Engagement and Kaizen and Japan - Perspective needed
I will admit to being sometimes confused, as I am now...
My recollection is that one of Japan's contributions to the world was Kaizen and its focus on continuous improvement of quality / production through the generation of lots of ideas from employees. One stat from files was that a manufacturer in 1986 got 6 million ideas from the employees (one individual contributed 15,681!). One would logically think that kaizen and engagement would be pretty tied together.
Then I look to confirm these same ideas in the TowersPerrin (2008) report on engagement that only 3% of Japanese employees are engaged and 25% enrolled -- that 16% are disengaged. The numbers for the US are 14%, 42% and 11% and South Korea is 8%, 45% and 7% respectively for these same categories. Granted these are different cultures, to be sure.
So, I am confused. Anyone have thoughts or insights into these numbers and this situation?
My recollection is that one of Japan's contributions to the world was Kaizen and its focus on continuous improvement of quality / production through the generation of lots of ideas from employees. One stat from files was that a manufacturer in 1986 got 6 million ideas from the employees (one individual contributed 15,681!). One would logically think that kaizen and engagement would be pretty tied together.
Then I look to confirm these same ideas in the TowersPerrin (2008) report on engagement that only 3% of Japanese employees are engaged and 25% enrolled -- that 16% are disengaged. The numbers for the US are 14%, 42% and 11% and South Korea is 8%, 45% and 7% respectively for these same categories. Granted these are different cultures, to be sure.
So, I am confused. Anyone have thoughts or insights into these numbers and this situation?
Tags: Japan, Korea, South, employee, engagement, statistics
Views: 21
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Scott Simmerman on -
Hey! Good question.
There IS definitive information on the chicken and the egg problem, now. It turns out that the chicken has a specific gene that allows the egg. You can see more of the science of this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_or_the_egg
By the same token, it might be the manager who starts the engagement process. If the new employee offers up an idea, that gets reinforced or punished based on the perceived reaction of the manager (short term and long term).
My experience and observations would indicate the situation is much like the old Bambi Meets Godzilla cartoon. If you are unsure of the reference, it would behoove you (and I do not use that word often!) to check it out at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAVYYe87b9w -- I mean, REALLY!! (2 minutes)
Why don't managers engage people? I just do not understand that. Ego? Not invented here? I know The Answer and you don't? Lack of time?
Surely there must be some understanding that new ideas are important to long term success as well as the things that engage people...
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