This article examines a case of advanced teamwork in a Canadian aluminum smelter. It demonstrates a pattern of high commitment at work and acceptance of change combined with a robust independence of workers from management. Control is no longer exerted at the level of work execution but is moved a step higher in the conception and monitoring of production, thus opening the way for workers' self-regulation. The explanation for this pattern lies in workers' tradition of group solidarity, which was expressed through a strong role for the trade union. Comparison with other cases underlies the centrality of worker collective organization if teamwork is to meet workers' as well as managers' expectations.
Abrahamson, E.
(1996). Management fashion. Academy of Management Review, 21, 254-285.
2.
Adler, P.S. (1993, January-February). Time-and-motion regained. Harvard Business Review, 97-108.
3.
Appelbaum, E.
(2002). The impact of new forms of work organization on workers. In G. Murray et al. (Eds.), Work and employment relations in the high-performance workplace (pp. 120-49). London: Continuum.
4.
Barker, J.R.
(1999). The discipline of teamwork. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
5.
Batstone, E.
(1986). Labour and productivity. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 2, 32-43.
6.
Bélanger, J.
(2001). Autorégulation du travail et division sociale: Observation dans une aluminerie québécoise. Sociologie du Travail, 43, 159-177.
7.
Bélanger, J.
, & Dumas, M. (1998). Teamwork and internal labour markets: A study of a Canadian aluminium smelter. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 19, 417-442.
8.
Bell, D.
(1988). The end of ideology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Original work published 1960)
9.
Berggren, C.
(1993). Alternatives to lean production. Ithaca: ILR Press.
10.
Blauner, R.
(1964). Alienation and freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
11.
Claydon, T.
(1996). Union derecognition. In I.J. Beardwell (Ed.), Contemporary industrial relations (pp. 151-174). Oxford: OUP.
12.
Collinson, M.
, Rees, C., & Edwards, P. (1998). Involving employees in total quality management. Employment Relations Research Series, 1. London: Department of Trade and Industry. Available: www.dti.gov.uk/er/emar
13.
Edwards, P.
, Bélanger, J., & Wright, M. (2002). The social relations of productivity: A longitudinal and comparative study of aluminium smelters. Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, 57, 309-330.
14.
Edwards, P.
, & Collinson, M. (2002). Empowerment and managerial labor strategies: Pragmatism regained. Work and Occupations, 29, 272-299.
15.
Edwards, P.
, Geary, J., & Sisson, K. (2002). New forms of work organization in the workplace: Transformative, exploitative, or limited and controlled? In G. Murray et al. (Eds.), Work and employment relations in the high-performance workplace (pp. 72-119). London: Continuum.
16.
Findlay, P.
, McKinlay, A., Marks, A., & Thompson, P. (2000). Flexible when it suits them. In S. Procter & F. Mueller (Eds.), Teamworking (pp. 222-243). Basingstoke: Macmillan.
17.
Gallie, D.
(1978). In search of the new working class. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
18.
Geary, J.
, & Dobbins, A. (2001). Teamworking: A new dynamic in the pursuit of management control. Human Resource Management Journal, 11, 3-21.
19.
Harley, B.
(2001). Team membership and the experience of work in Britain. Work, Employment and Society, 15, 721-742.
20.
Hill, S.
(1995). From quality circles to total quality management. In A. Wilkinson & H. Willmott (Eds.), Making quality critical (pp. 33-53). London: Routledge.
21.
Hodson, R.
(1997). Group relations at work: Solidarity, conflict, and relations with management. Work and Occupations, 24, 426-452.
22.
Hodson, R.
(2001). Dignity at work. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
23.
Lam, A.
(2000). Tacit knowledge, organizational learning and societal institutions: An integrated framework. Organization Studies, 21, 487-513.
24.
Marks, A.
, Findlay, P., Hine, J., McKinlay, A., & Thompson, P. (1998). The politics of partnership: Innovation in employment relations in the Scottish spirits industry. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 36, 209-226.
25.
Millward, N.
, Bryson, A., & Forth, J. (2000). All change at work?London: Routledge.
26.
Procter, S.
, & Mueller, F. (2000). Teamworking: Strategy, structure, systems and culture. In S. Procter & F. Mueller (Eds.), Teamworking (pp. 3-24). Basingstoke: Macmillan.
27.
Ramsay, H.
(1977). Cycles of control. Sociology, 11, 481-506.
28.
Rinehart, J.
, Huxley, C., & Robertson, D. (1997). Just another car factory? Lean production and its discontents. Ithaca: ILR Press.
29.
Rosenthal, P.
, Hill, S., & Peccei, R. (1997). Checking out service: Evaluating excellence, HRM and TQM in retailing. Work, Employment and Society, 11, 481-508.
Shaiken, H.
, Lopez, S., & Mankita, I. (1997). Two routes to team production. Industrial Relations, 36, 17-45.
32.
Wright, E.O.
(2000). Working-class power, capitalist-class interests, and class compromise. American Journal of Sociology, 105, 957-1002.
33.
Wright, M.
, & Edwards, P. (1998). Does teamworking work, and if so, why? A case study in the aluminium industry. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 19, 59-90.
34.
Wright, M.
, & Edwards, P. (2002). Modes of integration and the diffusion of best practice in the multinational enterprise. In J.H. Taggart et al. (Eds.), Multinationals in a new era (pp. 141-152). Basingstoke: Palgrave.
