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companies and those not–dividing and sharing labor, and participating in these activities.
This concept of sharing is the basic spirit and main pillar supporting the implementation of
Step 1.
3.2 Step 2: Consideration of Methods for Enhancing Work Content
In contrast to the work-life balance measures focusing on “quantitative aspects” such as
shortening working hours and Step 1 of workers to take paid annual leave Step 2 comprises
work-balance measures that focus on “qualitative aspects”. That is to say, instead of being
based on the major premise of Western society in which “working life” and “life outside of
work” can be completely separated, work-balance measures need to examine work processes
in the workplace to see whether elements of “life outside work” that imply happiness or
enjoyment in some form can be incorporated into “working life”, which tends to be viewed
as “laborious”, “painful”, or “difficult”. Step 2 is a step that should be pursued after
sufficient efforts by both labor and management have been made to “correct excess labor”
and increase time for life, as pursued in Step 1.
In the past, when the strength of Japanese management practices were much-touted,
flexible and unspecific work structuring and duty allocation—rather than completely fixed
allocation of individual duties to individual workers—were carried out, enabling workers to
acquire a diverse range of skills. This was regarded as the source of Japan’s management
strength, and in actuality, it was on this point that the competitive superiority of Japanese
management was able to exist. The working style mechanisms utilized by Japanese
companies, which does not pursue efficiency in a narrow sense for individual work units—
appeared ambiguous at a glance and even “inefficient” and “illogical” at times (from a
Western perspective)—drew the attention of the world as “the secret to Japanese
management”. Amidst the prolonged Heisei Era economic downturn, as the performance of
Japanese businesses declined, there has been a trend towards fickle Western companies
discontinuing Japanese practices because “Japanese management practices are no good after
all; they are nothing more than a relic from the past”. Despite this, the magnificent
cooperative mechanisms and organizational strength that has been cultivated over many
years is the strength of Japanese businesses, and is not something that can be easily lost. In
discussing work-life balance, too, there is surely a need to again give serious thought to the
differences in the origins of Western and Japanese philosophy and thinking. The Japanese
way of doing business includes methods that do not strictly pursue a doctrine of division of
labor, such as changing, expanding and enhancing work duties, working in teams, and unique