Japanese Industrial Relations Research Articles

Recent Change in Japanese Industrial Relations and its Characteristics

고도경제성장기에 성립한 일본적 고용관행은 노동조합이 ‘일하는 방식’에 대해서 규제하지 않는 대신에 장기고용과 연공임금을 보장하는 것을 제도화하고 있다. 기업별조합은 ‘무한정한 노동지출’을 담보하는 역할을 하는 경영협조적인 존재로서 기능하여 왔다. 그런데 1990년대초 버블붕괴 이후 장기불황이 지속되는 가운데 장기고용이 적용되지 않는 비정규고용이 증가했다. 아울러 성과주의인사제도의 도입에 의해 연공임금(직능급)에서 역할 급과 같이 일(직무)을 기준으로 하는 임금제도로의 전환이 이뤄지고 있다. 이 논문은 일본적 고용관행이 크게 변화하는 가운데 기업별조합을 중심으로 한 일본의 노사관계가 어떻게 변화하고 있는지 그 양상을 분석하는 것을 과제로 한다. 그리고 그러한 변화의 특징과 의의를 일본적 고용관행 전반의 변화와 관련하여 논한다.

The Role of Industrial Unions in Japanese Industrial Relations

The Role of Industrial Unions in Japanese Industrial Relations

Report: Labour in Japan: a meltdown into management

INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 22 Volume 20 Issue 4 2013 REPORT ❐ LABOUR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN Initially the US occupation encouraged trade unions in Japan but as communistinspired unions surged this policy saw a rapid about-turn - a ‘Red Purge’ began and a three-year limit was placed on the lifetime of collective agreements sidered to be the Cold War. SCAP intended to regulate the strike of the trade union and suppress communism in Japan. In addition, SCAP wanted to deveop the Japanese economy for a more independent alliance with the US. First of all SCAP demanded that the Japanese government restrict the trade union organised by public service workers. In responding to this demand, the Japanese government took the following measures as for public service workers who accounted for 40 percent of organised workers by the reform of the National Public Service Act in October 1948. These measures were (i) excluding an application of TUA 1945 to public service workers (so that TUA 1945 got to be applied only to the private-sector workers), (ii) prohibiting all public service workers from going on strikes by criminalising strikes, (iii) introducing different treatment between managerial workers and non-managerial workers which made it less likely for managerial workers to take part in unions, (iv) prohibiting payment to full-time union officials. The Demand of SCAP with Regard to Japanese Economy and the Reform of TUA 1945 As noted previously, SCAP intended to boost the Japanese economy in order to situate Japan in the factory of Asia as a bulwark against communism as soon as possible because of the Cold War. The US government declared nine principles about the policy for the Japanese economy. With regard to the industrial relations policy, the Japanese government published a new Ordinance in December 1948. This Ordinance required the trade unions to democratise their organisations. SCAP and the Japanese government thought that most trade unions were dominated by a few communist leaders. The democratisation of the trade unions meant that communist leaders of the trade union could be excluded from these organisations. In addition, the Japanese government intervened in collective agreements by this ordinance in order to make collective agreements unfavourable to workers. The reason of this intervention was that the Japanese government thought most collective agreements were advantageous to workers and that these collective agreements could be the cause of stagnating Japanese economy. In June 1949, TUA 1945 was revised to TUA 1949. TUA 1949 has required trade unions to establish an internal rule which ensures their democratic and impartial operation. TUA 1949 has also stipulated the rule by which managerial workers are prevented from joining trade unions. Furthermore TUA 1949 has set the rule of the colA lthough the activity of the trade union to strike had been restricted strictly by the Japanese government before World War II, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (‘SCAP’) tried, after the war, to promote organising workers in trade unions in order to democratise Japan. Therefore, immediately after WW2 and up to 1949, the density of the trade union in Japan increased rapidly to 55.8 percent. After 1949, however, the trade union density declined rapidly. Since then there has been a steady decline in density. More importantly it has come to be pointed out by some scholars in Japanese industrial relations that the Japanese trade unions have melted into management. In this article, it will be argued what processes after WW2 fueled this meltdown into management. The Enactment of TUA 1945 and the General Strike on 1 Feb 1947 Immediately after WW2, SCAP required the Japanese government to take several measures in order to promote democracy in Japan which included promoting trade unions. Responding to the demand of SCAP, the Trade Union Act (‘TUA’) 1945 was enacted on 22 December 1945. In addition the Constitution of Japan which included the guarantee of the right to organise, the right of collective bargaining and the right to strike to workers was published as a new constitution in 1946. The constitutional labour rights and TUA 1945 had continuity in terms of having the purpose of promoting democracy by improving the labour conditions. After WW2 the Japanese trade union were very...

