`Harmony' as Efficiency

Abstract

The management literature frequently characterizes Japanese industrial organization in terms such as collectivism, group-orientation, harmony and team spirit, and attributes these traits to Japan's cultural and traditional uniqueness. However, the author argues that a careful review of Japan's development reveals that its industrialists owe much to western - and primarily American - industrial techniques. The Just-In-Time system's stress on group work does not emerge from the national character or the Tokugawa heritage; it is industrial necessity, a means of achieving maximum efficiency. This idea is by no means alien to western economic theory. Just-In-Time pursues efficiency in the division of labor independent of cultural circumstances.