A critical interpretation of bottom-up management and leadership styles within Japanese companies: a focus on empowerment and trust

This paper aims to give a critical interpretation of the bottom-up management and leadership styles in Japanese companies. Most of foreign media have admired Japanese people for their cooperative attitude and morals, in that predatory practices and price-gouging rarely occur, even after the huge earthquake that struck Japan on March 11, 2011. On the other hand, they have also criticized the lack of leadership and responsibility in government and public administration in terms of responding to disasters, in particular the crisis of nuclear melting. With such a high evaluation for Japan’s collective behavior, why are not Japanese attitudes in terms of leadership and responsibility at an individual level often ethical and honest? When trying to provide an answer to this question, we focus on the construct of empowerment and leadership. The managerial and methodological implication is discussed in terms of these key words. We conclude that Japanese-style management can allow leaders to shift blame to their followers and companies therefore have to introduce a kind of manifestation system for management practice in order to control the dysfunction. In addition, scholars should focus on the discourse and narrative of the leader and follower as a methodological change for empowerment study.