Japanization at Work: The Case of Engineering Plants in Leeds

Abstract

This paper draws on case studies undertaken between 1985 and 1988. The research analysed the effects of Computer Numerically Controlled machine tools and Japanese manufacturing techniques such as cellular technology, just-in-time and total-quality-control in `concrete' and unionized environments. It is argued that such changes enhanced manual engineering skills and shopfloor autonomy, partly through CNC technology, but also by functional flexibility associated with cellular arrangements. The evidence is in contention with labour process theorists who either posit a view that deskilling is a central dynamic of technological change or consider that Japanese-style methods are bound to reverse the deskilling process. Exploring the hypothesis that cellular and just-in-time methods increases managerial control, the paper provides evidence of enhanced managerial control through the use of microprocessor-based manufacturing technology and worker-generated forms of control, a process described as computer-controlled-autonomy.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abernathy, W. , Clark, K. & Kantrow, A. (1983) Industrial Renaissance: Producing a Comparative Future for America, New York: Basic Books .

Ackroyd, S. , et al. (1988) `The Japanisation of British Industry' , Industrial Relations Journal, 19, 1.

Beechey, V. (1983) `The Sexual Division of Labour and the Labour Process: a Critical Assessment of Braverman' in Wood, S. (ed.), The Degradation of Work?, London: Hutchinson .

Black, J. and Ackers, P. (1988) `The Japanization of British Industry: A Case Study of Quality Circles in the Carpet Industry' , Employee Relations, 10, 6.

Braverman, H. (1974) Labor and Monopoly Capital, New York: Monthly Review Press .

Buchanan, D. (1982) `Using the New Technology: Management Objectives and Organizational Choices' , European Management Journal, 1, 2.

Burawoy, M. (1979) Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labour Process under Monopoly Capitalism, University of Chicago .

Child, J. (1985) `Managerial Strategies, New Technology, and the Labour Process', in Knights, D. , et al. (eds.), Job Redesign Critical Perspectives on the Labour Process, Aldershot: Gower .

Clark, J. et al. (1988) The Process of Technological Change: New Technology and Social Choice in the Workplace, Cambridge: CUP .

10.

Dankbaar, B. (1988) `New Production Concepts, Management Strategies and the Quality of Work' , Work, Employment and Society, 2, 1.

11.

Dickens, P. and Savage, M. (1988) `The Japanisation of British Industry? Instances from a High Growth Area' . Industrial Relations Journal, 19, 1.

12.

Giles, E. and Starkey, K. (1988) `The Japanisation of Xerox' , New Technology, Work and Employment, 3, 2.

13.

Graham, I. (1988) `Japanisation as Mythology' , Industrial Relations Journal, 19, 1.

14.

Hague, R. (1989) `Japanising Geordie-Land?' , Employee Relations, 11, 2.

15.

Hyman, R. (1988) `Flexible Specialization: Miracle or Myth?', in Hyman, R. and Streeck, W. (eds.) New Technology and Industrial Relations, Oxford: Blackwell .

16.

Jaques, E. (1961) Equitable Payment, London: John Wiley .

17.

Kelly, J. (1985) `Management's Redesign of Work: Labour Process, Labour Markets and Product Markets', in Knights, D. et al. (eds.). Job Redesign Critical Perspectives on the Labour Process, Aldershot: Gower .

18.

Knights, D. and Willmott, H. (eds.) (1990) Labour Process Theory, London: Macmillan .

19.

Littler, C. and Salaman, G. (1984) Class at Work: The Design Allocation and Control of Jobs, London: Batsford .

20.

Nichols, T. and Beynon, H. (1977) Living With Capitalism: Class Relations and the Modern Factory, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul .

21.

Noble, D.F. (1979) `Social Choice in Machine Design: the Case of the Automatically Controlled Machine Tools', in Zimbalist, A. (ed.) Case Studies on the Labour Process, New York: Monthly Review Press .

22.

Oliver, N. and Wilkinson, B. (1988) The Japanization of British Industry, Oxford: Blackwell .

23.

Piore, M. and Sabel, C. (1984) The Second Industrial Divide, New York: Basic Books .

24.

Sayer, A. (1986) `New Developments in Manufacturing: The Just-in-Time System' , Capital and Class, 30.

25.

Schonberger, R. (1982) Japanese Manufacturing Techniques: Nine Hidden Lessons in Simplicity, London: Collier Macmillan .

26.

Smith, D. (1988) `The Japanese Example in South West Birmingham' , Industrial Relations Journal, 19, 1.

27.

Thompson, P. (1983) The Nature of Work: An Introduction to Debates on the Labour Process, London: Macmillan .

28.

Thompson, P. (1989) The Nature of Work, 2nd ed. London: Macmillan .

29.

Tolliday, S. and Zeitlin, J. (eds.) (1986) The Automobile Industry and its Workers: Between Fordism and Flexibility, Cambridge: Polity Press .

30.

Tomaney, J. (1990) `The Reality of Workplace Flexibility' , Capital and Class, 40.

31.

Turnbull, P. (1986) `The Japanisation of British Industrial Relations at Lucas' , Industrial Relations Journal, 17, 3.

32.

Turnbull, P. (1988) `The Limits to Japanisation: Just-in-Time, Labour Relations and the UK Automotive Industry' , New Technology, Work and Employment, 3, 1.

33.

Whipp, R. and Clark, P. (1986) Innovation and the Auto Industry, London: Francis Pinter .

34.

Wilkinson, B. (1983) The Shopfloor Politics of New Technology, London: Heinemann .

35.

Wilson, F. and Buchanan, D. (1988) `The Effects of New Technology in the Engineering Industry: Cases of Control and Constraint' , Work, Employment and Society, 2, 3, 366-380 .

36.

Wood, S. (ed.) (1989). The Transformation of Work? London: Unwin Hyman .