A Comparative Study on the Development of the Productivity Movement in Postwar Japan

本课题的主要研究成果如下：第一，战后不久，在总部和日本政府的共同指导下，成立了一些新的管理咨询机构。这些组织和战前成立的其他组织，包括组织的核心人物，巩固了20世纪50年代以后生产力运动的基础。根据钢铁行业的案例研究，公司内部从战前积累的学习成果也有助于引进新建立的美国管理技术。另一方面，由电气设备行业的参与者组成的考察团的成员相信，大规模生产制度确实可以在日本实施，因为在日本，多样化一直是消费主义的口号。可以看出，海外特派团取得了具体成果，例如引入了建议制度和改革了设计组织。其次，关于生产力中心的诞生和作用，日本的情况既不同于德国和奥地利的情况，前者以战前存在的相同组织为核心，后者受战前组织的影响，但运动的发展完全独立于政府，也不同于法国的情况，法国对政府的依赖相当强烈。在日本，生产运动的组织可以说是由政府和若干团体组成的相辅相成的体系。第三，各国工会与其上层国际组织相对应，对生产运动有承诺。

Main results of this research project are as follows.Firstly, immediately after the end of the war, under the guidance of both GHQ and Japanese government, some new management consulting organizations were formed. These organizations and other organizations, which were established in prewar days, including central figures of organizations, consolidated the foundation of the the productivity movement after 1950s. According to the case study of the iron and steel industry, the learning results accumulated within the company from prewar times also contributed to the introduction of the newly established American management techniques. On the other side, the members of the observation tours undertaken by groups made up of participants from the electrical equipment industry were convinced that mass production system could indeed be implemented in Japan, where variety has long been a watchword of consumerism. Concrete results can be seen to have stemmed from the overseas missions, such as the introduction of the suggestion system and the revamping of the design organization. Furthermore, it was made clear that the production movement was almost simultaneous with the introduction of foreign technology.Secondly, with regard to the birth and the role of the productivity center, the case of Japan differs both from the situation in Germany, in which the same organization as existed in prewar days formed the core, and in Austria, where the movement was under the influence of the prewar organization, yet the movement developed quite independently of the government, and from the situation in France, where dependence on the government is quite strong. In Japan, the movement's organization can be described as mutually complementary system made up of the government as well as a number of group.Thirdly, the labor unions of each countries, corresponding to their upper international organizations, had a commitment to the production movement.