another well-known research programme that adopted the cultural distance approach (House et al. 2013). There are also several other research studies from the perspective of cultural distance. For example, the World Values Survey (WVS) also analyses how each country differs in terms of values and beliefs. Originally developed by Inglehart as the European Values Study (EVS), he extended it to a worldwide survey (WVS), which also analyses how each country differs in terms of values and beliefs. WVS collects data every five years, and the latest data collection was the seventh round (WVS-7, 2017–2020). WVS-7 covers 80 countries, measuring 14 themes. Schwartz (2006) also analysed 73 countries using the seven originally developed dimensions.

The cultural distance approach has been challenged recently. Shenkar (2001) criticised several hidden assumptions of the approach, and noted that one of its hidden assumptions was spatial homogeneity: “Measuring distance from one national culture to another, the (Cultural Distance) index assumes uniformity within the national unit” (Shenkar 2001, 525). Adler and Aycan (2018) also criticised the distance approach, pointing out that studies utilising the distance approach “assume that culture at the national level is homogenous” (Adler and Aycan 2018, 309). More importantly for the present study, it is quite likely that highly-skilled foreign professionals do not represent the national cultures of their home countries, partly because they are workers who have chosen to leave their home country and work in Japan for an extended period. Therefore, the cultural distance approach may be insufficient to analyse the management of highly-skilled foreign professionals.

Following the criticisms of the cultural distance approach, the interaction approach has been proposed as a new perspective. This approach focuses on the encounters of people from different cultures. Shenkar (2001) proposed the so-called friction metaphor instead of that of cultural distance, and defined cultural friction as “the scale and essence of the interface between interacting cultures” (Shenkar 2001, 528). Shenkar (2012) emphasised the importance of cultural interaction research, and building from this, Tung and Stahl (2018) suggested that cross-cultural interaction research should not regard culture as a static feature, but rather should focus on the context or dynamic process in which the cultural perceptions of individuals change.

In line with the cross-cultural interaction approach, cultural synergy (Adler and Gundersen 2007) offered insights into how individuals modify their mindset and behaviours through cross-cultural interaction to make innovations. Cultural synergy consists of three steps. The first step is to describe the situation. What should be described is a “problem situation” (Adler and Gundersen 2007, 114). When individuals from different cultures work together, it is natural for problems to occur. Interestingly, cultural synergy emphasises recognising such a problem as the first step for innovation.

The second step of cultural synergy is to interpret the situation. In this step, individuals from different cultures “attempt to understand the underlying assumptions that lead people from other cultures to behave as they do” (Adler and Gundersen 2007, 114). Thus, the second step could be called a mutual learning phase.

The third and final step is to increase cultural creativity. In this step, two questions are important. The first question is, “What can people from one culture learn from people of another culture to enhance their effectiveness and productivity?” (Adler and Gundersen 2007, 115). The second question is, “How can we combine and leverage our various cultures’ ways of working?” (Adler and Gundersen 2007, 117). Individuals from different cultures aim to change their ways of thinking through their interactions, and they attempt to co-create a solution to their problem.

Therefore, the three-step process of cultural synergy results in a highly creative solution to the problems that occurred in the first step of cultural interactions. Adler and Gundersen (2007) noted that “culturally synergistic solutions are novel and transcend the behavioural patterns of each individual culture” (p. 117). Cultural synergy is based on the interaction approach, focusing on the process of dynamic change of individual cultural perception, and emphasising the positive effect of cross-cultural interaction. Hence, cultural synergy provides a new theoretical viewpoint in cross-cultural management.

Additionally, inclusion can be a key concept for cultural synergy. Shore et al. (2011) theoretically distinguished inclusion from assimilation. While assimilation is the state of minority employees with low uniqueness and high belongingness, inclusion means that minority employees retain both high uniqueness and high belongingness. Mor Barak (2017) proposed inclusive leadership based on the conceptual framework of Shore et al. (2011), and proposed four behaviours to enhance uniqueness and belongingness through inclusive leadership, with two behaviours related to uniqueness and two behaviours related to belongingness. “Recognises each individual’s unique talents” and “promotes seeking out different perspectives” both enhance uniqueness. “Creates a shared sense of purpose and common goals” and “motivates everyone to participate” both enhance belongingness (Mor Barak 2017, 228).

