Comparative Analysis: Japanese and American Leadership Styles

This essay provides a comparative analysis of classical Japanese and American leadership styles. It highlights key differences, such as the Japanese emphasis on employee training and group functionality versus the American focus on individual performance. The essay explores the cultural values influencing leadership, including kindness, societal commitment, and the level of control exerted by leaders. It further examines how leadership styles have evolved in both countries, with Japan adopting democratic approaches and America embracing employee satisfaction. The essay also touches upon relevant leadership theories, like behavioral and transformational theories, and concludes with the author's learnings about the impact of culture and time on leadership. The essay utilizes several academic sources to support its claims.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY

SOCIOLOGY 1
Table of Contents
Difference between Classical Japanese and American leadership Style...................................2
Changes in Leadership Style......................................................................................................3
Theories of Leadership...............................................................................................................3
Learnings....................................................................................................................................3
Works Cited...............................................................................................................................4

SOCIOLOGY 2
Difference between Classical Japanese and American leadership Style
 In Japan, the employees were considered as the most valuable asset of the
organization and thus a huge amount used to invest by the leaders in the training and
development of employees. Most of the successful leaders used laws and regulations
to lead their staff and used to emphasize the values and cultures to dominate the staff
to perform better. On the other hand, American management used to categorize the
individuals based on the good or bad concept. Most of the car companies had no
compatible culture for different individuals irrespective of having a high rate of the
diversified workforce (Taleghani, Salmani, and Taatian 91-111).
 The workers of Japan did not talk behind the back as it might have led to the
humiliation of other employees of the organization. Japanese managers used to
supervise the outcomes and functionality of the group instead of considering the
functionality of an individual employee and pressurize them. The US leaders used to
attention towards the individual performance of every employee and pressurize them
to perform better individually (Yusof and Othman 176-180).
 One of the most important and essential values that affected the leadership of
Japanese managers was to show the kindness to others. It is being learned by Japanese
persons from childhood that they should rely on the kindness shown by others and
should enjoy the same. On the other hand, US leaders were far behind the concept of
kindness and relines. They used to follow some strict guidelines to control the
followers that were not changeable for anyone (Tasie 233-240).
 The other main cultural values that influenced the leadership in Japan were the moral
pressure of society and feeling of commitment towards the society. Most of the
leaders of car manufacturing companies thought that they were committed to the
society and their followers to treat them in a well-structured manner and not to give
any kind of mental pressure that may result in decreasing morale of employees. In
American culture, irrespective of social beliefs and values, the leaders used to
consider only the performance of work and the result from the performance
(Olejniczak 23-43).
 The leaders of Japan had less control power as compared to the American leaders
because they used to maintain a good and warm relationship with their followers and
thus followers were not afraid of their leaders. This made free the followers to take
decisions according to their own behavior and attitudes up to a great extent. In

SOCIOLOGY 3
American classical leadership, there was less freedom of taking the decision of
actions to the American boards and executives. They were bound to follow the
decision taken by their leaders.
Changes in Leadership Style
The leadership style of both the countries have changed in a very positive manner. The
Japanese are now able to control their employees in the more efficient way. They have started
using the democratic style of leadership instead of supportive style. This means the decisions
are taken after considering the opinions of employees but are made by the leaders or
management and not by the followers.
The US management has adopted the nature of kindness and leniency towards the employees
and workforce, especially in car companies after considering the fact that if workers and
employees do not feel satisfied then it may affect the work of the designing, innovation,
manufacturing, and management. Thus, the company may have to suffer from huge losses
(Alkahtani, Jarad, and Sulaiman 70-99).
Theories of Leadership
The early leadership style of Japan is related to the Behavioural Theories of leadership which
is related to the paying more attention towards the attitudes and beliefs of employees more
than the performance and work. In the case of the US, the classical leadership style was
closely linked to the autocracy that does not allow the followers to work as per their own
attitudes. The change in the style of leadership over the time in both countries is the impact of
the external environment of the industry or economy. The transformational theory of
leadership suggests that a leader should have transformational quality as per the conditions
and environment of the organization (Uzohue, Yaya, and Akintayo 17-26).
Learnings
After doing this assignment, I learned that leadership is a process of influencing the
followers. The features and styles of leadership can differ according to the situation, time,
countries, and cultures. The managers of the international organizations are required to know
the different leadership styles of different cultures to manage diversity at the workplace in an
effective manner. In order to sustain in the environment for long-term, one needs to adopt the
leadership style as per the demand of time and industry.

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Works Cited
Alkahtani, Ali Hussein, Ismael Abu Jarad, Mohamed Sulaiman and Davoud Nikbin. “THE
IMPACT OF PERSONALITY AND LEADERSHIP STYLES ON LEADING
CHANGE CAPABILITY OF MALAYSIAN MANAGERS.” Australian Journal of
Business and Management Research 1.2 (2011): 70-99.
Olejniczak, Tomasz. “Japanese Management: 50 Years of Evolution of the Concept.” ACTA
ASIATICA VARSOVIENSIA 26 (2013): 23-43.
Taleghani, Gholamreza, Davood Salmani and Ali Taatian. “Survey of leadership styles in
different cultures.” Iranian Journal of Management Studies 3.3 (2010): 91-111.
Tasie, George O. “Can Japanese management styles be applied to Africa?” African Journal of
Business Management 3.4 (2010): 233-240.
Uzohue, Chioma Euriel, Japheth Abdulazeez Yaya and Oluseyi A. Akintayo. “A Review of
Leadership Theories, Principles, Styles and their Relevance to Management of Health
Science Libraries in Nigeria.” Journal of Educational Leadership and Policy 1.1
(2016): 17-26.
Yusof, Shazlinda Md and Rozhan Othman. “Leadership for Creativity and Innovation: Is
Japan Unique?” Journal of Advanced Management Science 4.2 (2016): 176-180.