When questioning a Japanese persons point of view it is often by the Japanese person interpreted as personal criticism towards him or her. The number of patent applications in Japan are amongst the highest in the world. Let me make a daring statement, I believe that one reason is the difficult task of giving and interpret applicable feedback within a Japanese society. It is however easy to see positive side effects of this group mentality, one example is the effectiveness of the Japanese car industry, that for many years produced cars in one third of the time required for car manufacturers in the West. When given the parameters, the Japanese group becomes very powerful and energetic.
Japanese companies tend to take a more intuitive approach to management.
Employees have undefined roles and are expected to work as teams to meet group goals. Decision-making is a group process, with large numbers of people involved in each decision. Attending business seminars at Hokkaido University I came into contact with a professor by the name of Kikuji Yoneyama. He spoke very devotedly about the need for Japanese students to become creative in the sense that they had to start questioning existing structures. He also told a story that was given to him by a personnel manager at a Japanese Company.