Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book

Title Enterprise as an instrument of civilization : an anthropological approach to business administration / Hirochika Nakamaki, Koichiro Hioki, Izumi Mitsui, Yoshiyuki Takeuchi, editors
Published Tokyo : Springer, [2016]
©2016

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xv, 250 pages) : color illustrations
Series Translational systems sciences, 2197-8832 ; volume 4
Translational systems sciences ; v. 4.
Contents Part I. Invitation to Keiei Jinruigaku, anthropology of business administration -- 1. Enterprise as an instrument of civilization / Koichiro Hioki -- 2. Enterprise as cultural community / Hirochika Nakamaki -- 3. Company mythology / Koichiro Hioki and Hirochika Nakamaki -- Part II. Theoretical characteristics of Keiei Jinruigaku -- 4. The meaning of an anthropological approach for management studies: beyond "clinical" and "scientific" knowledge / Izumi Mitsui -- 5. 'Ethnography' in Japanese corporate activities: a meta-anthropological observation on the relationship between anthropology and the outside / Yasunobu Ito -- 6. Management in interface: glocal displacement / Keiji Maegawa -- 7. Anthropology of administration's approach to the study of management philosophy as "spiritual capital" / Noriya Sumihara -- 8. Anthropological research methods in business administration: migration and translation within the social sciences / Yoshiyuki Takeuchi -- Part III. Frontiers of the research in Keiei Jinruigaku -- 9. Management of secret in religion and company / Hiroshi Iwai -- 10. Company funeral culture and funeral companies: a case study of Taisei Saiten / Shinya Yamada -- 11. Anthropology of distrust and suspicion in credit transactions in Japan / Mitsuhiro Nakahata -- 12. Airline culture: international flight attendant service design / Keiko Yamaki -- 13. Globalization and the establishment of manufacturing bases overseas: a case study of the "J Automobile Company" / Atsushi Sumi -- 14. From politics of ethnicity to politics of cultures: when Kool Far East Group took over Shiranai International in Hong Kong / Heung Way Wong -- 15. The corporate brand: toward an anthropology of branding / Louella Matsunaga
Summary In this book, the functions and dynamics of enterprises are explained with the use of anthropological methods. The chapters are based on anthropological research that has continued mainly as an inter-university research project, which is named Keiei Jinruigaku, of the National Museum of Ethnology (Japan) since 1993. These studies have a twofold aim: to clarify that enterprises are not only actors in economic activity but also actors that create culture and civilization; and to find the raison d'être of enterprises in a global society. Business anthropology is an approach to the investigation of various phenomena in enterprises and management using anthropological methodology (e.g., participant observations and interviews.). Historically, its origin goes back to the 1920s-30s. In the Hawthorne experiments, the research group organized by Elton Mayo recruited an anthropologist, Lloyd W. Warner, and conducted research on human relations in the workplace by observation of participants. Since then, similar studies have been carried out in the United States and the United Kingdom. In Japan, however, such research is quite rare. Now, in addition to anthropological methods, the authors have employed multidisciplinary methods drawn from management, economics, and sociology. The research contained here can be characterized in these ways: (1) Research methods adopt interpretative approaches such as hermeneutic and/or narrative approaches rather than causal and functional explanations such as "cause-consequence" relationships. (2) Multidisciplinary approaches including qualitative research techniques are employed to investigate the total entity of enterprises, with their own cosmology. In this book, the totality of activities by enterprises are shown, including the relationship between religion and enterprise, corporate funerals, corporate museums, and the sacred space and/or mythology of enterprises. Part I provides introductions to Keiei Jinruigaku and Part II explains the theoretical characteristics of Keiei Jinruigaku. In addition, research topics and cases of Keiei Jinruigaku are presented in Part III
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed July 31, 2015)
Subject Business anthropology.
Corporate culture.
PSYCHOLOGY -- Social Psychology.
Corporate culture
Business anthropology
Japan.
Business methods.
Companies.
Anthropology.
Form Electronic book
Author Nakamaki, Hirochika, 1947- editor.
Hioki, Kōichirō, 1949- editor.
Mitsui, Izumi, editor
Takeuchi, Yoshiyuki, editor
ISBN 9784431549161
4431549161