ABSTRACT
Western management theories, systems and practices have been regarded as the sine qua non in the efficient and effective management of both people and organisations. There are many important differences between Japanese and American business and management systems and practices; among the more salient of these differences pertain to the following matters: industrial organisation, decision making, human resource management, and approach to customer satisfaction. There are many important differences in the manner in which the human resource is managed in Japan and the United States. Japanese companies place relatively more emphasis on quality in an effort to provide greater value to their customers than American companies. There are several contrasting values between the American and Japanese cultures which account for the different ways in which managers in the two countries manage organisations and human resources; Arthur Whitehill has pinpointed the more important of these values. They are: kinship, loyalty, status-based relations, contractual relations, and bureaucracy.
