Enterprise as an Instrument of Civilization: An Anthropological Approach to Business Administration

253 Pages·2016·3.18 MB·English

by  Hirochika Nakamaki

Translational Systems Sciences 4
Hirochika Nakamaki
Koichiro Hioki
Izumi Mitsui
Yoshiyuki Takeuchi E ditors
Enterprise as
an Instrument
of Civilization
An Anthropological Approach to
Business Administration
Translational Systems Sciences
Volume 4
Editors in Chief
Kyoichi Kijima, Tokyo, Japan
Hiroshi Deguchi, Yokohama, Japan
Editorial Board
Shingo Takahashi, Tokyo, Japan
Hajime Kita, Kyoto, Japan
Toshiyuki Kaneda, Nagoya, Japan
Akira Tokuyasu, Tokyo, Japan
Koichiro Hioki, Tottori, Japan
Yuji Aruka, Tokyo, Japan
Kenneth Bausch, Riverdale, GA, USA
Jim Spohrer, San Jose, CA, USA
Wolfgang Hofkirchner, Vienna, Austria
John Pourdehnad, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Mike C. Jackson, Hull, UK
In 1956, Kenneth Boulding explained the concept of General Systems Theory as a s keleton
of science. The hope was to develop something like a “spectrum” of theories—a system of
systems which might perform the function of a “gestalt” in theoretical construction. Such
“gestalts” in special fi elds have been of great value in directing research to wards the gaps
which they reveal.
T here were, at that time, other important conceptual frameworks and theories, including
cybernetics. Additional theories and applications developed later, such as synergetics,
cognitive science, complex adaptive systems, and many others. Some focused on principles
within specifi c domains of knowledge and others crossed areas of knowledge and practice,
along the spectrum described by Boulding.
A lso in 1956, the Society for General Systems Research (now the International Society
for the Systems Sciences) was founded. One of the concerns of the founders, even then, was
the state of the human condition, and what science could do about it.
T he present Translational Systems Sciences book series aims at cultivating a new frontier
of systems sciences for contributing to the need for practical applications that benefi t people.
The concept of translational research originally comes from medical science for enhancing
human health and well-being. Translational medical research is often labeled as “Bench to
Bedside.” It places emphasis on translating the fi ndings in basic research (a t bench) more
quickly and effi ciently into medical practice (a t bedside ). At the same time, needs and
demands from practice drive the development of new and innovative ideas and concepts. In
this tightly coupled process it is essential to remove barriers to multi-disciplinary collaboration.
The present series attempts to bridge and integrate basic research founded in systems
concepts, logic, theories and models with systems practices and methodologies, into a process
of systems research. Since both bench and bedside involve diverse stakeholder groups,
including researchers, practitioners and users, translational systems science works to create
common platforms for language to activate the “bench to bedside” cycle.
In order to create a resilient and sustainable society in the twenty-fi rst century, we
unquestionably need open social innovation through which we create new social values, and
realize them in society by connecting diverse ideas and developing new solutions. We assume
three types of social values, namely: (1) values relevant to social infrastructure such as safety,
security, and amenity; (2) values created by innovation in business, economics, and
management practices; and, (3) values necessary for community sustainability brought about
by confl ict resolution and consensus building.
The series will fi rst approach these social values from a systems science perspective by
drawing on a range of disciplines in trans-disciplinary and cross-cultural ways. They may
include social systems theory, sociology, business administration, management information
science, organization science, computational mathematical organization theory, economics,
evolutionary economics, international political science, jurisprudence, policy science,
socioinformation studies, cognitive science, artifi cial intelligence, complex adaptive systems
theory, philosophy of science, and other related disciplines. In addition, this series will
promote translational systems science as a means of scientifi c research that facilitates the
translation of fi ndings from basic science to practical applications, and vice versa.
W e believe that this book series should advance a new frontier in systems sciences by
presenting theoretical and conceptual frameworks, as well as theories for design and
application, for twenty-fi rst-century socioeconomic systems in a translational and trans-
disciplinary context.
