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Dr. Ikujiro Nonaka on
Dialectic Leadership
Creativity and efficiency, globalization and localization,
autonomy and control. Businesses often face contradictory goals that
seem to turn in upon themselves in a paradox of challenges. While
not claiming to have the complete answer to such a problem, Dr. Ikujiro
Nonaka, one of the world’s leading authority on knowledge management,
certainly presented a thought-provoking hypothesis at a JAIMS open
house.
Local executives and business leaders attended the
July 17 session and listened to Nonaka expound on “Dialectic
Leadership.”
The
dialectic approach requires a leader to recognize the multifaceted
and contradictory nature of certain truths. There needs to be
a synthesis, Nonaka says, to innovatively combine diverse contradictory
knowledge
and create higher states of knowledge and skills.
Nonaka cited Canon,
IBM, and the U.S. Marines as examples of dialectic organizations
whose success is due in part to their synthesis of
opposing traits: discipline and creativity, careful analysis and
quick action, well-defined plans and improvisation.
Nonaka pointed
to one man in particular who exemplifies the dialectic leader:
Tetsuya Goto. Through his humble leadership, Goto was able
to boost the success of his inn by following what seemed to be
a contradictory line of action by aiding his fellow innkeepers in
Kurokawa.
In doing so, he has made the Kurokawa area renowned for its natural
hot springs. He now travels throughout Japan sharing his knowledge
on managing natural environments.
After the one-hour session, audience members were able to pose
further questions and thoughts to Nonaka over an informal lunch. Ikujiro Nonaka is a professor at the Graduate School of International
Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo and former
Xerox Professor of Knowledge at the Haas School of Business, UC
Berkeley. He is also the founding dean of the Graduate School
of Knowledge
Science at Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
Nonaka is the visiting dean and professor at the Center for Knowledge
and
Innovation Research, Helsinki School of Economics and Business
Administration and has long been one of Japan’s foremost authorities on developing
and using the intellectual capital of workers to create and expand
business knowledge. Nonaka is also the internship supervisor for
the JEMBA program.
Connecting
to the Future:
A Message from JAIMS President Glenn Miyataki
Aloha and welcome to this edition of the Global Horizons
that focuses on “connecting to the future.” Connecting
to the future is an important initiative for JAIMS as it faces a
watershed period, that is, a place in time where new directions and
accelerated change models are necessary to prepare managers for the
21st century… a century already filled with rapid change and
surprises of unexpected challenges. JAIMS’ work of more than
31 years in connecting careers, cultures, and people has educated
more than 22,000 alumni and participants from about 50 countries
with skills in intercultural management, cross-cultural communications,
and information technology; but we are being called upon to do more.
Business trips in recent years to Turkey, Germany,
France, the UK, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines,
Australia, Japan,
and the U.S. convinced me that businesspersons need to understand
each others’ cultures in doing business, and that trust and
respect are still the basis of forging effective business relationships.
Those whom I met relayed these thoughts to me.
Also, we appear to be on the right track as we find
our MBA’s
being hired by companies in Japan such as Goldman Sachs, PricewaterhouseCoopers,
and BearingPoint, Inc., to name a few, and our ICMP graduates are
either moving up the career ladder or starting their own businesses.
The common denominator appears to be the graduates’ bilingual
language fluency, cross-cultural sensitivity, and understanding
of global issues.
Yet, it all started with a dream and vision as conveyed
to me by President and COO Motoyasu Matsuzaki of Fujitsu America
Inc. during
a visit to Silicon Valley in September 2003 (Matsuzaki was one
of the initial vice presidents tasked with carrying out the plans
to
establish JAIMS). As the story goes, then Fujitsu President Kohra
had a dream of establishing an educational institute outside of
Japan that brought together participants from different countries
to study
business and learn about each other’s culture. One evening,
while in Australia, the late President Kohra took an after dinner
walk. As he looked at the sky full of stars, he saw the Southern
Cross. With an “Aha!” Kohra noted that one side of
the cross pointed to Japan; the other pointed to the U.S.; and
the head
of the cross signified Hawaii. The rest is history, as Hawaii Kai
became the home of JAIMS in 1972, and 31years later, we continue
to pursue this vision into the 21st century!
