Death of the Salaryman
There is an old fashioned concept that lingers in today’s workplace; this is the concept of the “salaryman,” the worker who is just another cog in the corporate machine. The salaryman believes that his job is to sell the company his time. The salaryman does not have the consciousness of being responsible for and concerned with his job. There are many executives and bureaucrats who are also “salarymen” in their outlook if not their paychecks.
Such people only view their own jobs from their own personal perspectives. And they are all aware of this. Although they could at any time view take an additional perspective on the work they perform, these people do not. They most likely believe that if they tried out something new, their workloads would increase. They do not feel responsible for the results of their work.
I think these people must live incredibly boring lives. If they just changed their perspective, they would discover countless things that they should be doing with themselves, but they do not.
Without doing so, they will never experience the joy of having accomplished something that they were meant to do. They will greet the end of their lives having only spent their time doing day-to-day work.
If you do not want to be like this, you must develop the habit of viewing things from multiple perspectives. Don’t view your job from just your POV, but from many different angles – doing so will allow you to see previously unrealized points for improvement and new ideas. If you only take a short-term mindset about this, then yes, it may mean that your workload will increase. However, in the long term, this process is an indispensable practice that will help you shift from only repeating routine work day-after-day to pursuing a job that you can truly think of as your calling.
Work is not about solving problems given to you by others like a school exam. Work is about discovering problems for oneself. Look at things from multiple perspectives and discover new problems. Solve those problems. Repeat. This repetition is what working is really all about. It is the source of all joy in the workplace.
News desk editor
9 年It's really encouraging to see the "salaryman" mindset challenged, particularly by a thought leader in Japan's business world. It seems a slightly uncharitable analysis, though. In the environments where many of these salarymen exist, seeing the work in any other way is fiercely discouraged. Rocking the boat would be career ending, in a employment market where mid-career hiring is still relatively unusual. The culture persists because over time a critical mass accumulates of individuals trained to think this way. Only a more flexible employment market, combined with a persistent and full commitment to change from the highest level, will rekindle the crushed professional integrity of the mid-career salaryman. Many have worked that way for so long that all their professional achievements are in an intangible form - a reputation for compliance, career-long loyalty to a superior - that is completely at odds with the marketable skills required to succeed in a more efficient and flexible business environment. These salarymen have often made great personal sacrifices, and now stand to lose the most from necessary change. Just as was the case in western economies when lifetime employment faded away, we will see an end to the salaryman in Japan, but only when remaining a salaryman poses greater professional risk than change. And even then, it will be a painful transition that many will be unable to successfully navigate.
Property/Building/Facility Manager
9 年Thank you for the writing
Great! Each of the points you mentioned do exist in today's corporate world as well. People like you are making a difference with the change. I admire your comments and work towards bringing new era in the corporate culture along with you.
CEO of School of Hotel Management at Basantidevi Management College
9 年Fantastic Hiroshi