Wage and Performance Appraisal Systems in Flux : A Japan-United States Comparison

Unionized Japanese and American firms made changes in their wage and performance appraisal systems during the 1990s that were inspired by features of each others' traditional employment systems. Although Japanese firms made greater changes in the wage-setting process compared to American firms, outcomes in Japan changed little. Even with these changes, the wage and performance appraisal systems in the two countries retain distinctive characteristics. In the American firms' "segregation" between white- and blue-collar employees and high- and low-performers remains a feature of wage and performance appraisal systems; the Japanese system maintained its characteristic "integrated" form, but underwent moderate modifications