Development of Industrial Engineering in Japan

Late nineteenth-century Japan was a rational shopper for models of administration, governance and technology.

After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japanese governmental and industrial elites vigorously searched the West for new organizational models. Japan modelled its new navy after Britain, its army after Prussia and its judicial and police system after France. In the field of industrial management, Japanese attention focused on the Americal system of mass production and rational management (Greenwood and Ross 1982)

Taylor's Scientific Management was rapidely disseminated in Japan. Taylor's book was translated into Japanese in 1912, just a year after it was published in the United States, amd sold more than a million copies in a version revised for workers.

Enthusiastic exponents of Taylor's approach included Yoichi Ueno and Araki Toichiro. In 1921, the Industrial Efficiency Research Institute (Sangyo noritsu kenkyujo) was formed under Ueno's leadership to promote the methodology of scientific management.

In Japan, scientific management was positioned and practiced in a way that it emphasized building the employee skills and strengthening their preindustrial understanding of the craft. The notion of systematically improving the production techniques was accepted, while individualizing incentives like piece rates were rejected.

Japan's Industrial Efficiency Research Institute (Sangyo noritsu kenkyujo) under Yoichi Ueno's leadership was established within Kyochokai, the "Harmony and Cooperation Society'. This society was formed in 1919 by the state and leading corporations. Kyochokai conducted education and research aimed at the alleviation of labour conflict.

The Industrial Efficiency Research Institute 's emphasis was on increasing worker commitment and improving industrail training rather than on radical deskilling. The background of its first director, Yoichi Ueno, psychology could have brought in the change in emphasis.

The assimilation of Taylorism into Japan was done with a human relations frame which was different from that of US. For example, the Japanese National Railway was an early formal adopter of scientific management principles in the mid-1920s. It delayed implementation of motion study until 1929 in favor of group discussion and problem solving teams (Levine and Kawada 1980). Japanese version of scientific management led toward a personnel management system that combines rationalized production with participatory activities and themes of industrial harmony, a combination that reappeared after World War II in the Japanese quality movement.

Reference
The Oxford Handbook of Work and Organization, By Stephen Ackroyd, Published 2005,
Oxford University Press

The Oxford Handbook of Work and Organization

A book relevant and useful for industrial engineers

By Stephen Ackroyd

Published 2005
Oxford University Press
678 pages

About the book

The last twenty-five years of the twentieth century was a period of extraordinary change in organizations and the economies of the developed world. This continues today. Such has been the scale and momentum of events that, for some analysts, the only comparable periods are the early part ofthe twentieth century in which the shift to mass production and large-scale organization was accomplished, or the industrial revolution itself a hundred years earlier.

Researchers in Europe and the USA in particular have been studying change in work and organizations, but there has been little attempt to systematize and draw together the results of their work. So far, the emphasis amongst writers on organizations considering the problem of contemporary change has been on ways of conceptualizing events, rather than also considering evidence. But what has actually happened? How much of the flux of events is real change, and how much mere change in emphasis in which apparent change is overlaying organizational continuity? How far are changes in particular events and sectors connected, and is an overall understanding of complex processes possible?

The Oxford Handbook of Work and Organization aims to bring together, present and discuss what is currently known about work and organizations and their connection to broader economic change in Europe and America. Issues of conceptualization are not neglected but, in contrast to other comparable volumes, the emphasis is firmly on what is known what and has been observed by researchers. The volume contains a range of theoretically informed essays, written by leading authorities in their respective fields, giving comprehensive coverage of changes in work, occupations, and organizations. It constitutes an invaluable overview of the accumulated understanding of research into work, occupations and organizations in recent decades. It shows that in almost every aspect of economic institutions, change has been considerable.

The subject area of work, occupations and organizations is considered in five major sections of the volume: I, Work, Technology, and the Division of Labour; II, Managerial Regimes and Employee Responses; III, Organizing and Organizations; IV, Occupations and Organizations and V. Organizations,Institutions, and Boundaries. In this way the contemporary situation in work and organizations is considered extensively in its different dimensions and interconnections. The contributors have been selected for their expertise and include many leading authors in organizational analysis andsubstantive research. The handbook is thus an authoritative statement, and offers a valuable account of organizations at this time.

