Role of Culture in Influencing the Workplace Contribution - Literature review Example

JAPANESE CULTURE Course name: Professor’s Name: University name: Date of Submission: Executive Summary Culture is an important social factor that is of great significance on the Japanese employment and business sectors. For a long time, the employment and business sectors have faced several challenges that need to be addressed to achieve maximum production in the private and public wings. In trying to analyze the available gaps in the areas, there have been setbacks majorly brought about by the lack of knowledge and insufficiency of records. Additionally, culture is very significant to a country since it ensures that the philosophical concept of togetherness and national unity is achieved. However, it is because this ensures that the available jobs in the market are equally distributed to all people irrespective of their ethnic background or financial status. Moreover, this process has to be done to have a specified record of the available gaps and opportunities in the economy. Furthermore, it is important to understand that the culture of a nation plays major role in shaping its international reputation as well as impacting directly on its economic development process. In the Japanese case, the aspect of childcare and the involvement both in terms of age and gender is an important cultural phenomenon that needs to be taken into consideration. Literature review (Douglass, 2015) argues that national culture is a major contributor to national, regional as well as global development. The issue comes out clear as the author includes the significance of culture and the need consider such cultural beliefs and customs in developing any economic, social or political agenda. Moreover, clarity is made that the need for this study is purely based on the sound will of any country to accomplish its socio-economic goals. Furthermore, he continues to clarify the peripheral inferences of good cultural coordination, citing that it is very important in certifying that a country’s image is sustained, and an issue that can increase the level of recognition by other units. (Kondo, 2009) conditions that this kind of undertaking is one of the few compulsory interventions to be positive and to be promoted highly among the stakeholders of any country. Additionally, (Kondo, 2009) gives explicit national measures that are meant to spearhead the quest for good cultural evaluation and proper planning for the available human resource. Furthermore, (Landy, and Conte, 2016.) states in his article that in making any step towards the realization of defined developmental change, there is need for a clear analysis and consideration of the cultural environment both from within and outside the country. Making reference to the tremendous development in Japans business sector, he explains and considers culture as one of the dominant influences that determines the direction of a country, region, continent or the whole globe pertinent to economic development. Additionally, (Lee, McCauley, and Draguns, 2013) explains that gender biased cultural beliefs are present in any nation; he says that addressing the phenomenon forms part of the entire process of championing for justice to all citizens of as a nation. In his article, (Mathews, and White, 2012) argues that gender parity has however reduced tremendously due to growing policy formulation and the changing family systems. (Douglass, 2015) argues that cultural beliefs are major threats to regional development Study objectives This study evaluates the role of culture in influencing the workplace contribution and system towards changing relationship between women, men and other parties and agencies that influence the issues of gender policies. It also focuses on the role of policies in enhancing social-economic development in Japan. The objectives and aims have been formulated to assist in providing an answer to the research questions. The objectives help in answering the research question through qualitative and quantitative research techniques. The following are the research aims and objectives; To understand the position of women in Japans economic cycle? To outline the relationship between the number of Japanese working class women and its economic development? To bring out some of the Japanese cultural beliefs that hinder the achievement of gender equality t workplace To compare he position of women in Japan and the United States. Introduction In the Japan and everywhere across the globe, prisons are examples of cultural interventions and influences that tend to impact both positively and negatively to the economic development. They however possess special remedial measures meant to change their character. Additionally, the global improvement in cultural practices has impacted positively on the procedures used to convict individuals. Additionally, cultural justice has been a major term globally; it is because of the many cases of bad governance that have for a long time influenced the global cultural system. However, the increasing rate of literacy and legal knowledge has helped improve the standards of the work related cultural implications. Nonetheless, culture is a subject of discussion that has globally attracted mixed reactions for so long. The quality of services and the cultural effects have also been matters of concern. A study of Japanese cultural system is hence a time thrilled undertaking in the global view. Hence, it is a challenge that is often current and feasible with sufficient study to back up and challenge individual belief on sentencing approaches. Another important significance of a studying Japanese culture of male and the reason why many expect the stakeholders have to work together is the issue of mutual relationship. The fact remains that in almost all the countries, there is a mutual relationship that is expected from all the social groups to uphold. Additionally, the main reason is that culture does not only depend on one group but rather a collection of many that chip in to impact on the general outcome. For this reason, such systems may in many cases develop programs that bring together all the relevant stakeholders and government entities to help them understand the reasons for their engagement. In cases where the stakeholders are not in real terms, it might be difficult for a system to assemble all the requirements and services in time to be able to give an outcome. It is, however, different in a scenario that the citizens and stakeholders have mutual engagements among themselves. Japan Japan is one of the island countries found I the eastern part of the Asian continent. Moreover, Japan as a country is located in the eastern part of the Sea of Japan alongside bordering the Pacific Ocean. Among