In a small Japanese company, the president and employees may work in the same room and talk casually throughout the day. There may be fewer job titles than in a large corporation, and the distance between people can appear surprisingly small. Being easy to approach, however, does not mean that everyone has the same authority.
A new employee should normally begin by following the instructions of their direct supervisor. The president may be sitting only a few meters away, but that does not necessarily mean you should take every question directly to the top. If your supervisor has already given you instructions and you ask the president for a different decision without informing them, it may look as though you are bypassing the chain of command.
There are reasonable exceptions. If the president personally assigned the task, it is natural to ask the president for clarification. The same may be true when your supervisor is absent and an urgent decision cannot wait.
The more difficult situation is receiving different instructions from the president and your supervisor. Choosing one without saying anything and allowing the disagreement to continue can leave you responsible if something later goes wrong.
In that situation, make the difference in instructions clear to both sides. You might say, “My supervisor asked me to handle it this way, but I understood from the president that I should do it differently.” Then ask which instruction you should follow and make sure the people involved know what has been decided.
This is where *horenso* becomes important. The word is an abbreviation of *hokoku*, *renraku*, and *sodan*: reporting, communicating, and consulting. The aim is not to avoid responsibility by pushing it onto someone else. It is to prevent one employee from trying to resolve contradictory instructions alone when the situation should be shared with the people who gave them.
Small companies may also rely heavily on unwritten rules. Procedures are not always recorded in detail because long-term employees assume that “everyone knows” how things are done. In some companies, a relative of the president or an employee who has been there since the early years may have more influence than their formal title suggests.
That does not mean a new employee should immediately try to understand the company’s entire informal hierarchy. The safest starting point is still to follow your direct supervisor, ask when something is unclear, and gradually learn how the company actually works.
Foreign employees may need to be especially careful. Even when their Japanese is good, small differences in wording or understanding can later become a dispute over who said what. Confirm who assigned the task, what steps are expected, and whether everyone involved has the same understanding.
In many Japanese workplaces, giving a progress update before a problem develops is valued more than explaining everything afterward. Taking slightly more care than seems necessary can reduce later misunderstandings and create the impression that you are reliable.
In a small company, the president may be only a few desks away. That does not mean you can take shortcuts with communication.