Anna has enjoyed great success in the Toronto office of a global company. When she was offered an assignment in Tokyo, she approached the job with the full confidence of her employer that she could oversee the reorganization of the subsidiary. By asking her extensive network of colleagues about Japan, she learned a few tips. For example, she learned that when a Japanese businessman hands you his business card, it is proper to read the card before taking it and to never throw it on the desk. Even with tips like these, however, Anna’s assignment was heading toward failure. After six months, she was very discouraged, and when she returned home for the holidays, she reported the following problems: 

• Although everyone spoke English, there were communication problems.

• Everything took too long to complete, with deadlines missed and employees not following schedules.

• Although she asked her employees for feedback and information and received promises that these would be forthcoming, no data arrived. The company’s response was to give her cross-cultural training, in which Anna learned the following: 

• In Japanese culture, group identity supersedes individual identity. Loyalty is to the group, and criticisms of performance are taboo. Group meetings are the norm, and one-on-one meetings designed to facilitate feedback make employees very uncomfortable.

• Japanese culture is based on hierarchy and is organized to recognize the power differentials between superiors and subordinates. Japanese workers do not expect to have input into decisions; their only expectation is to be told what to do. If forced to participate in decision making, the typical Japanese worker will avoid uncertainty by accumulating every possible item of information to support the decision.
• Japan is a masculine society, and women are employed in low-status positions. Anna’s credibility as a decision maker would be questioned, and male employees would be uncomfortable working for her.
The communication problems only compounded the difficulty of the situation. Yes, the employees spoke English. But there were cultural differences. To a direct request to meet a deadline that they perceived as impossible, employees would save face (for themselves and the person making the request) by saying that they would do their best. Saying no is not part of Japanese culture.
Anna made the mistake of transferring her management style, which was successful in Toronto, to Tokyo without understanding the cultural differences.

Questions
1. Exactly what preparation should Anna’s company have given her before she started her assignment?
2. In general, what should a candidate for an international assignment do to prepare for a job, in the absence of company orientation and training?