ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Two rather different assessments are evident in the discussion of the so-ealled ‘Japanization’ of British industry. The first, most clearly articulated by Oliver and Wilkinson (1988; 1992), emphasizes substantial moves towards the adoption of Japanese-inspired innovations in work organization, which promise substantial competitive advantages but also involve a much greater dependency of management upon a committed and cooperative workforce. This dependency in turn requires new and increasingly sophisticated personnel and industrial relations strategies designed to achieve and sustain such cooperation. Thus there is a logic of ‘Japanization’ which runs from competitive pressures, through the recasting of the labour process, to the development of personnel policies designed to minimize the risks arising from such enhanced dependency.
