Suzuki: Given Mitsubishi Electric’s long history, the company has some aspects that should be preserved and others that need to change. Certain things have taken root in our corporate culture that must be altered if we are to survive in an era of rapidly changing and diversifying values. Recognizing this fact was the push behind the start of the project.

Suzuki: There are three major things that we want to achieve. First, people in the company should be able to speak frankly with those above them. Second, the company should be able to tolerate failure. And finally, problems should be solved through cooperation. Fostering a new corporate culture that makes these three things possible is the Corporate Transformation Group’s mission. Ultimately, we hope to become a better company and increase our competitiveness from a global perspective.

Oyama: There are actually two types of Transformation Project. The Corporate Transformation Group works on company-wide initiatives, and individual business units and factories operate their own Transformation Projects alongside this. The Corporate Transformation Group has 43 members, and the other projects have around 300 members between them across our various business divisions and factories.

Suzuki: I’ve been involved in elevator product development since joining the company. I’ve always taken pride in the fact that Mitsubishi Elevator’s strengths are quality and technology, and worked hard to honor that. However, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, and some quality problems I’ve faced were really frustrating. When I looked into these problems more closely, I found that they were partially due to issues with the corporate culture that had built up over the years. I decided to join this program in order to solve those problems and find new confidence and pride in working for Mitsubishi Electric.

Oyama: I originally belonged to the Legal & Compliance Department, where I supported individual businesses as they dealt with contracts and problems that arose. During that time, one particular case truly shocked me. It made me realize that there were many people in our company who were dealing with problems and concerns at work, but felt unable to express their true feelings—and that I myself had not seen the essence of these problems. Joining the Corporate Transformation Group seemed like a way to address these hidden issues head-on.

Kanemoto: I felt intuitively drawn to the challenge of a new project. Also, for some time I’d been facing many problems that could not be solved by any single department, and it seemed to me that a company-wide, cross-departmental organization would be able to push for change.

Maeda: I sensed a decline in engagement among younger employees, which struck me as dangerous even if it is partly attributable to changing times. As a mid-career manager, I decided to take part in this project because I wanted to do something about this issue. I also felt that our company—and, by extension, Japanese manufacturing as a whole—needed to change if it was to survive, and I believed that successfully transforming our corporate culture in alignment with management strategy could give us new hope for the future. I wanted to help build momentum for that kind of transformation.

Oyama: We have many ongoing initiatives. For example, in the field of communication, we have initiatives to improve psychological safety and promote 1-on-1 meetings. In terms of operational improvements, we are reviewing the way meetings are held under the banner of "meeting reform." We are also creating new opportunities and platforms to encourage self-directed development. Our company does business in a wide range of business domains and employs people with diverse expertise and knowledge, so we encourage everyone to learn, teach, and connect with each other by having each employee serve as a lecturer in their own area of expertise.

Oyama: No, it isn’t. Our workforce is hugely diverse in terms of job types, and Mitsubishi Electric alone has more than 20 factories and other sites. Each site has its own culture and system environment, so—for example—if we simply announced, "We are changing the communication tool from email to posting on the intranet," it wouldn’t go smoothly.

Suzuki: The challenges we face are totally different at each site. They are affected by business conditions, and branch offices and research laboratories are completely different environments from our factories. That means we cannot simply lump all our cultural issues together. It’s important to listen to each site and understand their issues properly.

Maeda: I used to belong to the Energy & Industrial Systems Group, so I am now mainly in charge of corporate culture reform in that group. When promoting initiatives advocated by the Company-wide Reform Project, such as psychological safety and 1-on-1 meetings, I make sure that the purposes of the measures are explained to the division properly, adding explanatory details or customizing the initiative for the division if necessary.

Kanemoto: Well, "__-dono" has disappeared.

Kanemoto: At most companies, the most common honorific title used in emails between colleagues is "__-san," but at our company it was "__-dono" [which is seen as more formal than "__-san"]. It seemed a little strange, but that was the rule. Last year, we decided to start with changes we could make quickly, and encouraged the employees to use "__-san" by changing the company rule book. Everyone seems to have adopted this new approach smoothly.

Suzuki: It’s true. Everyone uses "__-san" now.

Maeda: We also decided to stop referring to people by their position.

Suzuki: When I was a section manager, everyone always called me "Section Manager." They didn’t call me by my name at all! This made me feel very distant from them, so I’m happy that everyone calls me by my name now.

Suzuki: It feels as if the walls between us have been torn down, and we can relate to each other more freely.

Kanemoto: We also updated the dress code. Letting employees dress more casually seems to have lightened the overall atmosphere of the company. Of course, there are still necessary restrictions involving safety issues and customer service, so not everyone can dress casually, but still.

Maeda: The plan was to use changes in dress as opportunities for communication, and I feel that it has made it easier to talk to people. I usually dress casually like this, but if I come to work in a three-piece suit, there’s always someone who says, "Oh, is there an important meeting or something today?" I think that the casual dress code has been effective at both creating a more relaxed atmosphere that encourages more conversation, and creating topics to talk about. Mr. Suzuki, your badge is another example of this, I think.

Suzuki: Yes, but I got the idea from you! This badge encourages people to start a casual conversation. We couldn’t think to wear anything other than suits before, so the dress code change has had a surprisingly large impact.