As Japanese companies are generally homogeneous in terms of the educational, socioeconomic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds of their employees, foreign employees tend to be assimilated into existing organisational norms and culture. Nevertheless, if Japanese managers carry out inclusive leadership and their foreign subordinates utilise their uniqueness in their jobs with a sense of inclusion, problematic situations are more likely to occur. Regarding those problems as the first step of cultural synergy, if both parties can handle cultural synergy adequately, they can generate innovative outcomes. This means that Japanese managers would apply role definition flexibility and middle-up-down management to their foreign subordinates as well.

Despite the importance of cultural synergy and inclusive leadership, empirical studies that investigate their role in the Japanese organisational context are limited. Thus, this study analysed the interactions between highly-skilled foreign professionals and their Japanese managers at the HQs from the viewpoint of cultural synergy and inclusive leadership.

As role definition flexibility and middle-up-down management are crucial for Japanese managers, managers need to modify their mindset and behaviours by engaging in cultural synergy processes with their foreign subordinates. Following the cultural synergy process, Japanese managers can recognise the problems of their conventional management style, learn from the viewpoints of their foreign subordinates, and create an effective management style for their foreign subordinates. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to reveal how Japanese managers can modify their mindset and behaviours and apply role definition flexibility and middle-up-down management to their foreign subordinates.

Method

This explorative study used a qualitative survey. The participants were identified through the following three steps. Firstly, the author asked several HR departments of large Japanese companies for an interview, and seven companies accepted the request. Secondly, the author asked the companies’ HR departments to select their foreign employees in the early stage of their careers who met the following criteria: (1) being hired immediately after graduation, (2) being between one to six years into their employment, (3) having a Japanese manager. Thirdly, the HR department asked the selected foreign employees and their managers if they were willing to participate in the research. Each company offered one or two pairs of Japanese managers and their foreign subordinates for this study. Thus, semi-structured interviews with ten pairs of Japanese managers and their foreign subordinates were carried out at seven large Japanese companies in 2016 (see Table 1).³

Table 1. List of informants of Japanese managers and their foreign subordinates

Pair	Industry	Sex of Japanese manager	Main language to communicate with each other	Origin of foreign subordinate	Final academic background of foreign subordinate	Years of employment of foreign subordinate	Sex of foreign subordinate
A	Building equipment manufacturer	Male	Japanese	China	Graduate school in Japan	4th year	Female
B	Information technology	Male	English	Indonesia	Undergraduate course outside Japan	2nd year	Male
C	Information technology	Male	English	Spain	Graduate school outside Japan	1st year	Female
D	Information technology	Female	Japanese	China	Undergraduate course in Japan	6th year	Female
E	Chemical manufacturer	Male	Japanese	Taiwan	Graduate school in Japan	3rd year	Female
F	Food manufacturer	Male	Japanese	Indonesia	Undergraduate course in Japan	3rd year	Male
G	Chemical manufacturer	Male	Japanese	China	Graduate school in Japan	4th year	Female
H	Food manufacturer	Male	Japanese	China	Undergraduate course outside Japan	1st year	Female
I	Information technology	Male	Japanese	New Zealand	Graduate school in Japan	3rd year	Male
J	Information technology	Male	Japanese	Malaysia	Graduate school in Japan	2nd year	Male

The interviews were conducted separately so that each foreign subordinate was able to speak freely without any concerns of sharing information with his or her manager and vice versa. Each interview lasted about 60 minutes. The interview was recorded only if the interviewee provided consent. Recorded interviews were transcribed with personal information anonymised. Inductive codes were generated from transcripts. Reading all the transcripts, codes were derived to find commonalities across the informants. This study attempted to develop a hypothetical conceptual framework, integrating the codes obtained with the components of traditional Japanese HRM, such as role definition flexibility and middle-up-down management.

Results

Nine factors were coded from the transcripts. Factors 1 to 5 were mindset and behaviours of Japanese managers, and Factors 6 to 9 were about their foreign subordinates. Transcripts were translated into English by the author, except the transcripts of foreign employees who spoke English.

Factor 1: Engaging in high-context communication (by Japanese managers)

Factor 1 refers to a key feature of the conventional Japanese management among highly assimilated employees. Because of homogeneity, managers do not tell their subordinates everything, especially more ambiguous aspects, such as their future career paths or the purposes of their jobs. In this study, Japanese managers tended to avoid or were not confident about articulating these ambiguities to their foreign subordinates.

