Incident Two

STAFF MEETING

Alan, a business intern at a Japanese company, was looking forward to attending his first staff meeting. Since the agenda included an issue that would be controversial in an American office, Alan expected to encounter an interesting discussion. The meeting, however, ended up being pretty dull: there were no pro and con arguments. Instead, people asked a few questions about the issue, and some made brief comments in favor of one proposed solution.

Alan had heard that some of the staff disagreed with this proposed solution but they merely raised a few minor questions. One committee member did state his objection; there was a moment of silence, and no one responded. Then the chairperson asked if there were any other questions or comments and brought the issue to a close. He didn't even call for a vote! In the end, Alan thought, they hadn't discussed anything substantial at all.

Why do you think the staff members were relatively quiet at the meeting and voiced little dissent?

(1) They didn't have anything to say because the subject had nothing to do with them.

(2) Japanese don't know how to discuss issues because discussion is a relatively new concept in Japan.

(3) Japanese people rarely discuss issues because everything is decided by a single authority.

(4) They had decided to avoid open confrontation in this instance, or probably they knew that the issue had been settled beforehand.

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