Title: "Corporate English Language Education in Japan: Motivation, Customization and Accountability"
1. Mr. Dolan's Presentation:
(For his essay on this topic, see the following:
http://www.glocom.org/special_topics/colloquium/20020508_dolan_corporate/)
Today I would like to talk about corporate English language education in Japan. In general, the English language education market is huge, approximately 3 billion US dollars a year. As a segment of that market, the corporate language education market is also big and growing. What I would like to emphasize today is that although this corporate education market is really big, there are better or worse ways of approaching it. What I would like to do is talk about three main features that I think are critical for players who enter this market and hope to succeed.
The first feature is motivation. The old "this is a pen" model of English language education is dead because nobody cares. It is important to ask the following questions: (1) What do corporations (clients) want employees to learn? (2) What do employees (learners) need to learn? For the purpose of motivating both clients and learners, we must answer these two questions separately. The second feature is customization. Training material and teaching strategies have to meet the specific needs of clients and learners. The third feature is accountability, because clients will demand evidence of learning. Here, service provider and client should agree on learning objectives and success criteria. Pre- and post-service testing provides one important measure of learning, and focused feedback from learners provides another measure. Two examples of corporate language education with these features are The Princeton Review of Japan and Cerego, Japan, both founded by Andrew Smith Lewis.
2. Mr. Lewis' Presentation:
I think of the three features Dan discussed as standards. In Japan, one of the things that I think is lacking is certain standards or rules by which we judge educational organizations. In this field of corporate language education, a tremendous amount of resources is spent every year, but the results are more limited than they should be. So I started a scientific research company, Cerego, to see how we could improve the quality of education, regardless of topic. So I looked at my own small business, The Princeton Review of Japan, and I asked: "What makes this business successful?" "What is the real value?" The value is that people get great results. And the results are a function of great materials and great instructors, but also a function of smart students, who can learn quickly and who can take the information to learn and use it again. I felt that if there was a way of improving the way people could learn, we could make students much better performers on tests or in language opportunities.
Here is how I believe science can be applied to motivation, customization and accountability. Motivation is a function of biology of learning. How to motivate and stimulate the brain biologically is quite challenging. Customization for me means basically two levels. First you need to adapt to any content. So I am building a system that is content-independent. Customization also means personalizing to the individual, that is, personalizing the study experience. These customization aspects are very important. Finally, accountability is the key when it comes time to pay for results. It is important to have a system that produces actual results that can be seen immediately. At Cerego we are trying to build a product with these standards.
Title: "On Corporate Global Skill Training in Japan"
3. Mr. Furukawa's Presentation:
Today, I would like to talk about trends of corporate training in the area of global business skills among Japanese companies. In particular, I will overview a brief history for the past 15 years, and analyze the present situation of global business skills training, and suggest possible ways to transform competent 'domestic managers' to 'global managers'.
First, 1987 to 1993: I would call this 'the age of extreme'. At that time, Japanese companies invested a considerable amount on corporate training and it was mostly focused on two areas; MBA programs and in-company English conversation courses. The Japanese economy was so successful that a majority of people believed there was nothing we could learn from other countries. As a result, not many companies were too serious about global skills training because Japan was supposed to be emulated globally. Then, the period from 1994 through 1999, which I call 'the age of confusion'. There were tremendous budget cuts on training after the collapse of 'the bubble economy'. That meant budget cuts for training suppliers and I observed a sharp decline in the quality of programs that those companies offered. And the current 2000 – 2002 period is the time for concentration and selection, when strategic global skills training schemes for core human resources are being implemented. Training for core human resources is regarded as one of the important factors for successful corporations, greatly influenced by Jack Welch's success in building the Corporate University where corporate training synchronizes with corporate strategies.
Traditionally, a majority of core workers tended not to be too fluent in communicating in English, mainly because their job did not require them to use it. However, globalization and the Internet are forcing a change in definition of competent core members. In this rapidly changing business environment, skills and networks to collect and select information from all possible sources, from human networks around the world to the Internet, have become a very important factor that defines competent core members. Communicating freely in English and in a way that is clear to anyone in the world is a key factor to achieve this. Many companies are starting to realize this fact, but have not yet found a way to achieve this.
The biggest question is how to motivate intellectual business persons. What we need is stimuli to intelligence and professionalism that will lead to their continuous self-learning, where e-learning could play an effective role. For effective learning, necessary skills for a global professional or what we call 'a global good communicator' should clearly be defined first. The definition is two-folds; good English communication skills and the 'MBA thinking process'. For the MBA thinking process, we suggest that core workers understand protocols of MBAs, because learning skills such as presentations, negotiations, meetings, leadership and knowledge on finance, marketing, organizational behavior, etc. are very important in doing business globally.
In sum, corporate training in global business skills is in the state of change now, and strong leadership and strategic implementation are the key for success.
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