Japanese-Americans the Diversity of Japanese-Americans

Japanese-Americans

The Diversity of Japanese-Americans in the Workplace

The make up of the American workforce has changed dramatically over the last 50 years. During the 1950s, more than 60% of the American workforce was made up of white males. They were usually the sole breadwinners in the household, expected to retire by age 65 and spend their retirement years doing leisure activities. Today, the American workforce is a better indication of the population with a significant mix of genders, race, religion, age and other background factors (Lindenberger and Stoltz-Loike, 2008).

Diversity is many things in the workplace today. It is a bridge between organizational life and the reality of people's lives. It helps to build corporate capability. It describes the framework for interrelationships between people while promoting a learning exchange. The long-term success of any business calls for a diverse body of talent that can bring fresh ideas, perspectives and views to the workplace. The challenge that diversity brings is allowing managers to capitalize on the mixture of genders, cultural backgrounds, ages and lifestyles while responding to business opportunities more rapidly and creatively (Lindenberger and Stoltz-Loike, 2008).

When people of different backgrounds work together, race and ethnicity becomes more tangible in people's consciousness than they ever have before. Race and ethnicity alone is not sufficient to understand the dynamics in transnational workplaces. Race and ethnicity are often socially constructed and used as an organizing principle by people in an organization (Oyama, 2003).

Despite the big range of differences in language, social class, and national history, Asian-Americans share many cultural likenesses. These include a strong loyalty to family, community, and work. They are often modest and reserved. They are reluctant to complain or express emotions directly and dislike confrontation. They have respect and obedience for authority and are sensitive to the attitudes of others along with having a strong work ethic. These values have been found to be very important in Asian-American cultures (Oyama, 2003).

After spending many years in the United States there is likely to be changes occur in these values. Most first, second and even third generation Asian-Americans find themselves in transition between traditional Asian values and mainstream American ones. This leads to great variation in the behaviors of Asian-Americans, although they still maintain some identification with their cultural traditions (Oyama, 2003).

As growing numbers of first, second and third generation Asian-Americans enter the American workforce, they are finding many of the same problems that more recent arrivals are facing. They are facing the problem that no matter how long they have been in the United States they are often treated as if they just got here (Oyama, 2003). Asian-Americans often feel that they are not being considered for top management and executive positions. They resent the assumption that they lack the necessary interpersonal and administrative skills. According to many Asian-Americans when they are considered for employment, they are sought in science and technical areas, but not in the areas of sales, human resources, or executive training positions. And even when they get a job in a non-technical area, this stereotype often remains. Some Asian-American workers have reported that they are constantly given extra work to do because they usually accept those assignments with out complaining. They resent this because not only are they asked to do more they are hardly ever offered more pay for the additional work. In addition to these things, Japanese-American workers often find themselves being blamed for the success of Japanese business and even for World War II. This is especially irritating for second and third generation American citizens (Blank and Slipp, 2005)

Another problem that Asian-Americans find in the work place is they prefer to make decisions and solve disagreements quietly by coming to a consensus and finding harmony. They may express public disagreement in a polite way in order to avoid direct conflict. In the workplace they find themselves unable to take a firm stand out of respect for other people's feelings. This behavior is often seen by American's as being wishy-washy, showing a lack of commitment, or being insincere or weak. Yet to an Asian-Americans, being direct and straightforward might mean being insensitive to the feelings of others or even as being offensive (Blank and Slipp, 2005)

Asian-Americans often face discrimination in the workplace as well as at school. Japanese and Asians-Americans in general are seen as the model minority, meaning that society likes to use Asian-Americans as an example to the rest of the community. There is often the attitude that if they can do it, then anybody can. This tends to cause a large percentage of Americans to resent the Asian ethnic groups and Japanese-Americans in particular because of their high success rate. Many Japanese-Americans experience what is often referred to as a bamboo ceiling that blocks them from getting raises, promotions, or better jobs (Shim, 2006).

There was a recent study done by the Gallup Organization and reported in The Washington Post that describes the measure of self-reported incidences of workplace discrimination. The report noted that Asian-Americans reported the highest rates of discrimination in the workplace. According to the study 31% of Asians surveyed reported incidents of discrimination, the largest percentage of any racial or ethnic group. Even though Asian-Americans report the highest levels of workplace discrimination, they are also the ones that are least likely to actually file a discrimination complaint against their employer. Because of their cultural beliefs of being quiet and docile, it seems that they are easy to pick on and discriminate against (Asian Workers Report the Most Discrimination, 2006).

Japanese corporate culture often conflicts with American management styles because of a basic underlying assumption about Japanese culture. Normally, Japanese companies offer lifetime employment that is subject to very few layoffs. With layoffs being much more common in the United States, North American managers are mostly trained at theory-based business schools that employment must be subject to corporate profitability and therefore is often short-term. Because of the fact that many Japanese companies offer lifelong tenure, career paths in Japan are more open and general than they are in the United States where they are much more specialized. Job promotion is often much slower in Japan with higher emphasis on age and seniority. Promotions for top performers in American firms are granted at a lot faster rate than in the Japanese system. A major difference between Japanese and American mindsets is that Japan focuses on the long-term while Americans frantically chase short-term goals (Workman, 2008).

Japanese management is also much more focused on their relationships with their employees than with the rules that ensure that the corporate goals are met. Because of this, Japanese performance control mechanisms are very informal. Managers in Japan often depend on the honor system to get work done, relying on the trust and good will of their workers. These informal employee controls come down to the fact that Japanese employers are concerned for their employees' interests not only at work but at home with their families as well. In contrast, American businesses mostly focus on their employees' work lives (Workman, 2008).

These basic cultural differences that are taking place between Americans and Japanese-Americans in the workplace explain a lot of the discrimination practices that are occurring. It is the common lack of knowledge that often leads to people being treated differently among ethnic groups. All workers should be seen as just that- workers. It should not make any difference what their cultural backgrounds are when it comes to job performance and promotions. All workers should be treated the same and judged upon the same set of criteria.