Continuing from the last post.....
I have concluded in the last post that western style strategy is not worth much for the typical Japanese organization due to some fundamental differences in our ways of thinking and how the organization function as compared to that of the Western ways.
So, what is the Japanese way of strategy, if there is such a thing ? Originally, it was not more than an extension of common sense combined with the collective wisdom and experiences. Then the highly articulated and systematized concepts were imported from Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty in China region. They are what we call 兵法= "Art of War". The concepts have been adopted and integrated into Japanese culture over the course of the last 1500 years. However, the modern Japanese businessmen have not been taught anything about 兵法 and its cultural implications, nor have they been taught about our original value system that runs in our vein.
As for the western way of Strategy, In spite of the fact that the modern western business theories including the concept of Strategy and its applications are taught in all Japanese Universities and some of us even have MBA, the western style strategy and its system do not function in most Japanese organization.
This indicates that most of today's businessmen in Japan are incompetent in both Japanese ways and the western ways. What we have is a strange "Nue" (鵺） organization in "Nue" society. Nue is a ancient Japanese monster having a monkey head, racoon body, tiger's feet, and snake tail. So, how does Nue organization function ? Certainly not by any strategy even though they would have some kind of strategy in place. They have it for the sake of having it. In case of the organization with charismatic leaders, they go by the instinct of their leaders. Others go by the mood of the organization which is, in most case, not very stable. The mood is dictated by the unspoken consensus within the organization and anyone attempting to spoil the mood will be silently executed. Either way, strategy is nothing more than an accessory for an organization to justify their behaviors.
Now, If I were right about this, what should the Japanese organizations do then ? Abandon the idea of having any strategy ? Well, I guess they could if they have a courage to do so. Suppose they abandoned their strategy from their management process, what could it be the guideline for managing the organization and its businesses ? To simply put it, "Common sense" should do the job. As a matter of fact, it will do far better job than strategy that does not function anyways.
Managing organization / business with common sense instead of complicated strategy. I think it will relieve organization and its members from the confinement of strategy and empower them to be more creative and effective in many ways. Are you courageous enough to abandon your strategy ?
In the next post, I am going to get into more details on how Common sense management works for the current organization 2.0 companies and how it could become the stepping stones to become the organization 3.0.
I have concluded in the last post that western style strategy is not worth much for the typical Japanese organization due to some fundamental differences in our ways of thinking and how the organization function as compared to that of the Western ways.
So, what is the Japanese way of strategy, if there is such a thing ? Originally, it was not more than an extension of common sense combined with the collective wisdom and experiences. Then the highly articulated and systematized concepts were imported from Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty in China region. They are what we call 兵法= "Art of War". The concepts have been adopted and integrated into Japanese culture over the course of the last 1500 years. However, the modern Japanese businessmen have not been taught anything about 兵法 and its cultural implications, nor have they been taught about our original value system that runs in our vein.
As for the western way of Strategy, In spite of the fact that the modern western business theories including the concept of Strategy and its applications are taught in all Japanese Universities and some of us even have MBA, the western style strategy and its system do not function in most Japanese organization.
This indicates that most of today's businessmen in Japan are incompetent in both Japanese ways and the western ways. What we have is a strange "Nue" (鵺） organization in "Nue" society. Nue is a ancient Japanese monster having a monkey head, racoon body, tiger's feet, and snake tail. So, how does Nue organization function ? Certainly not by any strategy even though they would have some kind of strategy in place. They have it for the sake of having it. In case of the organization with charismatic leaders, they go by the instinct of their leaders. Others go by the mood of the organization which is, in most case, not very stable. The mood is dictated by the unspoken consensus within the organization and anyone attempting to spoil the mood will be silently executed. Either way, strategy is nothing more than an accessory for an organization to justify their behaviors.
Now, If I were right about this, what should the Japanese organizations do then ? Abandon the idea of having any strategy ? Well, I guess they could if they have a courage to do so. Suppose they abandoned their strategy from their management process, what could it be the guideline for managing the organization and its businesses ? To simply put it, "Common sense" should do the job. As a matter of fact, it will do far better job than strategy that does not function anyways.
Managing organization / business with common sense instead of complicated strategy. I think it will relieve organization and its members from the confinement of strategy and empower them to be more creative and effective in many ways. Are you courageous enough to abandon your strategy ?
In the next post, I am going to get into more details on how Common sense management works for the current organization 2.0 companies and how it could become the stepping stones to become the organization 3.0.
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