🌸Management Future Notebook Friday (Issue 135) Complete Preservation Edition - Why Management in the AI Era Needs the 'Power to Translate Atmosphere into Words': The Limits of 'Organizations That Cannot Be Protected by Structure Alone' as Seen from ANA's Business Improvement Recommendation

🌸Management Future Notebook Friday (Issue 135) Complete Preservation Edition - Why Management in the AI Era Needs the 'Power to Translate Atmosphere into Words'
The Limits of 'Organizations That Cannot Be Protected by Structure Alone' as Seen from ANA's Business Improvement Recommendation

(Written by Akifumi Yasumura / Business Ability Development Co., Ltd.)
Since today is Friday,
I will share some inspiration to keep in your heart over the weekend through episodes of history and culture.
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■ Introduction

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has issued a business improvement recommendation to major airline ANA.
In the reports,
・Use of prohibited oil
・False records
・Failure to perform necessary maintenance
・Acts of partial concealment
are being viewed as problematic.
The aviation industry is the most 'structured' industry in the world.
Manuals.
Double checks.
Triple checks.
The Swiss Cheese Model.
CRM (Crew Resource Management).
Under the premise that 'humans make mistakes',
they have layered safety structures.
Even so, accidents and deviations occur.
This fact poses a heavy question to managers.
'Can an organization truly become safe if you just set up the structure?'
Today, I would like to think about this theme from the perspective of 'Japanese people's non-cognitive abilities'.
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■ We were supposed to have protected safety with structure, but...

For many years, ANA has built its brand value on:
・Absolute safety
・Discipline
・On-site capability
・Team operations
In other words, this incident is not just a simple maintenance error.
What the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism viewed as problematic was
the point that 'the safety management system is not functioning'.
In other words, the 'structure itself' existed.
However, small deviations had accumulated.
This is not limited to the aviation industry.
It is the same in corporate management.
Even if you set up:
・Internal controls
・KPIs
・AI monitoring
・Governance
・Evaluation systems
what ultimately destroys an organization is often:
・Silence
・Atmosphere
・Habit
・Fatigue
・Guessing what others want (Sontaku)
This is where the difficulty of modern management lies.
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■ The Swiss Cheese Model doesn't work if there are 'mice'

In the aviation industry, there is a famous concept called the 'Swiss Cheese Model'.
It is the idea of layering multiple defensive walls to prevent accidents.
Even if one hole opens, the next defensive wall stops it.
It is an excellent mechanism.
However, what has become visible this time is that
it wasn't just holes, but a force working to erode the cheese itself from the inside.
In other words,
・False records
・Avoidance of reporting
・'This much is fine'
・Silence due to atmosphere
When these enter, the defensive structure itself
begins to collapse from the inside.
And what's troublesome is that the more advanced the defensive structure becomes,
the more a psychological sense of complacency is born, thinking
'I'm safe because this mechanism is in place'.
Then humans begin to flow in the direction of:
・Stopping feeling discomfort
・Stopping thinking for themselves
・Rationalizing small deviations
Structure is a necessary condition. However, it is not a sufficient condition.
In the end, it comes back to 'human intuition'.
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■ Japanese people were originally strong at noticing 'small discomforts'

I believe that Japanese people were originally a people with a high
'ability to perceive small discomforts'.
Japanese society has a history of protecting safety through 'intuition' rather than structure.
・Aun no kokyu (non-verbal communication)
・Culture of sensing
・Ma (the space between)
・Reading the atmosphere
・Sensing signs
These were the senses we had.
From an overseas perspective, it is a culture that looks ambiguous.
However, if you look at it from another perspective,
it can be said that it was a 'culture of sensing subtle changes'.
In other words, Japanese people originally had a strong ability to sense 'information that leaked out of the structure'.
However, now, AI, systems, and remote work are beginning to
intervene between humans.
Then,
・Physical distance
・Decrease in casual conversation
・Silence
・Non-face-to-face interaction
are making the non-cognitive ability to sense each other
difficult to function.
This may be a major problem for modern Japanese organizations.
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■ What is needed from now on is the 'power to translate atmosphere into words'

Overseas, especially in Western-style organizations,
they have developed under the premise that 'atmosphere is not shared'.
Therefore, they have thoroughly developed:
・Contracts
・Manuals
・Obligation to speak
・Accountability
・Speak Up culture
In other words, it can be called a 'culture that does not trust atmosphere'.
On the other hand,
Japan has relied very heavily on supplementation by atmosphere.
However, AI cannot completely understand atmosphere.
What AI and systems can handle is
'verbalized information'.
In other words, for Japanese companies from now on,
not just the 'power to read the atmosphere',
but the 'power to translate atmosphere into appropriate words'
will become necessary.
Put discomfort into words.
Share the vague feelings.
Visualize the silence.
This may be the new non-cognitive ability required of managers in the AI era.
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■ Editor's Note

In the past, sales floors
were truly filled with noise.
The sound of loud phones
Angry shouts
Laughter
Casual conversation
Consultations
There was human heat throughout the office.
However, today's offices are silent.
While silence increases concentration,
it also has elements that divide people and erode human relationships.
I want us to remember that danger.
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■ Today's Question

In your organization,
is 'discomfort' properly being put into words?
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■ Cat's Mutterings

'Maybe Japanese people in the past didn't just "read the atmosphere," but also felt the "discrepancy in the atmosphere," meow.'
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■ Conclusion

Future management cannot be protected by 'structuring ability' alone.
What ultimately supports an organization may be the 'power to feel small discomforts and translate them into words'.
While silence creates concentration, it slowly erodes people's hearts.
I want us to remember that.

As a place where tired managers can leave their words for a while.
―Manager's Midnight Diner
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■ Click here for the 40 selections chosen by the Editor-in-Chief of the Management Future Notebook

─ A 'Structural Map' for managers to read the future
https://note.com/quiet_gnu5848/n/n3596a857d755
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■ Please feel free to send us your feedback.

yasumura@biz-noukai.com
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■ Preview for next time, May 23rd

Why do shops with many lost items thrive?
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■ Akifumi Yasumura

Management Future Notebook
Advisor for Organization and Management (A role of quietly walking alongside)
#Manager's Midnight Diner

■ Appendix