EXCERPT | CONTENTS | AUTHOR BIO | SUBJECT CATEGORIES
How culture and gender become weapons in the evaluation of both Japanese and female employees at an American company in Japan
Going Global
Culture, Gender, and Authority in the Japanese Subsidiary of an American Corporation
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Ellen V. Fuller
"Going Global is a thorough and interesting ethnographic study of a mainstream US organization in Japan, a context particularly well-suited for addressing the confluence of gender, culture, and authority issues that are its focus. The author's position as a bilingual insider with extensive access both to individuals and to organizational processes gives credibility to the descriptive accounts and confidence in the relevance of the findings. The specific organizational setting also strengthens Fuller's intended interdisciplinary appeal and highlights the rich insights and very real implications for those in similar organizations responsible to hire, develop, and assess managerial employees in foreign operations."
—John A. Volkmar, Otterbein College
In this intriguing ethnography, Ellen Fuller investigates how issues of gender and identity as they relate to authority are addressed in a globalizing corporate culture. Going Global goes behind the office politics, turf wars and day-to-day workings of a transnational American company in Japan in the late 1990s as employees try to establish a comfortable place within the company.
Fuller looks at how relationships among Asians and between Asians and Americans are tested as individuals are promoted to positions of power and authority. Is there pressure for the Japanese to be more “American” to get ahead in business? Do female employees have to subscribe to certain stereotypes to be promoted or respected? How these American and Japanese workers assess one another raises important questions about international business management and human resources.
Excerpt
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Culture, Gender, and Authority in Transnational Corporate Contexts
2. Setting Transco within the Contexts of American and Japanese Corporations
3. Uncertainty, Trust, and Commitment: Defining the Self in Relation to Employment in Transco
4. Identity and Perception at Transco: Manifestations of Confusion
5. Authority as Culture and Gender Dominance
6. Embracing Chaos: Toward a More Genuine Valuation of Difference
Notes
Reference
Index
About the Author(s)
 | Ellen V. Fuller is Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages, Literatures and Cultures and Studies in Women and Gender at the University of Virginia. |