Koei Canadian Staff Build Wa

[Mulboyne]

WSJ: Marrying Home customs and local workers (no link)

Three times a week, staffers at the Canadian unit of videogame maker Koei begin their day by standing next to their desks and facing their boss Hidenori Taniguchi. "Good morning everyone," says Taniguchi. "Good morning," chant Koei Canada's 30-odd employees. That greeting ushers in a peculiar corporate ritual Koei has imported from Japan - morning meetings where employees deliver short speeches..."It's kind of like school," says Samson Chan, Koei Canada's lead creator...Koei's plan is to give its Canadian staff full artistic rein. On the management side, however, executives want to mimic the Japanese corporate environment as much as possible...Many of the workplace practices are alien to Koei's Canada employees. Programmers must log in to a digital alarm clock and sit in an open room without cubicles...They are expected to share tasks that Western companies relegate to office help...Taniguchi suggested hiring part-timers...headquarters refused...At the end of last year the unit had a watered down version of Japan's "o-soji" - an annual or biannual cleaning of the office...Results so far are mixed. Canadians have quibbled over things from the time clock to Koei's penchant to ask women to serve tea to top executives' guests..."It's still tricky to decide how much we should align ourselves with local standards and how much we should push Koei rules," says Taniguchi...[Koei co-founder] Yoichi Erikawa says "We're resigned to some turnover...But we're going to give this our best shot".

[FG Lurker]

Koei's penchant to ask women to serve tea to top executives' guests...

I can see that going over really well with Canadian women.

[Jack]

Well, one thing Koei doesn't know about Canadian women (particularly French-Canadian) is that they will tell Koei how they will work. Companies do not tell their female employees how to do a job but the female employees will tell the employer how they will work and the law will protect them. All Canadian women can go suck eggs as far as I'm concerned.

Advice to Koei: Close your shop in Canada and move operation to Asia.