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１．後半マテリアルの紹介　M先生

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《　今回のworkshop　》
○workshop参加人数：４８名（うち新人の方：５名）
○【前半】：IT in our work places
○【後半】：Baseball
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[今週のマテリアル]
≪FIRST HALF≫
＜Agenda＞
IT in our work places

＜Reference＞
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/10/29/business/corporate-business/japans-biggest-bank-might-slash-branches-20-percent-raise-profitability/#.WmXw6K5l-M8
Japan’s biggest bank plans to slash branches 20 percent and trim payroll
KYODO, JIJI
OCT 29, 2017

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan’s largest bank, is considering shrinking its domestic branch network by up to 20 percent to boost profitability, a source said Sunday.

As more of the nation’s lenders struggle under extremely low interest rates, the core unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. is aiming to trim its network of about 480 branches and streamline operations.

The reorganization of the bank’s domestic branches will be part of its new three-year business plan starting next April.

The idea is to reduce labor and use more unmanned outlets by employing digital technology, the source said.

BTMU plans to automate tasks currently undertaken by its approximately 9,500 employees as part of cost-cutting measures.

Another mega-bank group, Mizuho Financial Group Inc., is planning a similar step.

This means the 32,500 people collectively employed by MUFG, Mizuho and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. will likely see their tasks reduced partly through automation.

The branch reduction and personnel redeployment comes at a time when online banking via smartphones and other digital devices is on the rise and visits to bank tellers are declining. Over the past 10 years, BTMU saw customer visits to its branches decline by about 40 percent.

A different source familiar with the matter has said Mizuho is considering cutting about 19,000 jobs in Japan and abroad over a 10-year period, which would account for a third of its entire labor force.

The source said the group’s workforce of around 60,000 is expected to drop to 40,000 after the move, and that the bank is unlikely to solicit applicants in Japan for early retirement.

While Mizuho is streamlining operations through IT solutions, it is also looking at job cuts. Compared with the other mega-banks, Mizuho has been affected more severely by the Bank of Japan’s negative interest rate introduced in February last year.

In the April-June quarter, its two group banks’ combined net profit from core operations tumbled over 60 percent from a year earlier to \57.4 billion.

For the whole of fiscal 2017 through next March 31, the group estimates an overall net profit of \550 billion, down 8.8 percent.

＜Questions＞
Does IT really streamline our business?

Q1. What kind of IT is used in your workplace in order to streamline your business?
(EX. Email, auto calculation system, cloud etc.)

Q2. Do you think your work style is changing due to IT?

Q3. Have you been able to use the best of IT tools in your work?
-If YES, please explain why you can use it and how you use it.
-If NO, please explain why you cannot use it and what is needed so that you can use it.

Q4. Please propose a new practice of IT in your workplace.

≪LATTER HALF≫
＜Agenda＞
Baseball

The crack of the bat, the smell of the grass and the taste of fresh popcorn are just a few things you can enjoy while attending a baseball game; fundamentally a sport that began in America. It is a fantastically fun game both to play and watch, you did not have to stay on the base path while you were running; you could lead your opponents on a merry chase into the outfields.
From the beginning, baseball’s rise coincided with professional gamblers taking notice.
The people running gambling games realized that adults would be more interested in the game if they could make side bets during innings.
The gambling money soon entered the game itself. It was easy to approach a player and ask him to throw a game for a percentage of the coffers.

The White Sox

The 1919 Chicago White Sox were a talented team that was the odds-on favorite to win the World Series. But the odds didn’t take into account what was going on behind the scenes. Many of the players were grossly underpaid and didn’t trust owner Charles Comiskey, who repeatedly failed to deliver on bonuses and promises of increased compensation.
When a gambler agreed to pay a total of $100,000 to Sox players willing to hand the series to the rival Cincinnati Reds, the deal — some players felt — was too good to turn down. In a back-and-forth series that tested the mixed feelings of Sox players, the Reds ultimately won the championship. Eight members of the Sox were eventually acquitted by a grand jury of throwing the series when vital pieces of evidence disappeared.
In 1920, in an effort to save baseball from the public relations nightmare, a federal judge was named the sport’s first commissioner. Kenesaw Mountain Landis didn’t care about the grand jury’s verdict. He banned the eight accused players from Major League Baseball for life.

Pete Rose Goes to Prison

Following a Hall-of-Fame-worthy(*1) career on the field, rumors began to circulate that the Cincinnati Reds manager was gambling on baseball. A Major League investigation uncovered that Rose had even bet on his own team, although never for them to lose.
Disgraced, Rose was permanently banned from the sport and pleaded guilty to concealing his income, resulting in his stay behind bars. Still, it wasn’t until 2004 that he publicly admitted he’d placed wagers on the sport he loved. As of 2012, his applications for reinstatement to Major League Baseball have been denied.

On the Juice ?

