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Evolving Perceptions of Japanese Workplace Motivation

An Employee-Manager Comparison

University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, rbrislin{at}hawaii.edu

Brent MacNab

University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, brentmacnab{at}yahoo.com

Reginald Worthley

University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, worthley{at}hawaii.edu

Florencio Kabigting, Jr

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tokyo, Japan

Bob Zukis

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tokyo, Japan

This research effort specifically examines perceptions of workplace motivation in Japan between employees and managers while highlighting results that are somewhat counterintuitive to the traditional western perception of Japanese ethnography. Specifically, we find some evidence for a potentially shifting movement toward a self-orientation with more emphasis on lifetime employability over lifetime employment. During a period when incremental efficiencies are arguably more important than ever for the Japanese economy, practitioners therein stand to maintain the highest level of productivity by better understanding exactly how workforce motivation is currently evolving rather than relying on potentially dated assumptions. Specifically this effort advances cross cultural management studies by blending insight from past American research and theory with current research on Japan - which allows the additional benefit of comparing traditional Japanese cultural platforms to potentially more modern, dynamic realities. In partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Human Resource Solutions, a survey was undertaken in the metropolitan Tokyo area that examined motivation of the Japanese worker using the two-factor Herzberg model, which seems to be valid in Japan. The study indicates that there has been a movement from a more traditional, collective/company orientation toward more self-orientation. The study also demonstrates that Japanese managers seem to have an acceptable understanding of what motivates employees but that there is still room for improvement.

Key Words: extrinsic • Herzberg • intrinsic • Japan • lifetime employability • lifetime employment • motivation • workplace

International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 5, No. 1, 87-104 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1470595805050829


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