Hole in the Heart or Hole in the Head? (Pt. 2)
Times are changing, even in Japan. People who are entering the work force there look at their jobs differently from the way previous generations did. Sachihiko Kataoka, a 24-year-old college graduate, puts it this way: "When I was small, I got to see my father's face only once a week--on Sunday," he recalls. "It was lonely. I don't want to become like that. I'd like to spend time with my children if I have them. I plan to make a clear distinction between work and play. I have no intention of sacrificing everything for the company."
In last month's column ("Hole in the Heart or Hole in the Head?"), I included a figure showing the theoretical distribution of a person's time, which was divided into four quadrants--work, religion, family and self. When it comes right down to it, everyone spends time in the work quadrant to provide funding for the other three.
By country, the average work hours per day, counting from when individuals leave their homes until they return, are:
• 13 hours (Japan)
• 11.3 hours (United States)
• 10.5 hours (Germany)
• 10.4 hours (France)
• 10.2 hours (United Kingdom)
Selling half of your life to support your needs should be enough without working additional overtime. We must each learn to use our time effectively and creatively while at work so that we don't need to work overtime. I doubt we'll ever hear a person on his or her deathbed say, "I wish I'd spent more time at work."
Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa, the man who started the quality circle movement in Japan and, in my opinion, contributed more to Japanese quality than W. Edwards Deming and Joseph M. Juran combined, recognized that individuals are very productive and effective at solving quality problems related to their own work environments. The need to excel is an idea that everyone can relate to on a fundamental, very personal level. Excellence applies to everyone's occupation. You're the best one to improve your job. In many organizations, employees average two suggestions per month that relate directly to their assignments. You must create new ways to improve even when everything is going smoothly. Don't wait for someone else to do it for you.
Rather than sacrifice another minute from the family, religion or self quadrants, we should make the best use of the time we presently devote to the work quadrant. For example, Germans spend, on average, 32 minutes a day socializing at work; Japanese spend one minute a day. The Germans are taking 31 minutes away from the other three quadrants.
Although they may be more productive, Japanese workers probably aren't the best role models. Many of them are unhappy with their jobs, but because of how Japan's work system is structured, they're as captive to their organizations as slaves were on Southern plantations in the United States before the Civil War. In Japan, people work long hours at great sacrifice to their families, and they receive little or no personal sense of accomplishment in return. Jobs are boring, and advancement within organizations is slow for all but a few select candidates. As Masashi Kojima, president of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., warned during a ceremony for new recruits, "You might feel bored during your first three years at this company because you will not be given jobs that require your brain."
However, lifetime employment in Japan is becoming a thing of the past. The tried-and-true system of paying a person based on how long he or she has worked for the organization is being replaced by a merit system. Even Toyota has dropped its time-served salary system and replaced it with a pay-for-performance system like that used in the United States.
If Japan isn't the role model we should use, what's the answer? We must all work to improve the way we perform our jobs so that they don't interfere with the activities in the other three quadrants. At the same time, we must increase our value-added contributions to our organizations to earn raises and get more responsible assignments. To accomplish this, each person must:
• Be educated to perform his or her assigned tasks
• Understand the organization's business plan and how it relates to his or her job
• Understand how well he or she is performing
• Be unafraid to take risks
• Be willing to learn new assignments
• Be uncomfortable with the status quo
• Think creatively
• Be willing to share credit
• Make effective use of time
"My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people," noted Indira Gandhi. "Those who do the work, and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be among the first group; there is less competition there."
H. James Harrington is CEO of the Harrington Institute Inc. and chairman of the board of Harrington Group. He has more than 55 years of experience as a quality professional and is the author of 26 books. Visit his Web site at www.harrington-institute.com.
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