Training Practices in Japan

Japan, the home country of tech giants Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp, has faced several talent recruitment challenges that have overturned the amounts reputation of excellence to a reputation that "Is no longer considered to be on the cutting edge of cool. " The appeal to work in Japan and for a Japanese firm isn't appealing for any longer for several reasons. For a country with companies that "were next to Western firms in popularity', Japan now has a smaller economy than China and has a less practical workforce compared to the skilled and specialized talent of the young in China, the West, and India.

Beyond Japan's poor performing economy, Japan has also faced some political mishaps that also made the country less appealing for the monger talent. With Japan on the brink of a territorial war with China, recruitment by Japanese firms of young Chinese talent has "fallen by more than half this heavy. Another struggle that job seekers face is Japan's strict and strong traditional sense and its stubbornness in letting go of traditional work ethic practices and Japan's "way of professional life. Japan's limited use of the English language has also scared many International talents from seeking employment In Japanese firms. American, Chinese and European new graduates don't want to Invest In the time or energy it would take to adjust their way of life to the Japanese way of life. The most important challenge to the shortage of young talent in Japan is, the belief that traditional Japanese companies don't give new talent much responsibility.

Furthermore, the Japanese still feel that employees should start of small and "learn the ropes over time" whereas the Chinese and western firms hire new talent to utilize their abilities, strengths and specializations. Tankard points out however that there are some Japanese firms such as Reawaken and Deana "that are no longer following the rotational belief that new hires should be given a reprieve to prove themselves. " These firms also disagree with Japan's traditional "one-size-fits-all approach" which recently hasn't proved successful as exemplified by Sony lack of innovation and technological advancements.

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Firms like Reawaken and Deana, have been successful in outsourcing students from MIT and Indian universities and have already given them excellent quality production both successfully and satisfactorily. As many firms are slowly transitioning to this approach, several firms are also using mergers and acquisitions as a gateway to obtain high-quality talent. Taking explains how companies such as Reawaken and NET Data, who are expanding globally through acquisitions, have been successful because they have access to larger pools of talent.

Analysis Introduction

Over the past decade or so, Japan has seen a downward shift in economy, innovation, employment opportunities, and popularity. Even before the earthquake and tsunami that struck the Japanese islands, several large Japanese corporations such as Sony, Sharp, and Panasonic that were known as industry leaders and were dollied by the rest of the world, experienced horrible financial performance strictly due to a change in talent management requirements and practices that had proven to be more successful than the Japanese professional traditions.

It's important to ask; how do the Japanese do things differently? Japanese firms do a number of things extremely well. One is to train their people carefully, a strategy that many successful U. S. Firms also employ. Management attitudes toward quality also are quite different. The Japanese philosophy is that anything worth doing in the area of quality is worth overdoing. Workers are trained for all Jobs on the line, even though they eventually are assigned to a single workstation.

This method of "training overkill" ensures that everyone can perform every Job perfectly and results in two important outcomes or if someone is moved to another Job, he or she can handle the work without any additional assistance and the workers realize that management puts an extremely high value on the need for quality. The Japanese do not accept the common U. S. Strategy of building a product with quality that's "good enough. " Although Japan seems to believe that it's traditions ND it's the professional way of life is the only and correct way of life, many Japanese natives including Mr.Highchair, the CEO of Reawaken, believe that this one-size-fits-all approach no longer works in emerging Japanese corporations. The training that Japanese firms used to give and that traditional firms still give using the "training overkill" method is insufficient compared to the education and training that Mr.. Highchair states makes Chinese talent more suitable. It is important to relate the findings by Taking to concepts that we have analyzed in section three of the course text and in specific, chapter ten which cuisses international training and management development.

