Two key elements to this culture are still alien to Singaporeans, he said at a dialogue with participants at a Singapore National Employers Federation summit. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN
SINGAPORE has yet to adopt Japan's productivity culture, but can make up for it in other ways, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said on Wednesday.
Two key elements to this culture are still alien to Singaporeans, he said at a dialogue with participants at a Singapore National Employers Federation summit.
First, Japanese workers start at the bottom rung and therefore understand the workings of a company at every level. In Singapore, by contrast, 'if you send someone down to the factory floor, he feels demeaned,' said MM Lee.
Second, Japanese workers cooperate and feel a bond towards the company. They stand in for sick colleagues and, back in the days of lifetime employment, they tied their future to the company's.
MM Lee was inspired by the Japanese to launch Singapore's first productivity drive in the 1980s and even took them on as consultants. But it is still a work in progress.
'We've been trying ever since,' he said. 'Can (we) equal the Japanese? Very unlikely. Can we be competent? Yes. But we don't have the culture.'
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