While the dream is important, I’d like to pitch
a practical matter for connecting to the future. A JAIMS’ future
can be perpetuated if alumni help future alumni to carry on our legacy
through
the JAIMS Endowment Fund that was created in March 2002. Untimely
circumstances like 9/11, SARS, and the Iraqi War caused tremendous
difficulty in pushing this campaign, but, through the generosity
of about 75 alumni, staff, faculty, and friends, the fund has reached
$160,000. Although this phase of the campaign will end on December
31, 2003, we need your strong support and welcome your contributions
in the remaining months and beyond. A JAIMS Alumni Scholarship
is planned for 2004 and I would personally like to ask for your participation
in making this happen.
Finally, let us share where JAIMS is heading
in the future. It’s
getting tougher to recruit participants for ICMP and to attract
corporate seminars from Japan due to its flat economy. But we are
not sitting
still. We are building strong ties with alumni in countries like
Singapore, Philippines, Korea, China/Hong Kong, Taiwan, Hawaii/U.S.,
and Japan, our largest alumni group. Recently, several classes
of alumni in Tokyo merged to become the JAIMS Bond alumni group
with
its own Web site! Through the work of our alumni, we are hoping
to attract more participants to JAIMS programs and identify resources
for company internships, home stays, and partnerships. Our human
network of relationships is vast and far-reaching and we want to
put it to use.
Also, new alliances are being explored in various
countries. For example, in Japan, which is one of our major markets,
we are pursuing
E-learning programs with Fujitsu Learning Media and Fujitsu University
and exploring training ties with ELS Language Centers, and Osaka
Gakuin University. In Europe, we are exploring E-learning programs
with two UK national level organizations that have relationships
with Fujitsu Services in London; a JET alumni scholarship program
in UK; a second exchange program in France with one of their top
ranking business schools; and a forum co-sponsorship with Oxford
University’s Internet Institute. In the U.S., we are working
on a nuts-and-bolts entrepreneurship training program for people
from Asia with the advice of venture capitalists in Hawaii, Japan,
and Silicon Valley and exploring training alliances with several
universities.
While our network is strong and extensive in Japan
and the U.S., we have a long way to go in building a network of human
relationships
in China, Europe, and new locales such as Africa, Central America,
and South America, areas in which any institute with a global mission
must eventually venture. Even business education is getting more
global. In an MBA cross-cultural management course I taught at
Reims Management School this year, the class consisted of 24 participants
from France, Germany, Sweden, Israel, China, India, Australia,
and
Morocco. I kept envisioning how culturally inspiring it would be
to mix this class with JAIMS participants from Japan, Singapore,
Thailand, Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan,
Hong Kong, the U.S. mainland, and Hawaii.
JAIMS is connecting to the future in a global way,
and we look forward to gaining support from our staff, faculty, alumni,
and
supporters
who look beyond organizational boundaries and take risks in forging
new directions, new programs, and new alliances. The Southern Cross
continues to shine brightly, and the late President Kohra and Fujitsu
leaders who followed connected our future over 31 years ago through
their dream, imagination, vision, and courage. Let’s all work
together in continuing this quest!
Aloha and mahalo,
Glenn K. Miyataki, President, JAIMS
JAIMS to Serve as Secretariat
to the Japan-Hawaii Economic Council
Last October, the Japan-Hawaii Economic Council (JHEC)
held its annual meeting at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel on the Kohala
Coast of Hawai‘i. This prestigious event is attended yearly
by top-level executives from both Japan and Hawai‘i to discuss
building economic bridges between the two Pacific neighbors. This
year, JHEC announced that JAIMS would have the new role of secretariat
for the JHEC.
“
JAIMS is honored to help organize such an important interchange between
Japan and Hawai‘i,” said Dr. Glenn Miyataki, JAIMS president
and JHEC member. “This cooperation is a significant advantage
for both organizations because of JHEC and JAIMS’ parallel
missions to foster business and understanding between global executives.”
