Interview Summery
IDEA #3
On the contrary for this company, face-to-face meetings did not seem to be the most effective. Translators were need and sometimes the discussion needed to be condensed in order to be translated fast enough and move on with the meeting causing some points to be missed by the English or Japanese speakers.
Nhu: There are no employee meetings in some stores (ex: Clackamas) and no assigned location for meetings, there seems to be meetings between managers but are not common. When an employee needs to be disciplined, American managers seem to be more discreet compared to Japanese managers. Communication channels are limited to only phone calls and face-to-face conversations and managers do not seem to be tech savvy (using old computer systems, and no knowledge of emails). Language barriers are huge especially when Japanese corporate employees visit the stores.
In regards to decision making, stores have a lot of rules but employees do not follow these. The communication between employees and managers is not clear (ex: price changes happening and employees not knowing about it). There is a gap between employees and headquarters not only smaller managers (ex: employees have never spoken to anyone from headquarters besides seeing them in the store making evaluations. Headquarter employees have a reputation of being mean).
Rachel: (Question, Do you have any problems between employees and headquarters?)
Have to ask headquarters for money or permission to fix minor/medium sized problems (ex: holes in the wall, and store flooding) . Employees have to struggle through these issues, managers have to buy stuff (ex: brooms, band-aids) on their own instead of it being provided by headquarters.
Masato: (Question, Which decisions can be made by managers, and which ones do you have to ask headquarters in Japan? Do you think it’s necessary to talk to headquarters? why or why not?) “I can hire anyone if I need. And if I have questions, I should ask headquarters first because they know more about the business and the US Laws”
Masato: (Question, On average, how many times a week do you have to contact headquarters in Japan? How much time is spent communicating with them?)
“It depends on a situation. I don't usually communicate with them but when we open the new store, we contact them a lot.”
Masato: (Question, Which communication methods do you usually use to keep in contact with the headquarters in Japan?) “I use an email to contact them”
Masato: (Question, Which communication methods do you think are the most effective ones? Why?) “Email, because that's the fastest and I can attach some file including other informations. For example, we sent the daily sales report to them every night.”
Masato: (Question, Which communication methods do you usually use to communicate with stores in Oregon & the rest of the US? Which are most effective?) “I use the phone for texting and an email. Most fastest way to contact them.”
Information from the book (Phuong): Based on the process model of Communication, the noise that distract the communication process at Sushiland is mostly from the medium when emails or phone call can not transfer the full meaning of the communication. The other noise is language barrier which affect the encode and decode process.
Information from peer-reviews (Phuong):
Some cultures respond more positively to technology and written messages than others. For example, says Smart, Asian and Latin cultures regard relationships very highly. They respond much more favorably to personal forms of communication. Therefore, personal ways of relating information - such as meetings, gatherings and personal phone calls - are preferable when you're communicating to those cultures. When that's not possible, it's best to try to use front-line managers to field questions and maintain a sense of personal connectedness. (Liu, Zi)
In a global environment, where you must reach people across various languages and cultures, there are infinite possibilities as to the channels you use to communicate corporate information. "A good strategic plan takes into consideration what medium you use to deliver the message," says Douglas Stuart, director of training and client services at Northbrook, Illinois-based IOR, a global, cross-cultural management firm. "Is it written? Is it verbal? Is it going to be face-to-face?" Also, the typical methods to communicate (face to face, print, video, telephone, intranet, Internet and e-mail) take on added meaning when you're deciding how to deliver a message globally. One issue is infrastructure, and another is culture. (Ashraf, Haroon.)