other countries, Japan borders China, Korea, and Russia moreover; Japan is a collection of many islands with the four largest of them namely; Hokkaido, Kyushu, Honshu and Shikoku. These four islands form the larger part of the Japanese land making up to about ninety seven percent of the total land area of Japan. Additionally, Japan is one of the highly populated countries, coming in tenth in the worlds ranking list of population. With a population of one hundred and twenty million people, the country, faces in equal measure economic challenges and strengths. Moreover, of the high population in Japan, the dominant ethnic group is of the Japanese origin, making up to 98.5% (Landy, & Conte, 2016) of the total population. Culture Culture according to Cambridge English Dictionary refer to the way in which people live more so the overall beliefs and customs pertaining to a given group of folks at a specific time. Moreover, the culture of a nation can be seen from the way the people curry out their activities at different times (Douglass and Roberts, 2015). Besides, culture may be divided in different categories depending on the influence they pose to the economic development. Among the categories are; spiritual, sexual, generational, family, as well as those pertaining to gender and other related issues. Culture and workplace in Japan In Japan for example and in any other country, there exist various work expectations alongside cultural expectations of the employees. This therefore means that at one instance or the other, there will exist conflicts pertinent to the both the cultural and organizational requirements. However, it is also important to note that such conflicts can only be solved putting into considerations the views of all the stakeholders. Japan’s culture has however evolved with time giving it a new outlook owing to their interaction with the Europeans. Nonetheless, Japan still remains a country with a lot of concern on gender issues as well as matters pertaining to racial diversity. Infant care in Japan Globally, infant care is a fundamental aspect of a country’s development process. Moreover in many countries, this undertaking is highly valued as it has direct influence on the future of the country in question and that of the whole humanity. The aspect of infant care begins at the time of conception, birth and during the child’s early stages of life. Generally, and specific to the Japanese culture, the woman in their twenty’s and thirty’s play major roles pertinent to infant care (Mathews, and White, 2012). By default, the women have to breastfeed their young ones after birth not forgetting the expectancy period. This means that such women have to be given some period off their work duties to attend to family matters. However, this phenomenon has a lot of implications on the work relations and the subsequent work quality of any employment agency. In a nutshell, many companies would not therefore recommend women in such ages to hold senior positions in their companies due to their unavailability at the time of need (Mathews and White, 2012). Besides, the vacation period given to such individuals may have significant influence on the promotion of employees. If these people are not on duty during such periods, it may be difficult for them to be promoted to other levels. Therefore, it is notable that this kind of culture that gives women the responsibility to take care of infants also ion one way or the other influences negatively on their career. To this regard, government policy can be an important intervention strategy to protect the rights of such women so that they can be considered for promotion and other motivation activities even during their vacation periods. Place of women in Japan Even though women are said to possess such equal rights as the men in japan, their economic conditions still faces that threat if imbalance sine not much achievement have sprung from the modern policies and initiatives that tend to hearten motherhood and workplace contribution. Moreover, it is notable that the remuneration of women in japan is lower than that of men by a whopping 40% (Kondo, 1990); a phenomenon that is negatively impacting on their contributions at the workplace. Moreover, this means that the women are not highly motivated to work and are therefore not much involved in the activities of such companies they work under. In the end, it means that the same women do not take part in major decision making processes of the companies, rendering such decisions as non-inclusive. Additionally, the same women comprise of a larger percentage of the part time workforce in a bid to raising their earnings thus impacting negatively on their family activities. Moreover, it is mind boggling to understand that among other issues cited as barriers to maximum economic equality is the old-style expectations of a marital woman. However, such traditional expectations may not be at par with the present day gender equity policies and should therefore be discouraged. In japan for example, a married woman is expected to be in the house serving the husband as he goes to work. This means that technically, the women are not allowed to work or take part in community issues, a matter that has rendered them useless in the society. Moreover, it is notable that Japan has a strong tradition that considers married women as housewives that can only take up part-time jobs depending on the programs of their husbands and children. However, it is notable that this kind of culture is coming to an end with the recent policy developments on gender and social welfare issues (Douglass & Roberts, 2003). Culture and workplace relationship in Japan It is has been indicated that the Japanese culture does not give too much limelight to the women both in businesses and at the workplace. This however has diverse implications on the relationship between employees, a factor that can affect the performance of the organization as a whole. Moreover, every employee always wants to be recognizes and given a free environment to interact with people. This however is not the case in Japan either because of the law number of working class women or due to the existing cultural beliefs that expects them to be in the houses. Besides, for any organization to prosper, the freedom of expression is a fundamental virtue that will give the management a wide range of ideas to run the organization in a professional manner. Also the imbalanced gender in many of Japans companies has also led to the luck of inclusivity in decision. Nonetheless, some also view it as a contributor to specialization and factor that has helped raise the economic status of the nation. Also, the position aspect of management in the Japanese culture does not make it easy for women to take up such position