CULTURE SPECIAL ..................Japan & India

CULTURE  Japan & India





Japanese and Indian work cultures are starkly different.
Bridging the gap takes time

In the Eighties, the Japanese were much admired in the corporate world as technology leaders. Management Gurus in the West began studying the Japanese Way, their management practices, production, quality management, meticulously planned processes -Kaizen, Keiretsu, Kanban. Management seminars and books had to have a Japanese K word.Just in Time was the way to efficient inventory control. In the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, however, the Western media blamed the Japanese way for the crisis, saying their decision making processes are archaic.

I have engaged with the Japanese in business for over 20 years now. In the last 3 years, I have signed a JV with a large Japanese hospital chain for setting up hospitals in India. Over the decades, our businesses with them have grown. So has our relationship. The Japanese way, in my experience, is beyond the esoterics of management and business philosophy jargon. It is based on unchanging fundamental percepts.

The Japanese build business by building relationships. This takes time. The pre-requisite is trust. Thereafter they will stand by you, regardless. If your financial position is precarious, or expected to get precarious, if you are unable to meet a time or quality commitment, it's advisable to inform your Japanese counterpart, even if the partnership is at a critical stage. Toyota supports its dealers across the world, training them meticulously to their exacting global quality standards and processes, thereby enabling them to become cost-effective, profitable and world-class. They step in to support the vendors if they have a crisis. For this, the vendor should be transparent and honest from the start.

It's difficult to inspire trust with Japanese in the early stages, due to certain stark differences in work culture and behavioral patterns. They reach meetings early, understanding traffic conditions and other possible delays and account for them. If we reach late, they will receive you politely, smile and bow.

Japanese take decisions by consensus. While this is well known, we miss an important corollary that results from this. They are not comfortable with managers who make a public display of authority, or an apparent directorial management style which believes “if a nail sticks out, hammer it in“. Indians tend to be inspired by stars and strong leaders.The Japanese arrive at consensus through closed door interactions within their team. This is a synthesis of differing views, and any synthesis as we know, is likely to be more conservative than radical, making the Japanese style the antithesis of the agile management style of Silicon Valley, to which we subscribe.

Taking decisions after detailed analysis, their local expat managers have to refer issues to “Japan-side“ as they call it. Decision making gets slow. It relies less on gut feel and instinct. This frustrates the Indian manager, stifling his entrepreneurial spirit. But a decision once taken by the Japanese is seldom changed. The Japanese don't contradict each other, or their boss, in public. They present a homogenous front. We are freer to put forth our differing point of view. After all, we are the argumentative Indians. They are extremely courteous, whereas we tend to get aggressive in tone and manner, often interrupting and getting repetitive. Maybe because we are unsure if they have fully comprehended. Their reaction to the best of our proposals and animated talk, is an expressionless nod, a gentle tilt of the head and a soft “hmmmm“. My grandmother says they are robotic.

Sometimes, they do get emotional. Softening up and sympathetic once comfortable, even taking decisions based on an element of sentiment. In my recent experience with the Japanese hospital chain, in purchase and other meetings at the project stage, they broke into their language, huddling together and annoying the Indian team who felt they were missing key discussions points. Some even had a sense of suspicion that the Japanese did not want them to know what they are saying. Later we realised it's more because they were yet to develop comfort levels with us. Maybe they were worried we would characteristically interrupt frequently, aggressively, and the meeting would lose focus.

In every crisis at the hospital's project stage, the Japanese managers always took ownership for any wrong action or decision, never passing the buck. This was a great learning for me, both in business and personal life. They partnered the local teams to solve issues, eating cold idlis and dosas late night from a small eatery down the road. They live the value of team work through and through. The greatest point of difference between us and the Japanese is food and the biggest binding factor is golf. Nothing like bonding on a common green ground or Karaoke into the night. Another great learning was Genchi Genbutsu meaning go and see. To know and to solve, physically visit the spot, inspect the site.

There are Japanese global conglomerates like Toyota and Sony and then there are the large Japanese companies or SMEs. Herein lies a difference in work culture whilst operating in foreign markets. The former are not “Japanese companies“, they are global. They are established across world markets and understand the local context, handling diversity successfully. There is a two-way assimilation of culture and best practices. The global corporates understand appropriate delegation of authority to their local counterparts, the importance of hiring the best local professionals for top positions and empowering them. They have a mechanism for quicker decision making and they are able to impart training to a diverse group leading the partnership process. Their global processes can resolve local emergency situations and inevitable deviations from plan, appropriately integrating local management expertise.

This does not come easy to the largest of Japanese companies who have never ventured out of Japan, and certainly more challenging for the Japanese SMEs entering India. Here, the initial exchange may not be very fruitful, decision making slow as both partners try hard to reach common ground. They may not understand our point of view on recruitment, gut feel decisions and entrepreneurial zest. They get frustrated when meetings scheduled for 30 minutes conclude in three hours. often without concrete decisions. Especially at the project stage, which in India is typically demanding on co-ordination for timely completion of milestones, due to poor skill sets and support infrastructure. “So much discussion and no decision“ they say in exasperation. They find it difficult to integrate their best practices and training. Their own processes may not be strong. In partnerships with first time entrants, you will need to take the lead to drive the trust factor, create comfort levels faster and navigate the relationship to a mutually productive conclusion.

There appears to be camaraderie between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We can aggressively drive greater exchange between these two powerful nations in the diaspora. Understanding each other's culture and values, history and lineage, the collaborative efforts will scale new heights. Here's a stunning haiku from Kobayaski Issa, a master 18th century Haiku poet: O snail Climb Mount Fuji, But slowly, slowly! Trusting the Buddha, good and bad, I bid farewell To the departing year.

Everything I touch with tenderness, alas, pricks like a bramble.

The author is director, Kirloskar Systems and Chairperson of Sakra World Hospital, the first ever Indo-Japanese hospital JV

By Geetanjali Kirloskar  CDET 23JAN15