Blogs and Articles from Third Way Forum Membrs

・Peer-pressure & group think exist universally but they seem to be much stronger in Japan. Why?

・Probably because group-think & peer-pressure are invisible, unannounced and unspoken in Japan while they are more explicit in the West.

・As they are invisible, people have more fear of breaking the unknown group rules and then possibly being excluded and punished.

・In old days, individual survival depended upon the well-being of the whole village so it was understandable that the group think and peer-pressure were very strong. But the society has changed a lot but it seems the Japanese people still have so much of group think and peer pressure. Kids are free at elementary schools but when they go to junior high onwards, a very strong group think and peer pressure seem to develop.

・Many Japanese people admit that they feel much freer when they are abroad.

・Group think and peer pressure could be issues as they could create bias, discrimination, narrow-mindedness etc that prevent people from innovation, transformation, and progress.

・However, if we use the different words for group think and peer pressure, for instance, collaboration/consensus for group think and team discipline for peer pressure, we understand that they also have positive aspects as well.

・Consideration for others “Omoiyari” is definitely one of the strong traits of the Japanese society that helps to build better team work and trustful relationships.

・The question is whether or not the society with strong group think and peer pressure culture can still make companies succeed in today’s fast changing global business world.

・As long as group think and peer pressure are working to maintain the status quo and protecting the old ways of doing things, they would just accelerate the further decline of Japanese companies. However, if they could be used to promote innovation and creativity, they may help Japan.

・In order to make them work, first of all, the Japanese people have to speak up and share their own opinions and ideas much more. If there should be any group think, it should be a kind of group think that encourages people to think differently from the past. If there should be any peer-pressure, it should be a kind of peer pressure that pressures people to put their new ideas into a solid new project and actually do it.

・The 1st step that Japanese companies should take is to change the culture of the implicit pressure pressuring people to conform to the existing environment to the culture of explicit encouragement to share innovative ideas and collaborate together to make them happen.

・The right balance is important, a group needs to allow nurturing new ideas without causing pressure. On the other hand a group should not overdo it towards an absolute individualistic behavior which at the end might reduce the power of collaboration. With the right balance the synergy of the individual contributions within the group can exceeded the sum of individual outcomes.