DECISION MAKING PROCESS, A COMPARISON BETWEEN JAPAN AND THE U.

S
Decision making is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a
belief or a course of action among several alternative possibilities. Every decision
making process produces a final that may or may not prompt action. (Wikipedia, 2016)
Often times in Human Resource Management, the process of decision making in every
organization varies from local to international. Decisions are made based on the
organized structures of the operation of the company. For the purpose of this study,
we shall be examining the various differences that occur in the decision making
process of organizations using Japan and the United States.
Japan is well known for its agreement and consensus. They practice a Bottom-up,
decision making process. However, the bottom up is also known as the "Ringi" system
which usually combines high centralization of formal authority in the top executive
position with a very high level of actual or informal participation by workers of widely
varying ranks (Lincoln et al, 1981).
Japanese companies use a lengthy, bottom up, decision-making procedure to
guarantee smooth and effective implementation of policies in their organization.
Pascale (1978) found that "in their decision making process, both in their U.S.
subsidiaries and in Japan, the Japanese do not use a participative style any more. The
Americans on the other hand use a participative style (p. 154)." Another characteristic
of decision-making of Japanese companies is the use of vague or ambiguous
responsibility.
Ouchi (1981) mentioned that "another key feature of decision making process in
Japanese companies is the intentional ambiguity of who is responsible for what
decision reached. A group or team of employees assumed joint responsibility for a set
of tasks (p. 39)."

However, Burton (1989) also described Japanese decision-making as ambiguous,

uncertain, and prolonged. However, the benefit of such a process is as follows. Rather
than facing a final solution, it may be a better temporal step to accept the lack of
clarity in the situation and simply 'decide' to proceed. As 'proceeding' yields more
information, the best course may be to move toward the goal through a sequence of
tentative steps rather than by bold stroke actions. The distinction, then, is between
having enough data to decide and enough data to proceed (Burton, 1989).
On the other hand, American understanding of HRM has traditionally been viewed by
Japanese managers with skepticism. It is regarded as contradicting in many ways the
broad concept of respect for people (Kono and Clegg, 2001) and the aim of human
resource development (Ballon, 2002) that is ingrained into the Japanese decision
making philosophy.
Companies in Japan often adopt the decision making style known as the ringi system.
It is also referred to as the Bottom-up approach because it is an approval seeking
process where a proposal (ringimsho) prepared by a lower functionalities works itself
up through the organized organization hierarchy in a slower pace manner.
(Akpala1987).