Contemporary HRM Practices in Japanese Small Business

Abstract

Chapter Contribution

The purpose of this chapter is to critically evaluate contemporary Japanese human resource management (HRM) practices in order to identify if Japanese small enterprises are employing the same or different practices that have been used in the past.

An interpretative qualitative approach is applied through the use of semi-structured interviews. Three small business owners with 30–50 years’ experience in the construction industry have been interviewed in Japanese with their subsequent responses translated, transcribed and coded.

It has been discovered that traditional HRM practices remain popular although their influence has slightly dissipated. This finding indicates an influence by western HR practices, at least to an extent. Findings include the presence of lifetime employment, seniority systems, Kaizen (quality management), the growing international workforce, unionisation, ‘nomunication’, recruitment practices, group decision-making and the lack of gender equality.

Research was only carried out with three small business owners which may reduce the transferability and generalisability of the findings. Only the construction industry was analysed. Moreover, the interviews took place on Skype rather than in a face-to-face environment which may have reduced the ability to effectively understand facial signals.

Although a native Japanese speaker carried out the translations, there may have been issues regarding selecting the most appropriate words to be used.

This study provides an original viewpoint on contemporary HR practices in Japan. It is argued that this chapter will provide a fresh understanding on HRM practices used by Japanese small business and will be useful for scholars, employees and employers alike.

Citation

Taylor, A. (2022), "Contemporary HRM Practices in Japanese Small Business", Biginas, K., Sindakis, S., Koumproglou, A., Sarantinos, V. and Wyer, P. (Ed.) Small Business Management and Control of the Uncertain External Environment (Advanced Strategies in Entrepreneurship, Education and Ecology), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 197-209. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83909-624-220211012