Going Global: Culture, Gender, and Authority in the Japanese Subsidiary of an American Corporation

Notes

Notes ❖ Chapter 1 1. For the social sciences, I am availing myself of sociological, anthropological , psychological, economics, and business/organizational studies; for the humanities, I include references to history, philosophy, language, culture, and communication. 2. Whether a corporation should move from a multinational to a transnational form is a matter of debate, but it is not the subject of this research. For a treatment of the pros and cons, however, see Robinson, Dickson, and Knutsen (2007). 3. Theoretically, employees of MNCs who hail from the same country as the parent corporation are more likely to distinguish between their own national culture and any cultures represented by the geographic locations of subsidiaries, seeing their national cultural as “self” and the cultures represented by the subsidiaries as “other.” The TNC is supposed to be able to render this self/other distinction meaningless. For a discussion of societal methods of dealing with otherness as globalization unfolds, see sociologist Beck (2004). Dwyer (1977, and 1979) offers an earlier but important take on the concepts of self and other in anthropology. 4. Sources include Boas (1982); Clifford and Marcus (1986); Geertz (1983 and 1973); Samovar and Porter (1999); andTedlock (1979). 5. Tom Rohlen (1989:5) observes: “Patterns that are broadly isomorphic or historically continuous within a particular society we have generally labeled cultural. In giving any such pattern this label, however, we imply a form of causality that is not only difficult to untangle and prove, but one that stimulates a conventional set of now all too familiar misunderstandings .”These kinds of misunderstandings permeatedTransco. 6. Foster (1999) makes a convincing argument that gender theorists and sexual difference theorists use feminist theory in different ways and do not engage in dialogue about the underlying assumptions respective to each; although Foster ultimately finds gender theorizing more analytically useful, she nonetheless makes a call for this dialogue. For an analysis of sameness versus difference with respect to gender, seeWesselius (2000). 7. A variety of interesting works focus on or include the subject of gender as learned behavior, some of which are cited later in this book. Examples include Lorber (1994) and Lorber and Farrell (1991) on gender as a social institution ; Alvesson and Billing (1997) on gender and organizations; and Kimmel (2000) on a comprehensive treatment of gender and society. 8. In addition toValian’s (1999) work, a number of studies have shown the difficulties with asserting female authority in the workplace. For examples , see Eagly and Karau (2002); Ridgeway (2001); and Schein (2001). 9. Complete transformation is, according to Martin (1977), a fundamental problem for dominant groups under capitalism. 10. Fine and Buzzanell (2000) analyze the difficulties for women who attempt to exercise leadership, much of which I equate with authority. 11. Examples include Acker (1991); Sorenson (1984). 12. Hochschild (1985) analyzes the “emotion work” required of both men and women in certain jobs that entail contact with the public. 13. An interesting example is Cockburn (1985). 14. As represented in the work of Lenski ([1966] 1984). 15. See M. Adler (1993) for a detailed analysis. 16. Even in family-based capitalism in Japan, wives usually assumed “temporary headship” of the business until a son reached maturity or a daughter married a man willing to take her family name. In this latter case, however, it can be argued that the daughter was still assuming the household headship, “becoming a man in the guise of a woman” (Hamabata 1990:45). 17. Ishida (1993) notes a stronger link in Japan between elite institutions of higher education and the top of the hierarchy of corporate and public organizations , a factor that primarily affects men and remains true in 2008. 18. Fields (1983) first identified the discerning nature of the Japanese female consumer based on his work experiences in Japan; the characterization remains apt. 19. When I returned to Transco in 1999 for additional research, the head of the Japan division had moved his office down several floors from 180 Notes the top to increase his visibility in the organization. His secretary moved with him. 20. Abe-san’s supervisor, however, simply thought that Abe-san added an o sound to the end of everything he said. He did not understand that it is common for some Japanese speakers of English to rely on the Japanese syllabary for pronunciation. The syllabary contains roughly fifty sounds that form the basis of the spoken language, almost all of which are constituted...