Qualitative case studies of two Japanese multinational department stores in Hong Kong are used to illustrate possible blocking mechanisms and collective myopia that hinder Japanese expatriate managers in acquiring double-loop organizational learning in their international assignments. Four major blocking mechanisms were identified -parent company community spirit, dozoku inhabitants, parent company's translators and desire for normality. These blocking mechanisms were related to the Japanese head office's culture, ideology and desire to control. They inhibited the expatriates from challenging established practices, procedures and norms, prevented them from becoming knowledgeable human agents, and hindered them from forming reflexivity. The expatriates, as a result, failed to learn from their international assignments. A conceptual model for expatriate learning and blocking mechanisms is drawn from the case examples, and implications for improving expatriate management to strengthen organizational learning are discussed.
This research examines strategy in the use and purposes of contingent employment in four retail firms under different economic conditions in Hong Kong. Data from in‐depth qualitative case studies found that the four firms – three Japanese and one British – had different organisational responses to the economic conditions caused by the increase of sales before the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the shrinkage of sales afterwards. One such response concerned the companies' employment policies, especially in their use of contingent workers. Some tended to have an ad hoc opportunistic approach to the use of contingent workers, while others were more strategic and incorporate long‐term planning in their labour utilisation strategy. Implications are drawn relating to companies' use of contingent employment to changes in the contextual environment regarding their long‐term development.
In this study, we revisit a research model in which the relationships between Japanese supervisorsubordinate kankei (S-S kankei) and organisational commitment, job promotions and turnover intentions are mediated through job satisfaction. Based on the data randomly collected from a sample of 201 Japanese subordinates in three manufacturing firms in Tokyo, Japan, the results of structural equation modelling tests indicated that job satisfaction does partially mediate the relationships between Japanese S-S kankei and organisational commitment, job promotions and turnover intentions. The theoretical implication is that S-S relationship-job satisfaction-work outcomes model, supported in the Chinese context is equally valid in the Japanese context, suggesting the robustness of this mediation model. The practical implication is that Japanese firms are advised to encourage the development of S-S relationship and make sure that employees are satisfied with their jobs in order to enhance an employee's commitment to the organisation, facilitate job promotions and reduce his/her intentions to leave.
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