Labor productivity cannot be enhanced even if holding many meetings that can decide nothing.
The country in G7 with the highest labor productivity is Germany. The difference between Japan and Germany in terms of labor productivity decisively comes from quickness of decision-making.
Basically, Japanese companies can decide nothing in spite of holding meetings repeatedly. Especially, if the upper management can’t decide something, it try to leave the decision-making to meeting to get consensus from people to make sure if what it thinks about is right thing for the company.
However, even if holding a meeting, there is such a communication interacting among participants as “we can’t make a decision without this data, so please research it until the next meeting” although it is a meeting to make a decision. A person requested to make a research document submit it at the next meeting but board members with decision-making authority indicates there is still something missing to make a decision and the decision-making is carried over to the next next meeting with more detailed research documents. Japanese companies tend to repeat this waste routine until it is in the stage to make a decision. Nobody will doubt that labor productivity cannot enhance in this way.
In Japan, the speed of companies’ decision making is very slow and it takes enormous time more than necessary to decide one thing. As a result, worker’s working hours tend to prolong and it strongly influences on labor productivity that always stays lower level. Certainly, in the company with the premise that it holds many meetings to make a decision, no matter how earnestly it calls on reduction in labors’ working hours, it is still quite difficult to realize quality working style.
In western companies, people who can’t quick make decision will not be rated high and assumed higher position
In order to make quick decision, it is very important to make a culture that rates people who make a decision. Unless enhancing decision-making power in an entire society of Japan, it is very difficult to realize the fundamental work style reform policy that the Japanese government works out.
In western countries, it has a corporate culture that a decision-maker takes all responsibility for what he decides. The thoughts that “A leader without taking responsibilities for what he makes a decision is not cut out for a real leader ” takes root in a corporate culture in western countries. So, it is obvious that a person who can decide nothing cannot be assumed an upper position with more responsibility.
In Japan, society is really hard on people in failure. If the culture that rates what people challenge about rather than what results people make spread around society, it probably influences on enhancement of labor productivity.
On the internet social media, Japanese users make ironical remarks about the situation that the Japanese companies have so many meaningless meetings that decide nothing and board members assume that holding meetings repeatedly is their real job. Some Japanese people have the sense of crisis against wasteful meetings with the feeling that unless changing the Japanese unique mentality of “avoidance of responsibility”, Japan will fall down to the economic undeveloped country in the future.