An organization that has employees that are not working together as a team can have very low profits and success. Employees may not get along with each other well in an organization because of different issues. Employees that have different cultural beliefs may tend to differ with each other while working, hence causing a conflictin the organization. When employees are not in a good relationship with one another the organization cannot maximize its profits. The organization also cannot offer products and services of high quality. Poor communication between employees can cause a lot of problems in the company (Argenti, Howell, and Beck, 2005). This means that employees do not understand each other and they do not listen to each other views or ideas. Also, language barrier may be causing the Americans and the Japanese not to work together well and the negative attitude they have towards.The Japanese continue talking their language in the organization while working making it hard for the Americans to understand them. The Americans alsochat with their colleagues in English thus making it hard for the Japanese to understand. Therefore, the two types of employees in the organization cannot understand each other if there is no common language that they are supposed to use. An effective communication between employees helps to clarify situations.

Another issue that may cause conflict and bad attitude among the employees in the firm are when one side feels more superior to the other. In a firm that has two or more different cultures, there may be a clash in beliefs and values which would result in overt conflict. For an instant, the Americans may be proud of how they are, thus looking down on the Japanese. Some employees may also identify themselves with a particular group of people. Even when the employees do not interact, they have a tendency to develop a more positive “in-group” than a less positive view of the other group that they are not a member.The motivation plan that will be discussed in this essay will assist the firm to improve its production and sales of its products. The employees will be able to work together without creating any conflict. There will be a good relationship among the employees who will work as a team. The Japanese and the Americans will be able to respect each other and assist each other whenever they have a problem. A well formulated motivation plan will increase the sales of the firm’s products and attract more customers who will like the service from the sales people (Bloch, 1996).

Employees’ motivation in a business firm is the best way to improve the working of the employees. The action that managers take to improve the working relation between their employees influences the work performance of the employees. In order to motivate the Americans and the Japanese, the management needs to set goals that are achievable to both parties.If employees are set objectives that seem to be impossible to meet, switches off most of the employees’ morale to make more sales. Like in this case, the Japanese know their customers more than the Americans because they are in their own country and are able tomake more sales. Therefore, if the set sales per group are achievable by only one group then these groups will have a bad attitude towards each other.This means that the objectives must be relevant to the individual’s job responsibility. The management cannot tell the sale persons to improve profitability of the products if he or she has no power of reducing costs or increase prices (Yumi, 2010). It is therefore important to set goals in relation to the tasks each member is capable of achieving.

Employees need motivation by giving them rewards when there are winners among the groups. The manager who manages the Japanese and the Americans need to introduce award recognition to those who perform well in their sales. According to Cropanzano, Bowen, and Gilliland(2007), rewarding employees who are winners in the group promotes a more productive and goal oriented environment than one that with less motivated losers. The process of choosing must be genuine and equal opportunity must be given to both groups. By choosing the employee of the month, the managers will help the employee to be focused in their work. This can be implementable by setting up short term goals for the two groups to achieve. The Japanese and the Americans can be mixed into teams of about ten people. Then they can work together to achieve their goals. Every person in the organization should be able to be the employee of the month by constantly changing the criteria used.

Team building activities are the most effective methods of improving employee’s relationship and performance in an organization. These activities bring the employees together in a more open manner. This is done by mixing both groups to perform activities that will help them know each other well. The firm can set a sport day whereby the mixed Americans and Japanese can play different games together. Also, the management can introduce an activity such as hiking where employees will have to assist each other regardless of their ethical background. Such an activity will help bring the two groups more closely to each other thus understanding each other well.

The management of this firm can also introduce on language that will be used by both groups while at work. One language of communication will help the Americans and the Japanese to understand each other well while at work. A good understanding among the employees will enable them to have a smooth conversation with each party understanding each other without creating conflict(Bloch, 1996). There will be no negative attitude to any group in the organization. While this is said, it is important to note that the leadership of this firm should be keen not to discriminate any of the group;they should treat all employees equally.

The Japanese think that the Americans work only for the sake of success and nothing else, while they work because they are part of the organization. Because of this attitude, the Japanese may not like the working way of the Americans. Therefore, it is important that the Americans try to work as they are part of the organization and not only to be successful. Americans think that the Japanese are just cooperative and not competitive in order to make more sales (Yumi, 2010). This sickens the Americans as they like competing to achieve their goals. The Japanese have harmony with nature while the Americans like controlling the nature. This can bring a bad attitude in the organization because of the different views on the nature. The Japanese believe that when they fulfill one’s position by taking an inappropriate position in relation to others will create harmony in their society. They try all they can to avoid conflict between parties in order to create harmony.The Americans emphasizes on equality in the organization while the Japanese focus of hierarchy of leadership. The equality among employee motivates them to work with one another without any problem.

REFERENCES

Argenti, P. A., Howell, R. A., & Beck, K. A. (2005). The strategic communication imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review, 46, 83–89.

Bloch, Brian. (1996). “The Language-Culture Connection in International Business.” Foreign Language Annals29 27–36.

Cropanzano, R., Bowen, D. E., & Gilliland, S. W. (2007). The management of organizational justice.Academy of Management Perspectives, 21(4), 34–48.

Yumi A.i (2010), Business Negotiations between the Americans and the Japanese. Cultures and Cross-Cultures Awareness in the Professions, Article4, Vol2, p. 19 – 23. Weber State University