Multiple Paths to Adoption: The Role of Actors in the Appropriation of Japanese Work Systems

Abstract

This paper builds on a context-dependent view of work systems diffusion within the manufacturing context across conflicting governance structures. It adopts an integrated understanding of the social constitution of work systems and appreciates the role of strategic choice, beliefs and power in the adoption of alternative work systems. The study is founded on a systematic comparative study of the ways in which alternative work systems are adopted and sustained in the UK subsidiary firms of two Japanese MNCs and concludes that there is a multiplicity of adoption processes rather than a ‘single best solution’ to organizing resources. Taking into account the complex ensembles of routines that can mould what is being communicated across national boundaries, the adoption process is displayed as an active process involving actors' decisions to accept new ideas, where the links between implementation and internalization processes are important in determining the outcome of the diffused system.