Limits and Latitude of Labour Adjustment Strategies in Japanese Companies

Japanese Workplaces in Transition

“…While the above survey results, diary entries and also academic studies, e.g. Dirks (1999) or Kato (2001), have shown the importance of transfers in the restructuring activities of Japanese corporations during the 1990s, Genda (2002) argues that transfers have already lost in importance and will loose further in the future. He bases his assessment on the fact that the close relationships between companies are weakening, with larger companies loosing some control over smaller companies.…”

“…The possibility to transfer employees between companies has been described as one of the most interesting features of the Japanese employment system (Dirks 1999). Being able to transfer employees, companies can circumvent some of the rigidities of a system where the relationship between employers and employees is based on the assumption of long-term or even life-long employment.…”

“…Other problematic points included a lack of cooperation by other employees (31.1 %), differences in formal and informal decision making (19.0 %), a too broad field of responsibilities (17.7 %), operational difference even though knowledge and technologies were the same (14.2 %) and finally, a too narrow scope of responsibilities (8.5 %) (JIL 1999: 144). Dirks (1999) Since Japan does not possess properly developed external labor markets transfers constitute for many smaller firms the only way to lay hands on the qualified people they need to develop further.…”

A dynamic sense of home: Spatio-temporal aspects of mobility of young Tokyo residents

“…Even today, in the post-industrial era in Japan, a frequent reason for changing residence is a job relocation. The possibility of relocating employees between companies has been described as one of the most interesting features of the Japanese employment system [5] (Dirks, 1999;Meyer-Ohle, 2009). Relocations consist of moving employees around to perform different work, and the practice of relocations at Japanese companies includes, among other characteristics, temporary and permanent external relocations, often generating friction between the employee's family life and work (Maeura, 2016).…”

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“…Celo v današnji postindustrijski dobi je na Japonskem pogost razlog za selitev premestitev na drugo delovno mesto. Možnost premeščanja zaposlenih med podjetji velja za eno najzanimivejših značilnosti japonskega sistema zaposlovanja 5 (Dirks, 1999;Meyer-Ohle, 2009). Podjetja premeščajo zaposlene sem in tja, pri čemer ti opravljajo različna dela, med drugim pa praksa premeščanj na Japonskem vključuje tudi začasne in stalne zunanje premestitve, zaradi katerih zaposleni težko usklajujejo družinsko in poklicno življenje (Maeura, 2016).…”