This paper examines the formation of job- and competency-based human resource management (HRM) in Japan, drawing on oral histories from the steel industry to trace the path of development. At Nippon Steel and Nippon Kokan, the personnel systems evolved from the prewar academic background-based status system to the postwar academic back-ground-based status system and finally the competency-based grade system. The process of shedding the postwar academic background-based status system required the concept of competency, which established its foundation due to two contributing factors. First, the existence of job-based wages brought the nature of specific jobs into clearer light. Second, recruiting high school graduates for blue-collar jobs created uniformity among the workforce in terms of academic background—and that enabled assessments on competency-based, not academic, criteria. Middle school graduates and university graduates came from altogether different academic backgrounds, but high school graduates came in with similar levels of knowledge—a prerequisite for applying work-oriented criteria. Despite those similar trends, Nippon Steel and Nippon Kokan would then embark on different paths in developing their respective personnel systems. Whereas Nippon Steel essentially perpetuated its job-based wage structure, Nippon Kokan converted its existing job-based wages into competency-based rates—and the difference emanated from the companies’ HRM policies.
{"title":"The formation of job- and competency-based human resource management in Japan","authors":"Makoto Suzuki","doi":"10.5029/jrbh.36.32","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh.36.32","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the formation of job- and competency-based human resource management (HRM) in Japan, drawing on oral histories from the steel industry to trace the path of development. At Nippon Steel and Nippon Kokan, the personnel systems evolved from the prewar academic background-based status system to the postwar academic back-ground-based status system and finally the competency-based grade system. The process of shedding the postwar academic background-based status system required the concept of competency, which established its foundation due to two contributing factors. First, the existence of job-based wages brought the nature of specific jobs into clearer light. Second, recruiting high school graduates for blue-collar jobs created uniformity among the workforce in terms of academic background—and that enabled assessments on competency-based, not academic, criteria. Middle school graduates and university graduates came from altogether different academic backgrounds, but high school graduates came in with similar levels of knowledge—a prerequisite for applying work-oriented criteria. Despite those similar trends, Nippon Steel and Nippon Kokan would then embark on different paths in developing their respective personnel systems. Whereas Nippon Steel essentially perpetuated its job-based wage structure, Nippon Kokan converted its existing job-based wages into competency-based rates—and the difference emanated from the companies’ HRM policies.","PeriodicalId":199811,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Research in Business History","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122108248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Power development by Taiwan Electric Power in the interwar period and the capital markets","authors":"Teruhiro Minato","doi":"10.5029/jrbh.39.25","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh.39.25","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":199811,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Research in Business History","volume":"181 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114385552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why did the number of private shareholders in South Manchuria Railway continue to rise?","authors":"Tsutomu Hirayama","doi":"10.5029/jrbh.39.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh.39.5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":199811,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Research in Business History","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130575351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The purpose of this article is to present a comprehensive picture of labor oral history studies which have accumulated in Japan and to show labor oral history’s possibility to bring new aspects into research. Labor oral history studies have accumulated to a considerable extent in Japan over the years, to which the author has made a small contribution. Although the author’s document retrieval is not complete, this article would encourage historians to utilize Japanese oral histories as it gives their general outline to researchers both within and outside the country.
{"title":"Labor Oral History in Japan","authors":"Osamu Umezaki","doi":"10.5029/jrbh.36.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh.36.4","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this article is to present a comprehensive picture of labor oral history studies which have accumulated in Japan and to show labor oral history’s possibility to bring new aspects into research. Labor oral history studies have accumulated to a considerable extent in Japan over the years, to which the author has made a small contribution. Although the author’s document retrieval is not complete, this article would encourage historians to utilize Japanese oral histories as it gives their general outline to researchers both within and outside the country.","PeriodicalId":199811,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Research in Business History","volume":"202 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114230270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In Japan, there is a category of workers referred to as “yōseikō.” They are technical workers who have received special training at private companies’ in-house training institutions. The purpose of this study is to reveal the actual content of “versatility” of yōseikō trained during the 1950s and 1960s. Dealing with the case of the Toyota Motor Corporation, the investigation sets itself two tasks. The first question is: Did yōseikō work at one section of the production line, or at several sections? The second one is: At what sections was yōseikō’s versatility utilized during the 1970s and 1980s? As research sources, the study makes use of yōseikō’s interview records, lists of new employees and those of the recipients of continuous service awards published in a company newsletter called the Toyota Shinbun [Toyota Motor newsletter]. As a result of the investigation, it is revealed that, concerning yōseikō trained during the 1950s, they basically stayed in their specialized sections, and were not transferred to completely different departments. In addition, it is revealed that they were engaged, as highly skilled workers, in the development of new products and factory equipment. Keyword: yōseikō, Toyota Motor, multi-skilled workers, versatility, in-house training
