Recent changes in human resource management practices in Japan

Abstract

Human resource management systems may be considered as composed from mutually complementary elements (Osterman, 1994). If the environment remains relatively stable, the elements can develop into a system in equilibrium which acquires a legitimacy among the parties. According to Osterman (Osterman, 1994) it is the synergy among elements of the human resource management system that helps to create competitive advantages for the firms. This was arguably the case in a fair number of large Japanese companies which have devoted huge efforts after the second world war in the building of complex interdependencies between micro and macro institutions. This allowed them, contrary to the neo classical version of the convergence theory, to create and sustain frameworks resolving Williamsonian (Williamson, 1993) and asymmetric information constraints on relationships, hence allowing externalities which an arm's length contractual environment would have ruled out.