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    A Case Study of the Operations of an Australian Bank in Japan
    A Case Study of the Operations of an Australian Bank in Japan
    A Case Study of the Operations of an Australian Bank in Japan
    Ebook338 pages1 hour

    A Case Study of the Operations of an Australian Bank in Japan

    By John Middleton

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    About this ebook

    As mentioned in “How I Came to Be Here”, the text of a First-Class Honours thesis written by Professor John Middleton in a previous life. This dissertation discusses the operations of the Tokyo Branch of Westpac Banking Corporation as they existed in 1987, focusing on the dynamics of the relationships between the expatriate and Japanese staff from a sociolinguistic perspective.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Middleton
    Release dateJul 13, 2014
    ISBN9781311369314
    A Case Study of the Operations of an Australian Bank in Japan
    Author

    John Middleton

    Professor John Middleton was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1964 and first became acquainted with Tokyo in 1979. After graduating from Monash University with a Bachelor of Arts degree with First Class Honours, majoring in Japanese language and Japanese studies, and a Bachelor of Laws degree, John was awarded a Japanese Government (Monbusho) Research Scholarship in 1990 to further his studies of Japanese language and law at Osaka University of Foreign Studies (now part of Osaka University) and Hitotsubashi University respectively. He now holds Master and Doctor of Laws degrees from Hitotsubashi University, has been admitted to practise as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria in Australia and an Attorney and Counselor-at-Law in the State of New York, and has spent two years as an Academic Visitor at the Faculty of Laws, University College London. John currently serves as Professor of Anglo-American Law, specialising in comparative media law, at the Hitotsubashi University School of Law, which consistently ranks highest among all law schools in the country in terms of the performance of its graduates in the national bar examination. He is believed to be the first non-Japanese in history to be promoted from Assistant to Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Professor at the law faculty of a national university in Japan and the first Western legal scholar to write and publish a substantial body of work in Japanese. He also contributes to society as a Director of the Content Evaluation and Monitoring Association (EMA). The "Tokyo, From One to Infinity" series is his first major non-academic work in his native tongue and a step towards realising his childhood dream of becoming an author. He sincerely hopes you will enjoy reading each instalment as much as he is enjoying creating them.

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      Book preview

      A Case Study of the Operations of an Australian Bank in Japan - John Middleton

      A Case Study of the Operations of an

      Australian Bank in Japan

      John Middleton

      Smashwords Edition

      © John Middleton 2014

      The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author.

      Supervisors

      Professor J.V. Neustupný (Australia)

      Mr Seiju Sugito (Japan)

      This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in the Department of Japanese, Monash University.

      2 November 1987

      Acknowledgements

      I wish to thank sincerely the staff of Westpac Banking Corporation in Tokyo, without whose cooperation this study would not have been possible.

      I also gratefully acknowledge the great assistance and invaluable advice given me by my two supervisors, Professor J.V. Neustupný of Monash University and Mr Seiju Sugito of the National Language Research Institute, Tokyo.

      I am also indebted to Mrs Susan Millington, Secretary/Administrator of the Institute of Foreign Bankers, and Mr Shoju Mita, Executive Director of the Sanwa Bank Foundation, for assisting me in my search for relevant data.

      Finally, I would like to thank my friends, the Hashimoto family of Oizumigakuen, Tokyo, not only for their assistance in collecting data, but also for the great kindness and hospitality they showed me throughout my stay in Japan.