Our HR department seems to expect that she (Foreign subordinate B) will be rotated to any positions, such as sales or engineering, although I do not agree with it. (Japanese manager B. Translation by the author.)

It may be difficult for him (Foreign subordinate C) to have a clear goal or purpose for his job because it is unfortunately impossible for me to tell him clearly what to do in the short-term, for example, in two months or three months. Although I am trying to set a goal for him as much as possible, I am not confident that it is satisfactory information for him. (Japanese manager C. Translation by the author.)

Even without adequate information from their managers on their future career paths and the purposes of their jobs, Japanese subordinates can do their jobs sufficiently. This might be because they are used to the high-context culture, or because they can rather obtain information from other sources, such as documents written in Japanese posted on the in-house bulletin boards and informal talks in Japanese among Japanese colleagues. Therefore, Japanese subordinates can work without seeking more detailed advice from their managers. This situation makes Japanese managers concentrate more deeply on high-context communication even with their foreign subordinates.

Factor 2: Recognising the feelings of foreign subordinate (by Japanese managers)

Japanese managers explained that they had begun to think about the feelings of their subordinates after a few months. This attitude was not present at the beginning. They identified the importance of recognising feelings from their problematic experiences with foreign subordinates.

After all, I sense his (Foreign subordinate F’s) strong reluctance when I assign a job to him that is different from his skills. On many occasions, he has asked me how the job related to his future from a professional perspective. Finally, I was convinced that he was very dissatisfied. (Japanese manager F. Translation by the author.)

I am very conscious that I do not try to impose the viewpoints of Japanese employees on her (Foreign subordinate H) when I sense that there is something different in her sensitivity or ways of thinking. When she tells me something that seems wrong to me, I instinctively want to convince her otherwise because her opinion is bothersome. However, after thinking about her perspective carefully, I sometimes realise that my decision may not be correct. So, I am quite conscious of listening to her before imposing my viewpoints. (Japanese manager H. Translation by the author.)

After recognising the difficulties of high-context communication with their foreign subordinates, Japanese managers changed their attitudes to consider their subordinates’ feelings. Recognising difficulties in high-context communication can be regarded as the first step of cultural synergy. Then, understanding their subordinates’ feelings can be regarded as the second step of cultural synergy. Therefore, the first and second steps of cultural synergy are key triggers for Japanese managers to change their behaviours.

Factor 3: Realising the importance of diversity (by Japanese managers)

Through interactions with their foreign subordinates, Japanese managers realised that diversity was quite important for their business success. Then, they began to question their conventional management style.

I do not know whether this is because she (Foreign subordinate G) is Chinese or is in a completely different position from her background as a researcher. She often asks me simple questions such as “Why should I do this?” So, in that sense, I get quite stimulated by her and learn new perspectives. (Japanese manager G. Translation by the author.)

Usually, I can do the job of my subordinate by myself although I do not do it. But, in his case (Foreign subordinate I), I may not be able to do his tasks. When there are about 10 people who are native English speakers, I cannot understand and summarise what they say freely (but he can do it). It may be because of him that I can manage a subordinate who possesses skills that I do not possess at all, and instead of having him fully under my control, I leave him to make his own choices. To be honest, until this, I had thought that I could do the job of any subordinate by myself if I wanted to. (Japanese manager I. Translation by the author.)

Realising the importance of diversity is a mindset change for Japanese managers, which can be followed by behavioural changes. Once they recognise the importance of diversity, they might be able to change their communication and management styles to accommodate those of their foreign subordinates.

Factor 4: Making communication explicit and proactive (by Japanese managers)

Once they realised the importance of diversity, as explained in Factor 3, some managers changed their communication style, making it more explicit and taking more time for proactive communication with their foreign subordinates.

Unlike Japanese employees, he (Foreign subordinate F) often asks me “Why should I do this?” or “What is that task for?” So, it takes more time to reach an agreement with him, compared to Japanese employees. In the case of Japanese employees, many of them do their jobs even if I just say, “Do this, please”. He cannot do so at all. He always asks one or two questions, for example, “What is that task for?” When I assign something to him, there is always a reason. So, I began to explain it straightforwardly to him. (Japanese manager F. Translation by the author.)

If I work only with Japanese colleagues and subordinates, it is enough to just say, “Please do it”. I feel like she (Foreign subordinate G) has trained me to explain using more appropriate words. (Japanese manager G. Translation by the author.)

