Skip to main content
Log in

Collective Myopia and Defective Higher Educations Behind the Scenes of Ethically Bankrupted Economic Systems: A Reflexive Note from a Japanese University and Taking a Step Toward Transcultural Dialogues

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study focused on the indirect influences of defective higher education, especially management education, on the corruption of Japanese business communities since 1997. Most arrested or penalized Japanese executives and bureaucrats since 1997 were the alumni of prestigious Japanese universities. Their levels of academic achievements are, consequently, conceived to be the highest of Japanese standards. They were, however, found guilty. Why did these highly intelligent Japanese adults make such fatal mistakes? In this article, the author argued that the event of the continuous exposure of scandals and corruptions in Japan since 1997 was an unintended consequence of Japan's educational systems through Habermasian and Foucaultian positions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Argyris, C.: 1992, On Organizational Learning (Blackwell, Oxford).

    Google Scholar 

  • Asahi Shimbun Evening Issue: June 21, 1997, ‘Unadareruna Geki Mo Munashiku (Don't Be Discouraged! But an Empty Cheering Performance)’, p. 14.

  • Beck, U.: 1994, ‘The Reinvention of Politics: Toward a Theory of Reflexive Modernization’, in U. Beck, A. Giddens and S. Lash (eds.), Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition, and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order (Stanford University Press, Stanford), pp. 1–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, P. L. and T. Luckmann: 1966, The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge (Doubleday, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Calavita, K. and H. N. Pontell: 1994, ‘The State and White-collar Crime: Saving the Savings and Loans’, Law & Society Review 28(2), 297–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, R. E.: 2000, Encounter with Enlightenment: A Study of Japanese Ethics (State University of New York Press, Albany).

    Google Scholar 

  • Chikudate, N.: 1999a, ‘The State of Collective Myopia in Japanese Business Communities: A Phenomenological Study for Exploring Blocking Mechanisms for Change’, The Journal of Management Studies 36(1), 69–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chikudate, N.: 1999b, ‘Generating Reflexivity from Partnership Formation: A Phenomenological Reasoning on the Partnership between a Japanese Pharmaceutical Corporation and Western Laboratories’, The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 35(3), 287–305.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chikudate, N.: 2000a, ‘Toward Reflexive Organisations: From the Grounded Theoretical Study of Non-Manufacturers in Japan’, in L. Songini (ed.). Political and Economic Relations between Asia and Europe (Edizioni Giuridiche Economiche Aziendali, Milano), pp. 195–205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chikudate, N.: 2000b, ‘A Phenomenological Approach to Inquiring into an Ethically Bankrupted Organization: A Case Study of a Japanese Company’, Journal of Business Ethics 28, 59–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, J. S.: 1988, ‘Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital’, American Journal of Sociology 94 (Supplement), 95–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreyfus, H. L. and P. Rainbow: 1982, Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).

    Google Scholar 

  • Elders, F. (ed.).: 1974, Reflexive Water: The Basic Concerns of Mankind (Souvenir, London).

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M.: 1977, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (Pantheon Books, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Frost, P. J.: 1997, ‘Building Bridges between Critical Theory and Management Education’, Journal of Management Education 21(3), 361–367.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garfinkel, H.: 1963, ‘A Conception of, and Experiments with, "Trust" as a Condition of Stable Concerted Actions’, in O. J. Harvey (ed.), Motivation and Social Interaction (Vintage Books, New York), pp. 87–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glasser, T. L.: 1995, ‘Communication Ethics and the Aim of Accountability in Journalism’, Social Responsibilities: Business, Journalism, Law, Medicine 21, 31–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gozdz, K.: 2000, ‘Toward Transpersonal Learning Communities in Business’, American Behavioral Scientist 43(8), 1262–1285.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J.: 1973, Theory and Practice (Beacon Press, Boston).