“Ye shall know them by their fruits”

PurposeThis paper aims to report the continental European jurisprudence origins and Roman Catholic social teaching parallels of post‐World War II Japanese industrial relations practices. It focuses on the modes of social relation in the Japanese legal employment ecology of the post‐World War II enterprise and is designed to aid understanding of Japanese management theory and practice. An additional purpose of the paper is to facilitate development of evaluative criteria for authentic adoption of Japanese management practices to other national settings.Design/methodology/approachThe approach used is an analysis of Japanese sources using industrial relations theory to explore the “working rules” governing post‐World War II Japanese employment relations. This method, grounded in a source‐comparative method, results in the derivation of comparative employment ecology models of the USA, German, and Japanese enterprise. Against this background, the potential evangelization of the American workplace is discussed in reference to Roman Catholic social teaching.FindingsSuccess in deploying Japanese management modes of production is contingent upon adaptive appropriation of their modes of social relations within the enterprise. Insofar as the latter derive from and/or reflect continental European jurisprudence and Roman Catholic social teaching, their deployment in other nations – such as the USA – becomes, first, easier to comprehend in principle (not being subject to Japanese concepts), and, second, a potentially potent form of workplace evangelization reflecting continental European industrial relations norms.Originality/valueAuthentic deployment of the Japanese management employment ecology is a form of “evangelization” of the US workplace. Furthermore, it asserts that this constitutes a potential evangelization toward continental European sensibility regarding employment rules, closely related to Roman Catholic social teaching.

Current changes in labour management and industrial relations in Japan and their impact on its “stakeholder‐oriented” governance model

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to consider how recent changes in Japanese labour management and industrial relations are affecting its traditional “stakeholder‐oriented” governance model, where special recognition was given to company employees.Design/methodology/approachThis paper critically analyses a range of recently published (2000‐2006) works on Japanese labour management and industrial relations with a view to predicting future trends in Japanese employment practices.FindingsThe paper finds that Japanese firms are breaking with tradition and experimenting with Western style employment practices. Changes in such practices indicate a move away from the traditional model of governance. It may be that a hybrid model of governance is emerging.Originality/valueThis paper fulfils an identified information/resources need and contributes to the study of recent changes and developments in corporate governance in South East Asian countries.

1 A Study on the Characteristics and Prospects of Japanese Industrial Relations(From the Sub-sessions)

1 A Study on the Characteristics and Prospects of Japanese Industrial Relations(From the Sub-sessions)

Current Japanese Employment Practices and Industrial Relations: The Transformation of Permanent Employment and Seniority-Based Wage System

After the mid-1990s, Japanese economy experienced a switch in its global development framework and decisive change came about in its system of ‘permanent employment’ and seniority-based wages. Faced with global mega-competition, managers launched restructuring initiatives that included performance-oriented compensation. Such restructuring cause considerable job losses among middle-aged workers, and sometimes created atypical employees instead of regular staff members. Owing to the new performance orientation, many regular workers suffered stressful working conditions and increased working hours, which led to mental heath problems in some cases. The Japanese results-oriented system allows management to determine individual wages according to objectives met and assessed merit, a one-sided personnel evaluation that diminishes the role of collective bargaining, not just in wage negotiation but in terms of overall democracy in labour. Although Japanese big enterprise unions are apt to look positively towards a company's benefit, recently managements have been keen to determine working conditions not by collective bargaining but by labour-management committees. Moreover, the growing numbers of atypical workers, detached from job security, living wages and union eligibility, decrease union organization rate, further reducing the social position of unions. These are elements indicative of a crisis in labour democracy that demands prompt attention.

