Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 223
Nationality is not an explanation
Examine support for restraint, inference, and interpersonal harmony while preserving version, population, cultural context, and interaction evidence
Premise
The Japanese Enryo–Sasshi Communication Scale measures psychological support for a communication style organized around enryo and sasshi. Enryo concerns restraint or hesitation in direct self-expression; sasshi concerns inferring another person’s unspoken intention, need, or meaning. The construct is an orientation toward a relational pattern, not a count of silent or indirect behaviors.
For executives, the scale can make differing expectations discussable: whether meaning should be stated or inferred, whether direct requests feel appropriate, and when preserving face or harmony competes with explicit disclosure. It cannot attribute a specific exchange to culture, diagnose a deficit, or rank indirectness and directness as universally inferior or superior.
What the model is: The Japanese Enryo–Sasshi Communication Scale in Knowledge →
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- Why this matters
- Risks and limits
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- Key questions
- Selected sources
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- FamilyTool
- CategoryMeasurement & Assessment Instruments
- DomainAcross Cultures
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Tool
In this series, Tool names the editorial family primarily used to act on, examine, measure or organize communication. It includes instruments, methods, practices, protocols, codes and institutional arrangements. Membership does not certify effectiveness, portability or safe use in every setting.
Editorial orientation · Category
Measurement & Assessment Instruments
Produces measures, scores, profiles or assessments through defined items, observations or measurement rules. The entry identifies what is measured and the conditions governing interpretation.