We, Japanese people, tend to speak ambiguously. So, to a foreign subordinate, I try to explain things that I do not talk about with Japanese subordinates. Once he (Foreign subordinate J) understands and agrees with his assignment, he behaves positively about it. So, he needs to be convinced that his current assignment is related to his future career. (Japanese manager J. Translation by the author.)

The use of explicit and proactive communication to allow their foreign subordinates to understand their jobs adequately is a behavioural change of Japanese managers. Therefore, this behavioural change can be regarded as the third step of cultural synergy.

Factor 5: Assigning roles related both to organisational development and to the uniqueness of the foreign subordinate (by Japanese managers)

Japanese managers assigned their foreign subordinates to tasks based on their strengths or unique perspectives. The Japanese managers considered the uniqueness of their foreign employees beneficial to the development of their organisation.

His (Foreign subordinate I’s) great advantage is that he can speak both English and Japanese. Initially, I expected him to work with IT knowledge. But he cannot make any proposal document by himself because he does not yet have adequate knowledge and experience in IT. So, I tell him some points on IT, then he writes a proposal document in English. Also, he summarises an English document sent from overseas and shares it with me in Japanese. But this is not just a translation. He needs to understand technical IT terms for appropriate documentation. So, considering that he is still in his third year at this company, he is doing very well. (Japanese manager I. Translation by the author.)

I try not to ignore her (Foreign subordinate H’s) uniqueness. I tend to follow the old ways that I have learned at HR divisions or the old ways of this company. But she does not. It is great that she can speak out when she feels something is strange. I found that the key is this feeling of strangeness. (Japanese manager H. Translation by the author.)

Assigning appropriate roles to their foreign subordinates is also a behavioural change for Japanese managers. This management style aims to integrate organisational development and the uniqueness of foreign subordinates. Therefore, it can be regarded as another factor in the third step of cultural synergy.

Factor 6: Experiencing a sense of exclusion (by foreign subordinates)

In this survey, foreign employees revealed that they had initially experienced a sense of exclusion. A reason for this sense of exclusion was that communication in the workplace was only in the Japanese language. On the other hand, even those who were fluent in Japanese also felt excluded. Thus, a management style based on homogeneity with little focus on the uniqueness of subordinates results in their feeling of exclusion.

I think the root problem [is] I feel left out, and then when I think what is the problem behind this, it is the communication. If I don’t understand what is going on, even though I am being pulled, I don’t feel comfortable with that.

[…] I want to know their culture in the meeting, for example. But since they are in Nihongo (Japanese), I don’t know what they think and what they have in mind. So, I don’t get this … I want to know their soft skills of management, learn from that, but since [I only speak] a little bit of Nihongo, I don’t think I can learn at some point, at some level. (Foreign subordinate B.)

Compared to Japanese employees, foreigners have a disadvantage even if they are good at speaking Japanese. I have the potential to become less efficient at work than Japanese employees. Then, I still feel great anxiety about how Japanese employees include me.

[…] My current job needs skills that I am not good at. Half of the skills required are things I am not good at. So, I know these skills are necessary, but that I am weak in them. I feel like “Is it really good even though I do not have enough skills for the job?” I want to do the job, of course. But I cannot fully commit to my job because I think there is a more appropriate person for it than me. (Foreign subordinate E. Translation by the author.)

As these comments show, initially Japanese managers do not care about the loneliness of foreign employees who work in homogeneous work environments at Japanese companies. This attitude of Japanese managers makes foreign subordinates feel excluded.

Factor 7: Experiencing a sense of inclusion (by foreign subordinates)

Once foreign employees began to feel that their managers and colleagues accepted them, they could experience a sense of inclusion.

Although I was very anxious, my current colleagues accept me a lot. I think I am an open person. On the other hand, the Japanese are very shy. So, I often say things that they may regard as verbally inappropriate. But they kindly accept me. I am quite surprised and glad that they accept my uniqueness. (Foreign subordinate E. Translation by the author.)

It is vital to me that Japanese managers and colleagues accept my values and abilities. For example, I said many things at the new employee training. I think I have a good influence on others. First of all, the division head accepted my proposal document. He seemed to acknowledge my position, and recognised my difficulty in contacting the other manager directly. Then, he asked the manager to listen to me carefully. (Foreign subordinate H.Translation by the author.)

