Management in Japan, as well as in any other country, shows its own cultural diversity, course of historical development and philosophy of life. It is mostly concerned with the social and economic structure of the country. The Japanese management methods in whole are distinct from the European and the American ones. It does not mean that the Japanese model operates more effectively. It is possible to tell more likely that the main principles of the Japanese and European management lie in different planes, having very few points of intersection.
The basis of the Japanese management is collectivism. This concept creates a specific mode of thought of every person and society at large. In the Japanese mentality the weight of the call of duty in front of the team is almost identical with the sense of shame. Considering that the tax system operates on income averaging of the population by its pointedly progressive-fiscal mechanism, the social stratification is based on welfare, and it enables to use feeling of collectivism, as much effectively as possible.
According to Japanese expert in management Hideri Josihara, there are six typical features of the Japanese management system:
1) Security of employment and creating trust relationship.
2) Publicity and values of corporation.
3) Informational basis.
4) Focus on quality.
5) Continuous presence of direction in the business.
6) Housekeeping.
What distinguishes the Japanese management method from the ones, used in the majority of the European countries and America? First of all, its orientation: the basic subject of management in Japan is manpower. The assigned task of the Japanese managing director is to increase the operating efficiency of the company at the expense of the labor productivity raise. Meanwhile, in the European and American management the main objective is profit maximization, that is reception of the greatest gain by the least efforts.