The purpose of this study is two fold. The first one is to investigate the relationship between employees' career plateau phenomena and causal attribution toward promotion. The second one is to investigate the effect of causal attribution toward promotion that career plateau phenomena raise employees' performance, etc. The facts and conclusions in this paper were drawn by using 237 executives who are all chief of a section in ten big companies. About the first one, after using multiple regression analysis, it was clear that subjective non-plateaus attribute the cause of promotion to inner factors and stable factors. About the second one, after using multiple regression analysis, significant moderator effects of causal attribution toward promotion toward following relationships were cleared: 1. causal attribution to destiny in the relationship between perceived promotion opportunity and performance; 2. causal attribution to difficulty in the relationship between positional tenure and performance; 3. causal attribution to support from marginal people in the relationship between perceived promotion opportunity and turnover intention. As a whole, it was suggested that the degree of employees' plateauness affects their causal attribution toward promotion.

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The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships between several personnel practices that were employed for implementing the merit basedtreatment and the perception of fairness in performance evaluation. This study shed light on three personnel practices: performance appraisals, Management by Objectives (MBO), and the annual “salary system.” Because all three were, in part, utilized in the attempt of realizing the idea of merit treatment in work settings, their effects on the perception of fair treatment were subject to scientific investigation. Hence, the study examined empirically whether three personnel practices improve perceived fairness of performance evaluation. Survey results of the data collected from 1, 823 Japanese employees showed that only the annual “salary plan” was positively related to perceived fairness. In addition, the study investigated if the competitive climates moderate the relationships between three practices and employees' perception of fairness. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the relationships between these practices and employees' perception of fairness varied by the degree of competitiveness in the workplace. Implications of the study findings were discussed.

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This paper examines the stock price reaction around the announcement of stock option plans in Japan. The empirical results indicate that significantly positive market reactions occur after the adoption announcement. Further, we differentiate the market reaction between top executives and subordinate employees. These results are consistent with the notion that adopting equity-based compensation contracts are to align managerial and shareholder interests.

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This study investigates the impact of female concentration on the implementation of parental leave policy by Japanese employers. Specifically, I examine how female ratio and the proportion of married women within firms affect Japanese employers' decisions about providing parental leave for their employees. I discuss how these employer characteristics are likely to be associated with the provision of family assistance based on theories of organizational behavior and test these hypotheses using data from 1779 business establishments in Japan. Findings indicate that firms with predominantly female workforces were not necessarily more likely to adopt parental leave. Surprisingly, the proportion of married women at the workplace exerted a powerful negative impact on employer adoption of parental leave, and this negative effect was significant across all levels of industrial female concentration. Results also show that the presence of a climate at work that discriminates against women tends to prevent the provision of parental leave. Interestingly, the proportion of women managers in a firm reduced the likelihood that parental leave is adopted by employers of large firms and heavily female industry.

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The sanctity of life-long employment and senior-based compensation and advancement is being challenged due to current economic conditions in Japan. Theresulting change in employee job attitudes brings up the question of whether the current Japanese management system still motivates employees, or whether they are/would be more motivated working under Western management. Through a questionnaire survey extended to five Japanese firms and five foreign-affiliated firms (gaishikei), this research collected data concerning work-related values, perceived work conditions, and satisfaction for twelve work factors. The conclusions suggest that Japanese employees in gaishikei value instrinsic factors more than employees at Japanese firms; gaishikei offer intrinsic work content to a greater extent than Japanese firms; Japanese employees at gaishikei are more satisfied than employees at Japanese firms; and, incongruence of workers' values with corporateculture results in dissatisfaction.

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Evidence on the change in competitive structure and performance in many markets is reviewed to assess whether markets proceed through the regular aging cycles. The leading depiction of the evolution of markets, i.e., the PLC (product life cycle), is used to analyze the evidence. The PLC theory is promoted by the leading management and marketing theorists as a tool for strategic decision makings. It is shown that the PLC captures the way many markets evolve through the traditional shape. This bell shaped PLC generates sales consequences under the certain assumption of the competitive structure. There are a number of other shapes that have been observed. The PLC theory doesn't provide explanation why various sales patterns are expected to exit. It is difficult to compare the patterns because of the differing levels of aggregation (product class, form or brand). The PLC is the more useful planning technique and marketing thoughts. We need to anatomize factors that condition which PLC patterns markets follow. I will discuss problems and opportunities for further research on the nature of the PLC.

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