Joseph Grammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "rational"
Yakuza Management
So last Thursday I re-watched Outrage, a Japanese film by Beat Takeshi, for my weekly Review Day. The movie was important for me because, after the first viewing, I invented one of the main characters in my current novel.
On that note (not really), I've been thinking about managers. Good ones, bad ones, forgettable, average ones. Naturally I considered the management tactics of the yakuza in Outrage, which was one--surprise--of authority and violence. And in light of the fact that my girlfriend is reading The Art of Woo, a nonfiction book about persuasion and management styles, I thought it would be interesting to see which of the six "styles" apply to the yakuza in this film.
The six styles are these: relationships, interest, vision, politics, authority, and rationality.
The main characters in Outrage are these: Otomo, a yakuza underboss; Ikemoto, Otomo's boss; Murase, a drug dealer; Sekiuchi, the Grand Yakuza.
So.
1.) The relationship style is one of persuasion through personal connection. This was important in Outrage when a yakuza boss, Ikemoto, formed a pact with Murase, a small-time drug lord he had met in prison. The act of sharing sake cemented a relationship to make them sworn brothers, which was good; but it put Ikemoto in hot water with his sworn father, the family boss Sekiuchi, who hated drug dealing. For better or worse, though, Ikemoto gained the power to make Murase do things, because he had forged a relationship.
I noticed that many characters appealed to their bonds with others before resorting to violence. A crooked cop, for example, who is acquaintances with Otomo (the underboss), warns him when the police are tracking him, and not only because the unsavory officer takes bribes from the clan. He makes a point of appealing to their relationship to persuade Otomo to avoid trouble (although he is not a "friend" by any means).
Sekiuchi, too, relies on his network of contacts to earn money through various businesses, whether casinos, adult entertainment, or bars.
2.) The interest-based style, however, persuades by anticipating others' tendencies and desires. It reminds me of the mentalizing concept of psychology: the ability of one person to "get inside" another's head and imagine her perspective.
Sekiuchi, the family boss, plays ambitious underlings against each other because he knows their interests; he can predict their reactions in certain situations, and he uses this information to his advantage. Ikemoto, meanwhile, pledges to realize Murase's wish to join the powerful Sanno-kai by making a pact with him. Because he knows how badly Murase wants to join, and because he frames his behavior as acting in Murase's interest ("our pact will help you get rich and powerful"), he uses an interest-based management style.
3.) With a vision orientation, you must remind your team why you're here in the first place. You call to mind the values and goals of your organization, whether it's "to provide affordable healthcare in urban neighborhoods" or "to keep the Sanno-kai family the strongest gang in Tokyo." This particular style wasn't used as often in Outrage, since the next type, authority, was favored. Although, part of the yakuza vision--their values and beliefs--is rigid acceptance of the chain of command, so you could consider an appeal to obedience as evidence of vision-style persuasion.
4.) Now for authority persuaders: they tell you what to do, because they said so. It's not hard to see why gangsters enjoy this particular method, especially with tools like fists, knives, and guns at their disposal, which emphasize their commands. There's not much more to be said, other than mentioning the widespread prevalence of authoritative "management" in Outrage.
5.) Politics, as defined by "The Art of Woo," is the system of deals and counter-deals, of back channels and lobbying groups, and of "appearances" that are used to effect change. Sekiuchi, the Grand Yakuza, pulls the strings on his hierarchy of clans and sub-clans to solve the Ikemoto-Murase problem. He induces Ikemoto to start a war with Murase, claiming he (Ikemoto) would receive the conquered turf, but then disavows Otomo, Ikemoto's underboss and fighter, when he actually starts killing. On a broader scale, the whole yakuza organization engages in politics by presenting a veneer of legitimate business: each clan has his own business office in a respectable part of Tokyo, complete with secretary and office furniture. You could say Ikemoto and Murase's pact is also a form of politics, since they created an alliance, and it was politics when they lobbied Sekiuchi to resolve their difficulties with one another.
6.) The rationality style, finally, relies on logic and numbers to convince people. Ikemoto uses authority more often, when speaking to Otomo, but he also touts rationality as a reason for why they must kill certain people (e.g., to not look weak). The argument is presented as cut-and-dry business: we want to expand, in order to expand we need territory and no competition, so let's kill the competition and take their territory. Of course, Otomo doesn't have much of a say even if he disagreed with the logic; he is sworn to obey, to listen to the hierarchy.
Sekiuchi tends to use both direct authority (go do this) and politics/interest (I promise you x if you do this, but don't tell y about it). Ikemoto uses his relationship (we are brothers, help me out) and authority. Otomo opts for straight-up authority and never uses politics, which makes sense because he has the least power of all three. He also kills the most people, which isn't a great thing, unless you're in a yakuza movie.
One last point: modifying these six styles are "self-oriented" and "other-oriented" domains, as well as "loudness" or "quietness." Suffice it to say that authority and rationality styles tend to reflect a self-oriented view, while relationships and interest favor other-oriented behavior. As for loud or quiet, that literally refers to one's level of volume and energy when persuading. Ikemoto, for example, almost never raises his voice; Otomo is very soft-spoken, even laconic, until he's about to kill someone: then he screams. It's a jarring effect, and one that is likely intentional, to shock or frighten the enemy before he strikes.
