{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/59129"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/59129","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Strategy for diversity management : women's leadership and work-life balance in Japan by","abstract":"Faced with a volatile global economy, a rapidly shrinking population and a declining birthrate, Japan needs to find ways to revamp its economic engine. One solution is to increase the participation of Japanese women in the workforce. Over the past decade Japanese society, its government and companies have started this process. \"Diversity Management\" and \"Work-Life Balance\" are focus areas for executives in Japanese companies with the combined goals of increasing women's participation and leadership in the workforce and improving work-life balance for all employees. However, there are significant obstacles to be overcome: lack of gender equality in the corporate culture, lack of support for work-life balance, barriers to promotion opportunities for women, and lack of motivation on the part of women themselves. Under these constraints, it is necessary that each organization, including my employer NTT West, re-consider what it has already done for diversity management, and what it can do to improve the results. In this thesis, I will describe the diversity management strategies of several large Japanese companies. Much of this information comes from the interviews I did in Tokyo in January 2010. I compare the Japanese situations and strategies to those found among U.S. companies and analyze the challenges faced by the Japanese firms. Based on that material, I propose some recommendations for Japanese individuals, organizations, and the government. Some recommendations are learned from U.S. best practices and some are hybrid solutions that take into account Japanese cultural/ organizational customs. I believe that these recommendations will be helpful not only for my employer, NTT West, but also for all Japanese companies struggling with \"Diversity Management\" and Japanese employees struggling with their own \"Work-Life Balance\".","abstract_html":"Faced with a volatile global economy, a rapidly shrinking population and a declining birthrate, Japan needs to find ways to revamp its economic engine. One solution is to increase the participation of Japanese women in the workforce. Over the past decade Japanese society, its government and companies have started this process. "Diversity Management" and "Work-Life Balance" are focus areas for executives in Japanese companies with the combined goals of increasing women's participation and leadership in the workforce and improving work-life balance for all employees. However, there are significant obstacles to be overcome: lack of gender equality in the corporate culture, lack of support for work-life balance, barriers to promotion opportunities for women, and lack of motivation on the part of women themselves. Under these constraints, it is necessary that each organization, including my employer NTT West, re-consider what it has already done for diversity management, and what it can do to improve the results. In this thesis, I will describe the diversity management strategies of several large Japanese companies. Much of this information comes from the interviews I did in Tokyo in January 2010. I compare the Japanese situations and strategies to those found among U.S. companies and analyze the challenges faced by the Japanese firms. Based on that material, I propose some recommendations for Japanese individuals, organizations, and the government. Some recommendations are learned from U.S. best practices and some are hybrid solutions that take into account Japanese cultural/ organizational customs. I believe that these recommendations will be helpful not only for my employer, NTT West, but also for all Japanese companies struggling with "Diversity Management" and Japanese employees struggling with their own "Work-Life Balance".","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Segawa, Yoshiko, M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Sloan School of Management.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Patricia Peterson Bentley."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010","date_published":"2010","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:57Z","subjects":["Sloan School of Management."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59129","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Patricia Peterson Bentley."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Sloan School of Management."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Sloan School of Management."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Segawa, Yoshiko, M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2010-10-12T16:27:09Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2010-10-12T16:27:09Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2010"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Sloan School of Management."]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. 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One solution is to increase the participation of Japanese women in the workforce. Over the past decade Japanese society, its government and companies have started this process. \"Diversity Management\" and \"Work-Life Balance\" are focus areas for executives in Japanese companies with the combined goals of increasing women's participation and leadership in the workforce and improving work-life balance for all employees. However, there are significant obstacles to be overcome: lack of gender equality in the corporate culture, lack of support for work-life balance, barriers to promotion opportunities for women, and lack of motivation on the part of women themselves. Under these constraints, it is necessary that each organization, including my employer NTT West, re-consider what it has already done for diversity management, and what it can do to improve the results. In this thesis, I will describe the diversity management strategies of several large Japanese companies. Much of this information comes from the interviews I did in Tokyo in January 2010. I compare the Japanese situations and strategies to those found among U.S. companies and analyze the challenges faced by the Japanese firms. Based on that material, I propose some recommendations for Japanese individuals, organizations, and the government. Some recommendations are learned from U.S. best practices and some are hybrid solutions that take into account Japanese cultural/ organizational customs. I believe that these recommendations will be helpful not only for my employer, NTT West, but also for all Japanese companies struggling with \"Diversity Management\" and Japanese employees struggling with their own \"Work-Life Balance\"."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["M.B.A."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Strategy for diversity management : women's leadership and work-life balance in Japan by"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Patricia Peterson Bentley."],"dc:contributor.department":["Sloan School of Management."],"dc:contributor.other":["Sloan School of Management."],"dc:creator":["Segawa, Yoshiko, M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2010-10-12T16:27:09Z"],"dc:date.available":["2010-10-12T16:27:09Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2010"],"dc:description":["Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2010.","Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-128)."],"dc:description.abstract":["Faced with a volatile global economy, a rapidly shrinking population and a declining birthrate, Japan needs to find ways to revamp its economic engine. One solution is to increase the participation of Japanese women in the workforce. Over the past decade Japanese society, its government and companies have started this process. \"Diversity Management\" and \"Work-Life Balance\" are focus areas for executives in Japanese companies with the combined goals of increasing women's participation and leadership in the workforce and improving work-life balance for all employees. However, there are significant obstacles to be overcome: lack of gender equality in the corporate culture, lack of support for work-life balance, barriers to promotion opportunities for women, and lack of motivation on the part of women themselves. Under these constraints, it is necessary that each organization, including my employer NTT West, re-consider what it has already done for diversity management, and what it can do to improve the results. In this thesis, I will describe the diversity management strategies of several large Japanese companies. Much of this information comes from the interviews I did in Tokyo in January 2010. I compare the Japanese situations and strategies to those found among U.S. companies and analyze the challenges faced by the Japanese firms. Based on that material, I propose some recommendations for Japanese individuals, organizations, and the government. Some recommendations are learned from U.S. best practices and some are hybrid solutions that take into account Japanese cultural/ organizational customs. I believe that these recommendations will be helpful not only for my employer, NTT West, but also for all Japanese companies struggling with \"Diversity Management\" and Japanese employees struggling with their own \"Work-Life Balance\"."],"dc:description.degree":["M.B.A."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59129"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"dc:subject":["Sloan School of Management."],"dc:title":["Strategy for diversity management : women's leadership and work-life balance in Japan by"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:57Z"}