When Sports Illustrated named its Sportsman of the Year in 1998, two men who had captured the nation’s attention received the award — Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Both hulking power hitters; McGwire with the St. Louis Cardinals and Sosa for the Chicago Cubs. Only three years later, the increasingly bulky San Francisco Giants slugger, Barry Bonds, surpassed both men’s accomplishment when he hit 73 balls out of the park(*2) in an awe-inspiring season.
The high-octane offense that Major League clubs were delivering, beginning in the late 1990s, made for great sports theater. But as allegations and revelations of performance-enhancing drug use began to surface, the public began to realize it was just that — theater, fiction, cheating. The record books had been rewritten, but also tainted. The league began a crackdown on drug use and sportswriters and fans are doubtful that names like McGwire, Sosa and Bonds will ever be included in the game’s Hall of Fame.
From 1998 to 2009 a total of 10 Major Leaguers added their names to the short and prestigious list of players to hit at least 500 homers in their careers. Six of the 10 would be tied to performance enhancing drug use.

American baseball players in Japan have been a feature of the NPB since 1934. American players began to steadily find spots on rosters in the 1960s. More than 600 Americans have played NPB, although very few last more than a single season in Japan.
Many of the most celebrated American players came to Japan after not finding success in the Major Leagues. MLB players and scouts describe play in the NPB as “AAAA” (*3)
Since the 1970s, Americans have also made an impact in Nippon Professional Baseball’s managing and coaching ranks, with Bobby Valentine and Trey Hillman managing their respective teams to Japan Series championships.

Discussion Questions

・Does team chemistry promote success, or does success translate into team chemistry?(*4)

・Why is Opening Day in baseball such a special occasion?

・What will the next wave of new stadiums look like? (Specifically, a 50 years from now).(*5)

・Will there be a retro movement to replicate veteran and riverfront stadiums?(*5)

・Why is stealing signs from the bases or dugout considered part of the game, while peeking from the batter’s box to see the catcher’s signal is considered cheating?(*6)

・Do professional athletes deserve their inflated wages?

・How much different is your opinion about players’ attitudes and those of rockstars?

Extra questions

・In Japan, most of the publicly-managed gambling are the expectation of the result of sports match. (Soccer, horse race, bicycle race, boat race and motorcycle race)
Why sports tend to be connected with gambling?

・Though performance enhancing drug use is forbidden and has negative influences on the body, it just won’t go away.
If you are a professional athlete and be recommended to use performance enhancing drug by your colleague, do you try it?
Why some athletes cannot resist using performance enhancing drug?

補足説明
(*1)Hall-of-Fame:野球殿堂
MLBで顕著な活躍をした人物、野球の発展に大きく寄与した人物の功績を称える殿堂。
全米野球記者協会による候補者選考・投票を経て資格を得た人物が殿堂入りする。
だだし、顕著な活躍をした人物あっても、賭博への関与や薬物使用の疑惑がある場合などには殿堂入りは認められない。

(*2)hit ball out of the park:本塁打を打つこと
1998年にMark McGwireとSammy Sosaはそれぞれ70本、66本の本塁打を記録し、1961年にRoger Marisが記録した当時の歴代最高記録の61本を37年ぶりに大きく更新。
2001年にはBarry Bondsが73本塁打を記録、これが現時点でのMLBの歴代最高記録。しかし後に、McGwire、 Sosa、 Bondsの3名はいずれも薬物使用疑惑が浮上。

(*3)”AAAA”:MLB（北米のプロ野球リーグ）の傘下リーグであるMinor Leagueの中で最上位のリーグはAAA(トリプルA)。
NPB(日本のプロ野球リーグ)はMLBとAAAの間くらいのレベルのリーグとみなされているため、”AAAA”と表現されることがある。

(*4)team chemistry:チーム内の選手間の相互作用によって成績が向上することを化学反応に例えてこのように表現する。
この設問は「選手間の相互作用が(本当に)成功を促進するのか、それとも成功が選手間の相互作用によるものと解釈されているだけなのか」といった意味。

(*5)stadium:野球場の形状については、内野部分は規定で明確に定められているが、外野部分や全体の広さなどについては大まかな規定はあるものの画一化されてはいない。
日本の球場はほとんどが左右対称であるが、アメリカの球場は左右非対称なものも多い。また、フェンスの高さや客席の配置などにも球場によって個性がみられる。

(*6)stealing signs:サイン盗み
一般に、監督やコーチがベンチから選手に対して出す作戦上のサインを見破り、裏をかくことなどは正当とされている。
一方で、捕手から投手に対して出されるサインを盗み見て球種やコースを知ることは不正行為とされる。
日本のプロ野球ではパ・リーグは1999年、セ・リーグは2009年にそれぞれ不正行為として明文化された。MLBでは電子機器を使ったサイン盗みがルールで禁止されている。

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