n to financial exigency. If workers are seen as a fixed cost (instead of a variable cost), it makes sense to invest heavily in their training. Long-term employment will allow for sufficient payback of such training expenses. In this sense, Western observers
have suggested that Japanese companies treat their employees more like family members than employees.
Concern has frequently been expressed that employee commitment to their companies in Japan may be too strong. Many Japanese refuse to take all of the vacation time to which they are entitled - a practice seldom witnessed in the West. A commonly used Japanese word, ganbatte, typifies this overzealous commitment to work. Indeed, Japanese employees and even school children will often be heard to say to their friends or colleagues, ganbatte kudasai - never give up, try harder, do your best. On the positive side, ganbatte shows strong commitment to succeed on behalf of one s company or family. On the negative side, it often manifests itself in large numbers of work-related health problems. Health care professionals express concern about the large number of Japanese employees who overwork themselves to the point of becoming ill., It is important to note that in view of Japan s long-running economic problems and increased global pressures for efficiency, several Japanese companies ( eg, Hitachi, Toshiba, NEC) have recently begun to back away from their former policies of ironclad job security and lifetime employment. Other companies are beginning to place greater emphasis on individual performance and performance appraisals, referred to as the nenpo system.so, the general characteristics of Japanese human resource management systems remain relatively constant. Concern for the group, respect for age and seniority, and devotion to the company remain hallmarks of the typical Japanese firm. Indeed, Fujitsu recently decided to discontinue its much-heralded Western-style performance-based pay system because it proved to be a poor fit with Japanese culture. Fujitsu s new system will emphasize worker enthusiasm and energy in tackling a job instead of actual goal accomplishment in annual performance evaluations. Moreover, when Fujitsu announced that it was laying off 15,000 workers, or 9 percent of its workforce, it made it clear that all involuntary lay-offs would take place in operations outside of Japan. Any Japanese workforce reductions would be accomplished through retirements and normal attrition.are over 70,000 labor unions in Japan, most of which are company-specific. These enterprise unions tend to include both workers and lower-and middle-level managers. This differs from the situation in Canada and the US, for example, where most unions are industrial unions that cross several companies in the same industry.many enterprise unions affiliate with national labor federations (which facilitate the annual spring wage negotiations, or shunt?) , these organizations are more decentralized than in the US or Canada. As a result, Japanese workers in enterprise unions typically do not experience the same degree of divided loyalties (union versus company) that are often seen in America and Canada among unionized workers. In addition, it is not uncommon for union members in Japanese companies to rise through the management ranks - even to the position of company president in some cases. This seldom occurs in the US, where the mana...
