Interactions Among Non‐Disabled Employees at a Special‐Purpose Subsidiary from the Perspective of Non‐Disabled Subordinates

Abstract

In this paper, with regard to the process of social interactions between non‐disabled managers and non‐disabled subordinates at a special‐purpose subsidiary: (a) We move our analysis from the managers' side (Ohshima & Takeshita, 2025) to the subordinate side. We discover regularities of events from the subordinate side, including cognitive factors affecting the attitude of the subordinates, which were not obtained in the managerial analysis. (b) By comparing this analysis with the analysis performed on the managers' side and discovering core categories, we aimed to increase the level of abstraction of theory and to obtain more general suggestions. We conducted semi‐structured interviews with 11 general employees (five males, six females) and analyzed the data using a grounded theory approach. The results revealed: (a) regularities that shape the attitudes of non‐disabled subordinates, including factors not visible to managers, and the qualitative characteristics of distinct stages (Stage A: Trial‐and‐error approach; Stage B: Parallel relationship; Stage B´: Strengthening the cooperative system); and (b) the core category “Dimensions of Role and Value.” These findings suggest that adopting a “non‐disabled vs. non‐disabled” perspective—re‐examining how managers and non‐disabled subordinates interact within the framework of workplace inclusion—is essential.