2017 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Innovation, Creativity, and Conflict in the Globalized Workplace
| Project/Area Number |
16KT0182
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| Research Institution | Hitotsubashi University |
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Principal Investigator |
小野 浩 一橋大学, 大学院国際企業戦略研究科, 教授 (80747981)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2016-07-19 – 2019-03-31
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| Keywords | diversity / innovation / gender / foreign workers |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Given current levels of super-low fertility and the aging population, Japan will experience an acute labor shortage in the foreseeable future. Increasing the labor supply through greater participation of women, foreigners and the elderly are obvious prescriptions, and remain high priority action plans among the current “Work-style Reform” under the Abe Administration. However, efforts to increase their participation have not been without conflict because each demographic group poses its own complications. In light of the ongoing demographic changes and policy debate in Japan, our project examines both the benefits and conflicts associated with greater diversity in the Japanese workplace.
As a closely-related topic, we are also studying the problem of long workhours in Japan. For companies, the ideal worker remains the Japanese male who is expected to commit long workdays. However, one of the biggest barriers to increasing diversity at work is long workhours, particularly among women and foreign workers. Long work hours is at the root cause of other work-related problems, as it is harmful to work satisfaction, and impedes the advancement of diversity and work-life balance.
In AY2017, we continued to collect qualitative data through interviews with policy-makers and HR managers in to investigate the current state of diversity. We also presented our research at several international conferences and seminars (see “Presentations”), and disseminated our work through academic publications (see Journal Articles).
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
We are moving according to schedule. The topic of long workhours has generated great interest in academia and in the general public. The connection between diversity and long workhours is taking on a larger part of our research agenda. We have scheduled a number of interviews throughout AY2018, and will continue to collect data regarding diversity and the culture of long workhours.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
We are in the process of acquiring large-scale data from a U.S. based non-profit organization which collected comparative data on gender diversity and inclusion in 7 countries, including Japan. We are still processing the paperwork to request access, and are hopeful that the data will become available later this year.
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| Causes of Carryover |
We did not use up all of our allocated budget for 2017 because of reduced travel.
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