While some writers account for Japan's postwar economic "miracle" in terms of a distinctively Japanese, traditional model of social organization, the writers of this study consider Japan's technological growth to have been accompanied by convergence toward modernized social organization. The authors test both of these theoretical models. Their data are derived from a nine-month period of observation, analysis of company records, interviews of personnel, and questionnaire responses from production, staff, and managerial employees in three main Japanese firms. Other firms were visited more briefly. The analysis shows that the most distinctively Japanese variables have less causal impact on performance within a firm than do more universal variables such as employee status, sex, and job satisfaction.

The authors test both of these theoretical models. Their data are derived from a nine-month period of observation, analysis of company records, interviews of personnel, and questionnaire responses from production, staff, and managerial employees in three main Japanese firms. Other firms were visited more briefly. The analysis shows that the most distinctively Japanese variables have less causal impact on performance within a firm than do more universal variables such as employee status, sex, and job satisfaction.

Originally published in 1976.

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Modernization and the Japanese Factory

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Contents

Preface, vii, 
List of Tables, xii, 
List of Figures, xvii, 
CHAPTERS, 
1. Introduction to the Problem, 3, 
2. Three Japanese Firms in Their Industry Settings, 15, 
3. Formal Structure, 33, 
4. Technology and the Division of Labor, 54, 
5. Job Satisfaction and Work Values, 99, 
6. The Reward System: Pay, 120, 
7. The Reward System: Promotion, 157, 
8. Social Integration of the Employee into the Company (1), 178, 
9. Social Integration of the Employee into the Company (2), 203, 
10. Social Integration of the Employee into the Company (3), 225, 
11. Performance in Japanese Firms, 254, 
12. The Social Organization of Japanese Firms, 297, 
APPENDIXES, 
A. Research Methods, 339, 
B. Construction of Indexes, 347, 
C. Correlation Matrices, 359, 
D. Multiple Regression Analyses, 365, 
Bibliography, 423, 
Index, 431,