The Management of Human Resources in Japan’s Public Service

Human resource management in the Japanese public sector has been characterized by people-based management since before World War II. The postwar reform of the public service tried in vain to introduce an American job-classification system, and the prewar practices of people-based management have remained. Since the 1990s, there has been an active debate on reforming the public service system, and the introduction of a new personnel evaluation system that focuses on the duties of each position has led to a shift from seniority practices to ability and performance management. In addition, the national public service system was reformed to be more responsive to political leadership. However, the ambiguity of the duties of each position as the basis for personnel evaluation has remained to create a conflict between people-based management and position-based management, hindering the improvement of working conditions and inviting greater political influence in the appointment of executive officials. To solve these problems and make public service more attractive, it is necessary to clearly define the duties of each position and then reexamine the relationship between “positions” and “people.”