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Forget the customer, it's your Japanese boss who is always right
Despite everything you've heard about a "liberalizing" Japanese workplace, according to this advice, the correct response to "Jump!" remains "How high, sir?"
"Tanaka, do this document, and I am docking your pay 50% for wearing a light gray suit." "Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!"Over at his personal site, CNNGo contributor Matt Alt translated an interesting bit of "business advice" for new corporate recruits from Japanese BBS 2ch. The Japanese piece "Eight Tips for New Graduates," may be exaggerated and cynical but paints a chilling portrait of a Japanese workplace still organized by strict vertical hierarchy.
For example, new employees are told to throw the entire idea of "critical thinking" to the wind. Rule #1 is "If someone above you tells you crows are white, they're white." Rule #6 is similar: "Forget about what the client wants. It's about what your boss wants." In both cases, the low-level employee is not there to rationally or functionally perform a job as much as unquestioningly follow the wisdom of upper management.
The anonymous advice also tells employees they can get away with minor incompetence. "If you mess up someone will fix it" and "If a job is impossible, it's okay to give up."
So yes, you may have to completely abandon individual identity and squelch desires to "have an opinion" but the good news is that you won't be blamed too hard for screwing up. All and all, that may be a fair trade off, and the whole "guaranteed rising income and no chance of being fired" makes the increasingly rare Japanese white collar job very popular with youth. The only sad thing is that this advice is proof that the more things change, the more they stay the same. This advice could have worked equally well 40 years ago -- long before there was a 2ch to spread it.
