Modern Japanese Organization and Decision-Making

Ezra F. Vogel

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780520358454
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520311589
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

This book constitues the first attempt of its kinds to probe the major features of modern Japanese organization that have played such a critical role in Japan's extraordinarily rapid economic development. The contributors inclue prominent academic business consultants such a Peter Drucker of the United states and Kazuo Noda of Japan; Japanese government officials such as Yoshihisa Ojimi, former Administrative Vice-Minister of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, and Taishiro Shirai, a member of the Central Labor Relations Commission; as well as outstanding Western experts on modern Japanese organization. The essays deal not only with Japanese government and business but also with teh structures of a newspaper and a university and with the role of Japanese intellectuals in modern organization. The portrait of Japanese organization that emerges is much more dynamic and volatile than has been generally supposed. One finds business and government managers creatively using so-called "traditional practices" in novel ways and undertaking bold departures to achieve new purposes. The findings contradict the view that decision sten from below. Not only do executive have an important role in initiating action; but lower-level officials function within a context defined by their superiors. Far greater tensions and conflict exist within organizations than is commonly reported by outsiders, especially in institutions like the university where conflicts often paralyze the decision-making process. Similarly, there is far greater divergence of interest among different sectors of society than one might infer from the stereotypical view of "Japan, Inc." And since the high level of consensus supporting the fundamental commitment to economic growth is now weakening increasing divergence may be anticipated in the future. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1975.

Many titles in the Voices Revived program are also newly available as ebooks, offered at a discounted price to support wider access to scholarly work.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Contributors
• Frequently Used Abbreviations
• Introduction: Toward More Accurate Concepts
• Functional and Dysfunctional Aspects of Government Bureaucracy
• Big Business and Political Influence
• Japanese Budget Baransu
• A Government Ministry: The Case of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry
• Big Business Organization
• Emerging Japanese Multinational Enterprises
• Decision-Making In the Japanese Labor Unions
• The Company Work Group
• Apprenticeship and Paternalism
• Economie Realities and Enterprise Strategy
• Intellectuals in the Decision Making Process
• Competition and Conformity: An Inquiry into the Structure of the Japanese Newspapers
• Organizational Paralysis: The Case of Todai
• Participants Conference on Japanese Organization and Decision-Making Hawaii, January 1973
• Index