In the next section, I plan to discuss some training functions discussed in the text that Japan can adopt when dealing with outsourced new talent that has proven successful to the both the firm and the talents development. The text does serve a great role in pointing out five concepts that the Japanese can adopt to drive better usage of outsourced talent and it's global workforce. These concepts are: I. "think and act globally'; iii. "empower teams to create a global future"; lb. "make learning a core competence for the global organization"; . ND "both the global organization and its individual members must constantly reinvent themselves". [Pages 255-256, International Human Resource Management, E (Global HARM)] I'. Think and Act Globally For Japanese firms to succeed in thinking and acting globally, global Japanese corporations must train talent to think of all markets in the world and strategies how to succeed in each individual market and not only the Japanese market. A decade ago, Japan did not have to think and act globally as Japan led markets and industries into thinking that their ways were the best ways.

The Japanese were persuasive in their practices due to the success and strength of global Mines such as Sony and Panasonic who led the world at one in innovation, financial success, and employment satisfaction. Develop Global Leadership Skills Another practice Japanese firms need to succeed is they must also challenge talent with global learning ideas and a build it's forefronts to develop global leadership skills. Reawaken and Deana exemplify how through trust, all firms can build leadership in talents. In Japan the traditional way is to start of small and slow and build your way up.

Unfortunately, this out dated practice is no longer suitable for today's working generation, which is always looking for advancement. Giving an talent the tools they need is usually enough to get the talent thinking on their own feet, accomplishing tasks with autonomy, and leading others successfully through cooperation, respect and integrity. lb. Empower Teams to Create a Global Future Japan must also empower teams to create a global future to be able to be successfully and competent in foreign and domestic markets.

Japanese Mines can empower teams by creating expectations that require for talent to work on projects tit other international divisions. By allowing for talents across multi-regions the ability to perform organizational projects will allow for talents to build better problem-solving skills. As we learn through the course, different regions have different traditions, standards, regulations and ways of doing things. By allowing for cross-team cooperation, talents can find unique approaches and develop practices that can suit headquarters or several regions beyond those involved. With firms in Japan seeking mergers and acquisitions, empowering teams to cooperate globally should only become easier.

Make Learning a Core Competence for the Global Organization firms strong focus on its goals and missions and task execution. Justine mentions that because of his firms focus, he believes that he will "emerge with a strong set of engineering skills" that he wouldn't gain elsewhere. With out much realization Deana has really become a core competent global organization that focuses on developing a learning atmosphere throughout all of the firm's doings. By doing so Japanese firms, like never before, can adopt an ability to learn and project outcomes much faster than competitors, which creates a sustainable advantage. '. Constant Re-invention of the Firm and the Talent "Training-overkill" and other traditional training practices followed by the Japanese are efficient for production, but not advantageous or beneficial for the development of the talent. Training-overkill and practices where Japanese talents are trained on every aspect of the position and how to resolve every problem can be detrimental for the growth of the talent.

A talent needs to be able to confidently analyze, assess, and gather thoughts on the talents self-development in order to make the next move to advance his or her career. Reassessing also creates room for a talent to seek lateral promotion and assist in creation of strategies that allow for the talent to reach success. In today's highly competitive and everyday globally changing economy, it is important for training practices to encourage talents to strategies to avoid stagnation and lack of interest in their positions.

Conclusion

The challenges that Japan currently faces are not challenges that are impossible to overcome. With the success of Japanese firms such as Deana, Reawaken, and NET Data, it's only a matter of time that these firms' successes are recognized. Their constant mission to veer away from the norms of the Japanese tradition that they know don't work and veer towards new strategies that develop the firm globally will be the testament to their success. With their continuous efforts to train talent to world standards and beyond, these firms can only perform as well as the talent they recruit. It's also important to realize that with Japanese firms moving toward outsourcing special talents, that innovative standards that were once prevalent in the nation, will soon return.

Discussion Questions

If the Japanese were to outsource, how can the "new' hiring strategies and raining models prepare the talent for today's challenges while keeping the Japanese way of doing things in tact. Mention three new attributes found in new hires from China, India and the Western hemisphere that can be merged with former Japanese practices and traditions. 2. As discussed in the analysis, the Japanese are known for "training-overkill". Will the new strategies found in several Japanese firms, such as Reawaken create inefficiency? Will hiring talent based on specific skill-sets be challenging for Japanese who are acclimated to training for every position? How will this affect Japan's strict

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