Organisation Structure and Management of Corporations in Japan

Some sort of specialties are there in organization structure and management of industrial enterprises of Japan. In fact they grew up in conformity with Japanese social system and culture and for that the management practices in Japan are quite distinct and different from those of other industrially developed countries of the  world.

Most of the large industrial and commercial enterprises of Japan are managed and controlled by corporations, whose pattern of ownership and management are nearly similar to those of public limited companies of Bangladesh. They have got their separate legal entity and the main responsibility of management rests with board of directors whose members arc elected by shareholders. The directors enjoy a wide latitude of autonomy in management under the Commercial Code of Japan. The said code empowers the board to do the following:

1. determining policies relating to production and sale of the corporation,

2. purchasing and selling of valuable properties of the corporation.

3. performing important contracts on behalf of the corporation,

4. setting important organizational and/or personnel matters. 5. defending important litigation in favor of the corporation, 6. doing all other important jobs on behalf of and being empowered by the shareholders.

            The directors remain accountable to the chairman of the board who performs the duties of the chief executive of the corporation. The final decisions on important matters rest upon the chairman. The image and the prospects of the corporation also depend on the foresightedness and efficiency of the chairman.

            The size and composition of board of directors of Japanese corporations arc different from those of the USA of UK. In each and every board there is the existence of a representative director who performs all the legal formalities on behalf of the board. He is selected by the board from among its senior members. Moreover, the appointment of an auditor, as one of the top executives, is compulsory. Such auditor may be a shareholder, or even a director of the corporation.

            The directors are regarded as the top-most executives of the corporation. The limits to their responsibilities and duties are set by the "Commercial Code" as aforesaid and thus it is difficult for them to avoid their duties and responsibilities. The most senior of them is usually appointed as the chairman. , directors. Among the other top executives are –

 (i) the senior executive vice

(ii) the executive vice-presidents and

 (iii) the managing

            The senior executive vice president and the executive vice presidents (usually-3) remain closely associated with the chairman. Just below them is the position of the managing directors who perform duties in their respective divisions/departments under the direct supervision of executive vice presidents. These top executives are being assisted by ad visors, being appointed by the board. They are usually the people from among the retired senior executives and -hey enjoy honorary staff positions.

Another feature of management in Japan is the existence of 'executive committee" in almost every corporation. Such committee is by senior executives and is entrusted with the responsibility of

formulating policies and performing important functions. Just below the top management are the divisional and branch managers. They are the mid-level executives and do usually perform their duties as per instructions of an policies laid down by the top management. Under each division/branch there may be some subdivision or sections. In each section there may be some officers and employees numbering between 12 to 20. Most of the office employees are female while the production workers are mostly male.