Manufacturing Ideology: Scientific Management in Twentieth-Century Japan
Japanese industry is the envy of the world for its efficient and humane management practices. Yet, as William Tsutsui argues, the origins and implications of "Japanese-style management" are poorly understood. Contrary to widespread belief, Japan's acclaimed strategies are not particularly novel or even especially Japanese.


Tsutsui traces the roots of these practices to Scientific Management, or Taylorism, an American concept that arrived in Japan at the turn of the century. During subsequent decades, this imported model was embraced—and ultimately transformed—in Japan's industrial workshops. Imitation gave rise to innovation as Japanese managers sought a "revised" Taylorism that combined mechanistic efficiency with respect for the humanity of labor.


Tsutsui's groundbreaking study charts Taylorism's Japanese incarnation, from the "efficiency movement" of the 1920s, through Depression-era "rationalization" and wartime mobilization, up to postwar "productivity" drives and quality-control campaigns. Taylorism became more than a management tool; its spread beyond the factory was a potent intellectual template in debates over economic growth, social policy, and political authority in modern Japan.


Tsutsui's historical and comparative perspectives reveal the centrality of Japanese Taylorism to ongoing discussions of Japan's government-industry relations and the evolution of Fordist mass production. He compels us to rethink what implications Japanese-style management has for Western industries, as well as the future of Japan itself.

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Manufacturing Ideology: Scientific Management in Twentieth-Century Japan
Japanese industry is the envy of the world for its efficient and humane management practices. Yet, as William Tsutsui argues, the origins and implications of "Japanese-style management" are poorly understood. Contrary to widespread belief, Japan's acclaimed strategies are not particularly novel or even especially Japanese.


Tsutsui traces the roots of these practices to Scientific Management, or Taylorism, an American concept that arrived in Japan at the turn of the century. During subsequent decades, this imported model was embraced—and ultimately transformed—in Japan's industrial workshops. Imitation gave rise to innovation as Japanese managers sought a "revised" Taylorism that combined mechanistic efficiency with respect for the humanity of labor.


Tsutsui's groundbreaking study charts Taylorism's Japanese incarnation, from the "efficiency movement" of the 1920s, through Depression-era "rationalization" and wartime mobilization, up to postwar "productivity" drives and quality-control campaigns. Taylorism became more than a management tool; its spread beyond the factory was a potent intellectual template in debates over economic growth, social policy, and political authority in modern Japan.


Tsutsui's historical and comparative perspectives reveal the centrality of Japanese Taylorism to ongoing discussions of Japan's government-industry relations and the evolution of Fordist mass production. He compels us to rethink what implications Japanese-style management has for Western industries, as well as the future of Japan itself.

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Manufacturing Ideology: Scientific Management in Twentieth-Century Japan

Manufacturing Ideology: Scientific Management in Twentieth-Century Japan

by William M. Tsutsui
Manufacturing Ideology: Scientific Management in Twentieth-Century Japan

Manufacturing Ideology: Scientific Management in Twentieth-Century Japan

by William M. Tsutsui

Paperback(Reprint)

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Overview

Japanese industry is the envy of the world for its efficient and humane management practices. Yet, as William Tsutsui argues, the origins and implications of "Japanese-style management" are poorly understood. Contrary to widespread belief, Japan's acclaimed strategies are not particularly novel or even especially Japanese.


Tsutsui traces the roots of these practices to Scientific Management, or Taylorism, an American concept that arrived in Japan at the turn of the century. During subsequent decades, this imported model was embraced—and ultimately transformed—in Japan's industrial workshops. Imitation gave rise to innovation as Japanese managers sought a "revised" Taylorism that combined mechanistic efficiency with respect for the humanity of labor.


Tsutsui's groundbreaking study charts Taylorism's Japanese incarnation, from the "efficiency movement" of the 1920s, through Depression-era "rationalization" and wartime mobilization, up to postwar "productivity" drives and quality-control campaigns. Taylorism became more than a management tool; its spread beyond the factory was a potent intellectual template in debates over economic growth, social policy, and political authority in modern Japan.


Tsutsui's historical and comparative perspectives reveal the centrality of Japanese Taylorism to ongoing discussions of Japan's government-industry relations and the evolution of Fordist mass production. He compels us to rethink what implications Japanese-style management has for Western industries, as well as the future of Japan itself.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691074566
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 04/01/2001
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 296
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

William M. Tsutsui is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Kansas. He is the author of Banking Policy in Japan: American Efforts at Reform During the Occupation.

Table of Contents

Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction3
1The Introduction of Taylorism and the Efficiency Movement, 1911-192714
2The Rationalization Movement and Scientific Management, 1927-193758
3The Wartime Economy and Scientific Management, 1937-194590
4Management and Ideology, 1945-1960122
5The Long Shadow of Taylorism: Labor Relations and "Lean Production," 1945-1973152
6Taylorism Transformed? Scientific Management and Quality Control, 1945-1973190
Epilogue: The Taylorite Roots of "Japanese-Style Management"236
Bibliography245
Index273
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