JPC President Tsuneaki Taniguchi (L) welcoming Mr. Yeo (R)

5-7 October 2009, Tokyo, Japan

Six middle and senior managers and consultants from the Korea Productivity Center (KPC) visited Japan to study recent developments and best practices in industrial training and educational organizations, 5−7 October. The visit was conducted as part of the Individual-country Observational Study Mission (I-OSM) initiative, in which the APO assists NPOs in capacity building and competitiveness enhancement by learning best practices from other member countries. The mission, led by Executive Director for Human Capitalism Management Sang Chul Yeo, learned about Japanese practices and recent trends in management training and education programs from the Japan Productivity Center (JPC). The JPC also arranged visits to the Japan Management Association, Price Waterhouse Coopers HRS Co., Ltd., and NEC Learning, Ltd.

Executive Director Yeo paid particular attention to the monthly breakfast meetings that are common in Japan as a medium for information sharing and exchange among business people and experts within a specific sector. He also noted the new emphasis on the mental health of workers and leadership education for managers. “It was interesting to note that the leadership programs for next generation include not only business management but also humanities subjects such as religion, literature, history, and philosophy for improving their creativity and capacity for wider thinking”. He explained that special lectures on those subjects for CEOs have been recently popular in Korea.

APO Secretary-General Takenaka (L) with mission delegates

The mission members also paid a courtesy call on APO Secretary-General Shigeo Takenaka on 7 October. During their visit, the Secretary-General explained the APO’s efforts to improve its training courses along with their key features and implementation procedure. “It was a great opportunity for us to learn the current trends and practices of Japan in the area of industrial and management education. It also helped me have a better understanding of the roles and functions of the APO. I think that this program was possible thanks to the close network of the KPC and JPC under the umbrella of the APO, which makes extra efforts to promote close alliances and cooperation among member countries,” commented Yeo.