Management and Industrial Relations in Postwar Japan

Abstract

IN ANY highly industrialized country, especially one which relies mainly upon private enterprise for its economic development, the managerial system assumes a position of critical importance. It has been widely recognized in this connection that practices and policies developed by management are principal determinants of employer-employee relations2 and, in turn, affect significantly the outcome of many economic, social, and political problems that emerge in the process of industrialization. Close examination of management in varying cultural and national settings helps to understand the nature of conflicts existing in modern industrial societies and may furnish clues to their solution. A recent study comparing present-day business management in Western Europe and the United States represents a first step in this direction.3 This article deals with Japan-still another nation in which modern industrialization operates largely under a system of private enterprise the characteristics of which contrast sharply with America. Of special interest in the Japanese case is that, among the efforts since the Surrender ten years ago to restructure institutional arrangements, the managerial system has been a principal target. Not only have steps been taken to redistribute economic power, for example, by enacting anti-monopoly measures and breaking up the huge family-controlled combines, but also new procedures are being introduced for internal management decision-making. In the latter respect especially, the presence of the Occupation for seven years and the close commer-