For this weeks blog assignment, I have decided to explore option two: international HRM. I have decided to imagine getting a role in Japan, and in this blog I will analyze many of the differences in workplace culture in Japan and the United States of America.
One of the largest differences between these two countries is the concept of uncertainty avoidance in Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Uncertainty avoidance describes how a society deals with the idea that the future can not be known, and how much it prioritizes reducing uncertainty. In the United States, uncertainty avoidance scores very low, as we praise those who take a risk starting a new business, practice, or trying something new in general and having it work out for them. On the contrary, Japan is one of the highest scoring uncertainty avoiding countries in the world, and they are concerned with preventing as much uncertainty in their lifestyle as possible. In the workplace, this makes many projects take longer to be approved or work to start, as all possible risk factors must be accounted for and carefully considered before action can be taken. Another major cultural dimension to consider with differences is indulgence. Indulgence is the extent to which people try to control their desires and impulses, and while the United States scores fairly high, Japan scores fairly low. This means that in the United States, we place a high emphasis on leisure time and the freedom in gratification, while in Japan, they prioritize leisure time significantly less and are therefore classified as being more restrained. This leads to Japan having less freedom in gratification, longer working hours, and a more strict working environment than the United States. A final difference to consider in Hofstede’s dimensions is the difference between individualism and collectivism. In the United States, we score fairly high in individualism, meaning we prioritize ourselves more and view those who do well for themselves positively. While Japan doesn’t score that differently than the United States, it does have an impact in organizational culture. Japan is more collectivistic in this way, viewing the organization as a group that an employee belongs to, and the betterment of the group is more important that the individual.
I believe that I would need to carefully consider this opportunity, as I place a high degree of importance on my freedom of indulgence and leisure time available to me. I don’t mind the idea of uncertainty avoidance or collectivistic mindsets (especially since Japan’s score isn’t too different than the United States compared to other Asian countries), and I believe in some ways that having more security and being more involved with a team ideology could be better for employee engagement and satisfaction. If I were to consider this opportunity further, I would want some guarantee that my leisure time would still be prioritized.