The present study was conducted to explore managerial skills required formanagers working for the corporations in Japan, China and Taiwan. For thepurpose 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 in Japanese corporations (n=377) and Taiwanesemanagers in Taiwanese corporations (n=139) were asked to respond the Managerial Skill Questionnaires (total N=978). The MSQ using the 22 skillitems asked managers to report how frequently they practice each skill based ona 5-point scale, and choose the five most important skills needed for them toimprove their managerial job performance in their organizations.
Results of the comparative analyses indicated that both Chinese and Taiwanese managers were found practicing Human Management and Teamworkskills more frequently, while Japanese managers practicing Business Innovation skills relatively more than others. The analysis of critical skills forimproving managerial performance indicated that Japanese managers identifystrategic, problem identification and decision making skills to be most critical, while Chinese and Taiwanese managers do people-oriented and teamwork skillsmost critical for improving their job performance. These findings wereinterpreted based on differences in managing the cycle of business processes, culture, and the nature of market pressures in each country.

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This study tested a model of the relationship between job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational justice, organizational citizenshipbehavior, and work group performance. Most research on the nature ofrelationships between job performance has not yielded convincing evidence thatsuch a relationship exists to the degree most managers believe. One reason forthis might lie in the way in which job performance is measured. Numerousstudies have reported that using organizational citizenship behavior to supplantmore traditional measures of job performance may result in more robustrelationship between job satisfaction and job performance. In this study 2076employees who provided self-report answers designed to examine the relationshipbetween job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizationaljustice, organizational citizenship behavior, and work group performance.Results from Study supported the hypothesized model but also suggested thatalternative models fit the data well.

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A meta-analysis was conducted based on 24 studies reporting the validity of apersonality test and a general cognitive ability test, both of which are subtests ofa managerial aptitude test, NMAT (New Managerial Aptitude Test). Criteriaused in the studies were typically based on performance appraisals by superiors.
Regarding the personality test, the estimated correlation coefficients of Compliance- Leadership (similar to Potency claimed to be a subdimension ofthe Big5 Extraversion) and of Conservative -Innovative (similar to Achievementclaimed to be a subdimension of the Big5 Conscientiousness) were r=0.311 andr=0.259 respectively, after correction of range restriction and imperfectreliabilities. As to the cognitive ability test, the estimated validity coefficient of Cognitive Ability was r=0.257 after correction of range restriction and imperfectreliabilities. In general, the validity of the personality test is higher and thevalidity of the cognitive ability test is lower than those generally reported in the U.S.
The possibility of validity generalization was also explored. For the personality test, 45 to 100% of total variance was accounted for by artificialfactors, whereas only 25% was so for the general cognitive ability test. Thus, itwas concluded that the validity of the personality test is more stable than that ofthe cognitive ability test over various factors, such as differences in organizationalculture or in job content.
The results were discussed in relation to the nature of job environment inJapan, where behaviors regarded as Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) are more explicitly expected and appraised than in the U.S. Further, thepossibility was considered that the relatively high validity of the personality testmay be partly due to the fact that the predictors had been developed specifically for evaluation of managerial competencies
The article concludes by pointing out the limitations of this study and futuredirections of the meta-analysis.

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This paper investigates how the causal relationship among (1) the alternativeorganizations of product development, (2) the alternative methods for settingtarget cost and (3) the alternative decision authority positions in allocation oftarget cost will effect the cost-reduction performance, through questionnairesurvey for the Japanese companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
We apply the log-linear model to test this relationship. This model willestimate the effects of each factor as well as the combinations among factors.
In this research, we found that the relationship between product developmentorganizations and management's decisionauthority in the allocation of producttarget cost among various parts will affect the target-costing performance.
Firstly, the decision for allocating target cost of a product to its various partsmade by the product manager will bring good cost-reduction performance underthe organization of “product group center”. Also, the decision for allocatingtarget cost made by both of product manager and parts designers will have thesame results under this organization.
On the other hand, the decision of allocating target cost made by the partsdesigners will have a good performance in cost reduction under the “matrixorganization” of product development.
As a result, it can be featured that the former is the top-down decision makingin target costing system under the organization of product group center; and thelatter is the bottom-up decision making in target costing system under thematrix organization of product development.

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The purpose of this research is to extract the factors and to examine the determinants of upward influence strategy. Through the extensive review of literature, a couple of problems were clarified as follows. 1) The Investigation on upward influence strategy in Japanese business organizations was little conducted. 2) The contents of upward influence strategy, which was indicated in some researches, were confused. Based on these facts, Semi-structured interviews were conducted totally six men and women who worked in Japanese business organizations. Consequently, 12 strategies were extracted as upward influence strategy that was used in Japanese Business Organizations. Moreover, The relations between upward influence strategy and leadership, position, the atmosphere of work place, and gender-difference was suggested.

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This study investigates how the Management by Objective (MBO) is utilized for the purpose of personnel evaluation. According to McGregor, personnel evaluation via MBO is more effective than traditional performance appraisals because MBO ratings are not only participative, constructive, and performanceoriented, but not focusing on personal character. Data from the 1998 Survey of Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC-Rengo) was analyzed with regard to the fairness of evaluation system. Results found that compared with those who were rated by traditional performance appraisals, ratees in MBO were informed more of the evaluation system, were provided concrete performance objectives, and were fed back ratings more frequently. Those findings were also observed in the IBM Japan Business Effectiveness Survey results. However, an assumption that personnel evaluation via MBO is fairer as an evaluation system than traditional performance appraisals was not supported.

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