Japanese Labour and Management in Transition: Diversity, Flexibility and Participation (LSE/Routledge) Book

Recent economic trends are changing forever the face of Japanese industrial relations; Japanese Management and Labour explores these changes. Authors Mari Sako and Hiroko Sato examine the responses of both Japanese management and labour, and that of the Japanese government, to these economic transitions. In Part 1 of the work, recent trends in Japanese labour markets, labour law and corporate strategy are explored. As labour and management yield to these new economic pressures, changes in industrial relations are shown to be the inevitable result. Part 2 analyses the interaction between the state, management and labour. Both the macro and the micro levels are given full consideration, as the government of Japan seeks to strike a balance between the often antithetical needs of labour and management. This compilation of current research has been collected by leading Japanese scholars, and effectively challenges the traditional view of `lifetime' employment while focusing on the growing economic pressures that Japanese management and labour currently face. Japanese Management and Labour is sure to add to the lively debate now taking place regarding management in recessionary Japan.Read More