Tag: worker flexibility

OM in the News: Japan’s Inability to Fire Workers

Thjapan oecde Wall Street Journal (May 11-12, 2013) provides an interesting insight into Japan’s weakening international competitiveness that will make for a good class discussion when you cover Chapter 2, “Operations Strategy in a Global Environment.”  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has quietly put aside plans to overhaul a rigid labor system that is blamed for many of the woes facing once-dominant Japanese corporations.

A government study estimated that businesses maintained 4.6 million jobs that were actually unnecessary. And with few mid-career job changes, there is little opportunity for entrepreneurship. Japan’s corporate start-up rate is the lowest among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. “Japan should move toward a more flexible employment and wage system that is based more on ability rather than age to encourage productive workers to remain employed,” an OECD report states. “Labor mobility would help to foster start-ups,” says one Japanese professor. “New businesses won’t be created unless human resources are set free, but big corporations are trying to prevent their workers from being free.”

The workforce at Japan’s largest corporations is one of the most inflexible among developed nations, with a tradition of lifetime employment, a low participation rate among women and strict labor laws. These have combined to make it difficult for companies to shed excess workers, because of the legal issues it would raise and the cultural issues involved. As part of their role in society, corporations have been expected to help ensure full employment.

At least seven Japanese electronic manufacturers still produce flat-panel televisions, almost all at a loss. However, some industry executives have said privately that they don’t pull the plug on the unprofitable business because they would need to find other jobs within the company for those TV employees.

Discussion questions:

1. Compare US and Japanese labor laws.

2. What can Japan do to increase its manufacturing productivity?

OM in the News: Human Resource Strategy and the Remote Worker

home workers wsjChapter 10 includes a myriad of interesting human resource topics, including job design, ergonomics, methods analysis, labor standards–and flexibility in scheduling workers, such as allowing home offices. But The Wall Street Journal (Feb.27, 2013) writes that although jobs may get done when employees work from home, careers are made in the office. The recent outcry surrounding a decision by Yahoo —led by new CEO Marissa Mayer—to end work-from-home arrangements has shown just how strongly many companies and employees have embraced remote work;  it also underscores tensions between workers’ need for flexibility and their need for visibility.

Companies tout working from home as a benefit that helps recruit and retain talent over the long-term, but workers may be missing out on the personal contacts that get them promoted. Clichés about the water-cooler aside, many managers say having workers in the office makes sense, given greater emphasis on collaboration and group projects. And despite studies showing that home-based workers are happier and may be more productive than their cubicle-bound peers, remote workers must also combat the perceptions among managers and colleagues that they’re not spending the day goofing off. Noting that some of the best insights arise in the hall or cafeteria, Yahoo’s HR head wrote in a company memo that “speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo, and that starts with physically being together.”

The head of another high-tech California firm adds:  “To an employee, I would say that [if you’re working at home] understand you’re signing up to work harder.” Stanford researchers, who spent nine months monitoring a work-from-home program at a 16,000-employee Chinese company, concluded that the lack of face time with bosses caused careers to stall. “Home workers can become forgotten workers,” especially when it comes to bonding with senior management”.

Discussion questions:

1. Relate this article to the subject of Office Layout in Chapter 9.

2. Why is remote work an OM issue?