{"title":"“Versatility” of Yōseikō in Post-War Japan: A Case Study of the Toyota Motor","authors":"T. Ōba","doi":"10.5029/jrbh.37.37","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh.37.37","url":null,"abstract":"In Japan, there is a category of workers referred to as “yōseikō.” They are technical workers who have received special training at private companies’ in-house training institutions. The purpose of this study is to reveal the actual content of “versatility” of yōseikō trained during the 1950s and 1960s. Dealing with the case of the Toyota Motor Corporation, the investigation sets itself two tasks. The first question is: Did yōseikō work at one section of the production line, or at several sections? The second one is: At what sections was yōseikō’s versatility utilized during the 1970s and 1980s? As research sources, the study makes use of yōseikō’s interview records, lists of new employees and those of the recipients of continuous service awards published in a company newsletter called the Toyota Shinbun [Toyota Motor newsletter]. As a result of the investigation, it is revealed that, concerning yōseikō trained during the 1950s, they basically stayed in their specialized sections, and were not transferred to completely different departments. In addition, it is revealed that they were engaged, as highly skilled workers, in the development of new products and factory equipment. Keyword: yōseikō, Toyota Motor, multi-skilled workers, versatility, in-house training","PeriodicalId":199811,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Research in Business History","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132478060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introduction to the feature articles","authors":"Osamu Umezaki","doi":"10.5029/jrbh.36.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh.36.1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":199811,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Research in Business History","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124009053","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstruct During the late nineteenth century, the Japanese government established the bureaucrat appointment system based on educational qualification. Large private companies also adopted the personnel management system in which employees’ working conditions and career paths were determined by their educational qualifications. It was during this period that “school culture” started to become the dominant force in human resources development in Japan. On the other hand, it had also been widely understood that the traditional apprenticeship system maintained among craftsmen would not be able to produce workers capable of handling new technologies introduced from the West. The influence of “shop culture” on human resources development was only trivial in Japan. However, company managers did not place a high evaluation on Japanese education, and in particular university education’s ability to develop human resources. It was in-house education provided by private companies that complemented the lack of shop culture and the malfunction of school culture. In-house schools dealt with in this study were for high school graduates. This type of in-house schools was established by many large companies during the 1960s, producing second important core workers after those with university qualification.
{"title":"Japanese Companies’ In-house Education in the Post-War Period: Educational Qualification and Personnel Management","authors":"H. Ichihara","doi":"10.5029/jrbh.37.61","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh.37.61","url":null,"abstract":"Abstruct During the late nineteenth century, the Japanese government established the bureaucrat appointment system based on educational qualification. Large private companies also adopted the personnel management system in which employees’ working conditions and career paths were determined by their educational qualifications. It was during this period that “school culture” started to become the dominant force in human resources development in Japan. On the other hand, it had also been widely understood that the traditional apprenticeship system maintained among craftsmen would not be able to produce workers capable of handling new technologies introduced from the West. The influence of “shop culture” on human resources development was only trivial in Japan. However, company managers did not place a high evaluation on Japanese education, and in particular university education’s ability to develop human resources. It was in-house education provided by private companies that complemented the lack of shop culture and the malfunction of school culture. In-house schools dealt with in this study were for high school graduates. This type of in-house schools was established by many large companies during the 1960s, producing second important core workers after those with university qualification.","PeriodicalId":199811,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Research in Business History","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114687429","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study has examined, through the oral history method, with what kind of language and logic management officers and union officials persuaded negotiating partners and workers into the construction of mutual-trust-based industrial relations, presenting three case studies. The following three points have been revealed. (1) At Ishikawajima Heavy Industries and the NKK Kawasaki Steel Works, labor-management consultation bodies had been established in its’ own thinking, at early stage. On the other hand, the Tokyo Kinzoku Federation promoted a labor-management consultation system based on the basic principles of the Productivity Movement. (2) Ishikawajima Union tried to persuade its members into the construction of co-operative industrial relations, stressing workers’ merits. Personnel and labor management officers at the NKK Kawasaki Steel Works had been sharing their survey data with workers and having discussions with them based on such data on the understanding that scientific data was objective information crucial for constructive discussion. (3) At small and medium-sized companies, not only trade unions but employers were distrustful to the Productivity Movement. Therefore, the Tokyo Kinzoku Federation had to persuade both sides. For that purpose, it provided occasions for education and discussion with regard to productivity improvement and the labor-management consultation system. Keyword: mutual-trust-based industrial relations, labor-management consultation bodies, Productivity Movement, logic of persuasion, oral history
