Carrot or Stick? Mill Girls' Work Attitude and their Employer's Policy in a Weaving Factory in Early Twentieth-Century Japan

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This article explores why Japanese factory managers both rewarded and penalised their workers during the early stages of industrialisation, by examining the case of a cotton weaving factory in the late 1900s. The Senshu-momen factory, established in 1907, was situated north of Sennan district, Osaka prefecture. It employed women living nearby as commuting workers. In March 1910, the manager of this factory commenced to reward and fine his operatives to attain the optimal level of production. For this reason, he assumed that reward would encourage the workers to increase their production, whereas fine would lead them to decrease it. Yet, contrary to his expectation, reward made the operatives less diligent, while fine did not affect their work attitude. Consequently, the manager soon abolished reward but continued fine to save the wage cost. This implies that he did not have sufficient experience to predict his workers' behaviour. He, therefore, attempted both reward and fine.
千葉大学の論文
2004-12-15