Empowerment As a Trojan Horse: New Systems of Work Organization in the North American Automobile Industry

Yates, Charlotte; Lewchuk, Wayne; Stewart, Paul

doi:10.1177/0143831x01224004

Cited by 25 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Consultants and researchers who today embrace the technique of democratic participative group decision making from a unitarist perspective are as open to claims of manipulation as those directed at Kurt Lewin and his associates (Gomberg, 1966a;Graebner, 1986Graebner, , 1987Landsberger, 1958;Lawrence, 1969;Van Strien, 1978). Others from a union perspective agree with Gomberg (1966a) to perceive this form of empowerment as a Trojan Horse (Yates et al, 2001). Indeed, much more is known today about the precise way in which participatory involvement can serve as a powerful means to encourage people to unwittingly take ownership of a physical object, idea or a decision (Ariely, 2009: 136;Norton et al, 2012;Pfeffer and Cialdini, 1998).…”

Section: Discussion and Conclusion: Some Lessons From Harwoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democracy and worker representation in the management of change: Lessons from Kurt Lewin and the Harwood studies

Desmond

Wilson

2018

Human Relations

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This article revisits the famous Harwood studies overseen by Kurt Lewin to include the neglected union perspective that differs markedly from conventional accounts. We explain this discrepancy as arising from unitarist and pluralist views, which assume very different understandings of organization. The researchers framed the Harwood organization from a unitarist perspective as monolithic, assuming its members are bound by allegiance to a common cause represented by management. This helps explain their relative indifference to unions and framing of concepts in a manner conducive to management that was incomprehensible from a union perspective. From this we contend that the Harwood studies are best understood as a cautionary tale against the assumption of a monolithic view that equates the interest of management with that of the organization. This is especially relevant given the dominance of a unitarist perspective across several fields of organization today, when management are argued to be increasingly authoritarian and union membership in several countries approaches an all-time low. Recognizing that organization is a balance struck between partially conflicting interests represents a more ethical stance to forestall accusations of partisanship and manipulation and to build towards the establishment of a fairer and more sustainable workplace for all.

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Section: Discussion and Conclusion: Some Lessons From Harwoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democracy and worker representation in the management of change: Lessons from Kurt Lewin and the Harwood studies

Desmond

Wilson

2018

Human Relations

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“…If the organizational social capital is low, the only way for management to introduce lean would be in a coercive top‐down approach with the risk of creating employee resistance and achieving little progress in the lean goal of continuous improvements. Perhaps it is such a situation that characterizes the North American‐owned auto industry (Lewchuk et al, 2001; Yates, Lewchuk, & Stewart, 2001). Social capital is the result of a long‐term development of management–labor relations, and it cannot be changed by a single management decision.…”

Section: Possibilities For the Development Of An Employee‐supportive mentioning

confidence: 99%

Lean Production—An Evaluation of the Possibilities for an Employee Supportive Lean Practice

Hasle¹

2012

Hum Ftrs & Erg Mfg Svc

101

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Lean is a contested concept. It has been praised for empowering employees, and it has been criticized for intensifying work and impairing the health and well‐being of employees. This article is reviewing the literature on the relations between lean and employees, and suggests ways for the development of an employee‐supportive lean practice. There is good evidence of lean's adverse consequences for low‐skilled employees in the auto industry and other assembly type manufacturing work, but there are also examples of more positive outcomes. It is important to emphasize that, not only lean thinking, but also the context and implementation of lean have consequences for employee outcomes. Research is still needed to demonstrate it in real life, but this analysis of lean thinking, context, and implementation suggests possibilities for developing a lean practice that is genuinely employee‐supportive. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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“…Therewith, paradoxically, higher demands in the sense of involvement in job design through changing SOPs leads to lower demands in the operational activities. It thus does not come as a surprise that empirical work in Canadian and UK 'lean' car assembly showed limited employee autonomy (Babson, 1995;Lewchuk et al, 2001;Yates et al, 2001).…”

Section: Quality Of Working Life Under Lpmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lean Production Assessed by Karasek’s Job Demand–Job Control Model

Schouteten¹,

Benders

2004

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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Comments on the quality of working life (QWL) under lean production have varied from devastating criticism on the one hand, to eulogistic praise on the other. These contrasting positions can be related to researchers' opposing societal stances and resulting interpretations, which are reinforced by the methodologies used and the absence of an external framework to judge QWL. Using Karasek's job demand-job control model, the authors investigate a Dutch plant operating under a lean production (LP) regime in an attempt to resolve the controversy. The jobs in this plant can be placed in Karasek's quadrant of low job demands and low job control, which means that antagonists of LP are right in claiming that the work is monotonous and repetitive, while the advocates' claim that workers have sufficient job decision latitude also holds.

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Empowerment As a Trojan Horse: New Systems of Work Organization in the North American Automobile Industry

Cited by 25 publications

References 7 publications

Democracy and worker representation in the management of change: Lessons from Kurt Lewin and the Harwood studies

Democracy and worker representation in the management of change: Lessons from Kurt Lewin and the Harwood studies

Lean Production—An Evaluation of the Possibilities for an Employee Supportive Lean Practice

Lean Production Assessed by Karasek’s Job Demand–Job Control Model

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