APPRAISAL OF SIGNIFICANT FEATURES OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: A LESSON FROM JAPAN AND GERMANY

Abstract

The success of any organization or enterprise is anchored on the capabilities and expertness of the employees. Hence managers are encouraged to design a positive friendly working environment for their employees to enable them to achieve the organizational objectives. The focus of this report is to appraise the industrial relations systems demonstrated by Germany and Japan, their similarities and differences. The essay compared and discussed the three main actors involved in industrial relations which include employers' associations, trade unions, and the state. Dispute resolution, and changes that occurred since the 1980s were also discussed. Meanwhile, the cases presented offer striking examples which serve to illustrate many internationally important industrial relations processes. They are also eminently useful for both Nigeria and other African countries and the comparative debate is that they reflect different levels of economic development and different social constitutions. The study makes use of secondary data from journals and other relevant literature. The findings revealed that Japan practices an enterprise trade union while Germany practices an industrial trade union. They have similar problems of labour market management (combating unemployment, safeguarding wages level, expansion or maintenance of basic social insurance and safeguarding employees’ rights). It was discovered that the dispute resolution systems among the two countries were entirely different. Hence due to Germany’s flexible working policy, Germany enjoys higher social rights than employees in Japan, with German industrial firms maintaining higher degrees of worker autonomy. A lesson for African countries to imitate.