Focusing on Effectiveness

Rab gave us some hints on how to change systems in our society by using the media or anonymity. I like how Rab always focuses on what would actually work. I notice that a lot of times, especially in Japan, we tend to focus on things that are ineffective (as I’ve written in other blog posts as well) and end up getting nothing done while thinking that a lot was accomplished. I hear from many adults living in this country that most meetings are useless, and time consuming. I’ve had the same experience in “bukatsu” or club activities in Japan, and it irritated me a lot of times because much more could be done in less time with better organization.

This is one of the reasons why I do not want to work in Japan. I never want to waste my time doing unimportant tasks or activities that are not aligned with my values. In Japan, society forces everyone to fit in to one molded character, therefore uniqueness and originality are often killed. Although this creates more human robots and increases the amount of work that can be handled, creative work is made difficult. Innovation will never take place in these kinds of environments. Although one might argue that this happens in places besides Japan, I believe that Japan is really extreme in terms of being slaves to the company. If more and more Japanese companies and schools start promoting effectiveness based on educated reasoning, the society will become much better in terms of work conditions and stress levels.


(image source: http://attentio.com/files/1212/6381/5134/campaign%20effectiveness.jpg)