{"title":"The Formation Process of Mutual-Trust-Based Industrial Relations in Japan","authors":"Chiaki Nagumo","doi":"10.5029/jrbh.36.50","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh.36.50","url":null,"abstract":"This study has examined, through the oral history method, with what kind of language and logic management officers and union officials persuaded negotiating partners and workers into the construction of mutual-trust-based industrial relations, presenting three case studies. The following three points have been revealed. (1) At Ishikawajima Heavy Industries and the NKK Kawasaki Steel Works, labor-management consultation bodies had been established in its’ own thinking, at early stage. On the other hand, the Tokyo Kinzoku Federation promoted a labor-management consultation system based on the basic principles of the Productivity Movement. (2) Ishikawajima Union tried to persuade its members into the construction of co-operative industrial relations, stressing workers’ merits. Personnel and labor management officers at the NKK Kawasaki Steel Works had been sharing their survey data with workers and having discussions with them based on such data on the understanding that scientific data was objective information crucial for constructive discussion. (3) At small and medium-sized companies, not only trade unions but employers were distrustful to the Productivity Movement. Therefore, the Tokyo Kinzoku Federation had to persuade both sides. For that purpose, it provided occasions for education and discussion with regard to productivity improvement and the labor-management consultation system. Keyword: mutual-trust-based industrial relations, labor-management consultation bodies, Productivity Movement, logic of persuasion, oral history","PeriodicalId":199811,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Research in Business History","volume":"83 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126599633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examines the historical development of the transparent-insole market, which has experienced growth since the mid-2000s. According to the previous discourse, the market grew as companies recognized potential demand among young women for the functionality and fashion value that transparent insoles could offer. Underlying that explanation, however, are the key questions of how those needs took shape and how entrepreneurs identified opportunities to push products into the arena. This paper thus expands its focus to the context prior to product rollout and the chain of actions and interactions by multiple actors evolving from that context for a fuller examination. A private organization’s calls for functionality over fashion—the latter of which had previously received priority in the shoe market—raised consumer awareness of foot health. Seeing that growing consciousness as a source of potential business opportunities, multiple insole manufacturers then began pursuing various initiatives, thereby sparking the emergence and growth of the fashionable transparent-insole market as an unintended consequence of a private-organization initiative. This paper examines the shoe industry since the 1990s, which has not featured prominently in previous research, to advance scholarship on the history of the shoe industry. Keyword: Market development, Unintended consequences, Shoe insole, Health industry, Social movement
{"title":"The developmental history of the insole market in Japan:","authors":"Sayako Miura","doi":"10.5029/jrbh.38.43","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh.38.43","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the historical development of the transparent-insole market, which has experienced growth since the mid-2000s. According to the previous discourse, the market grew as companies recognized potential demand among young women for the functionality and fashion value that transparent insoles could offer. Underlying that explanation, however, are the key questions of how those needs took shape and how entrepreneurs identified opportunities to push products into the arena. This paper thus expands its focus to the context prior to product rollout and the chain of actions and interactions by multiple actors evolving from that context for a fuller examination. A private organization’s calls for functionality over fashion—the latter of which had previously received priority in the shoe market—raised consumer awareness of foot health. Seeing that growing consciousness as a source of potential business opportunities, multiple insole manufacturers then began pursuing various initiatives, thereby sparking the emergence and growth of the fashionable transparent-insole market as an unintended consequence of a private-organization initiative. This paper examines the shoe industry since the 1990s, which has not featured prominently in previous research, to advance scholarship on the history of the shoe industry. Keyword: Market development, Unintended consequences, Shoe insole, Health industry, Social movement","PeriodicalId":199811,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Research in Business History","volume":"64 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114965054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study takes on the problem of how small and medium-sized start-up companies grow in matured or shrinking markets. It examines the case of BørneLund, a Japanese company that has achieved notable development by importing and selling European toys purported to be useful for children’s growth and education. The investigation is conducted from a perspective of “historical confluence,” which draws attention to a chance encounter between outcomes of activities carried out by multiple organizational entities. As a result of the investigation, the study reveals that the company’s exceptional development was made possible under the circumstances in which the company’s efforts to establish an inimitable business strategy encountered unintended consequences of Japanese educational policies: That is, Japanese middle-class families accelerated their investment in early childhood education, enhancing their interest in educational toys. The study indicates that even in a shrinking market there is a possibility that a small-sized start-up company can grow on the conditions that (1) the company makes proactive efforts to establish its original business model and that (2) the company’s efforts become confluent with unintended consequences of government policies that are not directly aimed at the company’s business.
{"title":"Chance favors the prepared mind:","authors":"Kentaro Sakai","doi":"10.5029/jrbh.38.25","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh.38.25","url":null,"abstract":"This study takes on the problem of how small and medium-sized start-up companies grow in matured or shrinking markets. It examines the case of BørneLund, a Japanese company that has achieved notable development by importing and selling European toys purported to be useful for children’s growth and education. The investigation is conducted from a perspective of “historical confluence,” which draws attention to a chance encounter between outcomes of activities carried out by multiple organizational entities. As a result of the investigation, the study reveals that the company’s exceptional development was made possible under the circumstances in which the company’s efforts to establish an inimitable business strategy encountered unintended consequences of Japanese educational policies: That is, Japanese middle-class families accelerated their investment in early childhood education, enhancing their interest in educational toys. The study indicates that even in a shrinking market there is a possibility that a small-sized start-up company can grow on the conditions that (1) the company makes proactive efforts to establish its original business model and that (2) the company’s efforts become confluent with unintended consequences of government policies that are not directly aimed at the company’s business.","PeriodicalId":199811,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Research in Business History","volume":"2012 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128217371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：