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Key concepts influencing Japanese business practices are examined. These include amae, hitonami, haji, and ringi. The major cross‐cultural training and development issues are discussed and problem areas highlighted where there can be vast differences in the approach of a Japanese manager from that of a Western manager in the same situation. Problem areas and training needs are identified, particularly in communication skills, so that Japanese managers can be better equipped for dealing with Western‐based organisations.

Much of the negotiation literature involves two parties that are each assumed to behave in a unitary manner, although a growing body of knowledge considers more complex negotiations. Examples of the latter include two parties where one or both parties do not behave in a unitary manner, multiple parties on one or both sides, parties on multiple sides and parties engaged in separate but linked negotiations. Greater degrees of complexity distinguish these negotiations from negotiations with two unitary parties.

The influence of traditional individually oriented Organization Development (OD), with its focus on psychological dispositions, on self-development and growth, is currently waning. I argue here that individually oriented OD would be well served by a new focus on habitus and social position that expand our understanding of human behavior. Using Bourdieu's concept of social position in the form of “habitus-oriented approach,” as I do here using my consulting experience, allows individually oriented OD to become a scholarly and professional site that understands human behavior in terms of both the social and the personal.