Once Japanese managers recognise the emotions, values, opinions, and suggestions of their foreign subordinates, the latter can feel accepted by their Japanese colleagues. Japanese managers do not need to accept all opinions of their foreign subordinates. Instead, it is important to consider the emotions, values, opinions, and suggestions of their foreign subordinates so that they can achieve a sense of inclusion.

Factor 8: Committing to the organisation (by foreign subordinates)

Foreign employees are committed to their organisation with high motivation. However, this attitude was not present from the beginning and began to emerge when their managers explained the strategies and values of their projects.

[The name of a service] has recently become one of the most important keywords within this company. It was released at the end of last year, and it is expected to be a more competitive service internationally. I strongly agree with the strategy for the service. It was quite difficult for me to join the project from the beginning. But, upon hearing from my manager and senior colleagues that it was a rare and valuable experience, I discovered that the project was quite interesting. By actually experiencing the project for myself, I found something that I would not have had I not joined it. I also felt that some tasks were interesting, and others were bothersome. Anyways, this project seemed quite innovative, reflecting the willingness of our company to compete overseas. So, I was very interested in this project. (Foreign subordinate D. Translation by the author.)

I would like to contribute to the global efforts of this company. But “the global efforts” are too ambiguous. I am often asked how I will be doing that. Currently, I need to think about what I can do as an HR person. (Foreign subordinate H. Translation by the author.)

Once foreign employees began to feel included at their workplaces and acquire information about the purposes and strategies of their jobs, they showed their commitment to their organisations. As mentioned in Factor 1, Japanese managers tend to engage in high-context communication even with their foreign subordinates. Therefore, it is vital for Japanese managers to explicitly explain the purposes and strategies to their foreign subordinates so that they can commit to their organisations.

Factor 9: Redefining one’s own career vision as a change agent (by foreign subordinates)

Foreign employees redefined their future career vision to become a change agent at their companies. Although they were not completely satisfied with the current situations of their companies, they were also not disappointed with the future potential of their companies. They were keen to personally contribute to making their organisations more globally competitive.

I joined this company because I want to change it. I am curious about how I can change this company. But I am still in a lower position, and it is difficult to say how I can change the whole organisation at this moment. So, I am trying to make my colleagues in my division or my team understand my ideas. (Foreign subordinate F. Translation by the author.)

I want to be a bridge between Japan and China for our company. I am very happy to have many business trips overseas. I also want to create workplaces where not only Japanese employees but also foreign employees and local staff at overseas subsidiaries can fully commit to our company. I feel like this is one of my missions at this company. (Foreign subordinate H. Translation by the author.)

Foreign employees interpreted their career vision as that of being change agents. This career vision included the attribution of high value to their uniqueness and high commitment to their organisations. They felt that their uniqueness would help them offer different perspectives from Japanese employees. Therefore, they did not want to be assimilated to Japanese employees. Simultaneously, they also did not want to be isolated. They were keen on committing to their organisations as change agents, who provide different values and suggestions from Japanese employees. This redefined career vision of foreign employees could result in future business innovation for their organisations.

Discussion

This study aimed to propose a hypothetical framework for future research, revealing how Japanese managers can modify their mindset and behaviours and apply role definition flexibility and middle-up-down management to their foreign subordinates. Nine factors were created from the interviews with ten pairs of Japanese managers and their foreign subordinates. Considering the nine factors, a hypothetical conceptual framework was developed based on cultural synergy (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Hypothetical conceptual framework (Double dialectic model).

Source: Author

The hypothetical framework was based on the three-step cultural synergy model with the double dialectic processes of both Japanese managers and their foreign subordinates. The first step is the problem or friction. Foreign employees experience a sense of exclusion because their Japanese managers engage in high-context communication with an assumption of homogeneity. At this stage, problems and frictions occur because both Japanese managers and their foreign subordinates have different standpoints and do not try to understand the viewpoints of the other.

The second step is mutual learning. Japanese managers begin to recognise the feelings of foreign subordinates and realise the importance of diversity. This change in the attitude of Japanese managers results in foreign subordinates experiencing a sense of inclusion. The foreign subordinates, in turn, understand the strategies and values of their projects, and they begin to commit to their organisations. In this phase, Japanese managers and their foreign subordinates learn each other’s views.