More information about this series at h ttp://www.springer.com/series/11213
Hirochika Nakamaki (cid:129) Koichiro Hioki
Izumi Mitsui (cid:129) Yoshiyuki Takeuchi
Editors
Enterprise as an Instrument
of Civilization
An Anthropological Approach to Business
Administration
Editors
Hirochika Nakamaki Koichiro Hioki
Suita City Museum Faculty of Business Administration
Suita , Osaka , Japan Tottori University of Environmental Studies
Tottori , Japan
Izumi Mitsui
College of Economics Yoshiyuki Takeuchi
Nihon University Graduate School of Economics
Tokyo , Japan Osaka University
Toyonaka , Osaka , Japan
ISSN 2197-8832 ISSN 2197-8840 (electronic)
Translational Systems Sciences
ISBN 978-4-431-54915-4 ISBN 978-4-431-54916-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-4-431-54916-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015945500
Springer Tokyo Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
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Pref ace
B usiness anthropology or the anthropology of business is a fi eld of research that
uses an anthropological methodology (e.g., participant observation and interviews)
to investigate various phenomena related to enterprises and management. The his-
torical origins of this fi eld date back to the 1920s and 1930s. In what became
known as the Hawthorne experiments, carried out at the Western Electric
Company’s Hawthorne Works in the suburbs of Chicago, Elton Mayo organized a
research group and recruited an anthropologist, W. Lloyd Warner to conduct
research on human relations in the workplace based on observations of researchers
as participants. Similar studies have subsequently been carried out in the United
States and the United Kingdom. Since the 1950s, anthropological methods have
been applied within studies on various topics, including multinational companies;
the problems of workers employed in foreign workplaces; and problems entailed in
international marketing and engaging with foreign cultures. A brief review of the
history of business anthropology has been provided by Jordan (2003), Pant and
Alberti (1997), Marrewijk (2010), and Baba (2012) from the perspective of applied
anthropology.
However, in Japan, prior to our own body of work in this fi eld, such research was
rare. Although McCreery and Yamaki (2014) have provided a sketch of our work,
which is referred to as K eiei Jinruigaku (in Japanese), here we will briefl y introduce
ourselves and our research trajectories.
A seed of our research can be traced back to the end of the 1980s. At that time,
one of the editors of this volume, Hirochika Nakamaki, who was working on a proj-
ect entitled F uneral-Burial Customs and the World after Death , had started research-
ing memorial monuments built by companies located in Mt. K ōya, in the Japanese
prefecture of Wakayama. At the onset of his research, he questioned why companies
built their own memorial monuments in one of the most prestigious Japanese
Buddhism sites—the headquarters of Shingon Buddhism—because companies are
supposed to seek rationality and profi t.
v
vi Preface
Table 1 Japan’s population, area-wise (in thousands)
1955 1970 1985 2000 2010
All Japan 90,007 104,665 121,049 126,926 128,057
Hokkaido 4,773 5,184 5,679 5,683 5,506
5.3 % 5.0 % 4.7 % 4.5 % 4.6 %
Tohoku 9,335 9,031 9,730 9,817 9,335
10.4 % 8.6 % 8.0 % 8.0 % 7.3 %
Hokuriku 5,214 5,137 5,566 5,607 5,446
5.8 % 4.9 % 4.6 % 4.4 % 4.3 %
Tohoku 9,335 9,031 9,730 9,817 9,335
10.4 % 8.6 % 8.0 % 7.7 % 7.3 %
Hokuriku 5,214 5,137 5,566 5,607 5,44
5.8 % 4.9 % 4.6 % 4.4 % 4.3 %
Chugoku 6,992 6,997 7,749 7,733 7,563
7.8 % 6.7 % 6.4 % 6.1 % 5.9 %
Shikoku 4,246 3,904 4,228 4,154 3,976
4.7 % 3.4 % 3.5 % 3.3 % 3.1 %
Kyushu & Okinawa 13,739 13,016 14,455 14,764 14,597
15.3 % 12.4 % 11.9 % 11.6 % 11.4 %
Greater Tokyo 15,424 24,113 30,273 33,418 35,618
17.1 % 23.0 % 25.0 % 26.3 % 27.8 %
Greater Osaka 10,951 15,468 17,838 18,443 18,490
12.2 % 14.8 % 14.7 % 14.5 % 14.4 %
Greater Nagoya 6,839 8,688 10,231 11,008 11,347
7.6 % 8.3 % 8.5 % 8.7 % 8.9 %
Source : Population Census of Japan at 1955, 1970, 1985, 2000, 2010 (Statistics Bureau, MIC)
Note: These areas include the following prefectures: Tohoku: Aomori, Iwate, Akita, Miyagi, and
Fukushima; Hokuriku: Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, and Fukui; Chugoku: Okayama, Hiroshima,
Tottori, Shimane, and Yamaguchi; Shikoku: Kagawa, Tokushima, and Ehime Kochi; Kyushu and
Okinawa: Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Oita, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and Okinawa;
Greater Tokyo: Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, and Kanagawa; Greater Osaka: Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, and
Nara; Greater Nagoya: Aichi, Gifu, and Mie
A hint for understanding the reason for this phenomenon lies in the extensive
urban migration that occurred during the period of rapid economic growth in Japan.
