Abstract:
The major purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which lifetime
employment system, seniority-based wage system, and bonus payment
system hold for small and medium enterprises operating in Otaru City and
in the light of current recession in the Japanese economy. The study also
investigated, from a theoretical viewpoint, the possibility of transplanting
traditional Japanese-style labor management in small and medium scale industries
in Sri Lanka.
The major purpose of this study was achieved by administering two questionnaires
constructed by the researcher himself. One questionnaire was distributed
among 113 owner-managers of small and medium enterprises operating
in Otaru City. The other one was administered to 167 3rd year high
school students and 201 4th year undergraduate students and thereby total
sample size being 368 job seekers who will be joining the Japanese labor
force in the near future. Techniques used for the data analysis included descriptive
statistics such as percentages, means, and standard deviations and
correlation coefficients.
Data analysis revealed two types of realities of Japanese-style labor management
relating to small and medium enterprises operating in Otaru City
and in the light of current recession in the Japanese economy.
