Blogs and Articles from Third Way Forum Membrs

・What’s the good side of the Japanese assignment practice which makes company decides and tell individuals their next jobs and their next locations? Well, as obedience is taken for granted, you can always assign people for the remote locations or unpopular jobs from the organizational point of view. Employees also don’t complain much as they know that they will be rotated out after a few years.

・What is the degree of employee involvement in deciding the next job? It varies from company to company, but most of the time, there is no discussion opportunity for the mutual agreement. It’s one-sidedly announced from the company side and employee is expected to follow.

・If people know that they will be developed as generalists and have not so much say in deciding their roles, what do they still stick around? What are they expecting to get from the company in return? Well, until recently, people obediently followed the assignment orders as they believed that the company would take care of them in terms of long-term employment and adequate retirement allowance etc. Loyalty paid off. But that was in the past. In today’s Japan, it is highly doubtful that companies can keep their end of the bargain.

・Generalists are generalized! We generalize a bulk of Japanese corporate people by using the term Generalists but we need to specify what we mean by generalists. There are different kinds.

・Japanese companies are talking about the needs of changing people mgmt. systems for decades but no progress has been made. How come? Well, maybe it is because young people are a minority in Japan. So the push for change is too weak to overcome complacency of the majority which is middle-aged and above.

・Resumes of Generalists are not picked up by algorism/AI and headhunters as they are looking for specific skills.

・Foreign companies have the opposite problem of having only specialists who tend to focus on their own professions working in silo. They are actually trying to develop more generalists.

・As long as they have professional skills in something and then become generalists later as they become leaders, it is totally ok. But the problem in Japan is that so many people are generalist without any profession from the beginning till the end.

・Foreigners often focus on what jobs to get done, while the Japanese often focus on what team is working on the job.



(Below are from Adam’s input)
・Yes, Japanese companies have traditionally been thought to excel in developing generalists and this has been seen as a type of weakness. Plus side is great loyalty, commitment, stability and ability to plan long term.

・At the same time, other companies based in the USA / CHINA / South Vietnam / Germany etc are more known for developing/recruiting and rewarding specialists and this has been seen as a relative strength. Minus point relates to lack of flexibility and the constant risk of people leaving as they seek career opportunities elsewhere.

・Today Japanese companies are recruiting more specialists (mid-career) with the required skills / abilities and know how. Main challenge is culture fit and dealing with internal friction that could be caused.

・Japanese companies should keep doing what they do best. Develop an amazing pool of generalists who are hard working and committed – This has a lot to do with why Japans economy is so successful. To make up for the short fall of specialist talent, accelerate the existing trend and openness to recruiting mid careers and to working in more collaborative ways with external partners/start ups.