What Motivates Japanese Workers

A researcher has found that Japanese workers tend to be more motivated by promotion opportunities than by wage increases. In a study of 1,823 workers from 75 companies of Toyota Group, researcher Kiyoshi Takahashi attempted to find out how much motivation was provided by variables like wage levels and promotions. He also studied the effects of job characteristics on motivation, such as the range of responsibilities, the range of discretion, the skills required and the opportunities for development. Not surprisingly, wage increases motivated the workers, as well as having a wage level higher than that of co-workers. Takahashi also found that a promotion incentive was a strong motivator and that when the promotion system was perceived to be fair, it was a stronger motivator than wages were. One interesting find was that when workers perceived that promotions were difficult to come by, it did not reduce motivation. As for the aspects of the job itself, jobs requiring a lot of skill or knowledge that had both wide ranges of discretion and development opportunities provided strong motivation. Jobs that had a wide range of responsibilities, however, provided no additional motivation. (Career Development International [Takahashi], February 2006, pp. 193, 195-199)