The third step is geared toward organisational development. Japanese managers change their communication styles to more explicit and proactive ones. They offer assignments aiming at both organisational development and individual uniqueness to their foreign subordinates. This can be regarded as inclusive leadership to enhance uniqueness and belongingness, and as middle-up-down management characterised by integration between organisational visions and individual behaviours. On the other hand, foreign employees redefine their career visions, aiming to become change agents. At this stage, both Japanese managers and foreign subordinates change their behaviours, aiming to co-create a solution for organisational development.

This conceptual framework offers new perspectives to Japanese HRM literature. Traditionally, it was considered that Japanese HRM needed homogeneity to carry out middle-up-down management under flexibly defined roles. Nevertheless, this study found that homogeneous culture could be replaced by cultural synergy and inclusive leadership to apply middle-up-down management with role definition flexibility to foreign subordinates. To achieve this result, Japanese managers need to recognise the feelings of their foreign subordinates, realise the importance of diversity, make communication explicit and proactive, and assign roles related both to organisational development and the uniqueness of the foreign subordinates. On the other hand, this framework may not apply to SSWs as they work with more specified roles. The expectations for SSWs may be more immediate contributions to specific jobs than innovation.

Additionally, role definition flexibility can be an advantage for cultural synergy and inclusive leadership because both concepts assume that assignments should be modified based on the subordinate’s perspectives and uniqueness. Paradoxically, the findings of this study can apply not only to foreign subordinates but also to Japanese subordinates.

In Western management, people from any background can be hired if they have adequate abilities for certain jobs. This process works because job descriptions include specific requirements, such as skills, knowledge, and experiences. Thus, the integration of individual strength and organisational productivity can be considered to occur at the recruitment stage.

On the other hand, there are not clear job descriptions in Japanese HRM. Thus, it is quite difficult to integrate individual strength and organisational productivity in the hiring process of Japanese companies. Given more flexible roles post-recruitment, traditional Japanese HRM required homogeneity to integrate both. Instead, cultural synergy and inclusive leadership could be another integration solution. Through cultural synergy and inclusive leadership, each subordinate can become a change agent for the organisation’s development. Therefore, cultural synergy and inclusive leadership can potentially be more effective in Japanese HRM than Western HRM. This insight needs to be examined in future research.

Limitations and future research

Although this study developed a new hypothetical framework for cross-cultural management, it was based on findings from the interviews with only ten pairs of managers and foreign subordinates. Therefore, future research that undertakes both qualitative and quantitative surveys with a larger sample is necessary to verify the proposed framework.

Additionally, the foreign subordinates who participated in this study had worked at their companies only for a few years. This made it difficult to generate a code of the actual organisational development with foreign employees. To analyse their influence on organisational development, future research should include more experienced foreign employees, although it takes time for many foreign employees to develop enough skills to achieve impact on organisational development.

Acknowledgments

I am particularly grateful for the assistance provided by HR departments, Japanese managers, and foreign employees who agreed to cooperate in the interviews.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP 15K17125 and JP 18K12851.

Notes on contributors

Kenta Koyama

Kenta Koyama received his Ph.D. from Keio University, Japan. His specialities include cross-cultural management, organizational behaviour, and career development. He has also been served as committee members of several governmental projects related to foreign workers at Japanese companies.

Notes

¹ SSWs are classified into two types. SSWs(i) can get limited jobs in 14 industries such as painting jobs in the industrial machinery industry, and carpentry jobs in the construction industry. SSWs(ii), who have more advanced skills than SSWs(i), can work only in construction, shipbuilding, and the ship machinery industry.

² Technical intern trainee (ginō jisshu sei) is another major category of foreign workers in Japan. The Technical Intern Training Program was established in 1993 to contribute to developing countries by accepting people from these countries and transferring skills through work experience (for a maximum of five years of residence in Japan). Although labour regulations are applied to the trainees except for the initial lecture-based training period, the main purpose of this program is to train people from developing countries (MHLW2017). There are 308,489 trainees as of the end of October 2018 (MHLW 2019). There are various criticisms of the program including that technical intern trainees face illegal or unethical situations such as infringement of labour-related legislation, working outside the prescribed working hours, and name lending (Watanabe 2010).

³ This sampling method may be affected by the selection bias of the HR departments. Nevertheless, considering that it is extraordinarily difficult to get pairs of Japanese managers and their foreign subordinates without the assistance of HR departments of Japanese companies, the author believes that this was the best way to carry out this initial and explorative research.