Middle-aged and older employees in Japanese corporations: their plight during the process of major historic change in employment
Norihiko Suzuki | Looks at the long recession the Japanese economy suffered in the 1990s and its ramifications on the employment situation in Japanese corporations. Describes, in general, the current trends in human resource management in corporate Japan which have long-term implications for management development. In particular, focuses its attention on those white-collar employees in older age groups who find themselves “trapped” in a “career plateau”. Sees their plight as part of the necessary historic process in a move towards a new corporate society in Japan. |
The current state of human resource development administration in Japan and the debate on its future
Masayuki Kitaura | Describes the areas of human resource development that come under the administration of the Human Resources Development Bureau of the Ministry of Labour in Japan, and administered through human resource development councils at the central and prefectural level. The recent rapid changes in industrial and demographic structures necessitated a systematic training for new skills and upgrading of the current ones for people who enter the labour market for the first time as well as those who are changing jobs. The Ministry’s role is to provide the integrated system of training opportunities, evaluation and certification, and the financial support to encourage participation of an increasing number of workers in vocational education, to improve their future prospects in employment. In particular, the establishment of the Business Career Development System is a reflection of a trend from generalist training of managers hitherto carried out in-company to specialist development now offered outside the company. |
Adult business education programmes in private educational institutions in Japan
"Mauri" Kaoru Kobayashi | Outlines the number of difficulties the Japanese businesses encounter in their operating environment today. Argues that the traditional paradigm of organizational structure is no longer adequate for their long term survival, and discusses a new model of employment which has implications for human resource development of the future. In describing adult business education provision in private sector, shows that employees are increasingly taking initiatives for their professional education rather than their companies’ dictating what skills they should have. |
Management development in Torray - now and in the future
Susumu Ishizaka | In this example of in-company development provision, Torray, the largest textile multinational in the world today, shows that is considers management development as a major strategic issue. While human resource development for Torray itself is managed on a traditional corporation-wide system with both level-and functioned-based programmes, its group-wide management development programme, run in its own business school, trains managers for executive roles in the group companies, in pursuance of its overall objective, the APG 2000. |
Self-awareness of unlimited individual potential and its development: the underlying philosophy of the management/staff development programme in Yaohan International Group
Takanori Tsuchiya |
For Yaohan International Group, the most important aspects of management development is not the acquisition of knowledge and the training skills per se, but the cultivation of the right mind and spirit. The group thrives on the corporate culture which believes in the unlimited potential of each employee, and its philosophy, bases on the Truth of Life doctrine, embraces all its employees scattered around the world as members of the single family, pulling down the walls of prejudice which separate them by religion and race. Only when the hearts and the minds have been won, can the real education and training begin. This was embodied in the company’s declaration, based on the vision of its present chairman, Kazuo Wada, which has guided the growth of the company from a humble provincial store into a global retail conglomerate. |
Part-time MBA education in Japan
Tadao Kagono |
One of the characteristics of the Japanese management education has been the near absence of domestic MBA programmes on the one hand and the prevalence of in-company education on the other. Yet many large companies have increasingly been sending their employees to overseas MBA programmes. The sudden emergence of part-time MBA programmes in the late 1980s, which might have appeared to go some way to addressing this seeming paradox, has not in fact been the answer, since the benefits the businesses seek from the overseas MBA programmes are those which the domestic MBA programmes cannot provide. There is also a big gap between aspirations of the MBAs and the corporate HRM reality. Examines the reasons behind the recent development, and explores the more general issues which the domestic MBA education is likely to encounter for some time, through the findings of the recent research and the experience of the Kobe University in this area. |
Development of female managers and the sogoshoku in Japan
Megumi Nakamura |
Identifies the structural problems in the employment system which still lie behind the realization of the aim of the equal employment opportunity legislation (EEOL) which came into force in 1986. Points out that the dual track system, which was introduced by large companies ostensibly to ensure that there is a route for female university graduates to progress in the management career track, is in fact nothing more than a cleverly disguised but flawed device that allows continuation of the discriminatory system against women. By looking at the backgrounds and status of the existing female managers whose rise owes less to EEOL than to their efforts, suggests conditions which are required for the future development of female managers in Japan. |