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> It's specific to company cultures, not Americans in general. I mean as someone who's worked in a corp that has one foot in the US and one foot in Japan, I se

> It's specific to company cultures, not Americans in general. I mean as someone who's worked in a corp that has one foot in the US and one foot in Japan, I see where OP is coming from. Japan's business culture is no-frills "get it done" which rewards performance + optimization all the way down to the factory worker/janitors. In the US we have a culture of middle-management bloat where performance is usually transitive up the chain in some weird hierarchy; ie: my accomplishments are actually my manager's. This is all done with the "teamwork" mechanic - I didn't accomplish something... the team did. What this leaves is a whole buncha people who know their failures will blow back on them 10X vs. any successes, giving the company an excuse to withhold incentives (raises, bonuses, etc). You're incentivized to cover stuff up because you know it's going to come up in your reviews, and with your accomplishments being diluted into the "team" it ends up being a major point of contention. This is all anecdata but... I really understand/see where OP is coming from with his comparison as someone with a similar situation!!

dnautics 6y ago
Having one foot in Japanese culture and the other in American, I think there's a lot of saving face in Japan too (as with Asian and Western cultures in general), just it doesn't take the form of cover-ups in the business world as much. It's not foreign in American culture, either. My understanding is in the us Navy for junior officers and enlisteds anyways covering up is the worst thing you can do; you can cause catastrophic accidents that if they don't kill anyone will result in no punishment besides a "what did we learn here?" lecture. Not as true in the upper, more political ranks so I understand.
- rekabis 6y ago
  > Navy “Were you told to not do that? Yes.” “Did it work? Also, yes.” “Now clean up this goddamn mess.”
gfxgirl 6y ago
> Japan's business culture is no-frills "get it done" which rewards performance + optimization Uhhhhh what? Japanese IT companies run decades old practices, are hugely inefficient and if anyone suggests they change its the famous "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down" Also they are not known for rewarding performance what-so-ever, they're known for rewarding seniority and butt-in-seat time. They're famous for both of those.
- folkhack 6y ago
  Yeah - it's an over-generalization for sure... my anecdotal experience may not apply across the board. Things moved fast and people were pushed to innovate/iterate within their roles. The Japanese mothership was quick to get things done without much BS and always seemed interested in optimization/solving problems efficiently (on time, on budget).

dnautics 6y ago

Having one foot in Japanese culture and the other in American, I think there's a lot of saving face in Japan too (as with Asian and Western cultures in general), just it doesn't take the form of cover-ups in the business world as much. It's not foreign in American culture, either. My understanding is in the us Navy for junior officers and enlisteds anyways covering up is the worst thing you can do; you can cause catastrophic accidents that if they don't kill anyone will result in no punishment besides a "what did we learn here?" lecture. Not as true in the upper, more political ranks so I understand.

rekabis 6y ago
> Navy “Were you told to not do that? Yes.” “Did it work? Also, yes.” “Now clean up this goddamn mess.”

gfxgirl 6y ago

> Japan's business culture is no-frills "get it done" which rewards performance + optimization Uhhhhh what? Japanese IT companies run decades old practices, are hugely inefficient and if anyone suggests they change its the famous "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down" Also they are not known for rewarding performance what-so-ever, they're known for rewarding seniority and butt-in-seat time. They're famous for both of those.

folkhack 6y ago
Yeah - it's an over-generalization for sure... my anecdotal experience may not apply across the board. Things moved fast and people were pushed to innovate/iterate within their roles. The Japanese mothership was quick to get things done without much BS and always seemed interested in optimization/solving problems efficiently (on time, on budget).