The wonder world of meetings and discussions - The Japanese style

It is just difficult for me to begin this post; and I don’t really know how and where to start despite of have a clear motive on what to write. I have many things in my head to write, but they just don’t line up in an organized manner. I think it’s better for me to might as well write what ever goes into my head. OK…You see, there are many kinds of meetings in a typical Japanese organization. In this blog post I’ll give a brief account on the daily meetings or discussions that are routinely conducted in a typical Japanese company. Let’s count how many types are there assuming that the working time of this hypothetical organization is the usual 9am to 5 pm:

1. At 8:55am a daily 5 minutes group assembly before work starts. I called it the morning exercise meeting. This meeting is normally conducted in factories or manufacturing plants where all employees will do simple rhythmic routine of stretching of the commonly used body muscles outside of their offices. Colleagues from the same office would group together and give morning greetings to each other.
The good point of this morning exercise meeting is employees are able to start work immediately from the time the siren sounded. They are in the alert mode as the exercise ends. This is because the early exercise that had given them the warming up to jump-start their work. So work begins fast. This meeting also encourages employees to come early by about 10 minutes before work. Through these morning exercise meetings, Japanese companies are gaining on the first few minutes of productive time from each worker. The number of productive hours gain is significant if we were to take the total sum per year.

2. From 9:00am to 9:15am a daily 15 minutes section morning meeting is conducted. All sections must carry out this morning meeting. This meeting is very ritualistic and is conducted while standing. Each member of the section will take turn to say a loud while pointing his/her index finger to the vision of the company; other will follow to recite the text. The ‘ritual’ of read the company’s vision can be at the beginning or at the end of the daily section meeting. An assistant to the section head will conduct the meeting, informing the section head and other member what are to be accomplished for the day.
The good point of this meeting is the tasks that must be accomplished for the day is known by every section member before actual work begins. Although everyone in the section has his/her separate duties and responsibilities; by the end of the day these duties can be summed up into one common goal. Shift workers are not exempted from holding this meeting. Shift managers must make sure that this meeting is conducted 15 minutes at the start of their shift work.

3. From 10am to 10:45am. A daily liaison meeting, an inter-department meeting where the supervisors or the key persons of the sections, lets say manufacturing and engineering departments, will meet to straighten things on issues relation to the on coming jobs between the departments. This meeting normally starts an hour after work begins, that is, 45 minutes after the section daily meeting. The supervisors of the said departments would have gotten all the facts to be discussed within the 45minutes period. The meeting will windup all issues or job requests so that jobs like maintenance can be smoothly carried out and jobs that are in the ‘no-man-land’ would be resolved and would have someone responsible. This meeting will take about 30 minutes.
The good point of this meeting is that communication between two or three departments are constantly maintained in high spirit so as everybody in the organization will be on the alert to carrying out and taking the correct jobs as planned. This type meeting will reduce if not eliminate entirely the sectionalism mindset, thus making way to have a fool-proof system or mistake-proof as miscommunication between members of the separate departments can surely be avoided.

5. From 10:00am to 11:00am., in larger organizations where 3 to 4 sections make up a department; a section head daily morning meeting is held with the department head. This meeting is scheduled at about the same time as the daily liaison meeting (3) and attended by the section heads of a department. Since this meeting will take slightly time longer time, about an hour or so, it is normally conducted in a meeting room with a fixed agenda every day with provisions to discuss possible solutions for problematic situations in a particular section. All daily figures from each section are recorded in a journal which serves as the official meeting minutes of the meeting. These figures are compared to the targeted department’s budgeted figures.
The good point of the meeting is daily achievements of the various sections are measured against the budgeted figures and thereafter estimations are made whether the monthly targets are within reached. These figures are analyzed and scrutinized daily; any discrepancies must be accompanied with objective evidences. Section heads, being university graduates, are expected to perform a higher degree of complex calculations as to forecast accurately against the budgeted figures.

6. From 11:00am onwards, department heads would make presentations to the factory manager. Department heads are third in rank below the president of a typical Japanese corporation. They are sometimes called as general managers. They are influential people in the factory working closely with the factory manager. Often factory manager will make consensus decisions with them on all matters related to factory operations. The daily encounters between department heads and the factory manager is usually one to one basis. However, factory manager has all the liberty to call on the department heads any anytime to discuss issue relating to the operation of the factory. Informal meetings or discussions can also be conducted over lunch at about twice a week where set-lunch boxes are brought in the meeting room and discussions can be on any factory matters that don’t necessarily have to be concluded with resolutions. These keep-in-view items are essential for near future factory expansion or production facilities for new products as preparation to anticipate the on going continuous improvements by marketing and the research and development departments.
The good point of the constant interaction between department heads and their boss is reflected in the comprehensiveness in analysis work to evaluate the action plans laid down by them daily. This daily checks is like steering your car in the busy streets of New York City, making all your senses to work to get good results in the operation of the factory.

7. From 4:45pm to 5:00pm. a daily 15 minutes meeting before work ends is conducted in a similar manner as the 15-minute section daily meeting (2). Here, members of the section may take turn to talk on the items that they have completed and on what to expect on the following day. The assistant to the section head makes record the presentations. Their presentations are short and concise.
The good point about this meeting is mainly for the reflection of each section member on his or her job well-done for the day. The voicing out of his/her accomplishments of the day has a positive impact on his/her mental alertness in preparation for tomorrow’s work

8. After 5:00pm. After work informal meetings and discussions would continue to about 9pm. Section heads, who are often busy formulating solutions on special projects with department head and even factory manager, apparently don’t have time to discuss daily matters with other members of his sections. This get together at company sponsored drinking clubs or pubs from 6pm to 9pm can serve the purpose of mending the cracks and breaks in the communication between him and other members of his section. The section head will use this daily drinking session to air out his dissatisfaction in the performance of the section or a member of his group; like wise the members can make comments on what he feels about his section head. Rarely, the members of other department would join in this 3-hour free talking unless they have had previous close ties with the section or the section head.

Maintaining constant communication to make the day’s efforts worth it is the result of meetings and discussions that are going on very strong in Japanese companies by employees to staying in close rapport to one another. Daily achievements are regarded as a step head towards attainment of the company’s goal; yes it is a process in making to attainment of the final goal. Their work expectations are dedicated for the well being of the group that they belong to; day in and day out. They show strong cohesiveness for more than 8 hours a day depending on each other to achieving what not be possible by an individual. This is the wonder world of participative management.