Announcement of "Quantitative Survey on Old Boys' Network (OBN)" - Over 60% Respond that Their Workplace Has an OBN (a closed human relationship, custom, or organizational culture primarily formed around men)

Persol Research and Consulting Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Koto-ku, Tokyo; President: Ryo Iwata) conducted a "Quantitative Survey on Old Boys' Network (OBN)" to clarify the reality of organizational management symbolized by the Old Boys' Network (OBN: a closed human relationship, custom, or organizational culture primarily formed around men) amidst the increasing diversification of attributes in the workplace.

The OBN has been pointed out as an organizational management issue where specific human relationships and customs influence recruitment, promotion, job allocation, information sharing, and decision-making. In this survey, we defined the "deep-seated closedness" (※) – an invisible closedness inherent in organizational management that can remain even in workplaces where diversification of attributes (diversification of gender, age, etc.) has progressed – and analyzed its reality and impact.

The survey results confirmed that this type of organizational closedness persists to some extent even in workplaces with a high ratio of female employees and female managers. Furthermore, it became clear that organizations with higher deep-seated closedness tend to be less receptive to new talent and diverse perspectives, impacting both the organization and individuals.

※ Deep-seated Closedness In this survey, "deep-seated closedness" was defined as the invisible closedness inherent in organizational management, where opportunities and information are biased due to specific human relationships or customs in areas such as recruitment, promotion, job allocation, information sharing, and decision-making. This is an organizational management challenge that can remain even in workplaces where attribute diversification has progressed, separate from the composition of attributes such as gender and age.

Key Topics

[Reality of OBN and Deep-seated Closedness]

1. Awareness of "Old Boys' Network (OBN)" is 18.3%, but after explanation, 67.0% respond that it exists in their workplace: Only 18.3% had heard of the term OBN. However, when the meaning was presented, 67.0% responded that their workplace has "OBN or customs/organizational culture based on it," indicating that such relationships, customs, and organizational cultures are widely felt even if the term is not known.

2. The more OBN customs/culture are felt to "exist," the higher the "deep-seated closedness": Among those who responded that OBN-based customs/organizational culture "considerably exists" in their workplace, 94.0% had high "deep-seated closedness." The customs/culture recognized as OBN reflect the invisible closedness inherent in organizational management.

3. "Deep-seated closedness," where some human relationships and customs influence opportunities and judgments, is seen in 30-40% of companies in areas of recruitment, assignment/growth opportunities, evaluation/promotion, decision-making, work styles, and information sharing.

4. "Deep-seated closedness" remains high in about 40% of companies even with over 50% female regular employees, and in over 30% even with over 50% female managers: Although the proportion of organizations with high "deep-seated closedness" tends to decrease with the increase in the proportion of women, it remains high in about 40% of organizations even with over 50% female regular employees, and in over 30% even with over 50% female managers.

[Impact of Deep-seated Closedness]

5. In organizations with high deep-seated closedness, "it is difficult for people from outside to exert their abilities" is 5.0 times higher: In organizations with high deep-seated closedness, the feeling that "it is difficult for people from outside to exert their abilities" is 5.0 times higher compared to organizations with low deep-seated closedness. Furthermore, impacts on the organization and individuals were observed, such as new ideas and perspectives being less reflected in decision-making, and high turnover rates.

[Organizational Factors Causing Deep-seated Closedness]

6. Organizations with high deep-seated closedness are related to homogeneity/entrenchment of senior management, low member diversity, and specific organizational norms: Deep-seated closedness was related to the homogeneity/entrenchment of senior management and low member diversity. It was also strongly related to organizational norms such as "gender role norms," "resistance to change," and "long working hours commitment norms."

7. Deep-seated closedness is easily maintained because it is accompanied by "merits" such as speed of decision-making and organizational stability: The higher the deep-seated closedness in an organization, the more functional merits such as speed of decision-making and organizational stability are perceived. In particular, the proportion of "it is easy to manage and control because there are many employees of similar types" was 2.9 times higher.

