The History of Labour Management in Japan

260 Pages·1997·24.592 MB·English

by  Hiroshi Hazama (auth.)

THE HISTORY OF LABOUR MANAGEMENT IN JAPAN
The History of Labour
Management in Japan
Hiroshi Hazama
Professor of Sociology
Waseda University
Tokyo, Japan
Translated by Mari Sako and Eri Sako
Foreword by Mari Sako and Michio Morishima
Published in Great Britain 1997 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-25406-4 ISBN 978-1-349-25404-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-25404-0
First published in the United States of America 1997 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-16593-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hazama, Hiroshi, 1929-
The history of labour management in Japan I Hiroshi Hazama.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-16593-2 (cloth)
I. Industrial relations-Japan-History. I. Title.
HD8724.H39 1997
331'.0952-dc20 96-43241
----------------------------------------------C-I-P- --------------
Translation@ Macmillan Press Ltd 1997
Foreword Pan I © Mari Sako 1997
Foreword Part II© Michio Morishima 1997
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1997 978-0-333-57531-4
Originally published as chapters I and 4 of Nihon Romu Kanrishi Kenkyu
by Daiyamondo-sha 1964
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
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with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
05 04 03 02 01 00 99
Contents
List of Figures viii
List of Tables ix
Note mz Japanese Names xi
Acknowledgements xii
Series Editor's Introduction xiii
Foreword Part 1-'Professor Hiroshi Hazama on the Firm as
a Family' by Mari Sako xv
Foreword Part II- 'Japanese Enterprise as Private Sector
Bureaucracy' by Michio Morishima xxii
PART ONE: MANAGERIAL FAMILISM AND FAMILISTIC
MANAGEMENT 3
I . Analytical Overview of Labour Management 3
1.1 The Social Structure and Functions of the Enterprise 3
1.2 The Sociology of Labour Management 6
2. Theory of Managerial Familism and its Formative Process 10
2.1 Introduction to
2.2 The Logic of Managerial Familism and Labour Management 12
2.3 Employment Practices in a Feudal Society 18
2.4 The Formative Process of Familistic Management 21
2.5 The Role of Managerial Familism 29
3. The Development of Familistic Management 33
3.1 Managerial Familism as Management Ideology 33
Paternalism and Familism 33
Nationalism and Internationalism in Paternalism 34
Controversy over Paternalism 36
3.2 The Diffusion of Familistic Management 41
Pre-requisites of Familistic Management 41
The Diffusion of Familistic Management 50
Conditions Facilitating Acceptance by Workers 59
Criticisms from the Viewpoint of the Labour Movement 65
4. General Conditions during the Developmental Period of
Familistic Management 68
4.1 Management Structure: Job Rank and Status
Classification Systems 68
v
vi Colltents
4.2 A Summary Chart of Labour Management 7 I
4.3 Employment Relations: the Lengthening of Service,
and In-Company Education and Training 76
4.4 Working Conditions: the Problems of Leisure Time
and Complex Pay Structure 96
4.5 Welfare Provisions: Direction of Expansion and
Relative Importance 100
4.6 Industrial Relations: Mutual Understanding and
'Proper Guidance of Thoughts' (shiso zendo) 106
PART TWO: TRANSFORMATION OF LABOUR
MANAGEMENT IN HEAVY INDUSTRIES 109
5. The Period of Technology Importation: Labour
Management in Government-Run Factories 111
5. I Overview: Development Centred on Nationalized
Industries 1 J1
5.2 Management Organization 114
Feudalistic Bureaucracy and the Consolidation of
Labour 114
Control Mechanisms on the Shopfloor 119
5.3 Employment Relations 122
Open Recruitment and Ranking of Factory Workers 122
Skills Training and Securing Skilled Workers 124
5.4 Working Conditions I 27
The Ten-Hour Working Day 127
From the Occupational Grading System to a Status
Ranking System 128
Aid Relief and Compulsory Savings 130
6. Labour Management during the Rise of Private Enterprises 132
6.1 Overview: the Development of Private Enterprises and
Cooperation in Technology 132
6.2 Management Organization 136
Government Factory and Private Factory 136
The Rise and Fall of the Oyakata System 137
The Organization of Private Sector Factories 140
6.3 Employment Relations 141
Fixed-Contract Workers, Regular Workers and
Temporary Workers 141
Labour Mobility and the Recruitment by Oyakata 143
The Beginning of Education and Training for
Factory Workers 146
Contents vii
Characteristics of the Workforce Composition 148
6.4 Working Conditions 149
The Continued Practice of the Ten-Hour Working Day 149
The Hourly Wage and the Oyakata Contracting System 150
