The KACHO System
According to Kenneth Hopper, the Japanese were attempting to copy the American practice of "bottom up management," although the CCS seminar did not use the term which was introduced by Peter Drucker in the mid-1950s. The kacho system was evolved as the unique Japanese way of moving responsibility to the lowest acceptable level. "Essentially a kacho is responsible for an area of activity. In a large factory making electrical consumer goods, he might be in charge of white goods... production in all its aspects. ... the strength of the kacho system knows or should know everything that goes on beneath, alongside and above him...: company policy, research, relations with customers and suppliers, information about the competition, and all activities on the shop floor."
The CCS seminar was developed in 1949 and presented by the Americans in Tokyo; a second session was held in Osaka in 1950, and these were the models that were taken up by Nikkeiren, the Japanese employers' association. Their training events continued until 1974. Other vital elements of the CCS seminars included : • flexibility • decentralization • cross-departmental teamwork
Read more about this topic: Industrial Change In Occupied Japan
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