Diversity Management in Japan and Germany

Even until today, other than In the USA there is almost no immigration, with a vast majority of people being ethnic Japanese. The only exceptions are a small number of ethnic Koreans and Chinese whom mostly lived In Japan for generations expatriates and a small amount of foreign students. Acceptable behavior is clearly defined in Japanese culture. Key factors of how to behave are age, gender and position.

Behaviors other than the appropriate norms are being cancelled Japanese Management System Although some practices were brought from abroad, such as new organizational forms, due to the big recession in the asses Japan had to experience, Japan developed and created a very characteristic management style, This unique management style is credited for the big worldwide success Japanese businesses ad in the asses. It developed out of the Japanese traditions, which are still deeply anchored In Japanese society.

Some of the most characteristic factors of Japanese management system Include managerial autonomy, strict hierarchical organizations, consensus decision making, lifetime employment, promotion based on seniority and relative equity in compensation between management and workers. Equality between Men and Women Especially when you look at some of the largest companies of Japan, as well as governmental positions, you

Jobs for women in for example senior positions are very limited. These Jobs are reserved for older males who are likely to retire at an age of 55 to 60 years. Even though women were 41% of Japans labor force, women occupy only 2-3% of managerial positions in larger corporations. In smaller ones the numbers arena ‘t as dramatic at the first glance but if we look closer there s no big difference. Around 20% of the managerial positions are filled with women but almost all of them are at the lowest management level.

Due to these inequalities more and more women search for better opportunities at some of the few foreign companies, because these Jobs are not very attractive to male Japanese. One reason for these inequalities lies again in the Japanese culture. Even if almost all the women start to work after finishing school, most of them stop when they are getting married or have their first child and they will not rejoin the workforce until their children are older. Finally in 1986 an equal opportunity law was created by the Japanese government which prohibited discrimination against women in retirement, similar and new employee training.

But there was a big problem about the law, it only encouraged equal opportunities in recruiting, hiring and promoting and the only enforcement mechanism was so called “administrative guidance”. As an effect of the had to choose at the moment of their initial hiring whether they want to choose a traditional women ;s Job or a career position, which was equivalent to one a male employee would have been offered. Shortly after that, in the early asses, the economic recession started and good career opportunities became rare for both men ND women but the impact on females was significantly greater.

Until now the unequal treatment of men and women is more and more getting a problem. A recent study about equal opportunities for both genders ranked Japan on place 105 of 136 countries examined (which is 4 places lower than 2012). Conclusion With Japan ‘s highly restrictive immigration policy and a very low birthrate of only 1,53 children per family in 1990, combined with factors like the lack of long-term labor, they will soon need a more diversified workforce with respect to age, gender and foreign workers. The birthrate gets lower ever since 1990 and in 2005, for the first time, Japans population even decreased.

Germany Looking at the two previous examples of Japan and the USA, diversity in Germany is somewhere between those two. Nowadays we hear a lot about the big immigration waves in EX. countries like Italy, Spain or Greece but Germany as well has a recent history of several waves of immigration. Germany’s history of “guest workers” Soon after World War II, German industry started to recruit workers from different countries, primarily from southern Europe and northern Africa in order to tackle the robber of the shortage of men to rebuilding Germany ‘s war-devastated economy.

With the believe they would probably return to their home countries when Germany ‘s society had recovered, they recruited workers from countries like Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Tunisia. After 40 years the guest workers were about 12 % of all wage and salary workers, with a size of about 2,6 million people. After several years, when the economical and political situation in Germany and south-eastern European countries changed, about 1964 the formerly DOD attitude toward foreign workers changed. Resentments and prejudices against primarily Turks arose.

People started to believe that they would take away their Jobs and due to several occasions, these images in the Germans head became stronger. As German workers became less and less competitive, because of guaranteed benefits and high wages, the companies started to hire more and more workers from other EX. member states. These cheaper workers didn’t need any permit, since they were allowed to work anywhere within the European Union. At the same time the employment rate in Germany rose up to 10,3 % in 1996 with 14 % in former East Germany.

Another important factor for immigration was the breakdown of communism in several eastern European countries. Germany’s liberal asylum laws and generous provisions for social services led to a big immigration wave. In 1992 about half a million tried to get asylum in Germany. As a reaction to that development, Germany changed its asylum laws and only allowed political persecuted people to enter Germany. The tremendous costs of integrating the former East Germany, combined with the costs for the many asylum seekers and a weak economy in the early asses created a climate of resentment against foreign workers.

At the same time these foreign workers became an important part of several German industry sectors, where Germans avoid to work, such as hospitality industry, garbage Whereas about 80 % of the women in former East Germany were working, only about 50% of the women in West Germany were part of the labor workforce. After the crush of eastern Germany’s economy, following the reunification of Germany, many people, especially women were laid off and became unemployed. Even after the reunification omen received on average one-third less pay then men.

They also were more rarely in managerial positions or other higher level positions and were concentrated mainly in only few industries. Even though in the asses there were released several several laws to ensure equal treatment, only few things changed, because there were no sanctions if companies or governments din ‘t stick to these new rules. Another crucial factor for the failure was that after the reunification in the sis the rules of West Germany were not applied in East Germany. This led to a significant gender sis in the decisions to keep, fire or recruit staff.