The Study of Career and Promotion Systems in Japan

Abstract

This chapter shows the need for a new career framework that assumes a delayered and flat organizational structure and an unstable business environment. Traditional organization and career research investigated the framework of growth and stability in the middle and latter twentieth century. However, a highly unstable global business environment has resulted in company downsizing and delayering. The delayering organizational structure has caused a new relationship between organizations and individuals. We assume that it has led to the career plateauing of middle managers, though few previous studies, especially in Japan, have examined the relationship between the delayered hierarchies and career plateauing. This study surveys this topic and determines which organizational factor and HRM practice can help plateaued managers succeed in Japanese companies.