Lifetime employment security is not guaranteed by law or contract but is embedded in the business and human resource planning policies of large firms. Recruitment, training, compensation, and internal promotion policies are designed to facilitate lifetime employment. Growth in company size and stabilization of employment are high priorities for Japanese executives. Generally, Japanese firms accept the stakeholder view of corporate objectives more readily than do their American counterparts. A stakeholder can be anyone with an interest in the firm—employees, customers, suppliers, owners, or even the general public.

In most large Japanese firms, employees are hired immediately upon completion of their education and are expected to stay with the firm until they retire. In return, the company invests heavily in employee training and development. Layoffs are carried out only as a last resort, even during periods of technological change or a downturn in the business cycle. Wages in Japanese companies tend to rise with seniority, and most job openings within the blue-collar and managerial ranks are filled through internal promotions rather than by hiring from the external labour market. These combined features limit the likelihood that workers or managers will make mid-career transfers to other companies, because the cost of leaving a firm that offers lifetime employment security will be too high.

It should be noted that these aspects of Japanese employment relations do not apply to all firms or all workers. Security of employment, for example, is also supported by a large number of small firms and subcontractors. These smaller companies often employ many retired workers, immigrants, women, and those who have not found work or have lost their jobs in the large firms. While the law forbids discrimination against women and minorities, Japanese women traditionally have been excluded from the lifetime employment system and from higher-level jobs in corporations.

The industrial relations system of the Federal Republic of Germany presents an interesting contrast to both the American and Japanese models. The key characteristics of the German system are (1) industrial unions and industry-wide collective bargaining, (2) formal structures for employee representation in management decision-making processes, and (3) the close integration of formal education and training with human resource practices within firms.

Unlike their Japanese counterparts, few scholars of German institutions emphasize the centrality of culture when characterizing industrial relations in Germany. Instead, attention focuses on the legal framework and organizational structures created in the aftermath of World War II. This is not to deny the influence of German culture, which is evident in the strong work ethic and the deep respect for the values of community and authority.

These qualities can be seen in the industrial relations system that began to emerge during the time of the Weimar Republic, between 1919 and 1933. In this era the factory came to reflect the values of the society and to serve as an industrial community or plant family. In 1918 a compromise was reached between the ruling authorities and the German labour movement in which unions were recognized by the government and employers. In return unions accepted the basic rules of a capitalist economy despite their socialist rhetoric to the contrary.

Nazi rule from 1933 to 1945 suppressed free trade unions. Following the war, development of the German labour movement paralleled the union structures that were emerging in the American manufacturing sector, with unions eventually representing about 40 percent of the German labour force. A sharp drop-off in the 1990s brought union membership down to about 25 percent of the labour force. Contemporary German unions operate on an industry-level system of collective bargaining, and firms within each industry are represented by employer associations that serve as their bargaining agents with the industrial unions.

Government policy supported industry-level bargaining by enacting legislation that extends the basic wage and fringe benefit patterns negotiated in collective bargaining to cover workers in the nonunionized firms of each industry. These industry-level negotiations are supplemented with tripartite (government–union–employer) consultations at the national level over larger economic, social, and employment policy issues. Industrial relations in Germany reflect a respect for employee rights and a preference for negotiation rather than open conflict or challenge to authority.

In addition to collective bargaining, both union and nonunion German workers are represented formally by works councils that are required by law to exist within establishments employing 20 or more workers. Works councils are representative bodies elected by all the employees in an enterprise. Management must consult with works councils on a broad range of employee issues, including questions of adjustment to technological change, safety and health, training, and layoffs.

German law also provides for a system of “codetermination,” or worker representation, on the supervisory boards of large companies. (Supervisory boards are similar to the boards of directors in American firms.) The supervisory board appoints executives to top management positions, including the Arbeitsdirektor, or personnel director. This person must be approved by the majority of the worker representatives who sit on the supervisory board. In this way, workers are provided a voice at the highest level of managerial decision making in large companies. This points to a stakeholder view of the corporation.