Out of chaos comes order: from Japanization to lean production. A critical commentary
| Pages | 213-223 |
| Published date | 01 June 1998 |
| Date | 01 June 1998 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425459810228252 |
| Author | Paul Stewart |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
From
Japanization to
lean production
213
Out of chaos comes order:
from Japanization to lean
production
A critical commentary
Paul Stewart
Cardiff Business School, Cardiff, Wales, UK
…a sociological approach to organisations must not, if it is to be useful or perceptive, accept
available common-sense conceptions of the problems of organisations. Such a confusion of
sociological issues and interests with what are presented as obvious, common-sense, practical
organisational problems carries a number of dangers. (Salaman, 1979, p. 3)
It is salutary to realise that it is almost two decades since Graeme Salaman
penned these watchwords yet the analysis of one of the most significant forms
of organizational renewal since then has largely ignored these dangers –
perhaps because some analysts have not heard that the study of organizations
can be dangerous. Alternatively, it may be that some observers have become
increasingly confused as to why it is that organizations can be dangerous places
– especially for social scientists. This confusion may be as much to do with how
we might begin to untangle the myriad interests involved in understanding new
forms of management. Then again, it could be a consequence of the increasing
role being played by academics in the business environment. In all likelihood we
can assume that there is an element of both these but we shall see. The dangers
spelt out by Salaman (1979) are particularly pertinent, not to say prescient, in
this area mostly for the reasons he elucidated. He was concerned that social
science should be wary of confusing management goals and interests with
those of other organizational actors and that one of the ways we might achieve
this is to keep posing the question as to who benefits from notions of
organizational efficiency and renewal. This effectively calls for a concern with
the question of power in organizations and it forms the backdrop to the
argument presented here.
The aim of this paper is to delineate and assess three key approaches to the
implications of Japanese involvement in the UK (the “Japanization”, “lean
production” and “social relations” approaches respectively) and to suggest an
alternative to the so-called “Japanization” school in its various incarnations. Far
from seeking to provide anything approaching a definitive account of the full
range of participants involved in the discussion over the nature of Japanese
inward investment in the UK, let alone the character of the debate at an
international level, my main priority is to attempt to draw out some basic
themes by assessing the continuities and discontinuities in the various Employee Relations,
Vol. 20 No. 3, 1998, pp. 213-223,
© MCBUniversity Press, 0142-5455
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