What are your persuasion styles? How do you get people to see your point of view, or, at work, to go do stuff for you? Hopefully you never have to do this if you make a mistake (warning, there's blood).
Gambatte!
On that note (not really), I've been thinking about managers. Good ones, bad ones, forgettable, average ones. Naturally I considered the management tactics of the yakuza in Outrage, which was one--surprise--of authority and violence. And in light of the fact that my girlfriend is reading The Art of Woo, a nonfiction book about persuasion and management styles, I thought it would be interesting to see which of the six "styles" apply to the yakuza in this film.
The six styles are these: relationships, interest, vision, politics, authority, and rationality.
The main characters in Outrage are these: Otomo, a yakuza underboss; Ikemoto, Otomo's boss; Murase, a drug dealer; Sekiuchi, the Grand Yakuza.
So.
1.) The relationship style is one of persuasion through personal connection. This was important in Outrage when a yakuza boss, Ikemoto, formed a pact with Murase, a small-time drug lord he had met in prison. The act of sharing sake cemented a relationship to make them sworn brothers, which was good; but it put Ikemoto in hot water with his sworn father, the family boss Sekiuchi, who hated drug dealing. For better or worse, though, Ikemoto gained the power to make Murase do things, because he had forged a relationship.
I noticed that many characters appealed to their bonds with others before resorting to violence. A crooked cop, for example, who is acquaintances with Otomo (the underboss), warns him when the police are tracking him, and not only because the unsavory officer takes bribes from the clan. He makes a point of appealing to their relationship to persuade Otomo to avoid trouble (although he is not a "friend" by any means).
Sekiuchi, too, relies on his network of contacts to earn money through various businesses, whether casinos, adult entertainment, or bars.
2.) The interest-based style, however, persuades by anticipating others' tendencies and desires. It reminds me of the mentalizing concept of psychology: the ability of one person to "get inside" another's head and imagine her perspective.
Sekiuchi, the family boss, plays ambitious underlings against each other because he knows their interests; he can predict their reactions in certain situations, and he uses this information to his advantage. Ikemoto, meanwhile, pledges to realize Murase's wish to join the powerful Sanno-kai by making a pact with him. Because he knows how badly Murase wants to join, and because he frames his behavior as acting in Murase's interest ("our pact will help you get rich and powerful"), he uses an interest-based management style.
3.) With a vision orientation, you must remind your team why you're here in the first place. You call to mind the values and goals of your organization, whether it's "to provide affordable healthcare in urban neighborhoods" or "to keep the Sanno-kai family the strongest gang in Tokyo." This particular style wasn't used as often in Outrage, since the next type, authority, was favored. Although, part of the yakuza vision--their values and beliefs--is rigid acceptance of the chain of command, so you could consider an appeal to obedience as evidence of vision-style persuasion.
4.) Now for authority persuaders: they tell you what to do, because they said so. It's not hard to see why gangsters enjoy this particular method, especially with tools like fists, knives, and guns at their disposal, which emphasize their commands. There's not much more to be said, other than mentioning the widespread prevalence of authoritative "management" in Outrage.
5.) Politics, as defined by "The Art of Woo," is the system of deals and counter-deals, of back channels and lobbying groups, and of "appearances" that are used to effect change. Sekiuchi, the Grand Yakuza, pulls the strings on his hierarchy of clans and sub-clans to solve the Ikemoto-Murase problem. He induces Ikemoto to start a war with Murase, claiming he (Ikemoto) would receive the conquered turf, but then disavows Otomo, Ikemoto's underboss and fighter, when he actually starts killing. On a broader scale, the whole yakuza organization engages in politics by presenting a veneer of legitimate business: each clan has his own business office in a respectable part of Tokyo, complete with secretary and office furniture. You could say Ikemoto and Murase's pact is also a form of politics, since they created an alliance, and it was politics when they lobbied Sekiuchi to resolve their difficulties with one another.
6.) The rationality style, finally, relies on logic and numbers to convince people. Ikemoto uses authority more often, when speaking to Otomo, but he also touts rationality as a reason for why they must kill certain people (e.g., to not look weak). The argument is presented as cut-and-dry business: we want to expand, in order to expand we need territory and no competition, so let's kill the competition and take their territory. Of course, Otomo doesn't have much of a say even if he disagreed with the logic; he is sworn to obey, to listen to the hierarchy.
Sekiuchi tends to use both direct authority (go do this) and politics/interest (I promise you x if you do this, but don't tell y about it). Ikemoto uses his relationship (we are brothers, help me out) and authority. Otomo opts for straight-up authority and never uses politics, which makes sense because he has the least power of all three. He also kills the most people, which isn't a great thing, unless you're in a yakuza movie.
One last point: modifying these six styles are "self-oriented" and "other-oriented" domains, as well as "loudness" or "quietness." Suffice it to say that authority and rationality styles tend to reflect a self-oriented view, while relationships and interest favor other-oriented behavior. As for loud or quiet, that literally refers to one's level of volume and energy when persuading. Ikemoto, for example, almost never raises his voice; Otomo is very soft-spoken, even laconic, until he's about to kill someone: then he screams. It's a jarring effect, and one that is likely intentional, to shock or frighten the enemy before he strikes.
What are your persuasion styles? How do you get people to see your point of view, or, at work, to go do stuff for you? Hopefully you never have to do this if you make a mistake (warning, there's blood).
Gambatte!