Kanemoto: As a company with more men than women, a change in how men dress and look makes a big difference to the workplace atmosphere.

Suzuki: I think this quick change has made a significant difference.

Kanemoto: I have joined the Human Resources Department while concurrently belong as a member of the Corporate Transformation Group since FY2022. So I’m involved in transformation initiatives related HR filed, and one target of these initiatives is revision of the personnel treatment system. We have been overhauling our personnel treatment system for the first time in 20 years and which affect approximately 35,000 of employee who work in Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. It’s a very huge project needs to consider various perspectives, because we are the company with many different jobs, business fields, and employee such as manufacturing, office workers, researchers, and so on.

Kanemoto: Once we kick off the project and start to revise the overall system, there are so many discussion points come up—"If we change this system or rules, we should change that system, and also that rule . . ." Our company is almost the size of a town or small city, so it feels like we’ve opened Pandora’s box! I didn’t know how a company runs, or the difficulties that the HR people faces, until I joined this project. So, being a member of the Corporate Transformation Group has taught me a lot—Now I understand the feelings of the people who design the company systems.

Kanemoto: We are revising the system with the two concepts of "career development support" and "Appropriate personnel evaluation that leads employees feel motivated to grow" for each employee. One of the major issues we identified through employee interviews was that employees did not understand what is evaluation criteria in the first place. The current system which created 20 years ago, is not bad still, but we think that it is the time to update from concept, because the previous concept are no longer properly understood or explained, interpretations are unclear, and certain aspects are not aligned with today’s people values. This led us to review the core concepts of the system.

Oyama: Our job involves talking with different employees, identifying organizational problems and issues, and searching for solutions. Sometimes, in the course of these efforts, people say things like "The Corporate Transformation Group has made good changes in our company." When I hear that, I feel glad from the bottom of my heart that I am doing this job.
In the summer of 2023, we conducted a survey, asking how our corporate culture had changed over the past year. About 40% employees felt that things had improved. You can view this as a large or a small number, but we were delighted to learn that 40% of our employees had a positive impression.

Suzuki: Especially since the start of fiscal year 2023, as I visit and talk with factories and branch offices around the country, I hear things like "Our communication has improved," "We’re doing 1-on-1 meetings," and "Certain tasks have become much easier." These are small changes, but they make me really happy.

Maeda: Compare the hard times with the happy times, the hard times are by far the most common. After all, no initiative will happily be accepted by everyone, and the negative reactions are inevitably more prominent. However, like Ms. Oyama and Mr. Suzuki says , I do find words of gratitude motivating. These new activities have also helped us increase our network of contacts both inside and outside the company, and the new perspectives we gain as a result are excellent learning experiences.

Maeda: There are many other companies working on corporate culture reforms, and we are in conversation with them.

Suzuki: We started in FY2021, but other companies started earlier than that, so we visit them to discuss what we think are the key points, learn from their experiences, and get different ideas. Recently, we have also been receiving an increasing number of requests to learn more about our own reforms.

Kanemoto: That idea is part of what motivates me. Looking only within the company, the changes may seem minor, but from a long-term perspective their impact should be significant.

Oyama: Mr. Uruma often reminds the Corporate Transformation Group of the need to build momentum for improving our workplaces by ourselves, and I agree with that. If this momentum grows and everyone can make their own workplace better, they will be able to work more creatively and find new ways to make their work easier. This should make Mitsubishi Electric be able to contribute more to the world as a whole.

Maeda: There is no doubt that Japan’s population will continue to decrease, and the countries of Southeast Asia are gaining on us in terms of GDP per capita. Japan has no natural resources, so if it cannot compete in the manufacturing industry, it will not be able to obtain foreign currency, buy food, or secure energy. That’s why I believe that each and every one of us needs to realize how important it is to raise productivity and corporate value, which in turn will lead to the development of the country. I hope to further drive the development of Japan’s manufacturing industry as a whole by openly sharing the Corporate Transformation Group’s accumulated success stories with other companies.

Oyama: From the earliest days of the project, the Corporate Transformation Group has been working to reform our corporate culture from the bottom up while Mr. Uruma and his management team combine their efforts with ours from the top down. Busy as Mr. Uruma is, he makes sure to take care of us, asking if we have any problems, and enjoys thinking together with us. I really appreciate that, and this support helps us stay serious about making a real changes.

Suzuki: We are aiming for a fusion between the top and the bottom, which I believe will create a chemical reaction and promote more changes. Mr. Uruma and other executives provided us with around 300 opportunities to talk with employees in FY2022, and we have already received 300 more opportunities in the first half of FY2023 alone. The top management is trying hard to share their message with us. As Ms. Oyama said, they are serious.

Suzuki: The corporate transformation we began at Mitsubishi Electric is now gradually expanding to some of our affiliates. The next question is how to expand this activity to the entire Group’s 150,000 employees. I believe that this will lead to a fundamental change across the whole Mitsubishi Electric Group.

Oyama: As I mentioned earlier, we need to heighten the momentum around improving our workplaces by ourselves. In order to do so, we need all employees—not just the members of the Corporate Transformation Group—to feel that speaking up and creating this change is their responsibility and their right. Going forward, I hope to increase the number of people like this as much as possible, expanding the circle.