Table 1 shows the area-wise distribution of Japan’s population. In 1955, the popula-
tions of the Greater Tokyo and Osaka areas were 15 million and 11 million, respec-
tively. In 1970, both of these fi gures had increased by approximately 1.5 times and
these two areas collectively contained 37.8 % of the total Japanese population.
Although Japan’s total population increased by 16 %, populations in rural areas,
with the exception of Hokkaido, remained unchanged or decreased slightly. This
implies that extensive urban migration occurred from 1955 up to the early 1970s.
Figure 1 shows fi gures for net migration to urban areas since 1955. From 1955 to
1973, the annual average net migration fi gures for the greater city areas of Tokyo,
Osaka, and Nagoya were approximately 300,000, 120,000, and 36,000,
respectively.
Preface vii
400,000
350,000
300,000
e)
pl
eo 250,000
p
nt (
gra 200,000
Mi
et 150,000
N
of
ber 100,000
m
u
N
50,000
0
-50,000
1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Year
Greater Tokyo Greater Nagoya Greater Osaka
Fig. 1 Net migration fi gures for the greater city areas of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka (1955–2010)
(Source: Report on Internal Migration in Japan (from 1955 to 2010) (Statistics Bureau, MIC))
T able 2, shown below, clearly indicates that during the period from 1955 to 2000,
most migrants, who had previously been farmers in rural areas became workers
within manufacturing industries. As they often lived in company housing, the con-
cerned companies constructed production communities that replaced their agricul-
tural village communities. This may help to explain the seemingly irrational
behavior of companies through their consideration of cultural matters. Nakamaki
consequently adopted an anthropological perspective for interpreting the behavior
of companies.
Since mid-1980s, Koichiro Hioki, another editor of this volume, has initiated a
study on the activities of an enterprise beyond profi t seeking in what is referred to as
the “knowledge society.” He was impressed by Peter Drucker’s view that “[enter-
prise] determines the individual’s view of his society,” and is thus “society’s mirror”
(Drucker 1950: 31). This led to his interest in conducting research on an enterprise as
a social entity and, especially, as an instrument/device of civilization. According to
Tadao Umesao’s defi nition, civilization is a system consisting of both instruments/
devices and institutions while culture is a projection of instruments/devices and insti-
tutions into the spiritual dimension (Umesao 2013). Hence, a view of “enterprise as
an instrument of civilization” implies that an enterprise is a functional organization
with economic, social, and legal institutions to fulfi l its functions. Management of an
enterprise entails actions to functionalize an organization. Currently, social activities
(including habits) of enterprises, whether or not they are intentional, are expanding.
Therefore, management studies should cover all the social activities of an enterprise.
In addition, such activities are too complex to be explained by a single discipline or
viii Preface
Table 2 The proportion of the employed population by industry
1995 1970 1985 2000
Total (employed persons) 39,590,451 52,592,704 58,357,232 62,977,960
A. Agriculture 38.0 % 17.9 % 8.3 % 4.5 %
B. Foresty 1.3 % 0.4 % 0.2 % 0.1 %
C. Fisheries 1.8 % 1.0 % 0.7 % 0.4 %
D. Mining 1.4 % 0.4 % 0.2 % 0.1 %
E. Construction 4.5 % 7.5 % 9.0 % 10.0 %
F. Manufacturing 17.5 % 26.1 % 23.9 % 19.4 %
G. Electricity, gas, heat supply & water 0.6 % 0.6 % 0.6 % 0.6 %
H. Transport and communications 4.6 % 6.2 % 6.0 % 6.2 %
I. Wholesale & retail trade, and eating 13.9 % 19.3 % 22.9 % 22.7 %
& drinking
J. Financing & insurance 1.5 % 2.1 % 3.0 % 2.8 %
K. Real estate 0.1 % 0.5 % 0.8 % 1.2 %
L. Services 11.4 % 14.6 % 20.5 % 27.4 %
M. Government (not elsewhere 3.5 % 3.3 % 3.5 % 3.4 %
classifi ed)
N. Establishments not adequately 0.0 % 0.1 % 0.3 % 1.2 %
described
Source : Population Census of Japan at 1955, 1970, 1985, and 2000 (Statistics Bureau, MIC)
principle. In developing a perspective on enterprise management, Hioki, has pro-
posed that any management activity is the result of a subjective activity carried out
by collective agents, with its own context. In line with this perspective, he has advo-
cated an anthropological approach that includes viewing activities within their con-
texts and exploring and interpreting their unintended functions.
