Diversity and Inclusion in the Japanese Workplace

Tomoki Sekiguchi is professor of management at the Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University. His research interests centre on individual behaviour in organizations, organizational justice, person-environment fit, hiring decision-making, management fashion, and international and strategic human resource management.

In his presentation he will report on a growing number of Japanese firms that are hiring non-Japanese employees in their domestic workplace in order to promote uchi-naru kokusaika or internal internationalisation of management. One major source of their recruits is international students who have studied in Japanese universities, and some Japanese firms have also begun to recruit non-Japanese employees from overseas universities. Despite this important trend, we still know little about the experience of foreign employees in their daily work in Japan, such as possible discrimination and communication problems when working with Japanese bosses and colleagues. In his presentation, he will show the results of the survey administered to the foreign employees working in the Japanese workplace, focusing on the causes of their perceived discrimination and its effect on their attitudes and behaviours.

The presentation will be followed by comments from Sierk Horn and Hendrik Meyer-Ohle.

Sierk Horn is professor of the economy of Japan at Munich School of Management, LMU Munich. His research focuses on the interplay of language, psychology, and business practices.

Hendrik Meyer-Ohle is associate professor in the Department of Japanese Studies at the National University of Singapore and for the year 2016 also a visiting scholar at Waseda University. His research focuses on human resource management as well as retailing and marketing by Japanese companies in Japan and Southeast Asia.