Strategy for diversity management : women's leadership and work-life balance in Japan by
Name
658961355-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
11.37 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
4b45091176f78e4db3545611cfeca774
Author(s)
Segawa, Yoshiko, M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisor(s)
Patricia Peterson Bentley.
Date Issued
2010
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Faced with a volatile global economy, a rapidly shrinking population and a declining birthrate, Japan needs to find ways to revamp its economic engine. One solution is to increase the participation of Japanese women in the workforce. Over the past decade Japanese society, its government and companies have started this process. "Diversity Management" and "Work-Life Balance" are focus areas for executives in Japanese companies with the combined goals of increasing women's participation and leadership in the workforce and improving work-life balance for all employees. However, there are significant obstacles to be overcome: lack of gender equality in the corporate culture, lack of support for work-life balance, barriers to promotion opportunities for women, and lack of motivation on the part of women themselves. Under these constraints, it is necessary that each organization, including my employer NTT West, re-consider what it has already done for diversity management, and what it can do to improve the results. In this thesis, I will describe the diversity management strategies of several large Japanese companies. Much of this information comes from the interviews I did in Tokyo in January 2010. I compare the Japanese situations and strategies to those found among U.S. companies and analyze the challenges faced by the Japanese firms. Based on that material, I propose some recommendations for Japanese individuals, organizations, and the government. Some recommendations are learned from U.S. best practices and some are hybrid solutions that take into account Japanese cultural/ organizational customs. I believe that these recommendations will be helpful not only for my employer, NTT West, but also for all Japanese companies struggling with "Diversity Management" and Japanese employees struggling with their own "Work-Life Balance".
Description
Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2010.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-128).
Subjects
Sloan School of Management.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
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