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- Insight: Thoughts on the Management Philosophy of Various Japanese Companies
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1. Insight: Thoughts on the Management Philosophy of Various Japanese Companies
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Some of you reading this are probably executives at companies, but I imagine most of you work as technical personnel, salespeople, entrepreneurs, civil servants, or department managers. Does this mean the lessons about the nature of management philosophy that I have discussed in this column are not useful to you who not the manager? Not at all. The teachings of those who came before us have the power to improve our lives simply by changing the way we think about work. You will surely become someone who is greatly trusted and respected by your superiors, colleagues, and society in general.
Are you familiar with the concept of “Shain Kagyō (A mindset in which employees see themselves as the manager of their own business)” advocated by Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Panasonic? At a presentation of Panasonic’s management policy on January 10, 1963, he said the following to all the company’s employees:
“I would like to propose an idea which I think you could adopt. What I am talking about is the idea of “Shain Kagyō “—a mindset in which each employee sees themselves as the leader and manager of their own independent business. Viewed from the perspective of society as a whole, your occupation is working as an employee of a company. But in fact, you manage the business of being an employee. It means, “You are the president of the company called employees.” […] I would like you to consider whether it might be possible to see things and make decisions with this kind of attitude and whether it would be wrong to do so.”
In the past, I worked at Panasonic myself. Among the teachings of Matsushita that I learned at that time, the one that struck me most powerfully was the term “Shain Kagyō”. One day, I started trying to see myself as a manager of an independent business, not simply an employee, and to act in the best interest of three parties and a spirit of altruism when dealing with suppliers and customers, as well as with my colleagues, supervisors, and employees in other departments.
After a while, there were more and more cases where my superiors, colleagues, and even customers put their trust in me. They would say, “If you do it, I’m sure it will be done right. I support you.” As a result, I remember that I was allowed to establish a subsidiary for a new business I proposed, thereby gaining experience as a real manager. Beginning today, why don’t you also start to embrace employee entrepreneurship and see yourself as the manager of your own independent business?
