Embeddedness and workplace relations : a case study of a British-based Japanese manufacturing company

This thesis presents an analysis of workplace relations in a British-based, \nJapanese manufacturing company. The extent and nature of managerial \nhegemony within Japanese transplants, and the ability of workers to pursue \ninformal means of 'counter-control', are both highly contested issues within \nthe 'Japanisation' debate. It is these two related issues that are addressed \nhere. The research is based primarily on a nine-week period of participant \nobservation as a shopfloor worker. This was supplemented by interviews and \n'shadowing' of key personnel in the case study company. In addition, \ninterviews were held with staff in buyer and supplier firms trading with the \ncase company. \nThis thesis devises a framework based on embeddedness \n(Granovetter, 1985) to analyse the research data. Using the constructs of \nnetworks and social relations which constitute embeddedness, four network \nstructures and three categories of social relations are applied to workplace \nrelations in the case study company. It is argued that the embedded ness \nframework provides a way of resolving concerns not addressed satisfactorily \nby other academic studies of the labour process in Japanese transplants. As \nthis framework has not previously been applied to the labour process debate it \nrepresents a novel contribution to academic debate. \nA number of key conclusions emerge. First, workers have retained the \ncapacity to engage in resistance in at least some high-surveillance \norganisations. This illustrates the significance of setting control and \nsurveillance systems in the organisation's social and economic context. \nSecond, a 'holistic' approach is required in order to understand the complexity \nof the labour process and to establish why workplace relations take their \nspecific form in particular contexts. Third, in analysing Japanese transplants, \nthe policies of the companies and actions of management need to be \nexplored with awareness of their potential shortcomings and tensions, rather \nthan solely from a perspective of coherence and effectiveness.