Tom Sakata, JHEC executive director, retired from
JHEC after 31 years of organizing the annual event and formally handed
over its
responsibilities
to JAIMS on November 1, 2003.
The theme of the meeting was "Hawaii and Japan in an Unsettled
World" and consisted of speeches by dignitaries like Hawai‘i
Governor Linda Lingle, Chairman Minoru Makihara of Mitsubishi Corporation,
Admiral Thomas B. Fargo of U.S. Pacific Command, and President
Charles E. Morrison of the East-West Center. The next meeting will
by held
next year in Kyoto at the International Convention Center.
The JHEC Japan chairman is Takeshi Fukuzawa, chairman
of Mitsubishi Estate, Co., Ltd. The JHEC Hawaii Chairman is Walter
A. Dods Jr.,
chairman and CEO of First Hawaiian Bank.
JAIMS Hosts Japan Health Care
Professionals
Last October, a dozen health care professionals from
Japan came to JAIMS for the Intercultural Health Care Management
Program (IHCMP). The program, which lasted for two weeks, gave participants
an insightful view into U.S. and Japan health care practices and
what trends are developing in both.
Courses were instructed by U.S. health care professionals
and were supplemented by visits to six local facilities: Arcadia
Retirement
Residence, Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific, Hospice Hawai‘i,
Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Straub Clinic & Hospital, and
Kuakini Health System.
JAIMS and Medical Consultants Corporation
(MCC) developed IHCMP
and trained the first group of health care professionals from
Japan in
1997. The 12 participants came from 10 different medical facilities
in Japan including Daiyuki Medical Foundation, JGC Corporation,
Iryouhoujin Tojima Hospital, Azwell Inc., and Nikkei Medkial
Kaihatsu.
2002-2003 JEMBA and CHEMBA
Commencement
On Friday, November 14, commencement ceremonies for
the 2002-2003 Japan-focused MBA (JEMBA) and China-focused MBA (CHEMBA)
class were held in Tokyo to honor their completion of their 15-month
programs at JAIMS and the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa College
of Business.
Sakie Fukushima, senior client partner and regional
managing director–Japan
at Korn/Ferry International was the commencement speaker at the event.
The CHEMBA President’s Language Award recipient, David Liao
and the JEMBA President’s Language Award recipient, Erik Okihara,
were the student speakers at the commencement.
“
In going through this past year with my classmates, I know I can
say this with the utmost confidence: when the chips are down and
a project needs to be done, the talent in this class can be counted
on to get the job done and to get it done well,” Okihara
said, “JEMBAs,
CHEMBAs, congratulations on all of your accomplishments.”
Special
recognition also went to the Foundation for International Information
Processing Education Scholarship (FINIPED) recipients:
Andrew Huang, Brandon Matsui, Dawn Mizicko, and Keith Sakuda.
Dawn Mizicko was also recognized for receiving the Foreign Language
and Area Studies Fellowship (FLASF).
This year's class is the
thirteenth JEMBA class and the sixth CHEMBA class to complete their
studies.
Alumni Database Now Online
JAIMS is proud to announce the launch of the JAIMS
Online Alumni Database. With the alumni database accessible to authorized
users via JAIMS.org, JAIMS hopes to build a stronger bond between
graduates who have lost touch. The database will enable friends and
classmates to connect with each other, rebuild friendships, and establish
a personal or professional network.
Although the database is available to JAIMS staff
and alumni worldwide, the privacy of our alumni is very important
to JAIMS. Only registered
and authorized users will have access to JAIMS alumni records.
Alumni have access to their own records and may edit
and update their profile at anytime. In addition, alumni may search
for their
classmates’ and
friends’ contact information using a simple form. E-mail
addresses are available unless indicated otherwise by alumni who
have chosen
to opt out. Those who wish to opt out must register and uncheck
the "show
e-mail" option in their personal and/or business profile.
The
JAIMS Online Alumni Database can be accessed via the JAIMS homepage
or at http://www.jaims.org/alumnidb. Please e-mail info@jaims.org for more information.
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