Modernization and the Japanese Factory - Rilegato

Marsh, Robert Mortimer; Mannari, Hiroshi

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0691093652 ISBN 13: 9780691093659

Casa editrice: Princeton Univ Pr, 1976

Riassunto

While some writers account for Japan's postwar economic "miracle" in terms of a distinctively Japanese, traditional model of social organization, the writers of this study consider Japan's technological growth to have been accompanied by convergence toward modernized social organization. The authors test both of these theoretical models. Their data are derived from a nine-month period of observation, analysis of company records, interviews of personnel, and questionnaire responses from production, staff, and managerial employees in three main Japanese firms. Other firms were visited more briefly. The analysis shows that the most distinctively Japanese variables have less causal impact on performance within a firm than do more universal variables such as employee status, sex, and job satisfaction.

The authors test both of these theoretical models. Their data are derived from a nine-month period of observation, analysis of company records, interviews of personnel, and questionnaire responses from production, staff, and managerial employees in three main Japanese firms. Other firms were visited more briefly. The analysis shows that the most distinctively Japanese variables have less causal impact on performance within a firm than do more universal variables such as employee status, sex, and job satisfaction.

Originally published in 1976.

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Modernization and the Japanese Factory

By Robert M. Marsh, Hiroshi Mannari

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 1976 Princeton University Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-691-09365-9

Contents

Preface, vii, 
List of Tables, xii, 
List of Figures, xvii, 
CHAPTERS, 
1. Introduction to the Problem, 3, 
2. Three Japanese Firms in Their Industry Settings, 15, 
3. Formal Structure, 33, 
4. Technology and the Division of Labor, 54, 
5. Job Satisfaction and Work Values, 99, 
6. The Reward System: Pay, 120, 
7. The Reward System: Promotion, 157, 
8. Social Integration of the Employee into the Company (1), 178, 
9. Social Integration of the Employee into the Company (2), 203, 
10. Social Integration of the Employee into the Company (3), 225, 
11. Performance in Japanese Firms, 254, 
12. The Social Organization of Japanese Firms, 297, 
APPENDIXES, 
A. Research Methods, 339, 
B. Construction of Indexes, 347, 
C. Correlation Matrices, 359, 
D. Multiple Regression Analyses, 365, 
Bibliography, 423, 
Index, 431, 

CHAPTER 1

Introduction to the Problem

A society may be considered modernized "to the extent that its members use inanimate sources of [energy] and/or use tools to multiply the effects of their efforts" (Levy 1966:11). This definition has at least two virtues. First, it is an objective definition and therefore lends itself to operational measurement: a society's level of modernization is its inanimate energy consumption per capita. Second, it is a deliberately narrow, rather than broadly inclusive, definition. It therefore treats the question of what kinds of polity, family patterns, values, etc. are associated with varying levels of energy consumption per capita as a question for theoretical and empirical investigation, rather than one to be settled by definitional fiat.

In this study we are concerned with the validity of the convergence theory of modernization. This theory holds that as societies become more highly modernized they tend to become more alike in their social and cultural structure. Few would argue that the attainment of high modernization eliminates all differences among societies which stem from their different histories and culture, from whether they are early or late modernizers, and the like. But analysts disagree on the extent of similarity that results.

This study attacks the problem of convergence at the level of complex organizations — specifically, industrial manufacturing firms. At this level there is a problem in defining "modernization" in terms of per capita energy consumption that is avoided at the societal level. This is that energy consumption per capita is highly industry-specific. Steel firms consume much more energy than lace textile firms, but are not necessarily more modernized. To handle this problem, we shall use energy consumption per capita as the measure of modernization only for within-industry comparisons of firms; for cross-industry comparisons of firms we shall use the extent of reliance on inanimate, mechanized, and automated processes as the criterion of modernization.

Japan, though still less modernized than the United States and some other Western societies, is narrowing the "modernization gap" between itself and those societies, both at the general societal level and at the level of its larger firms. Moreover, the performance of those Japanese firms (as measured, for example, by their volume of sales) is also tending toward levels as high as those of comparable Western firms. The convergence theory of modernization, as app

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Princeton Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 1976
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0691093652
• ISBN 13: 9780691093659
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 454
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile