The Shift Towards American-style Human Resource Management Systems and the Transformation of Workers' Attitudes at Japan
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The Shift Towards American-style Human Resource Management Systems and the Transformation of Workers’ Attitudes at Japanese Firms Masabumi Tokoro Faculty of Politics, Economics and Management, Kokushikan University, 4-28-1 Setagaya, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 154-8515, Japan. E-mail: [email protected]
Most leading research on the relationship between human resource management systems and worker attitudes in Japan have been based on one-off surveys; research with data over the long term is sparse. Here, I analyse survey data taken at 5-year intervals from 1985, involving around 4,000 union members across Japan. I aim to clarify the effectiveness of the ‘company man’ type of worker of the early 1980s, and examine problems that have arisen through the process of transformation, especially from the mid-1990s, towards a new type of ‘autonomous’ worker. Survey analysis shows that, in Japan’s post-war growth period, there were rational grounds for ‘Japanese-style management’ systems. The inevitability of the appearance of the ‘company man’ is also demonstrated from the identification of typical characteristics in employee attitudes. However, as a result of the sweeping conquest of American-style capitalist principles, from the 1990s worker attitudes have moved towards a more ‘company-independent’ model. I suggest that as a consequence a need has arisen at the micro-level for mental health care for those who have adapted poorly to the changes, and there is a need at the macro-level for policies to support workers in the shift towards a new ‘multiple commitment’ style of work. Asian Business & Management (2005) 4, 23–44. doi:10.1057/palgrave.abm.9200118 Keywords: HRM; worker attitudes; Japanese-style management; company man; U-shaped job satisfaction curve; autonomous worker; multiple commitment
Introduction It is well known that people’s attitudes and behaviour are powerfully influenced by their environment.1 We can confirm this through the following model (Lewin, 1935), propounded by classical gestalt psychology: B ¼ f ðP; EÞ ðB : behaviour; P : person; E : environmentÞ Received 20 July 2003; revised 15 November 2003; accepted 8 February 2004
Masabumi Tokoro Human Resource Management System and Worker Attitudes
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The gestalt model takes human behaviour to be a function of the inherent characteristics of both individual and environmental factors, and is particularly effective in understanding human behaviour in terms of social interaction. I will here be examining what influence environmental factors — such things as the human resource management (HRM) system at a company, legislation relating to labour, and companies’ management customs — have on the attitudes of employees working at Japanese firms. Changes in employees’ attitudes are linked to changes in surrounding environmental factors, such as general economic development and the broader international picture. In other words, although employee attitudes are essentially a micro-level concept, they become extremely macro and dynamic in that they are closely related
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