[To Weaken Deep-seated Closedness]

8. To weaken deep-seated closedness, open opportunity design for everyone, such as "simultaneous sharing of important information," is important: Open information sharing and expression opportunities for everyone, and correction of biases in evaluation and opportunity allocation weakened deep-seated closedness. "Simultaneous sharing of important information" (non-monopolization of information access) had the greatest impact.

Key Topics (Details)

[Reality of OBN and Deep-seated Closedness]

1. Awareness of "Old Boys' Network (OBN)" is 18.3%, but after explanation, 67.0% respond that it exists in their workplace: Less than 20% had heard of the term "Old Boys' Network." About 80% had never heard the term itself.

On the other hand, when the meaning of OBN was explained, over 60% responded that human relationships, customs, or organizational culture of the Old Boys' Network exist in their workplace. Even if the term "Old Boys' Network" is not known, such human relationships, customs, and organizational cultures are felt.

2. The more OBN customs/culture are felt to "exist," the higher the "deep-seated closedness": The more OBN customs/culture are felt to "exist," the higher the "deep-seated closedness" (reality). In other words, the customs/culture recognized as OBN can be said to capture the same phenomenon as the closedness in organizational management that can be perceived as "deep-seated closedness." When OBN customs/organizational culture are felt to "considerably exist," the proportion of high "deep-seated closedness" reaches 94.0%.

3. "Deep-seated closedness," where some human relationships and customs influence opportunities and judgments, is seen in 30-40% of companies in areas of recruitment, assignment/growth opportunities, evaluation/promotion, decision-making, work styles, and information sharing: In recruitment, "influence of informal connections with management and senior managers" (33.8%); in assignment/growth opportunities, "tendency for employees similar to veteran members in work style, values, and career to be selected as leader candidates" (39.5%); in evaluation/promotion, "personal preferences and ideas of supervisors or management influencing promotion decisions" (44.2%). Thus, "deep-seated closedness" is seen in 30-40% of companies in recruitment, assignment/growth opportunities, and evaluation/promotion.

In decision-making, "strong atmosphere of conforming to members with authority" (36.6%); in work styles, "differences in important job assignments based on work style differences" (35.2%); in information sharing, "information is shared first through informal connections with management and senior managers" (38.4%). Thus, "deep-seated closedness" is seen in 30-40% of companies in decision-making, work styles, and information sharing.

4. "Deep-seated closedness" remains high in about 40% of companies even with over 50% female regular employees, and in over 30% even with over 50% female managers: Although the proportion of organizations with high "deep-seated closedness" tends to decrease with the increase in the proportion of women, "deep-seated closedness" remains high in about 40% of organizations even when the proportion of women is over 50%.

Similarly, "deep-seated closedness" remains high in over 30% of organizations even when the proportion of female managers is over 50%.

[Impact of Deep-seated Closedness]

5. In organizations with high deep-seated closedness, "it is difficult for people from outside to exert their abilities" is 5.0 times higher: The higher the "deep-seated closedness," the more likely it is to feel difficulty in new talent entry, lack of diverse perspectives, and high turnover rates at the organizational level.

In particular, the proportion of "it is difficult for people from outside to exert their abilities" is 5.0 times higher compared to when deep-seated closedness is low. Furthermore, at the individual level, career opportunities are likely to be constrained, growth stagnation is likely to be felt, and hesitation to speak up and decreased motivation are likely to occur.

Looking at the negative impacts of "deep-seated closedness" on individuals by gender and age, the impact is particularly large for women in their 40s, with "decreased motivation," "hesitation to speak up," and "career opportunity constraints" ranging from +43% to +46%. Furthermore, decreased motivation in men in their 20s (+41%) and career opportunity constraints in women in their 20s and men in their 60s (+41% to +42%) are also significant, affecting younger and senior generations as well.

