British Factory Japanese Factory: The Origins of National Diversity in Industrial Relations [Hardcover]

The Japanese way of work is notoriously different. But is it Japan or Britain which is the odd man out? When originally published this was the first book to explore the real differences, through a point-by-point comparison of two Japanese factories with two British ones making similar products. In the first half of the book this comparison is pursued in systematic detail and clear illustration of the attitudes and assumptions which underlie what the author calls the market-oriented system of Britain and the organization-oriented system of Japan. One chapter shows how the employment institutions of the two countries fit into their political, family and educational institutions  an exercise in functionalist sociology which dominates t he later chapters and makes a major contribution to the discussion of development and of the convergence of different systems.

Part 1: The Factories  1. Four Factories: A First Look  2. The Workers: Who They Are, How They Are Recruited and Trained  3. Wages  4. Unions: Membership and Organization 5. Industrial Relations: Mainly England  6. Industrial Relations: Mainly Japan  7. Industrial Relations: Summary  8. The Enterprise as Community  9. Authority, Function and Status  10. Two Employment Systems  11. Some Implications  Part 2: Convergence?  12. The Japanese Employment System and Recent Trends of Change  13. Britain Catching Up? Part Three: The Past and the Future  14. The Origins of the Japanese Employment System  15. Late Development Appendix: The Survey  Index.

The Japanese way of work is notoriously different. But is it Japan or Britain which is the odd man out? When originally published this was the first book to explore the real differences, through a point-by-point complcÈ