Employee Responses to New Management Techniques in the Auto Industry

Abstract

New management techniques (NMTs) associated with `lean production' - teamworking; just-in-time (JIT) systems; continuous improvement (kaizen); zero defects and so on - have become increasingly influential, particularly in the car industry. This paper reports on case studies and a questionnaire survey of workers in UK and US auto firms operating in Britain. Trade unions have had a significant, albeit variable, impact on the introduction of NMTs. However, not only do the workers have an incomplete perception of the nature of NMTs, but those they do experience would seem to result in an intensification of work, rather than `smarter' work as predicted by the protagonists of NMTs.