“Front‐end reflections”: supervisory systems in the UK’s Japanese transplants and in “Japanized” companies
| Published date | 01 June 1998 |
| Date | 01 June 1998 |
| Pages | 261-270 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425459810228324 |
| Author | Jonathan Morris,James Lowe,Barry Wilkinson |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Supervisory
systems in the
UK’s Japanese
transplants
261
“Front-end reflections”:
supervisory systems in the
UK’s Japanese transplants and
in “Japanized” companies
Jonathan Morris and James Lowe
Cardiff Business School, University of Wales, Cardiff, UK, and
Barry Wilkinson
International Business School of Management, University of Bath,
Bath, UK
Introduction
The term Japanization was popularized by Oliver and Wilkinson (1992) in the
UK, borrowed from Turnbull (1988) who in turn had purloined it from a Lucas
Trade Union official, using it to describe the various changes in work
organizations and employee relations being undertaken in his organization in
the mid-1980s. From the outset the term proved controversial for a number of
reasons, not least that it was at best extremely situation and historically-
specific (to Japan) and at worst an ideal type (Ackroyd et al., 1986).
Despite academic ambivalence and the reluctance of certain authors at both
ends of the ideological spectrum to use the term (see Garrahan and Stewart,
1992; Womack et al., 1990), Japanization has entered the lexicon of UK
management research and even fairly critical authors have accepted that it has
enough saliency and resonance to be used (Elger and Smith, 1994).
This special issue title presumes that the Japanization phase, if it ever existed
in UK manufacturing, has ended. Depending on the definition of Japanization,
however, there is still a great deal of management research in the area (see, for
example, Delbridge, 1998). Even if the term is less used than it once was, many
of the issues are alive and fruitful research on the issues still continues.
Certainly if Japanization , in one manifestation, refers to the transfer of Japanese
management practices to different contexts, either through direct investment in
the transplants or through western emulators, then there is demonstrable
research continuing in the area. This paper reports on one such piece of
research, specifically the transfer of Japanese supervisory pr actices to their UK-
based Japanese transplants and to the UK-based emulators (as part of a broader
comparison of supervisory systems in Japan, the UK and No rth America)[1].
Employee Relations,
Vol. 20 No. 3, 1998, pp. 261-270,
© MCBUniversity Press, 0142-5455
Since this article was written, James Lowe died in April 1998.
To continue reading
Request your trial