What has Research into Japanese Industrial Relations Elucidated over 20 Years?

This paper addresses issues of current Japanese IR by assessing over 20 years of empirical research and the methodologies employed. A general overview of features of Japanese Industrial Relations (IR) since 1970, divided into three time frames, will broadly analyse the types of conditions and factors that have brought about change. We will then consider the major achievements of such empirical research, looking at the first half of the 1980s, the latter half of the 1980s and the 1990s, respectively. After a brief consideration of the critical awareness, analytical content and facts emerging since 1980, we will evaluate respective contributions and the issues presented; and on this basis, we will discuss the direction that future research should follow, by pointing out the features and problems of Japanese IR as a whole. The above will clarify the level attained by these studies and the characteristics of Japanese IR. Only by examining such research can we elucidate problems facing Japanese IR in a changing and harsh economic environment: how problems can be overcome (or not), what decisive factors are involved, and what new issues have arisen. The biggest problem of Japanese IR is the paradox that its highpoint came about through the unions' cooperative approach; but this was essentially a malfunction of labour unions, or a ‘hollowing-out’ of IR. Research into this area needs therefore to take a broader socio-economic perspective within the structural context of Japanese society, in order to elucidate reasons for union malfunction and investigate how to eliminate this.

Productive Efficiency and the Lean Production System in Japan and the United States

The lean production model originated in Japan, where it was partly responsible for the labor-management cooperation and productive efficiency of Japanese industrial relations during the 1970s and 1980s. Recent evidence suggests that its transference to the US has met with much less success. This article argues that the key to the relative superiority of the lean production system in Japan has to do with the institutional mechanisms in place in that country, but which are absent in the US, to incorporate workers'shopfloor concerns in production. The lean production system runs the risk of improving productivity and product quality through increased worker effort and stress, and reduced worker health and safety. Mechanisms for worker voice insure that this 'mean'side of lean production is foregone, that workers possess a sense of both justice in the sharing of shopfloor rewards and legitimacy in the authority possessed by superiors, and thus that workers willingly cooperate with management to enhance productive efficiency.

Do employers pay efficiency wages? Evidence from Japan

Economists have long been interested in the seemingly cooperative nature of Japanese industrial relations. It has been hypothesized that information sharing in the wagesetting process has been used to promote efficiency. But have Japanese employers really paid efficiency wages, that is, can productivity gains be linked to pay raises? Efforts to test for efficiency wage setting face the problem of sorting out the extent to which pay influences labor productivity and vice versa. For the 1975–1997 sample period, we used an innovative statistical technique developed by Geweke to disentangle the linear association between pay and productivity growth. Efficiency wage behavior has not been the norm in Japan. Nevertheless, efficiency wage setting cannot be ruled out for some key areas of manufacturing.

From Industrial Relations to Investor Relations? Persistence and Change in Japanese Corporate Governance, Employment Practices and Industrial Relations

The international drift towards corporate governance reform changed into a higher gear in the latter half of the 1990s. As the process of corporate governance reform unfolded, it brought into sharp relief contrasts between three different models of corporate governance: the classical model, the enlightened shareholder value model and the pluralist model.The corporate governance reforms envisaged by the Keizai Doy0kai and Nikkeiren employers' associations can be classified under the pluralist model. However, the findings of an extensive questionnaire survey conducted on executive managers of large firms suggest that the enlightened shareholder value model seems to be supported by one out of every three executive managers in Japan. Spurred by reforms of the Commercial Code and other laws relating to corporate governance, major firms are increasingly looking to establish a system of consolidated management encompassing the entire corporate group, with emphasis on maximizing capital efficiency.Taking place in parallel with this development are changes in employment practices. Although long-term stable employment practices are not likely to be changed drastically in the foreseeable future, it is highly likely that the seniority system will be further eroded, wage differentials will widen, terms of employment and working conditions will become individual-specific, and remuneration systems will be diversified. However, labour unions are failing to find ways of coping with these prospects, and are continuing to lose influence.

