A management cult in Japan
Drucker in the dug-out
A Japanese book about Peter Drucker and baseball is an unlikely hit
Jul 1st 2010 | TOKYO
Jul 1st 2010 | TOKYO
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It was Edward Deeming who allegedly taught the Japanese about Total Quality Management (TQM) in the aftermath of the Second World War. His legacy was the development of Japan’s manufacturing industries from a global joke based on low cost and poor quality, to a global giant that has become the benchmark for excellence in engineering. However, Japan appears to be losing its way in recent years. The troubles of Toyota seem to epitomise the problem.
If a now deceased Peter Drucker can help to stimulate Japanese management thinking into the right direction that would be good for Japan. However, I fear that Japan’s problems are much deeper than a simple shift in management philosophy can correct. The country is now facing the likes of Korea and China who have learnt from Japan’s experience but applied their own national characteristics. The Japanese population is aging and its political system is moribund. Too much inertia exists to stymie innovation, particularly in the services and creative industries sectors.
Drucker's “Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices”, is popular because it has stood the test of time. In view of the current state of affairs, his conclusion, that profit maximisation and the profit motive are anti-social and immoral, takes on a new validity.
Not exactly a punchy title, is it?
I guess I'm going to have to check out Drucker at some point, but with all the hype about him it would feel like reading an Opera book-of-the-month.
"Minami... becomes the gofer for the baseball team’s male coach. [S]he sets it the goal of reaching the high-school championships."
This sounds suspiciously like Minami Asakura, a main character from the award-winning 80s manga 'Touch.' Does Drucker advise the use of painful love triangles for motivation?