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experience a sense of accomplishment together, not only as individuals but also as a team, grow greatly.
In introducing this new employment system, I explained to all employees directly why we were
changing the evaluation system, what we were aiming for, and how it was consistent with the company's
philosophy and vision, as well as the strategies and policies of the company. Under the 3 shifts working
system for full production, I talked thoroughly with all employees in groups in the morning (1st shift),
afternoon (2nd shift), and even in the middle of the night (3rd shift) to answer all their questions and
doubts. I was able to do this because I was still young and physically strong, but I think this thorough
conversation was the key to the success that followed. I learned that even if my English was not good, I
was able to convey what I wanted to say with passion from my whole body, that I needed English that
would move people’s hearts rather than simply fluent English, and that fluent English was meaningless
without an open mind and passion for change. The direct dialog often gave me eye-opening realizations.
For example, based on Japanese way of thinking, I set the minimum assignment period at the same
grade in the personnel evaluation at two years or three years because this was a natural approach in
Japan. However, one of the female operators at the assembly section criticized me for killing the
potential of geniuses and violating the corporate philosophy of “respect and full consideration for each
individual employee”. In reality, such a genius is unlikely to emerge, but I was convinced that this kind
of thinking was important, and on the spot, I removed the concept of the minimum assignment period
from the system as unnecessary. Also, every quarter, we posted the names of employees who had been
upgraded in the lunchroom to congratulate them, but a group of employees from Vietnam asked us to
stop. Some people felt embarrassed and ashamed to be promoted to a lower grade behind everyone else,
while in some cultures like Japanese culture, people want to be the same as everyone else. What is
needed in the global stage is the equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome, and we should
celebrate those who work hard, even if they are behind others; this is the idea of people who are
educated in the United States. However, since there was no need to impose such a majority idea and
dare to make some employees feel uncomfortable to celebrate, we stopped this celebration system.
People's feelings are difficult to deal with. Factory workers are especially diverse. Even though they are
Americans, not all of them are born and educated in the United States. People from all over the
world—Mexico, China, India, Russia, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and so forth—were working together.
Therefore, basically, a-un no kokyu (communicating and agreeing with each other without exchanging
words) does not work as it does in Japan. In Japan, from the time children are in elementary school,
their teachers keep telling them to “think from the other person's point of view, and imagine how you
would feel if you were in the other person's position”, but this method would not be effective if we were
born and raised in a different environment or with a different way of thinking. It is rather dangerous to
think that because you feel this way, the other person will feel the same way. The issue of age
discrimination was something that we needed to be aware of, especially as Japanese managers.