Creating work cultures with competitive advantage

Abstract

d3 he world of work is the scene of much innovation and change. Some Weyerhaeuser Company employees, for example, are on temporary assignment to work at customer companies. At Tektronix’s Forest Grove plant, a group of technicians met with technicians from a supplier and jointly solved a nagging quality problem involving particulate matter contamination. l After redesigning their jobs, workers at a General Electric plant set production sched: ules 50% higher than those previously estab$ lished by management. : i l A packaging team at The Procter & Gamble Company’s soap plant in Lima, Ohio r! redesigned, installed, and started up an innoi vation in packaging that was based on the in$ sight of one team member who persisted with 2 an untried idea in the packaging of liquid products. Initially, engineers at the plant were not interested in the idea. l After self-managing work teams were introduced into the policyholder services area at Shenandoah Life Insurance Company, the employee-to-supervisor ratio changed from 7 to 1 to about 37 to 1, service improved, and complaints and errors declined. l Digital Equipment’s factory in Enfield, Connecticut has no supervisors. l Ford’s car assembly plant in Hermosillo, Mexico has only one job classification for all assembly workers, who do all their own quality control and on-line maintenance. When necessary, the workers can stop the assembly line. During their first year, they established a lower defect rate than most Japanese automobile makers. l At Aetna Life’s new benefits claim office