Cultural differences and the management of engineering in US-Japanese joint ventures

Abstract

Interviews with engineers working for three US-Japanese joint ventures operating in the United States revealed several important differences in the cognitive frameworks used by US and Japanese engineers. The author interprets these differences according to concepts of cultural orientations toward information and time management developed by E.T. Hall and M.R. Hall (1987). He explains how practices and people deemed efficient in one culture may seem inefficient in another. It is noted that a failure to recognize these differences can make it difficult to evaluate people and organizations from another culture and difficult to negotiate the creation of hybrid bicultural organizations.<>