Worker discontent, voice, and EI programs in Japan: Evidence from the Japanese worker representation and participation survey

Using a unique new survey, the Japanese Worker Representation and Participation Survey (JWRPS), this paper documents that there is currently an alarming degree of worker discontent in Japan. Specifically, we find that: (i) nearly one in two Japanese workers usually do not look forward to going to work; (ii) almost one third of Japanese workers are dissatisfied with their current jobs and do not at all feel loyal to their employers or feel loyal only a little; (iii) nearly one in five Japanese workers either do not at all trust information provided by their firm or trust such information only a little; and (iv) fully 40 percent of Japanese workers rate labor management relations as only fair or poor. Estimating probit models, we find systematic evidence that such worker discontent is significantly related to the lack of strong employee voice on decisions affecting workplaces, and that the lack of or weakened use of Japan's once celebrated EI programs (such as Shopfloor Committees, Small Group Activities, and Joint Labor-Management Committees) is in part responsible for weak voice and hence an alarming degree of worker discontent. An important policy implication of our findings is that weakening Japan's participatory employment system (as the popular rhetoric at times suggests) may result in exacerbating the already alarming degree of worker discontent in Japan, and ultimately weakening the competitiveness of the Japanese economy

High Performance Work Practices and Employee Voice: A Comparison of Japanese and Korean Workers

Using a unique new cross-national survey of Japanese and Korean workers, we report the first systematic evidence on the effects on employee voice of High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs) from the two economies which are noted for the wide use of HPWPs. We find for both nations that: (i) workers in firms with HPWPs aimed at creating opportunities for employees to get involved (such as shopfloor committees and small group activities) are indeed more likely to have stronger senses of influence and voice on shopfloor decision making than other workers; (ii) workers whose pay is tied to firm performance are more likely to have a stake in firm performance and hence demand such influence and voice; and (iii) consequently workers in firms with HPWPs are more likely to make frequent suggestions for productivity increase and quality improvement. As such, this paper contributes to a small yet growing new empirical literature which tries to understand the actual process and mechanism through which HPWPs lead to better enterprise performance.high performance work practices, employee voice, Japan, Korea

What Japanese Workers Want: Evidence from the Japanese Worker Representation and Participation Survey

Using a unique new survey, the Japanese Worker Representation and Participation Survey (JWRPS), this paper presents the first evidence on the representation/participation gaps among Japanese workers and its links to the degree of their discontent with work and the efficacy of celebrated participatory employment practices. We find that: (i) contrary to the popular rhetoric of the end of "participatory Japanese management", Japanese workers still desire more involvement and greater voice in firm decisions; and (ii) in spite of their strong desire to have more influence, many Japanese workers consider their current level of say at work less than adequate, resulting in significant representation/participation gaps which are comparable to what has been found for U.S. workers. Furthermore, we find an alarming degree of discontent with work among Japanese workers, measured by diverse variables, and weak employee involvement and influence are found to be significantly linked to the degree of such discontent. Finally, our analysis of the survey data yields evidence in support of the hypotheses that: (i) working in firms with strong participatory programs will significantly enhance employee voice; (ii) among those working in participatory firms, actually participating in these programs will yield an additional boost for employee voice; and (iii) financial participation schemes will align the interest of employees with the interest of the firm and thus make employees wanting to have more influence in firm decisions. Our findings suggest that weakening participatory employment practices (as the popular rhetoric at times suggests) may result in exacerbating the already alarming degree of employee dissatisfaction in Japan.

ISO 9001に基づく社会福祉法人静香会の運営について

論

Suzaku observation of the metallicity distribution in the intracluster medium of the Fornax cluster

The metallicity distribution in the Fornax cluster was studied with the XIS instrument onboard the Suzaku satellite. K-shell lines of O and Mg were resolved clearly, and the abundances of O, Mg, Si, S and Fe were measured with good accuracy. The region within a 4' radius of NGC 1399 shows approximately solar abundances of Fe, Si and S, while the O/Fe and Mg/Fe abundance ratios are about 0.4--0.5 and 0.7 in solar units. In the outer region spanning radii between 6' and 23', the Fe and Si abundances drop to 0.4--0.5 solar and show no significant gradient within this region. The abundance ratios, O/Fe and Mg/Fe, are consistent with those in the central region. We also measured the Fe abundance around NGC 1404 to be approximately solar, and the O, Ne and Mg abundances to be 0.5--0.7 times the Fe level. The significant relative enhancement of Fe within 130 kpc of NGC 1399 and in NGC 1404 indicates an origin in SN Ia, in contrast to the species O, Ne, and Mg which reflect the stellar metallicity. The mass-to-light ratios for O and Fe within 130 kpc of NGC 1399 are over an order of magnitude lower than those in rich clusters, reflecting the metal enrichment history of this poor cluster.Comment: 13 pages, accepted to PAS

Suzaku Observations of the Centaurus Cluster: Absence of Bulk Motions in the Intracluster Medium

The Centaurus cluster (z=0.0104) was observed with the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) onboard the Suzaku X-ray satellite in three pointings, one centered on the cluster core and the other two offset by +-8' in declination. To search for possible bulk motions of the intracluster medium, the central energy of He-like Fe-K line (at a rest-frame energy of 6.7 keV) was examined to look for a positional dependence. Over spatial scales of 50 kpc to 140 kpc around the cluster core, the central line energy was found to be constant within the calibration error of 15 eV. The 90% upper limit on the line-of-sight velocity difference is |Delta_v|< 1400 km/s, giving a tighter constraint than previous measurements. The significant velocity gradients inferred from a previous Chandra study were not detected between two pairs of rectangular regions near the cluster core. These results suggest that the bulk velocity does not largely exceed the thermal velocity of the gas in the central region of the Centaurus cluster. The mean redshift of the intracluster medium was determined to be 0.0097, in agreement with the optical redshift of the cluster within the calibration uncertainty. Implications of the present results for the estimation of the cluster mass are briefly discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in PASJ. Version with high-quality color figures at http://cosmic.riken.jp/ota/publications/index.htm

X-Ray Study of Temperature and Abundance Profiles of the Cluster of Galaxies Abell 1060 with Suzaku

We carried out observations of the central and 20' east offset regions of the cluster of galaxies Abell 1060 with Suzaku. Spatially resolved X-ray spectral analysis has revealed temperature and abundance profiles of Abell 1060 out to 27' ~ 380; /h_70 kpc, which corresponded to ~ 0.25; r_180. Temperature decrease of the intra cluster medium from 3.4 keV at the center to 2.2 keV in the outskirt region are clearly observed. Abundances of Si, S and Fe also decrease by more than 50% from the center to the outer, while Mg shows fairly constant abundance distribution at ~ 0.7 solar within r < 17'. O shows lower abundance of ~ 0.3 solar in the central region (r~ 6'), and indicates a similar feature with Mg, however it is sensitive to the estimated contribution of the Galactic components of kT_1 ~ 0.15 keV and kT_2 ~ 0.7 keV in the outer annuli (r ~ 13'). Systematic effects due to the point spread function tails, contamination on the XIS filters, instrumental background, cosmic and/or Galactic X-ray background, and the assumed solar abundance tables are carefully examined. Results on temperature and abundances of Si, S, and Fe are consistent with those derived by XMM-Newton at r < 13'. Formation and metal enrichment process of the cluster are discussed based on the present results.Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Survey Results of Support for Elder Foreigners Living in Japan

departmental bulletin pape