Transforming Japanese Workplaces

Explores the transformations that have taken place in Japanese workplaces since the dawn of the new millennium in terms of management practices, particularly in the areas of Human Resource Management and organizational culture. The author empirically assesses the effectiveness of the new approaches introduced by Japanese companies.

Explores the transformations that have taken place in Japanese workplaces since the dawn of the new millennium in terms of management practices, particularly in the areas of Human Resource Management and organizational culture. The author empirically assesses the effectiveness of the new approaches introduced by Japanese companies.

This book explores how the business transformation taking place in Japan is influenced by the digital revolution. Its chapters present approaches and examples from sectors commonly understood to be visible arenas of digital transformation—3D printing and mobility, for instance—as well as some from not-so-obvious sectors, such as retail, services, and fintech. Business today is facing unprecedented change especially due to the adoption of new, digital technologies, with a noticeable transformation of manufacturing and services. The changes have been brought by advanced robotics, the emergence of artificial intelligence, and digital networks that are growing in size and capability as the number of connected devices explodes. In addition, there are advanced manufacturing and collaborative connected platforms, including machine-to-machine communications. Adoption of digital technology has caused process disruptions in both the manufacturing and services sectors and led to new business models and new products. While examining the preparedness of the Japanese economy to embrace these changes, the book explores the impact of digitally influenced changes on some selected sectors from a Japanese perspective. It paints a big picture in explaining how a previously manufacturing-centric, successful economy adopts change to retain and rebuild success in the global environment. Japan as a whole is embracing, yet also avoiding—innovating but also restricting—various forms of digitalization of life and work. The book, with its 17 chapters, is a collaborative effort of individuals contributing diverse points of view as technologists, academics, and managers.

A volume of essays by Japan’s leading female scholars and activists exploring their country’s recent progressive cultural shift. When the feminist movement finally arrived in Japan in the 1990s, no one could have foreseen the wide-ranging changes it would bring to the country. Nearly every aspect of contemporary life has been impacted, from marital status to workplace equality, education, politics, and sexuality. Now more than ever, the Japanese myth of a homogenous population living within traditional gender roles is being challenged. The LGBTQ population is coming out of the closet, ever-present minorities are mobilizing for change, single mothers are a growing population, and women are becoming political leaders. In Transforming Japan, Kumiko Fujimura-Fanselow has gathered the most comprehensive collection of essays written by Japanese educators and researchers on the ways in which present-day Japan confronts issues of gender, sexuality, race, discrimination, power, and human rights.

During the rapid growth period of the Japanese economy, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, the economic system that became entrenched in Japan -- the so-called Japanese-style capitalism -- was based on the government-business-bureaucracy triad. Although its distinct features survived the subsequent two decades of slow growth, there are many indications that the Japanese economy is once again struggling to transform itself. These translations from the Japanese economic literature expertly address this transformation.

This book systematically evaluates the impacts of deregulatory reforms on employment relations in Japan especially focusing on the core white collar workers. Concentrating on changes in three aspects of employment relations; contracts, employee mobility and worker effort, it examines the process of social negotiation and its results.