Working with Japan

Outcomes

By the end of this programme, delegates will:

• Be more aware of their own cultural preconceptions and assumptions
• Have a deeper understanding of Japanese business culture: what motivates the typical Japanese businessman and how best to influence him
• Be aware of parameters of good practice in cross-cultural communication and be in a position to modify their own style accordingly

The Programme

Every programme is unique and based on pre-course questionnaires. However, the typical outline is:

Know Thyself: a brief look at the delegates' own cultural pre-conceptions and assumptions - an important first step in the learning process

The Japanese Manager: an interactive briefing focusing on those areas of Japanese business culture of particular relevance: we will develop a model which permits us speedily to examine why Japan is the way it is. It includes:

• Japanese attitudes to life, time, truth, morality, family, the outside world and, importantly, to work and business life
• Company structures and hierarchies: the new tensions
• Decision-making - nemawashi: the Japanese consensus-building mechanism
• Japanese attitudes to the client and to customer service; to contracts and the law
• The importance of the social dimension in business

From Theory to Practice: the real-time issues: how should we modify our natural business style to harmonise more successfully with the typical Japanese approach? This session uses enactment of scenarios from the delegates' own business reality to draw out lessons on how to communicate more effectively with Japanese partners. In particular, we look at:

• Offshore English - the delegate's ability to control his/her own language to accommodate expected levels of English typically found amongst senior business people in Japan
• Structuring meetings in Japan
• Body Language

Q/A: a final session to clear up remaining questions