This essay examines gender diversity challenges in corporate board membership through Nissan's case study, which demonstrates minimal female representation with only one woman among nine directors. The analysis explores how Japanese cultural factors influence corporate governance decisions and proposes organizational change strategies to improve gender balance. The paper argues that transformational governance approaches can enhance team performance while establishing models for broader cultural change in global corporations.
Nissan is a Japanese but now a global automaker company with nine directors. There are eight males and one female enlisted within the directors’ membership. This shows that Nissan has little endurance for including female members on board and little gender-based diversity. Nissan does not seem open to organizational change to include more women within its board members list as it turns out the company is a challenging place for women’s advancement. It is corroborated with the Japanese culture itself that does not openly support gender-based diversity since the World Economic Forum ranked 110 out of 149 countries (Matsui, 2019). It shows that modernism and globalization have not helped Japan go high up the ranking when female labor participation is concerned.
Research has suggested that females should be given equal opportunities to progress as men, for instance, is leading a project, leveraging equal power, giving rewards for their encouragement, and facilitating them to put in their creativity, deeming it a lifelong investment (Saunderson, 2011). Such a culture should be brought into Nissan as an organizational change so that women’s interpersonal fears could be minimized and team performance of the whole company could be maximized (Jamroz, 2019). Nissan should realize that being a global firm; it needs to bring a ‘wholesale’ change as it could be easily conducted by board members, being the leader of the gigantic company (Gazley & Kissman, 2015, p.116). Team building and development are promptly initiated with this governance change, giving rise to a culture of shared governance. The concept of the company’s less engagement of women in its board members should be changed to formulate a proactive understanding of collective teamwork and set an example for the entire Japanese culture. However, change might not be easy for each board member, but it should be comprehended that it would not change its policies and operations (Gazley & Kissman, 2015, p.76).
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