[Organizational Factors Causing Deep-seated Closedness]

6. Organizations with high deep-seated closedness are related to homogeneity/entrenchment of senior management, low member diversity, and specific organizational norms: "Deep-seated closedness" is related to senior management (department manager level and above) being male, from specific departments, or fixed members; a bias towards older age groups, and a low number of mid-career hires and foreign employees; and high gender role norms, resistance to change, and long working hours commitment norms. On the other hand, no clear relationship was found between company size and "deep-seated closedness."

Organizational norms (normative values) influencing "deep-seated closedness" were examined. "Gender role norms," "resistance to change," and "long working hours commitment norms" strongly influence "deep-seated closedness."

7. Deep-seated closedness is easily maintained because it is accompanied by "merits" such as speed of decision-making and organizational stability: The higher the "deep-seated closedness" in an organization, the more organizational functional merits such as speed of decision-making and organizational stability are perceived.

In particular, the proportion of "it is easy to manage and control because there are many employees of similar types" is 2.9 times higher compared to when deep-seated closedness is low.

[To Weaken Deep-seated Closedness]

8. To weaken deep-seated closedness, open opportunity design for everyone, such as "simultaneous sharing of important information," is important: Multiple regression analysis results showed that "open opportunity design for everyone," such as "non-monopolization of information access," "opening opportunities to express opinions," and "correcting biases in evaluation and opportunity allocation," weakened "deep-seated closedness." Among these, "simultaneous sharing of important information (non-monopolization of information access)" had the greatest impact. On the other hand, diversity initiatives with a closed scope tended to maintain "deep-seated closedness."

The higher the open opportunity design for everyone, the lower the "deep-seated closedness." Among these, the proportion of "feeling that traditional customs are strong and new ways of doing things are difficult to accept" is 9.6 points lower when open opportunity design is high compared to when it is low.

Recommendations from Survey Results

Even if attribute diversification progresses, closed organizational management will not be resolved unless the way decisions are made and opportunities are given changes. Rather, under superficial diversification, this state becomes less visible and is maintained and reproduced without notice.

In this way, the state where closedness remains in reality despite the progress of attribute diversification can be positioned as "modern OBN (OBN 2.0)."

While such closedness may bring about functional merits in the short term, such as speed of decision-making, organizational stability, and rational adaptation of individuals, it can also lead to decreased motivation, turnover, and stagnation of growth through biased opportunities and lack of diverse perspectives, potentially undermining the vitality of the entire organization.

Therefore, simply diversifying attributes is not enough. What is important is to review the design itself of "to whom and how opportunities are opened."

- Is important information shared without bias to only a few people? - Are the opinions of people from diverse backgrounds reflected in decision-making? - Are evaluations and promotions not influenced by specific relationships or backgrounds?

Reviewing these points and creating "opportunities open to everyone" is the key to resolving the deep-rooted closedness in organizations.

Even if diversification progresses on the surface, biases in opportunity allocation and decision-making become less visible and are preserved.

"Opportunity design open to everyone" is the key to resolution.

● When citing this survey, please indicate "Persol Research and Consulting" as the source.

● For details on the survey results, please visit the following URL:

URL: https://rc.persol-group.co.jp/thinktank/data/old-boy-network/

● The sum of individual aggregated values may not always be 100% because the figures for proportions are rounded to the second decimal place.

Survey Overview

About Persol Research and Consulting Co., Ltd. <https://rc.persol-group.co.jp/>

As the think tank and consulting firm of the Persol Group, Persol Research and Consulting conducts research and studies, organizational and human resources consulting, and human resource development and educational support. We provide data-driven, empirical proposals and solutions to help solve management and HR challenges, supporting the growth of people and organizations.

About PERSOL <https://www.persol-group.co.jp/>

As a "company that creates 'working well-being'," the Persol Group aims to "create better working opportunities for one million people by expanding human potential" by 2030.

Through various businesses and services, we respond to the diverse needs of working people and expand their potential, creating a society where everyone in the world can feel "Hataraku, Shite, Warau." (Work and Smile and Work).