Japan - Working and dealing with the Japanese

Who Should Attend ?

Company managers and staff working and dealing with the Japanese

Objectives

The aim of this seminar is to significantly improve the participants’ effectiveness in their professional relationships with the Japanese, enabling them to be operational right from the start.

At the end of this training, participants will have acquired insights and techniques to to:

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Fully understand Japanese context and culture
• Analyse possible situations in which misunderstandings may arise and identify ways of communicating
• Reduce stress and misunderstandings
• Decipher and understand Japanese decision-making and negotiation processes
  

Programme Outline

Module 1 : Understanding cultural differences

1. Intercultural awareness, the key to success in international business

• Taking stock of one's own cultural baggage
• The basics of effective intercultural management
• Identifying and going beyond cultural stereotypes

2. Key aspects of Japanese culture

• An extremely densely populated chain of islands including numerous ethnic groups
• A thousand-year empire proud of its history and its civilisation
• The world’s second largest economy
• A society based on secular order

3. The impact of values and behaviour patterns on professional dealings and relationships

• Deference to hierarchy and its many nuances
• Honour and a sense of duty: the notions of giri  and saving face
• Discipline, patience and precision : a respect for rules and order
• The collective mentality: pooling individual skills and assets
• Changes in modern Japanese thinking
• Japanese women at the dawn of a golden age

4. The Japanese corporate world

• Conglomerates or Keiretsu.  Understanding the noren
• Small businesses and Sōgō shōsha: a dense and highly effective network
• The nemawashi:  Consultation... Japanese-style
• Protective and nurturing companies for devoted employees
• The ambiguous nature of the Japanese salaryman
• The Keizen: the notion of quality as a process of continuous improvement

Module 2 : Succeeding in work with the Japanese

1. Effective communication with the Japanese

• Communication styles and methods
• The language barrier, the role of the interpreter
• The meaning of words and messages: differing interpretations
• Non-verbal communication: the role of expressions and spatial management
• The circulation of information, networks

2. Adapting your working methods

• Identifying cultural traits and customs
• Understanding organizational structures, procedures and decision-making processes
• Anticipating possible obstacles
• Project management, the team spirit, a sense of service
• Pitfalls to be avoided

3. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Japanese

• Identifying decision-makers and power chains/power conflicts
• Identifying negotiation styles
• Time, priority and deadline management
• Understanding written contracts, their interpretation and implications
• Organising the post-negotiation phase

4. Final handy tips

• Caution, patience and humility
• Protocol and etiquette
• Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code, etc
• Humour: a double-edged sword