This was a nice example of the management style (or lack thereof) applied at Pipes R Us.
This morning, Seno-san (my supervisor) asked me to use a whole lot of test data to make up some graphs showing the relationship between pressure and airflow (for Pipes R Us products). Why? No idea, but of course it is not a kouhai's (junior's) place to ask such things. When I do ask (indirectly, of course) what they are for, I simply get the hissing intake of breath to convey that this is indeed an inappropriate question.
Anyway, I do a thorough job of it and presented eleven graphs for his approval (after 2.5 hours or so). He says "Just leave it on my desk, I'll check it later" and goes outside (the office, not the building, of course) for a cigarette (or three). He comes back and checks the data, then says "I wanted you to put two lines on the same graph".
Oh. What a pity he didn't say that. I'm not very good at this isshin denshin (mental telepathy) stuff. So I make eleven new graphs and leave them on his desk (ciggy time again, apparently). He comes back and says "The Y axis doesn't concur with my spot test". I spend 40 minutes looking for a mistake, quite sure that I haven't made one (it is not a kouhai's place to correct his sempai). Finally, he comes back and admits (Lo and Behold!) that his test was wrong (no apologies to a kouhai, of course).
He asks me to change the titles on all the graphs. I print them all out again. He asks me to change the mmH2O to Pa (pressure units) on all the graphs (both were on the information I was given, so I guessed which one to use). I change it on the computer and ask him to check it on the screen. Not keen to get up until another nicotine fix calls, he says "Just print it out and give it to me". I say, in the politest Japanese I know, that I'd like to save paper. He gives me the "Which planet are you from?" look to which I am rapidly becoming accustomed as a gaijin in Japan.
I go back and print them out again. He asks me to reduce the range of data to a specified level. I print them out again. He asks me to reduce the data range more. I do. He goes through the whole lot testing with his own calculations (why did he delegate if he doesn't trust me?).
Then he says "Hey, there's one missing!". What a calamity! In the small forest of paper which I have printed out, I have neglected to reprint (for the fourth time only) one of eleven sheets! As required, I apologise profusely for this monumental blunder on my part and immediately print the offending article. While I'm doing so, he brings a few more which he has smudged ever so slightly and tells me to reprint them too.
Seven hours (and many reprints) later, I still have no idea what these graphs are for. Maybe if I had been deemed worthy to receive such information, I could have done the whole thing the way it was needed the first time. Of course, that would allow for some personal ownership of the task, and (most horrifying) some degree of independence in finding the most efficient method.
Unthinkable!