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J.: 1984, The Theory of Communicative Action: Volume 1.Reason and the Rationalization of Society (Polity Press, Cambridge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J.: 1987, The Theory of Communicative Action: Volume 2.The Critiques of Functionalist Reason (Polity Press, Cambridge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J.: 1990, Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action (MIT Press, Cambridge)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardy, C. and I. Palmer: 1999, ‘Pedagogical Practice and Postmodern Ideas’, Journal of Management Education 23(4), 377–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasnas, J.: 1998, ‘The Normative Theories of Business Ethics: A Guide for the Perplexed’, Business Ethics Quarterly 8(1), 19–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger, M.: 1962, Being and Time (Harper & Row, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Husserl, E.: 1973, Experience and Judgment (Northwestern University Press, Evanston).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ishida, H., S. Spilerman and K. Su: 1997, ‘Educational Credentials and Promotion Chances in Japanese and American Organizations’, American Journal of Sociology 62, 866–882.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackall, R.: 1989, Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers (Oxford University Press, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kearins, K. N.: 2000, ‘Foucaultian Inspired Case Study Research: Methodological Concerns and Method’, Paper presented at Annual Academy of Management Conference (Toronto).

  • Kendall, G. and G. Wickham: 1999, Using Foucault's Method (Sage Publications, London).

    Google Scholar 

  • Knights, D.: 1992, ‘Changing Spaces: The Disruptive Impact of a New Epistemological Location for the Study of Management’, Academy of Management Review 17(3), 514–536.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kôhô Asia: September 25, 2000, ‘Jugyo O Kataru [A Talk on Class] 1: Shigotsuihou [A Need to Terminate Chats during Classes]’, p. 2.

  • Kôhô Asia: October 10, 2000, ‘Jugyo O Kataru [A Talk on Class] 2: Entateina Ni Narenai Mono To Shitewa [For Those Who Cannot Become Entertainers]’, p. 2.

  • Kohlberg, L.: 1981, The Psychology of Moral Development, Vol. 1 (Harper & Row, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L.: 1984, The Psychology of Moral Development, Vol. 2 (Harper & Row, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Louis, M. A. and R. I. Sutton: 1991, ‘Switching Cognitive Gears: From Habits of Mind to Active Thinking’, Human Relations 44(1), 55–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magami, H.: 1997, ‘Nekutai O Hagareta Junin No Elito Tachi: Naze Majimena Ginkoin Ga Hei No Nakani Ochitaka. Kazoku Ya Doryo Ga Kataru Bizinesu Elito No Kunou (Ten Elites Who Got Stripped of Their Neckties: Why Were Serious [the Dai-ichi Kangyo] Bankers Imprisoned? Business Elites' Agony Spoken by Their Families and Colleagues)’, Bungeishunjyu (August), 104–120.

  • Mainichi Shimbun Evening Issue: March 28, 2000, ‘Sotsugyosei Ni Isasaka Kagekina Kotoba De Êru O Okuru (Sending Encouragement to New Graduates in Slightly Harsh Tones)’, p. 8.

  • Massarik, F.: 1983, ‘Searching for Essence in Executive Experience’, in S. Srivastva, & Associates (eds.), The Executive Mind: New Insight on Managerial Thought and Action ( Jossey-Bass, San Francisco), pp. 243–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Maynard, D. W.: 1996, ‘On "Realization" in Everyday Life: The Forecasting of Bad News as a Social Relation’, American Sociological Review 61, 109–131.

    Google Scholar 

  • McVeigh, B.: 1998, ‘Linking State and Self: How the Japanese State Bureaucratises Subjectivity through Moral Education’, Anthropological Quarterly 71(3), 125–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura, S.: 2001, Ikari no Bureiku-surû (Breakthrough Motivated by My Anger) (Shueisha, Tokyo).

