Economic Models - Convex Optimization

Toward a Theory of Japanese Organizational Culture 141
3.1. Japanese OC
In order to understand the Japanese OC, it is essential to know the Japanese
system of management, which gave rise to the unique Japanese style of OC.
What is written below is the result of several visits to the major Japanese
corporations (like Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, and Nissan) and interviews
with several senior executives, including members of the board and vicepresidents
of these companies.
Japanese system of management is a complete philosophy of organization,
which can affect every part of the enterprise. There are three basic
ingredients: lean production system, total quality management (TQM) and
HRMs (Kobayashi, 1980). These three ingredients are inter-linked in order
to produce total effect on the management of the Japanese enterprises.
Because Japanese overseas affiliates are part of the family of the parent
company, their management systems are part of the management strategy
of the parent company (Basu, 1999; Morishima, 1996; Morita, 1992;
Shimada, 1993).
The basic idea of the lean production system and the fundamental
organizational principles is the “Human-ware” (Shimada, 1993), which is
described in Fig. 1. “Human-ware” is defined as the integration and interdependence
of machinery and human relations and a concept to differentiate
among different types of production systems. The purpose of the lean production
philosophy, which was developed at the Toyota Motor Company,
is to lower the costs. This is done through the elimination of waste —
everything that does not add value to the product. The constant strive for
perfection (Kaizen in Japanese) is the overriding concept behind good management,
in which the production system is being constantly improved;
perfection is the only goal. Involving everyone in the work of improvement
is often accomplished through quality circles. Lean production system uses
“autonomous defect control” (Pokayoke in Japanese), which is an inexpensive
means of conducting inspection for all units to ensure zero defects.
Quality assurance is the responsibility of everyone. Manufacturing tasks
are organized into teams. The principle of “just-in-time” (JIT) means, each
NC OC
LC CP
Where “NC” is “National Culture”; “OC” is “Organizational Culture”; “LC” is
“Leader Culture”; and, “CP” is “Corporate Performance”.
Figure 1.
Sub-model 1: culture-performance system.