tegrated in the USA. Honshu Corporation decided to adopt a more unique style of management. They aimed at creating a Hybrid US-Japanese type of management. The Japanese presence in this transplant was considerably strong, yet to balance this presence Honshu Corporation appointed a American General manager supported by an American director of human resource management and deputy director of manufacturing. This novel mix of management style required all American and Japanese managers to read the 1987 book by Peter Wickens, the road to Nissan:flexibility, quality and teamwork. The reason for this being located in the nature of the book as it outlined the problems faced by automotive giant Nissan when they began operating in a Western culture. Communication can be seen as a major key in the success of this management style. Socializing was seen as an important key to bridging the cultural gap between the workers. This point of view led to the "Stride-out". This is consisted of part philosophy, part education and part fun. Like a automobile rally, the participants work in pairs and are required to find their way from start to finish via spatial checkpoints. This emphasizes on teamwork and socializing, consolidating the Kyushu manufacturing process of 'look, conceive, strtegize, execute and inspect'. In contrast to Honshu's assembly transplant who simply get a short speech, the blue-collar workers at Kyushu manufacturing learn of the company's mission statement by enacting the 'Stride out'. This Hybrid managerial style adapts a very social management style. Communication at Kyushu works both ways. This is seen as the factory encourages employees to participate in the quality improvement suggestions. The General manager believed that the transplant unlike Japanese style management tried to keep their meeting more 'task-orientated', but admitted Japanese style nemawasi shortened meeting by solving many difficult problems before the meeting. ...