Labor-Management Relations in Twentieth-Century Japan: A Review Essay

Japanese labor-management relations and production systems, as typified in large manufacturing firms, have long provoked contrary assessments. To this day, the debate is framed by the names and practices of two Americans who attained prominence in the 1910s: Fredrick Taylor and scientific management and Henry Ford and mass production. There are those who emphasize the participatory role of Japanese workers in production processes (most importantly through foremen-led quality circles), at odds with the Taylorist centralization of production control in the hands of management. Others regard the Japanese system as an intensification of Fordist mass production, facilitated by the weakness of Japanese enterprise unions. These recent books provide histories of the contested evolution of labor-management relations in twentieth-century Japan. In taking a longer historical view, the best of these books aim to reconcile the seeming contrariness of contemporary Japanese industrial relations.

Japanese trade unions at the crossroads: dilemmas and opportunities created by globalization

Japanese trade unions have contributed much to the economic stability and success of Japanese enterprises. Globalization has, however, placed substantial pressure on the Japanese industrial relations system and, in turn, upon the enterprise union system. Not all changes can be directly attributed to globalization. We contend, however, that the success of Japanese firms, both in exports and in overseas production, has made the Japanese economy reliant on a strong world economy. Economic downturns that have been witnessed in a number of countries in 1990s have weakened the demand for Japanese export products. This, in combination with the Japanese banking and financial crises, has created pressure for an overhaul of employment and human resource management systems. This article examines these pressures and the response by trade unions.

Changes in the Japanese Industrial Relations System and Gender

Changes in the Japanese Industrial Relations System and Gender

The 1999 Shunto and the Restructuring of Japan's Wage System

Most English-language accounts of the Japanese employment system are colored by the assumption that lifetime employment forms a bedrock of Japanese industrial relations. Miriam Golden, for example, regards the practice as the key to Japan's remarkable record of labor peace over the past four decades.' The Economist, New York Times, Time, and Far Eastern Economic Review have all recently remarked upon the reluctance of managers to dismiss redundant employees despite the severe recession of the 1990s. Thus, strong job security is seen abroad as a source of past stability but also increasingly as an obstacle to the economic restructuring needed to reinvigorate Japanese firms and the national economy. But this perception is mistaken-managers have been conducting a determined campaign to reshape the employment system for at least five years. They are seeking to replace the traditional ideal of strong, long-term commitment between employees and employers with a new emphasis on flexibility and labor mobility. They hope this will drastically reduce labor costs as well as increase productivity. At the core of their strategy is an effort to restructure the wage-setting system. Employers claim that loosening labor regulations and cutting labor costs are essential if companies are to fulfill their proclaimed social responsibility of protecting jobs. They have for years been moving away from the lifetime employment paradigm and now proclaim the need for employment stability (koyo antei), arguing that improved training and better infrastructural support (such as government-sponsored retraining programs) will enable people to

