Breaking from Taylorism
Changing Forms of Work in the Automobile Industry

Examines the restructuring of work practices in the world automobile industry in the 1980s.

Ulrich Jürgens (Author), Thomas Malsch (Author), Knuth Dohse (Author)

9780521102537, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 March 2009

464 pages, 33 b/w illus. 47 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.6 cm, 0.68 kg

"...offers both an important historical presentation of a crucial period of innovation in the 1980's and an informed analysis that links that earlier period to contemporary patterns of change....for those concerned with the complexity of real world processes of workplace innovation, their causes and consequences, this book merits a careful read." Lowell Turner, German Politics and Society

In this book, the future of one of the world's most important industries is examined from the perspective of work structures and labour relations policies. The authors examine the restructuring of the world automobile industry in the 1980s, and draw data from an in-depth empirical study of three leading car companies in three different countries: the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. They demonstrate that the different strategies employed by firms and trades unions in industrial relations, and different national characteristics, have had a major impact on the dismantling of Taylorism and Fordism and the introduction of new structures of work. This book is an important contribution to the study of change in mass production industries throughout the world. It will be of interest to students of industrial relations and industrial sociology, as well as specialists in government and business.

1. The restructuring of the world automobile industry: opportunities for new forms of work
2. Changing markets and the rise of Toyotism: the development of the national car industries since the 1970s
3. Company strategies for answering the challenges
4. Industrial relations in the process of change
5. Reorganising quality control - between pressure for efficiency and a job enrichment orientation
6. Coping with new technology: skilled workers between specialisation and flexibilisation
7. Regulating work performance and plant efficiency: changes in control and structures of work
8. Comparative achievements in labour productivity and changes in personnel structures: trends and development patterns
9. Tapping new resources: skill levels and worker participation
10. Is the assembly line obsolete?
11. Modern times in the automobile factory: trends toward new forms of work

Subject Areas: Business & management [KJ]