Ringi System

The ringi system is a collective process of decision making by circular letter (ringisho) that is known to be specific to large bureaucratic organizations and companies in Japan. Theringi system of sharing authority is a practice that dates back to the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo period (1600/1603–1868). A proposal is initiated at the middle or lower level of management. It then takes the form of a written proposal that is circulated among the interested parties through the organizational hierarchies, as well as at the divisional and corporate levels for consultation, comment, and approval. After each individual involved has signified agreement by stamping a personal seal (hanko) on the document, it is returned to the original person in charge for implementation. From this process, a final decision emerges that will be enacted by the authority of the organization or company. This process is called ringiseido (request for decision system), which emphasizes the importance the Japanese place on group decisions. In negotiations, it means that the confidence of the entire group will have to be reached. In the end, the decision can be implemented quickly and with full cooperation because it already has unanimous support.

This practice of sharing the responsibility for decision making that emphasizes group consensus is time consuming and explains why the negotiating process takes so long. The reason is that a great deal of informal discussion will have taken place before the ringishois even drawn up. This informal decision making stage in a Japanese organization is called nemawashi (prior consultation). When used together, the nemawashi and ringi systems ensure that corporate management at both horizontal and verticals level are kept completely informed.

A basic condition for implementing the ringi system effectively is the necessity for each individual involved to have shared understanding and values. The ringi system, however, has been criticized. Consensus based decision making does not clarify with whom the responsibility rests. Accountability for actions and decisions is diffused, which protects an individual from being criticized for proposals that are ill-advised. In situations where a quick decision is desirable, Western-style decision making involving top-level management has been adopted. More and more, in order to accelerate the speed of the ringi process and to eliminate bureaucracy, some companies are simplifying the procedure by the use of in-house communication networks, including intranets.

See Also

Quality Circles

Further Reading

Taplin, Ruth. (1995) Decision-Making and Japan: A Study of Corporate Japanese Decision-Making and its Relevance to Western Companies. Folkestone, Kent, U.K.: Japan Library.

Quality Circles

The term quality circles refers to small groups of line employees (usually ten or fewer) who meet periodically outside of regular work hours to discuss ways to improve the quality of products they produce and the efficiency and effectiveness of the production processes they oversee. Although nominally voluntary, supervisors typically initiate quality circles, and attendance is considered by employees as a required part of their jobs. Proponents consider quality circles an effective way to foster a sense of involvement and to effectively harness the knowledge and expertise of lower-ranking workers. According to a 1994 Japanese Ministry of Labor report, 70 percent of Japanese firms with

over five thousand workers and 61 percent of firms with one to five thousand employees have established groups of this kind.

The inspiration for the development of quality circles is attributed to American advisers W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran, who were brought to Japan under U.S. sponsorship in the early 1950s to help Japanese industry address rampant quality problems. The American statistical quality control techniques that were introduced at this time were then adapted to the Japanese context during the late 1950s and early 1960s as part of the Total Quality Control (TQC) movement promoted throughout Japanese industry by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) with government backing. What was distinctive about the JUSE's effort was its emphasis on moving responsibility for quality control out ofthe exclusive ken of specialized staff employees to include rank-and-file line workers. Quality circles first emerged in the early 1960s as study groups devoted to discussing JUSE publications. The JUSE subsequently established regional quality circle promotion offices and held quality circle conventions and other gatherings. A primary motivation on the part of Japanese managers in encouraging quality circles was the fear that Japanese manufacturers would lose out to foreign competition as Japanese trade rules were liberalized. There was also a concern about radicalism and alienation among younger workers.

Quality circles were considered one of the secrets of Japanese industrial success during the 1980s boom in foreign interest in Japanese management techniques. Japanese firms introduced quality circles in their overseas subsidiaries, and they have been an important component in the Japanese government's international technical cooperation programs. The Singaporean government has gone so far as to establish an award for the country's most outstanding quality circles.

Further Reading

Cole, Robert E. (1992) "Some Cultural and Social Bases of Japanese Innovation: Small-Group Activities in Comparative Perspective." In The Political Economy of Japan, vol. 3: Culturaland Social Dynamics, edited by Shumpei Kumon and Henry Rosovsky. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 292–318.

Tsutsui, William M. (1998) Manufacturing Ideology: Scientific Management in Twentieth-Century Japan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.