Japan Works: Power and Paradox in Postwar Industrial Relations

The postwar miracle, says John Price, made Japan and its corporations the toast of the global village, with scholars across the United States pointing to Japan as the model for future enterprise. The economic bubble burst, however, in 1989, and Price documents difficulties that have surfaced since that time. In Japan itself, the common self-assessment is rich country, poor people and government reports regularly criticize society for being too enterprising. In emulating Japan, Price asks, are we choosing a path Japan itself is rejecting?Price probes the paradoxes in postwar labor-management relations, particularly in the years between 1945 and 1975. Basing his analysis on the history of labor in Mitsui's Miike mine in Kyushu, Suzuki Motors in Hamamatsu, and Moriguchi City Hall, the author questions the common interpretation that industrial relations are based on lifetime jobs, seniority-based wages, and enterprise unions. He also asks whether Japanese workers have been genuinely empowered by the developments in recent years. In his description of the rough-and-tumble world of postwar Japanese industrial relations, Price pays particular attention to the Occupation period, the rise of Shunto, the increased industrial conflict prior to 1975, and the transition to generalized labor-management cooperation. Relying on French regulation theory and on Michael Burawoy's concept of production regimes, Price suggests a revisionist interpretation of the transformation of Japan's political economy, offering new insights into the rise of lean production and the quality movement in Japan.

Union loyalty among white‐collar workers in Japan

AbstractPrevious research on Japanese union members has documented occupational differences in employees' attitudes toward union organizations (Japan Productivity Center, 1990; Morishima, 1993). Yet, little has been done to examine why these differences occur. This study examines, using a data set obtained in 1987 from about 4000 employees, the correlates of union loyalty across white‐collar and blue‐collar occupations, and among white‐collar occupations. A model is developed from previous research on employees' attitudes toward union organizations and on Japanese industrial relations. The results obtained by OLS analyses of union loyalty correlates—members' judgements of union contributions to improvements in employment outcomes and of employers' human resource policies—indicate that Japanese unions have benefited mainly blue‐collar workers and traditional white‐collar workers, such as those in administrative positions, relative to those in technical positions.

THE TRANSFER OF JAPANESE MANAGEMENT STYLES IN TWO US TRANSPLANT INDUSTRIES: AUTOS AND ELECTRONICS

Japanese industry is characterized by a unique set of industrial relations and management styles. the ability to transfer these relations overseas has been the object of much scholarly and popular debate. This paper examines this transfer to the United States in the automobile and electronics industries.It was found that Japanese automobile manufacturers had been able to transfer most of the central features of the system with some adaptation. the most successful firms were using teams, quality control activities, rotation and quite egalitarian management styles. On the other hand, most of the electronics transplants examined had not transferred Japanese style industrial relations. the electronics firms seemed to be content to accept many of the prevailing US practices.It is concluded that the transfer of Japanese style relations is possible, but that this occurs only where Japanese managers make a considered and sustained effort to implant their system. In many electronics operations it appears as though Japanese managers never seriously attempted to implement the Japanese system. Thus, the record of transfer is mixed at the moment.

Japanese Unions: Managerial Partner Or Worker Challenge?

Abstract Much has been written on the role and activities of Japanese unions. This literature is often located in the context of the so called “three pillars” of Japanese industrial relations namely, lifetime employment, seniority wages and enterprise unions, in this model the phenomenal success of the Japanese manufacturing sector is primarily attributed to the partnership between workers and management. An essential ingredient to this partnership has been union organisation focused on the enterprise. Yet recent research into the economic impact of Japanese unions has shown that unionised firms are less profitable and have lower labour productivity than non-union enterprises. This pattern is consistent with the findings of research conducted in a number of western countries. Are then Japanese unions subservient to the needs of the enterprise or do they represent a challenge to managerial prerogative? Using a survey of union officials conducted by the author in 1991 and in-depth interviews with union offi...

Human resource management in Japanese enterprises in the Philippines: Issues and problems

Since the latter half of the 1970s, interest in Japanese management and industrial relations increased in developing countries aiming to emulate the success of Japan. The entry of foreign investment to the Philippines also involves tensions related to human resource utilisation. This paper, using primary data, surveys the issues related to human resource utilisation among Japanese firms operating in the Philippines. The paper focuses upon labour market internalisation policies: hiring and recruitment, skills formation through on-the-job training, job assignments, job rotation and wage determination.