      Table of Contents

      1. Introduction

      2. Foreign Banks and the Japanese Banking System

      2.1 The Structure of the Banking System

      2.2 The Number and Origin of Foreign Banks

      2.3 Reasons for Entering the Market

      2.4 The Role of Foreign Banks

      2.5 Problems Experienced by Foreign Banks

      2.6 The Future of Foreign Banks

      3. Westpac Banking Corporation in Tokyo

      3.1 History of Operations

      3.2 Formal Aspects of the Organisation

      3.2.1 Organisation of the Branch

      3.2.2 Goals of the Organisation

      3.2.3 Decision-making Processes

      3.2.4 Interaction Between Westpac and Other Banks

      3.3 Physical Environment

      3.4 Personnel Practices

      3.4.1 The Number, Composition, and Roles of Personnel

      3.4.2 Employment Practices

      3.4.3 Employment of Japanese Staff

      3.4.4 Employment of Expatriate Staff

      3.5 Possible Future Problems

      4. Some Observations of Verbal Communication Problems Within the Tokyo Branch Office of Westpac Banking Corporation

      4.1 Introduction

      4.2 Deviations from the Base Norm of Standard English

      4.2.1 Mixing of Varieties

      4.2.2 Use of Slang

      4.2.3 Errors in Grammar and Phraseology

      4.2.4 Lack of Comprehension

      4.3 Evaluations

      4.3.1 Propositional Problems

      4.3.2 Performance Problems

      4.3.3 Presentational Problems

      4.4 Corrective Adjustments

      4.5 Conclusions

      5. Concluding Remarks

      Notes

      Bibliography

      Afterword (2014)

      About the Author (2014)

      1. Introduction

      The objective of my research was to gain an insight into how a foreign organisation functions within the Japanese context by conducting a case study of the operations of Westpac Banking Corporation in Tokyo. It was not my aim to conduct an economic analysis of the efficiency of the Bank’s operations, and I have attempted to avoid ‘cheap generalisations’ and ‘overemphasis on cultural factors’ (cf. Mouer and Sugimoto 1981).

      The investigation was conducted between January and June, 1987 with the express permission and full cooperation of the management of the Tokyo Branch, subject only to the condition that confidential aspects of the company’s operations be respected.

      All members of staff were most courteous and helpful, but on the whole, one can say that the Japanese staff were more reserved and guarded in their comments than their expatriate counterparts. As a result of this, much of my most useful data has come from expatriate sources within the Branch.

      The anonymity of informants is ensured through the use of a coding system in the text. The code was designed to reveal only a limited amount of information about the individual’s cultural background and rank. The following symbols are used:

      E: Expatriate (non-Japanese)

      J: Japanese

      M: Staff member of the rank of Assistant Manager, Manager, Senior Manager, or Chief Manager

      C: Member of staff below the rank of Assistant Manager, who is engaged in clerical or administrative duties

      Figures are also used to distinguish between staff members within the same category. Such figures bear no relation to rank. For example, the code ‘E4M’ means ‘Expatriate No. 4, who is of the rank of Assistant Manager or higher’.

      The symbols ‘E’ and ‘J’ are also included in the text in cases where it is deemed useful to distinguish between Japanese and expatriate staff.

      Altogether, I visited the Tokyo Branch Office of Westpac Banking Corporation 21 times to conduct interviews and observe general office work.

      Eight formal interviews were conducted individually with four key personnel – E1M, E2M, E3M, and J1M – for a total of nine hours. Each interviewee was questioned in detail about the operations of Westpac in Japan, including the organisation and goals of the Branch, roles of personnel, employment practices, and decision-making processes. Some general questions were also asked about the role of foreign banks in the Japanese banking system.

      E2M and E3M were further interviewed about the nature of communication problems occurring between expatriate and Japanese staff within the Branch Office (cf. Neustupný 1985: 44).

      All formal interviews were tape-recorded.

      An additional 29 members of staff were interviewed informally from time to time about the operations of the Branch, their backgrounds, and attitudes. Notes were taken at the conclusion of such encounters.

      Conversations of a social nature were also held with various members of staff both within and outside the office.

      All communication with the Japanese staff was conducted in Japanese unless it was considered inappropriate in the circumstances. By necessity, all conversations with expatriates were in English.

      A general observation of office work was made in all sections, and specific observations of verbal communication problems in contact situations (cf. Neustupný 1985: 44) were made in two units of the Branch in May and June. This data will be discussed further in Chapter 4.

      All relevant materials published by the company were sought, and the press files kept by Westpac and the Institute of Foreign Bankers made available to me.

      A formal interview was conducted with the Secretary/Administrator of the Institute of Foreign Bankers in June on the role of her organisation and the problems experienced by foreign banks in Japan.

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