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I believe that your topic is basically about large organizations in Japan. As you know that I am specialized in SMEs, my potential client companies, i.e. Japanese SMEs, do not have HR departments.
I assume that only less than 15% of all the Japanese companies have HR departments.
In the cases of my clients’ organizations, the HRM functions are parts of general administration often with only one or a few clerical staff handling routine works. Either owner-CEOs or the heads of the sales department control over the non-line functions as well.
They do say that people are their greatest resource.
(Actually most of the SMEs do not have any dominant business resources other than the people they happened to have. The reality is that their only option to improve their business performances could not be found in any business fields other than HRM activities. So it does not matter if they say so or not. It’s just stone-cold reality!)
They are not the pro’s of HRM, but they tend to think HRM directly related to measurable business performance. They also have authority to decide both what to start and what cease.
My job is often to show them what could be expected by HRM activities and let them make a quick decisions on these activities to roll along.