Contents
Mapping the Changing Study
1
souday, rubery, ailon
WORK TECHNOLOGY
17
badham, appelbaum, fordist
Labor Markets and Flexibility
31
fordist, heery, lepak
Organizational
74
reskin, daday, tigges
Skill Formation Systems
95
finegold, sako, streeck
Technology and the Transformation of Work
115
sociotechnical, badham, orlikowski

Interdisciplinary
138
stasser, appelbaum, delbridge
MANAGERIAL REGIMES
163
souday, kunda, ailon
Design
200
cappelli, useem, maanen
Human Resource Management
220
boxall, macduffie, delbridge
Knowledge Management
242
consultancies, biometrician, managerialist
Industrial Relations and Work
263
tripartism, nonunion, darbishire
Labor Movements and Mobilization
283
bircham, jowell, nonunion
Resistance Misbehavior and Dissent
305
misbehavior, jermier, giacalone
OCCUPATIONS
327
minings, berlant, freidson
Conflict and Control
338
jsms, babson, grievance
Service Workers in Search of Decent Work
356
leidner, herzenberg, korczynski
What We Know and Mostly Dont Know
376
zussman, skilling, vallas
The Changing Nature of Professional Organizations
404
hinings, suddaby, pinnington
The Nature and Relevance of Internal
425
ilms, doeringer, autor
ORGANIZING
447
hebdon, interorganizational, mncs
From Direct
462
japanization, fordism, interorganizational
Interfirm Relations as Networks 508
interfirm, tncs, gereffi
Changes in the Organization of Public Services
530
colling, bordogna, strehl
Understanding Multinational Corporations
554
multinationals, birkinshaw, ghoshal
Corporate Restructuring 577
multidivisional, jabil, solectron
Explaining 602
elger, meiksins, sklair
Index
626
privatization, isomorphism, turnbull

Indian Anthropometric dimensions

Chakrabarti, D. 1997: Indian Anthropometric dimensions for ergonomic design practice;
National Institute of Design, Paldi, Ahemdabad 380007.

Section VIII. Augmented Industrial Engineering

VIII. Augmented Industrial Engineering

VIII-A. Additional Responsibilities Entrusted to IE Departments

Section VII. Management of Industrial Engineering

VII. Management of Industrial Engineering

VII-A. Management of Industrial Engineering Studies
VII-B. Management of Industrial Engineering Department
VII-C. Management of Industrial Engineering Projects (Project Management)
VII-D. Productivity Management
VII-E. Quality Management
VII-F. Operator Comfort Management
VII-G. Safety Management
VII-H. Occupational Health Management
VII-I. Information Management in IE Department

Section VI. Industrial Engineering - Work System Design

VI. Industrial Engineering - Work System Design

VI-A. Information to Start Work System Design
VI-B. Site Location and Selection
VI-C. Design of Industrial and Office Buildings - Role of Industrial Engineers
VI-D. Climate Control in Work Places
VI-E. Technlogy and Equipment Selection - Role of Industrial Engineers
VI-F. Work Station Design and Plant & Stores Layout
VI-G. Operator Selection - Role of Industrial Engineers
VI-H. Standard Operating Procedure Design and Communication
VI-I. Training of Operators - Role of Industrial Engineers
VI-J. Initial Operation of the Plant - Role of Industrial Engineers
VI-K. Industrial Engineering Science and Techniques

section V. Industrial Engineering - Work System Improvement and Work System Redesign

V. Industrial Engineering - Work System Improvement and Work System Redesign

V-A. Work System Documentation
V-B. Principles of Efficiency, Motion Economy and Safety
V-C. Methods Improvement
V-D. Work Station and Facility Improvement and Redesign
V-E. Work Measurement
V-F. Study of Compensation and Rewards
V-G. Study of Operator Comfort, Safety and Occupational Health
V-H. Design of Productivity and Safety Devices
V-I. Man-Machine & Man-Material Interface Design