Policy of Favourable Treatment of Oyakata 152
Welfare and the Savings System 152
6.5 Industrial Relations 154
Primitive Industrial Relations and the Labour Movement 154
Paternalistic Management at Nikko Electric Copper
Refinery 156
7. Labour Management during the Establishment of Heavy
Industries 160
7.1 Overview: the Development of Heavy Industries and
the Labour Movement 160
7.2 Management Organization 164
Bureaucratization and the Emphasis on Labour
Management 164
The Development of the Seniority-Plus-Merit Based
Foreman System 167
Flexibility of the Firm and Temporary Workers 169
7.3 Employment Relations 171
Recruitment through Personal Connection and Attaching
Importance to Personality 171
Lifetime Employment and the Problem of Dismissal 172
Efforts towards In-Company Education and Training 175
7.4 Working Conditions 177
Shorter Working Hours and the Labour Movement 177
Payment-by-Result (Incentive Wages) and the Hourly
Wage 179
The Creation of Seniority-Plus-Merit Based Pay 181
The Characteristics of the Company Welfare System
in Heavy Industry 182
7.5 Industrial Relations 184
The Eruption of Labour Disputes 184
Policy towards the Labour Movement 186
Notes 189
Index 211
List of Figures
4.1 The Payment System in Late Taisho Period 72
4.2 Summary of the Welfare System in Manufacturing and
Mining, 1921 74-5
5.1 Organization and Status System at Yokosuka Shipyard,
1886 117
6.1 Changes in the Organization Chart at Shiba Works, 1893
and 1905 142
7.1 Organizational Structure of Shibaura Electric Works,
December 1923 166
viii
List of Tables
3.1 The Distribution of Factory Workers by Establishment
Size, 1909-55 (%) 42
3.2 Estimates of Wage Differentials by Establishment Size,
1908 and 1930 43
3.3 Comparison of Wage Differentials by Establishment
Size before and after the Second World War 44
3.4 Development of Industry in Late Taisho and Early Showa
Years 45
3.5 Proportion of Men among Factory Workers, 1909-47 46
3.6 Proportion of Married Industrial Workers, 1930 (%) 46
3.7 Trends in Labour Movement, 1897-1936 48-9
3.8 The Composition of Factory Workers by Educational
Attainment, 1924-30 (%) 49
3.9 A Survey of Temporary Workers and Day Labourers
by Industrial Sector 53-5
3.10 Changes in the Number of Private and Government
Factory Workers, 1919-27 58
3.11 Results of Worker Attitude Survey, 1920-t 60
3.12 The Distribution of Worker Returnees from Discharging
Factories and Mines, 1923-8 (%) 62
4.1 A Survey of Payment Patterns in 1921 73
4.2 The System of Education and Training in Manufacturing
and Mining Industries, 1932 77
4.3 Welfare Provisions and Other Allowances in Manufacturing
and Mining Industries, 1932 78-9
4.4 Welfare Provisions in Manufacturing, 1932 80
4.5 Welfare Provisions in Mining, 1932 81
4.6 Living Assistance in Manufacturing and Mining, 1932 82
4.7 Profit-Sharing and Stock Distribution in Manufacturing
and Mining, 1932 83
4.8 Recreation and Entertainment in Manufacturing and
Mining, 1932 84
4.9 Facilities for Farming and Horticulture, Medical Treatment,
Bathing, Clothing and Clubs in Manufacturing and Mining,
1932 85
IX
List of Tables
X
4.10 Worker Involvement in the Management of Welfare
Schemes in Manufacturing and Mining, 1932 86
4.11 Proportions of Expenses on Welfare Facilities, Wages
and Relief Aid, 1926 and 1931 87-8
4.12 The Content of Welfare Schemes and Distribution of
Payment by Category, 1931 89-90
4.13 Year of Establishing the Rule for Retirement Allowance 91
4.14 Composition of Workers in Manufacturing by Length of
Employment, 1924-54 (%) 92
4.15 Adoption of a Retirement Age System, 1933 93
4.16 Factory Schools Established for the Purpose of Skills
Training, 1936 94-5
4.17 Changes in Daily Working Hours, 1923-35 96
4.18 Pay Differentials by Length of Employment or Service,
1927-54 99
4.19 Items of Expenditure from Welfare Funds, Early
Showa Period 102-4
4.20 Impact of Health Insurance Act on Mutual Aid
Societies, 1927 105
4.21 Works Committees by Industrial Sector, 1925 107
4.22 Year of Establishment of Works Committees, 1925 107
4.23 Year of Signing Collective Agreements, 1897-1936 108
4.24 Factories with Collective Agreements by Industrial
Sector. 1936 lOS
5.1 The Distribution of Factories using Prime Movers,
1885 (%) 113
6.1 Comparisons of Development of Government Munitions
Factories and Pri vatc Machinery Factories, 1899-1912 132
6.2 Regular and Temporary Workers at Shipyards and
Machinery Factories, 1910 144
6.3 Labour Mobility of Workers at Mitsubishi Shipyard,
1898-1913 145
7.1 A Comparison of the Number of Workers at Private
and Government Engineering Factories, 1894-19 I 8 161