This study was designed to explore managerial skills required for managers working for the corporations in Japan, China and Taiwan. For the purpose of comparing differences in the pattern of managerial skill practices, Chinese managers in state-owned (n=276) and joint venture (n=186) corporations, Japanese managers (n=377) in Japanese corporations and Taiwanese managers (n=139) in Taiwanese corporations were asked to respond the Managerial Skill Questionnaires (total N=978). The MSQ using the 22 skill items asked managers to report how frequently they practice each skill based on a 5-point scale, and choose the five most important skills needed for them to improve their managerial job performance in their organizations.
Results of the data analyses indicated that the four major skill factors, namely Organizational Development (OD), Organizational Goal Attainment (OGA), Proper Use of Personnel (PUP) and Technical Skills (TS) are salient as common skill dimensions among sample managers. Particularly, both Chinese and Taiwanese managers were found practicing PUP and teamwork skills more frequently, while Japanese managers practicing OD skills relatively more than others. The analysis of critical skills for improving managerial performance indicated that Japanese managers identify strategic, problem identification and decision making skills to be most critical, while Chinese and Taiwanese managers do people-oriented and teamwork skills most critical for improving their job performance. But, Taiwanese were found different from Chinese managers in emphasizing the teamwork skill and technical expertise more than their Chinese colleagues who tend to choose fair treatment and quality control skills to be more critical. These findings were interpreted based on differences in culture and the nature of market pressures in which managers working in each country.

View full abstract

Performance of foreign subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) is influenced by several factors. This study proposes that ownership advantages and entry mode choice of MNEs have influence on performance of their directly owned subsidiaries overseas. We investigate performance difference between the two FDImodes frequently used for entering to less-developed countries (LDCs), namely, international joint venture and greenfield venture. Ownership advantages of MNEs Thailand provides supporting evidence. test based on a sample of 190 Japanese directly-owned subsidiaries located in Thailand provises supporting evidence.

View full abstract

The purpose of this paper is to reconsider the concept of network centrality which has been extensively used in the previous studies of communication behavior in R&D organizations. While those studies maintain that organizational members with high levels of indegree, called “gatekeepers”, play a critical role in the innovation process, we will propose a new network centrality concept, information flow betweeness, and show that organizational members with high levels in this measure also contribute to R&D activities in organizations. These members mediate the communication between gatekeepers (external communication stars) and transformers (internal communication stars) and play the role of translating external information into the local coding scheme, which will facilitate knowledge transformation of this external information into organization specific knowledge by transformers.

View full abstract

This study focuses on the necessity of autonomous human resource development (=HRD) that considers not only the training and development for improving skills and knowledge, but also support to career and psychosocial aspect for individuals. In this study, the concept of mentoring is used as autonomous support to individuals' career development and psychosocial aspects.
The purpose of this study is to clarify the trend of individuals' mentoring behavior in Japanese work organizations through investigating the factors influencing present mentoring behavior. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 417 subjects who have been working in a variety of work organizations in Japan for more than three years. The influence of the achievement motive, self-consciousness, collaboration-value, and mentoring behavior received in the past to present mentoring behavior was examined.
Results showed that mentoring behavior consisting of career-and psychosocial function is positively influenced by the individuals' length of service, achievement motive, and the experience of mentoring received in the past. To be exact, the results showed that the length of service influences both career-and psychosocial function of mentoring behavior. On the other hand, mentoring behavior received in the past influences mainly career function, and the achievement motive influences mainly psychosocial function.
Based on these results, future directions of HRD which are applied using the idea of mentoring were discussed for fostering a better mentoring climate in work organizations.

View full abstract

On the basis of data from a questionnaire survey of 182 female clerical workers conducted in 1996, this paper assesses the impact of office information technologies (IT) on their attitude and behavior.
First, subjects were divided into two groups in accordance with the stage of IT required in their jobs. After an analysis by multiple regression to see the impact of demographic, environmental and job characteristics on the worker attitude and behavior within each group, t-tests between the groups were performed in order to examine the impact of IT.
The results show that the more advanced IT the job requires, the stronger become the feelings of female clerical workers in terms of job fulfillment and willingness to continue with the present job, provided that the work place is gender-free.

View full abstract