Current HR Management Challenges

Challenges concerning the current assessment system

Suemasa:

Looking at challenges concerning current human resources management, I think one point worth discussing is that the assessment method ultimately assesses progress toward initially-established targets. I think that we will need to have agile assessment that includes acceptance of failure as uncertainty grows in the years to come.

Yamaguchi:

That's right. In addition, although the assessment system has rules to some extent, there are aspects of it that depend on interpretation by the supervisors who are managing personnel. So I think the system should be made to have clearer numerical values for more objective assessment. I think consideration is needed in terms of what should be done so that the assessment system improves employees' motivation.

Aoto:

Although assessment of results is important, it is also necessary to grasp the entire process. This is because the brain learns through what is called "episodic memory" (memory based on individual experiences). Emotional memory is always linked to episodic memory. The emotions that are manifested during a project remain as memory and become motivation for the next project. For example, if a person does a project and only the final results are evaluated, and only the pay received leads to positive feelings about the project, the person's motivation when doing the next similar project that comes along will be money alone. On the other hand, if a person has an experience in which he was able to solve a mystery through repeated failure or made a new discovery or shared an emotion with other team members, his brain will spontaneously link to it and learn. If this happens, the motivation will be more than just money.

With diversity, awareness must go beyond systems.

Inomata:

JSR is also tackling diversity issues, and part of its effort includes a variety of initiatives that involve utilizing women. However, I feel that no matter how many new mechanism we put in place, we won't make much progress unless awareness and thinking change with respect to individual women.

Nomura:

The problem of awareness is quite important, isn't it."Unconscious bias" is receiving attention in diversity now. No matter how we develop our various systems and conduct various forms of training, this issue does not penetrate through the organization as well as it should because it is unconsciously imprinted upon the organization's fabric that men and women should be a certain way. We must first get people to realize the fact that we are bound by such unconscious prejudice.

Aoto:

By nature, men and women have differences that come biologically from their chromosomes. So I think it's pointless to consider men and women exactly the same in all instances. Men and women have different brain structures and their corpora callosa, which link the brain's left and right sides, have different sizes. It is also known that women are better at multitasking. Unless we develop a perspective that accepts these differences between the sexes and creates circumstances in which each can succeed and work comfortably, real equality will be unattainable.

Nomura:

There is one more thing I would like to mention. If we think about why there are so many calls for the utilization of women, it is because, in today's Japan, the difference between men and women in terms of share of management and continuous service years is too great compared to Europe and the United States. In other words, it is because women's abilities are not being fully utilized. If we let things take their natural course, I think it will take a hundred years before we achieve a society in which men and women can participate actively and equally. That is far too long. If we don't shorten this to at least 20 years or so, Japan will be fall behind the rate of change in the world. I think Japanese companies should be fully aware of this issue and execute measures.

Aoto:

It may be possible to achieve HR management that puts the right people in the right positions, regardless of whether they are men or women, by accepting individuals and individual differences and applying AI to discern their particular abilities and character as well as likes and dislikes.

What should be done to raise job efficiency?

Sawada:

I think there are still cases where efficiency improvement has not been achieved. Sharing information takes time and effort—for example, when the production technology sector and manufacturing sites share data to study processes.

Nomura:

That's probably an area where there's room to apply IT.

Yuasa:

One problem I see is how to take measures against the increasing number of discussions and meetings. Even if we change the way we work by bringing in useful tools and the like, we end up losing time we can control for ourselves when more and more meetings are scheduled.

Kamiya:

In my department, after we took Six Sigma^* training, teams were formed to tackle the problem of overly long meeting times. The teams move meetings along by preparing a suitable agenda and assigning facilitators (people who move the meeting along in a productive direction) and timekeepers. I think these teams have done a good job of shortening meeting times. We have also introduced the free address system to our offices. This improves work efficiency by making it easier for us to communicate with each other, including with people with whom we had little interaction before. In this sense, I feel we are beginning to make progress in visible ways.

* Six Sigma is a quality control and management method that was developed by Motorola of the United States.

Nomura:

As you just mentioned, you have positive examples for dealing with discussions and meetings. Why don't you try extending them laterally to other parts of your organization? Things may change even with just a little information-sharing in your company. I also think that speaking frankly on a routine basis will help shorten meeting times. It might be a good idea to introduce mechanisms that support informal communication.

Kamiya:

However, over the past few years, we have been implementing various approaches, starting with work-life balance followed by work-style reform projects. But there is talk that these approaches are not about reducing overtime. So, honestly, we're not really sure which direction we're going. I get the sense that ordinary employees don't really grasp what these efforts are about.

Yamaguchi:

That's a problem on the management side. One item included in the fiscal 2018 schedule for the mid-term business plan is "reconfirm the vision and provided value of each department." In other words, it is a call to reexamine why we do a certain operation—for what end, for whom, and for what purpose. This may eliminate the need to prepare documents and reduce work as a result. From this perspective, changing the way we work is work-style innovation.

Nomura:

The true objective of work-style reform is not to reduce overtime work. I think it is important for management to strongly communicate this message. If the purpose of the program is not communicated, overtime work might become something done for free and you could end up putting employees in a tough spot. I should add with regard to advancement of women's participation and work-style reform that there is data showing that productivity does not improve much when only systems are changed but does improve when those efforts are combined with IT. So it seems you still have room to consider ways of combining them.

Connecting the ideas of young people to the next generation

Yamaguchi:

Returning to the topic of work styles of the future, traditionally, if you mentioned the word "work," people thought of doing a job and receiving pay for it. But I feel that there will be a change from this concept. When I was in university, I heard the phrase "the dictionaries that are in our heads contain the word kando (movement based on emotion) but not rido (movement based on reason)." I always thought that was the truth. People do not act based on reason alone. We stay up to play games and read books even when we're tired because we find them interesting. People do not act unless they feel some kind of empathy or inspiration. Looking at this from my perspective, I am reminded that getting employees to feel that in their work and working with enthusiasm is the challenge.

Aoto:

Summing up our discussion today in my own way, I'd say that it's about "enjoying Chaos as individuals." A world heretofore unimagined will be born and uncertainty will increase with the growing presence of AI. This means we will need is a state of mind oriented toward enjoying it. As a result, people will become more human and each individual will become more like him or herself. And I think that we will enter a time when individual differences are valued.

Nomura:

I think we will enter a time when stronger human communication skills are required. Efforts to reform work styles and advance women's participation are unlikely to succeed unless we practice a different kind of communication. For example, women who work short hours must talk with their supervisors about their current circumstances and their needs. Their supervisors won't understand those matters unless women actively communicate with them. At the same time, supervisors must also create an environment that permits their subordinates to speak comfortably. In this sense, I think you could say that work-style reform equals communication reform.

Yamaguchi:

We have had a very meaningful time today, having heard two experts and young JSR employees discuss some important topics. I feel that the most important thing is to link the ideas that you, the members of the younger generation, expressed today to the next generation. It is our job in management to continuously lay the groundwork so that even one or perhaps two of the things we discussed today will be realized ten or twenty years down the line. The exact same thing will be applicable when the time comes for you young people to enter management. I think this will give JSR Group sustainability in its true sense. Let's continue steadily creating opportunities to do this and share awareness of these issues. Thank you all for a very enlightening discussion.

May 9, 2018, at JSR Corporation Headquarters