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[Management Behavior] Chapter 8 Communication and Training


Roughly speaking

  1. Chapter 8 of Management Action. About communication and training.
  2. Communication variety. Informal communication is the public opinion of the organization. Pride gets in the way of training.
  3. Communication exploded with the information revolution. To handle it properly, you need the ability to express problems.


Chapter 8 Communication and Training


This time, chapter 8. Communication and training. Click here for the table of contents for all articles.


This time, we will be talking about information transmission, that is, communication, which plagues many people. In modern times, information is exploding more than Simon had expected, and all kinds of information is flying around, and it requires the skills to choose and choose. Information that could only be held by large companies has gradually become open, and information that individuals can accumulate has improved dramatically with the advent of Notion and other tools. Databases are now personal.


Another important story in this chapter is about training. Is recruiting new graduates really a bargain? Should we hire people who already have the skills, or hope for a place to grow? How do you develop the lack of skills in existing employees? We will discuss the methods of recruiting and education such as: Personally, what I think about the world is that while I think about recruiting personnel, I don't think too much of a human resource education perspective. There's no way there would be any talent who could have just met from the start. I believe that it would be better to acquire diamond rough stones that will make a leap with education in mind, making it more efficient to manage.



Variety of communication within organizations and differentiation of training.


According to Simon, there are broadly different types of communication in organizations: formal and informal, and they believe that each of them is as follows:



5 official communication methods


  1. Oral communication. The boss and subordinates interacted a little, and the coworkers interacted a little.
  2. Notes and letters. This is especially common among bosses. Recently, I feel like they've been doing it on Slack or something.
  3. Paper flow. The flow of checking settlement, the flow of checking the Legal Department for planning, and approval materials.
  4. Records and reports. Backlog during incidents and operation. Recently, there may be an increase in the number of people using "Backlog" online. Those who turn tasks together.
  5. Manual. Materials when working part-time or operating work. The main purpose is to externalize the memory of individual workers. Ryohin Keizai is particularly good at manual operation.

What I would like to introduce in particular is the manual. Simon is able to express the actions of the manual well.


A manual exists to externalize an individual's memory. Manuals are created by the person who makes the command, so creating a manual will lead to centralization of decision-making.

In other words, Simon shows that workers uncritically accept central decision-making as a side effect of the manual. As I also wrote in Previous Authorization Article, when authority is exercised as an order, subordinates will be able to accept it uncritically. I pointed out that this overkilling of the actions leads to a lack of refinement in services at large companies, but the same thing happens when you look at the manual as a absolute rule.


It's a good plan to manage manual management. Muji displays follow a clean manual, so there is no difference between stores. However, they have a bit of slack in the manual, and have made it a great idea to make it easier for individual stores. Furthermore, the worker can propose product improvements. They recognize the disadvantages of centralising manuals, and are able to effectively prevent workers from losing their ingenuity and critical ability. For more information, please refer to the book "MUJI Business Standardization Committee: Workers change jobs, offices, and companies".




Two unofficial communication methods


The informal communications are as follows:


  1. Leaders not in the organizational chart... Promote the organization by instructing stylish young people and subordinates popular advice and direct orders.
  2. Creek: An informal organization that aims to gain power, such as an internal club activity (club activities such as XX clubs) or an internal entrepreneurial group created by powerful young players. When competent gathers, creeks can bring skip communications that are not in the organizational chart, reducing communication costs in an organization, while creek representatives and superiors can build to gain power, and creek's growth can also lead to future in-organizational coups.

Drinking parties and smoking areas that were often used to be popular are representative of informal communication. It is desirable to allow informal communication, as conversations outside the organizational chart can bring about unexpected good fortune. In particular, for managers, informal communication is an important factor, as it can sometimes be heard as "organizational public opinion."


The creek needs control. This is because creeks are usually used in power struggles. When expressed in Japanese, it may be better to say that it is a faction. Factions can be useful as cross-sectional groups, or leaders can build on a coup. In addition, incompetent leaders may be built to monopolise useful knowledge. You should be aware of the existence and growth of creeks, as they are dangerous if constructed with malicious intent.



Effects and disadvantages of training


Next, we will introduce training as a form of communication. It is done to improve the capabilities of members within the organization, and there are three main methods.


  1. Recruit and educate experts.
  2. Create a manual and have it read.
  3. Training while working as a department or after full-time job (something called OJT)

A key point to keep in mind when conducting training is that training also leads to centralization of decision-making. Training is effective in situations where formal instructions are required through training, such as dangerous or special tasks, but in situations where ideas are required, it can actually lead to negative effects.


Another issue is the pride of existing employees. Training for new graduates and mid-career recruitment is honest, but existing employees are aware that they are already doing their job well. If you instruct training under such circumstances, you may be unable to imagine yourself as you deny your own worth of existence and expect normal effects. I would like to acknowledge that the knowledge is incomplete and train it honestly.


My theory is that I recommend recruiting personnel based on training as it is expected to lead to long-term engagement with the company. Both Son Masayoshi of SoftBank and Nagamori Shigenobu of Nidec are skilled in educating ordinary employees, and as a result, they are able to hold firm hold on long-standing employees. Rather than relying on recruiting people, we want to have a strategy to continue educating the people who already exist. In this sense, training decisions should be important.



Information has exploded due to the information revolution. Make efforts to maintain tissue memory well.


In today's world where information explodes, communication costs become a bottleneck for internal management. Simon argues that controlling human attention is important when it comes to information revolution.


When an information revolution occurs, information, whether true or false, explodes. Everyone has access to information, and one information can affect another, causing unexpected effects. This is called externalization in economic terms.


Externalization refers to the cycles of actions that are not liable for the actor through existing mechanisms. For example, let's say you buy a house in a place with a good view. As a result of the building being built next to a house, all the views, which had a great view, became windows of the building. I had never thought about this when I built a house, but outside factors had an influence from nowhere.


A modest example is the rumours on Twitter. It is common to see casual gaffes get into the air and lose their programs or jobs. As a result of the information revolution, externalities problems have become commonplace as everyone can refer to someone's gaffes.


Amidst the information explosion, Simon states this as a countermeasure:


It is necessary to maintain structural organizational memory. It is necessary for people and AI to acquire significant problem expression formats to properly process and store information, and to acquire the ability to construct problem expressions themselves.

The content is abstract, but the point is that Simon should properly process information and store it in data that will keep attention focused on continuously. Looking at Simon's definition of an appropriate information processing system, he may be able to understand the meaning more. Simon lists the following:


  1. There is less output than input.
  2. Index the data actively. For example, AI and others analyze data by appropriately assigning features.
  3. It can handle problems solving and decision-making, not merely storing and searching data.

In other words, Simon says that data should be neatly shaped and preserved and used for decision-making. Until now, human memory was reliant on its own. Apparently, humans can organize appropriate information by storing 30,000 volumes of data, but in today's information revolution, this is not enough. Even if it is difficult to use AI, we recommend that you first have your own database that allows you to access external information. Yes, it's Notion.



Aside (Gonjicchi memo)


Notes are written for each chapter using iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. This time it's not an e-book, but it has around 550 pages, making it inconvenient to carry around. If you make a note of it on your tablet, you can do it on your smartphone when you review it later.