THE LABOR MANAGEMENT IN O.S.K. AND ITS LEADING EXECUTIVES, 1898-1945

O.S.K. (Osaka Shosen Kaisha), a small shipping company covering only the Inland Sea of Japan, was established in 1884. And it has been one of the two large shipping companies (O.S.K. and N.Y.K.) having the regular ocean routes since 1909. As compared with N.Y.K. (Nihon Yusen Kaisha), O.S.K. has achieved a great expansion under the good labor management and active strategies of leading executives. This article tries to clarify why O.S.K. could catch up with N.Y.K.. From the viewpoint of the labor management, there are four reasons : First, after Tokugoro Nakahashi took office as the fourth president of the company in 1898, he employed many talented college graduates as staff members. Second, the employees were well treated even in extreme depression. Third, this company had a more adequate system of Yobiin (the seamen reserved for sailing the regular ocean routes) than N.Y.K. did. Fourth, since captains and engineers of superior ability were promoted to executives, the labor and the management cooperated well with each other. This article emphasizes the last two of them : one is Yobiin system, the other is the good labor-management relations in O.S.K..