hence thwarting the aspect of inclusivity. Workplace culture in the China and Japan (Kinsella, 2000) While women are still considered as housewives in Japan, a higher number of the Chinese female population are employed on full time basis. Moreover, it is in the China where women get more jobs as compared to their counterparts in Japan. This means that the modern day policies of gender balance and equality has also been incorporated in the Chinese policies more than it has been done in Japan (Douglass, 2015). However, it is also notable that China is more open to gender equity than Japan and is therefore open to a wide range of ideas on how to deal with issues of gender and other matters of social welfare. In the China, there have been calls to decrease population growth owing to the decreasing amounts of natural resources. This means that unlike Japan, women in China are less likely to go on maternal leave and as such less likely to lose their jobs. Moreover, even if they had to proceed to such maternity vacations, they would be once or twice for the women in the China unlike the Japanese women who would sire up to five or more children. Forthwith, it is easy to conclude that women in China contribute more at their workplaces as compared to those in Japan. This variation is majorly caused by the difference in cultural practices as well as difference in opportunity provision (White, 2005). Differences of a Chinese work in Japan For a Chinese working in Japan, it would be very hard to adapt to the environment and be able to work freely with the employees at the workplace due to the difference in cultural beliefs that may directly influence behavior in workplace. Specifically, the aspect of time management could be a greater challenge to the Chinese follow working in japan. This is because of their known nature of sluggishness when it comes to maters time (Kondo, 2009). For this reason, the Chinese will have a hard time trying to catch up with the Japanese time management system. Additionally, the Japanese wake up very early to start the daily activities, a factor that may be difficult for the Chinese. Additionally, for female Chinese, it would be difficult to work in an environment with an extreme high population of men that woman. This is due to the Japanese culture where women are considered to be housewives. Adapting to the Japanese workplace culture As an employee in Japan, it is important to adapt to the prevailing working conditions within which an individual is subjected to. In this context, the Chinese has to change his way of doing things in order to suit himself with the Japanese culture. Moreover, a male Chinese has better chances of abiding to these calls as the Japanese work force is full of men. This means that the Chinese personality will not face any discrimination when it comes to gender matters. Furthermore, this relationship reduces unhealthy conflicts that are unnecessary and detrimental to the development of Japans economy. In so doing, the stakeholders ensures that their personal interests do not outweigh the interest of the whole organization. It is therefore in order to recommend that Japan reviews its work policies in a bid to ensuring that they’re not biased in any way (Douglass, 2015). Moreover, the government can also come with interventions to ensure that such duties of infant care, child education, house duties are not only left to the women but also the men who are responsible in each case. Additionally, institutions can develop gender friendly policies that dictate the ratio of men to women that the organization should employ in a bid to maintaining its social image. Conclusion Previous revisions of Japanese culture within and outside Asia have taken benefit to using the diverse checks. This is with reference to the way it has been convened in the paper. The two major tests which have majorly been used comprise the call and place as well as the improvement of the cultural facilities and the promotion of such positive cultural beliefs (Kondo, 2009). The tests’ aim was to discover the connection between the national culture and the general influence it poses to the work environment. The earlier readings were major derives its supposition from the time mutual association. Moreover, many of the Japanese have fallen victims of unfair cultural implications majorly on gender matters. For that reason, it has been good for them to build a well-identified work and culture framework to help address such issues. In the study, I explored the Japanese Culture of infant care and child education culture as a significant influence on both Japanese and Asia social development where I employed the use of various social-cultural tests. In summary, it is impervious to comprehend and grow the fact that culture or any other form of social system may be of great importance to any nation is spearheading its development agenda.it is therefore important to understand the importance of gender equality and how it impacts on a nation’s economic development. Bibliography Douglass, M. and Roberts, G., 2015. Japan and Global Migration: Foreign Workers and the Advent of a Multicultural Society. Routledge. Kondo, D.K., 2009. Crafting selves: Power, gender, and discourses of identity in a Japanese workplace. University of Chicago Press. Landy, F.J. and Conte, J.M., 2016. Work in the 21st Century, Binder Ready Version: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology. John Wiley & Sons. Lee, Y.T., McCauley, C.R. and Draguns, J.G. eds., 2013. Personality and person perception across cultures. Psychology Press. Mathews, G. and White, B. eds., 2012. Japan's changing generations: are young people creating a new society?. Routledge. Douglass, M & Roberts, GS 2003, Japan and global migration : foreign workers and the advent of a multicultural society, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu. Kondo, DK 1990, Crafting selves : power, gender, and discourses of identity in a Japanese workplace, University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Landy, FJ & Conte, JM 2016, Work in the 21st Century, Binder Ready Version: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology, John Wiley & Sons. Lee, Y, Mccauley, CR, Draguns, JG & Ebrary, I 1999, Personality and person perception across cultures, L. Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, N.J. White, M 2005, 'Japans Changing Generations: Are Young People Creating a New Society?, edited by Gordon Mathews and Bruce White. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004, x + 206 pp., 114.95 (hardcover ISBN 0-415-32227-8)', Social Science Japan Journal, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 314-317. Kinsella, S., 2000. Adult manga: Culture and power in contemporary Japanese society. University of Hawaii Press. Read More