Origin, Similarities and Differences: a Comparison Between Chinese and Japanese Organizational Cultures
1 Introduction
Organizational culture, which is also called corporate culture, is an idea in the field of organizational studies and management which describes the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values (personal and cultural values) of an organization. It is a new type of enterprise management theory and an important development of modern management science component which raised in the 1980s. It has been defined as "the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization" by Charles W. L. Hill, and Gareth R. Jones. Values are the core of corporate culture. Although “organizational culture” was first put forward in America by an American professor, Stanley M. Davis, Japanese put it into practice. During the recovery and development after World War II, Japan combined the operational theory that learned from America with the organizations’ operation and management and made a great progress, which made America learned from it in turn.
2 Similarities between Chinese and Japanese organizational cultures
Both Chinese and Japanese corporate cultures belong to East Asian cultures in essence and were deeply influenced by Chinese ancient traditional culture. They put ethics, morality and orthodoxy into companies’ daily operations and managements, also Confucianism and teamwork principle into companies’ construction of corporate culture. At the core of the Japanese mind there is a basic notion of ANIMISM, this is the belief that everything has a spirit which is the nature-worshipping religion of Shintoism. Confucianism, Taoism and other schools of thought which came from China are added on top of Shintoism. For instance, Confucianism advocates senses of “ren, yi, li, zhi, xin, xiao and zhong”, which mean “humanity, justice, manners, wisdom, faith, filial piety and loyalty”, which are widely used as guideline
Organizational culture, which is also called corporate culture, is an idea in the field of organizational studies and management which describes the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values (personal and cultural values) of an organization. It is a new type of enterprise management theory and an important development of modern management science component which raised in the 1980s. It has been defined as "the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization" by Charles W. L. Hill, and Gareth R. Jones. Values are the core of corporate culture. Although “organizational culture” was first put forward in America by an American professor, Stanley M. Davis, Japanese put it into practice. During the recovery and development after World War II, Japan combined the operational theory that learned from America with the organizations’ operation and management and made a great progress, which made America learned from it in turn.
2 Similarities between Chinese and Japanese organizational cultures
Both Chinese and Japanese corporate cultures belong to East Asian cultures in essence and were deeply influenced by Chinese ancient traditional culture. They put ethics, morality and orthodoxy into companies’ daily operations and managements, also Confucianism and teamwork principle into companies’ construction of corporate culture. At the core of the Japanese mind there is a basic notion of ANIMISM, this is the belief that everything has a spirit which is the nature-worshipping religion of Shintoism. Confucianism, Taoism and other schools of thought which came from China are added on top of Shintoism. For instance, Confucianism advocates senses of “ren, yi, li, zhi, xin, xiao and zhong”, which mean “humanity, justice, manners, wisdom, faith, filial piety and loyalty”, which are widely used as guideline