If you can't just quit and find another job, you are willing to put up with more unpleasant behavior from your manager, which includes public criticism and yelling. Thus, Japanese managers have come to see this behavior as acceptable, because Japanese employees are unable to vote against it with their feet. This management style is then brought to the U.S. Yelling episodes are a result of culture shock. The need to express oneself in English and manage American employees can be extremely stressful to Japanese expatriates. In some cases, expatriates may resort to raising their voice when they are frustrated with their inability to effectively communicate and influence their environment.
Public criticism is a way to display control.
In many cases, public criticism seems to be done as a power play for a manager to demonstrate his control over the American. For example, in the second story at the top of this article, the president may have been sending the new American employee a message about who is really boss. Or, a middle manager may reprimand his American subordinate in front of a higher level manager in order to demonstrate that he has the American subordinate fully u under his control. Both Japanese and Americans need to become more aware of this issue of public criticism. Japanese need to realize how devastating public criticism can be to an American's morale and self-esteem.