The paper empirically examines labor-management communication concerning in-house training programs and its relation to the actual on- and off-the-job training policy and wage structure. Using governmental datasets from Japan, we study how different labor-management communication institutions may affect the training interests of employers and…

Compiling data from several government surveys, this article identifies key social indicators of economic security associated with nonstandard employment in Japan. Empirical trends of nonstandard employment are contextualized in the development of Japanese coordinated capitalism from the economic boom during the 1960s through the recession of the…

Considers employment policy and labor relations in three Japanese manufacturing plants in northeast England. Includes background information regarding their decision to locate there. (JOW)

Inhumane working conditions led to a strike of Japanese silk spinners and formation of a union. Company repression provoked public opinion, resulting in acceptance of worker demands for recognition of human rights in the workplace. (SK)

Assessment of West German and Japanese systems of worker participation and of attempts to adapt these models to the United States do not provide conclusive evidence that these methods improve productivity and job satisfaction. (SK)

Provides a case study of a Japanese-owned British manufacturing plant. Its purpose was to establish reasons for the introduction of employee participation in the company's manufacturing plant. (JOW)

Based on a survey and case studies of workplaces in the U.S. and Japan, this article reviews and assesses the role of worker participation in tackling critical problems associated with energy and natural resources conservation. Certain wider implications for labor-management relations are also discussed. (Author/CT)

Examines differences between Japanese and North American personnel management philosophies. Considers to what extent practices of Japanese corporations have been transferred to subsidiaries in Canada, India, Malaysia, and Singapore, compared to locally owned firms. Shows how cultural factors affect styles of personnel management. (SK)

Quality Circle (QC) and Quality of Working Life (QWL) in the United States are similar in that both stress participative decision making, preserve management's prerogative to have the final say, and are voluntary. QC and QWL programs differ, however, in that labor unions are more involved in QWLs; QCs deal only with technical problems related to…

Recent trends that affect the U.S. system of industrial relations are examined. The most important of these is internationalization. The U.S. industrial relations system is compared with that of Europe and Japan, and suggestions for improving our competitiveness in international markets are made. (Author/RM)

The paternalistic industrial system is not likely to be discarded soon; in today's fast-moving economy, it affords cost flexibility and employment security. (Editor)

Opinions about industrial relations (IR) in Japan are extremely diversified. The main concern regarding IR appears to be whether Japan can maintain the vitality and flexibility to cope with the changes in the industrial structure and technology in a stagnant world economy. The lack of opposition and dispute between labor and management may be the…

The worker born after 1945, whose generation will soon make up the majority in industrial employment, is usually better educated than his father and his education has often been different in kind too. There has been more emphasis on teaching children to develop their own personality and to question what they find in society, and less emphasis on…

This series of articles cites a variety of sources and synthesizes a number of studies on the working conditions and the welfare of workers from several countries. (SSH)

A study examined how the cross-national differences in the social contract among managers, unions, and government influenced adjustment strategies in steel. The restructuring process in eight major steel-producing countries was studied to determine who bore the costs of restructuring--employers, employees, or government--and which industrial…