Koji OKUBAYASHI
Kobe University Rokkodai – Cho
Nada, Kobe
Hyogo 657
JAPAN
INTRODUCTION:
It has been that “Lifetime Employment“, “Seniority Wage System“ and “Enterprise Union“ are the main characteristics of Japanese management, which brought the “Japanese Miracles“ of high economic growth in 1950´s and 1960´s. These three characteristics are called the „Three Sacreds“ of Japanese management.
The “Three Sacreds“ still operate in the Japanese industrial world, but they are losing their driving power to push up competitive power of Japanese companies in the world market. Main elements of the “Three Sacreds“ are forced to modify themselves due to widespread of new technology and to the structural changes of labor market caused by increased number of aged workers, female workers and new work ethics of young generation. Japanese companies operating abroad do not always apply the “Three Sacred“ to keep their high productivity and high standard of quality of their products.
Then, what have been main characteristics of traditional type of Japanese management in the relation to HRM? How much are they changing under the new technology and recent labor market? What would be the main characteristics of new type of Japanese management demonstrating high competiveness in the world market? What are the new trends of HRM under restructuring of Japanese management? These issues will be addressed in this paper mainly from the viewpoint of HRM.
KEY WORDS: HRM in Japan, change, labor market, Japanese management.
