Japanese Find U.S. Workers A Puzzling Lot; Managers See Qualities, Quirks in Americans Series: WORKING FOR THE JAPANESE Series Number: 2
Secretaries go home, leaving letters half-typed. Blue-collar and clerical workers will not do things outside their job descriptions. Unqualified people get jobs in the effort to promote women and minorities.</br></br>At least that is the thinking of many Japanese executives who have returned home after working on the other side of the Pacific. Understanding and motivating Americans, they say, takes a lot of effort.</br></br>Not that American workers don't have their good qualities. Japanese officials view many Americans as quite talented and especially eager to find out how they can improve. Some are struck, and favorably impressed, by Americans' openness and honesty.</br></br>And some Japanese executives wonder whether they did enough to communicate with and befriend their American colleagues.</br></br>But when Japanese are asked to reflect on their experiences supervising Americans, they see plenty of areas that are not functioning quite right.