An encounter at a party between Nakamaki and Hioki directly triggered this
body of work. Since 1993, they have facilitated an interuniversity research project
under Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology. A unique characteristic of this proj-
ect is that it is not exclusively based on a single disciplinary framework of applied
anthropology, but rather on a multidisciplinary framework that includes anthropol-
ogy, business administration and management, sociology, religious studies, history,
and economics. This research project has generated six books that have been pub-
lished in Japanese. These engage with diverse issues such as salaried workers and
companies, corporate funerals, corporate museums, globalization of company cul-
tures, religion in relation to a company, industry and culture, and company mythol-
ogy. In addition, approximately ten more books that are related to K eiei Jinruigaku
have been published by project members. Moreover, in 2010, Nakamaki initiated
the International Forum on Business and Anthropology (IFBA), in association with
foreign scholars affi liated with the Enterprise Anthropology section of the
International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES).
This volume is a product of our two-decade-old research project. Each chapter
attempts to explain the functions and dynamics of enterprises from an anthropologi-
cal perspective. These studies have a twofold aim: (1) to clarify that enterprises are
Preface ix
not only economic actors, but also actors that create culture and civilization; and (2)
to discover the raison d’être of enterprises within a global society. In addition to
employing anthropological methods, the authors in this volume have also drawn on
multidisciplinary methods from management, economics, and sociology.
T he research contained here can be characterized in the following ways: (1)
Interpretive research methods such as hermeneutic and/or narrative approaches
have been adopted rather than causal and functional explanations such as cause–
consequence relationships. (2) Multidisciplinary approaches, including qualitative
research techniques, have been employed to investigate the total entity of an enter-
prise, with its own cosmology.
I n this book, we will illuminate the totality of enterprises’ activities. In Part I,
Hioki and Nakamaki provide an introduction to K eiei Jinruigaku. They focus on
three aspects of an enterprise: as an instrument (or a device) of civilization (Chap. 1 ),
as a cultural community (Chap. 2 ), and company mythology (Chap. 3 ). In part II,
the theoretical characteristics of K eiei Jinruigaku are discussed. These are: its rela-
tions with management studies (Chap. 4 ) , cultural anthropology (Chap. 5 ), the
anthropology of development (Chap. 6 ) , company philosophy (Chap. 7 ) , and a
methodological perspective (Chap. 8 ) . In part III, we show applications of K eiei
Jinruigaku related to the following topics: company and religion (Chap. 9 ), com-
pany funerals (Chap. 1 0 ), credit control of a company (Chap. 1 1 ), the meaning of
work (Chap. 1 2 ), foreign workplaces (Chap. 1 3 ), ethnicity in corporations (Chap.
1 4 ), and corporate brands (Chap. 1 5 ).
It should be noted that the use of terminologies is not always uniform across
chapters because the authors’ disciplinary backgrounds differ. Nevertheless, in prin-
ciple, we have tried to use specifi c meanings for certain words as follows: the words
culture and c ivilization are used in the sense described by Umesao (2013), as previ-
ously discussed. Further, e nterprise is used to connote a corporation as an institu-
tional system, whereas a c ompany , is used to represent a corporation not only as
institution but also including a cultural community.
I n addition to the contributors of this volume, many scholars have participated in
our research project. We would like to thank them, as we could not have sustained
this project for over 20 years without their engagement. We would also like to thank
Hiroshi Deguchi for giving us this opportunity to publish our work, John McCreery
for his critics from the sidelines. Finally, we would like to express special thanks to
Yutaka Hirachi of Springer Japan. Without his patience and support, this volume
could not be published.
Suita , Japan Hirochika Nakamaki
Tottori , Japan Koichiro Hioki
Tokyo , Japan Izumi Mitusi
Toyonaka , Japan Yoshiyuki Takeuchi
March, 2015