  • Nakano, C.: 1997, ‘A Survey Study on Japanese Manger's Views of Business Ethics’, Journal of Business Ethics 16, 1737–1751.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen, R. P.: 1996, The Politics of Ethics: Methods for Acting, Learning, and Sometimes Fighting, with Others in Addressing Ethics Problems in Organizational Life (Oxford University Press, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nihon Keizai Shimbun: October 23, 2000, ‘Kyoiku O Tou (Questioning Education) 1: Manabi O Wasure Nihon Ga Shizumu (Forgetting the Virtue of Learning, and Japan Is Sinking)’, p. 1.

  • Nihon Keizai Shimbun: October 24, 2000, ‘Kyoiku O Tou (Questioning Education) 2: Hikikomoru Gakko (Dysfunctional Schools)’, p. 1.

  • Nihon Keizai Shimbun: October 25, 2000, ‘Kyoiku O Tou (Questioning Education) 3: Pro ga Abunai (Professionals in danger)’, p. 1.

  • Nonaka, I. and H. Takeuchi.: 1995, The Knowledgecreating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation (Oxford University Press, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Prasad, P. and P. J. Caproni: 1997, ‘Critical Theory in the Management Classroom: Engaging Power, Ideology, and Praxis’, Journal of Management Education 21(3), 284–291.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollner, M.: 1974, ‘Mundane Reasoning’, Philosophy of the Social Sciences 4, 35–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rehg, W.: 1994, Insight and Solidarity: The Discourse Ethics of Jürgen Habermas (University of California Press, Berkeley).

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, M.: 1999, ‘Critical Reflection and Management Education: Rehabilitating Less Hierarchical Approaches’, Journal of Management Education 23(5), 537–553.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rohlen, T.: 1983, Japan's High Schools (University of California Press, Berkeley).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sacks, H.: 1984, ‘On Doing "Being Ordinary"’, in J. M. Atkinson and J. Heritage (eds.), Structures of Social Action (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge), pp. 413–429.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saitô, T.: 2000, Kikai Fubyodô (Unequal Opportunities) (Bungeishunjyu, Tokyo).

  • Schoppa, L. J.: 1991, Education Reform in Japan: A Case of Immobilist Politics (Routledge, London).

    Google Scholar 

  • Schutz, A.: 1967, The Phenomenology of the Social World (Northwestern University Press, Evanston).

    Google Scholar 

  • Taka, I.: 1994, ‘Business Ethics: A Japanese View’, Business Ethics Quarterly 4(1), 53–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taka, I. and T. Donaldson: 1999, Bizinesu eshikkusu (Business Ethics) (Bunchindo, Tokyo).

  • Trevor, M. and J. Moorehouse: 2001, Japan-Restless Competitor: The Pursuit of Economic Nationalism (Curzon, Surrey).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulrich, P. and U. Thielemann: 1993, ‘How do Managers Think about Market Economics and Morality? Empirical Inquiries into Business-ethical Thinking Patterns’, Journal of Business Ethics 12, 879–898.

    Google Scholar 

  • Werhane, P.: 1998, ‘Moral Imagination and the Search for Ethical Decision-making in Management’, Business Ethics Quarterly 1, 75–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yomiuri Shimbun: September 10, 2000, ‘Chikyu O Yomu (On Reading the Earth): Kokka Senryaku Hagukume (Cultivate Nationalistic Strategies)’, p. 1.

  • Yomiurii Shimbun Evening Issue: March 27, 1998, ‘Kanryo Oshoku Ikidori To Kutsujyoku Hasue Gakjucho Ga Todai Sotsugyoshiki De Irei No Shidan (Corruption of Bureaucrats, Anger and Humiliation, Dean Hasue Criticized in Extraordinary Ways)’, p. 1.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chikudate, N. Collective Myopia and Defective Higher Educations Behind the Scenes of Ethically Bankrupted Economic Systems: A Reflexive Note from a Japanese University and Taking a Step Toward Transcultural Dialogues. Journal of Business Ethics 38, 205–225 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015868607436

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015868607436

Navigation