The Case of Workgroups in Manufacturing Operations

Susman G.I. Chase R.B. , “A Sociotechnical Analysis of the Integrated Factory,” Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 22 (1986): 257–270; Walton R.E. Susman G.E. , “People Policies for The New Machines,” Harvard Business Review, 65 (1987): 98–106; Susman G.I. , “Work Groups: Autonomy, Technology, and Choice,” in Goodman P.S. , L.S. Sproull, and Associates, eds., Technology and Organizations (San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1990).

Koike K. , “Human Resource Development and Labor-Management Relations,” in Yamamura Kozo Yasuha Yasukichi , eds., The Political Economy of Japan, Vol. 1: The Domestic Transformation (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987), pp. 289–330.

Aoki M. , “The Japanese Firm in Transition,” in Yamamura Kozo Yasuha Yasukichi , eds., The Political Economy of Japan, Vol. 1: The Domestic Transformation (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987), pp. 263–288.

Cole R. E. , Strategies For Learning: Small-Group Activities in American, Japanese, and Swedish Industry (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1989).

Adler P.S. , “NUMMI, circa 1988,” Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, Stanford University, February 1990.

Davis L.E. , “The Design of Jobs,” Industrial Relations, 6 (1966): 21–45; Davis L.E. Wacker G.J. , “Job Design,” in Salvendi G. , ed., Handbook of Human Factors (New York, NY: Wiley, 1987).

Woodward J. , Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice (London: Oxford University Press, 1965).

Katz D. Kahn R.L. , The Social Psychology of Organizations, 2nd ed. (New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1978).

Kelly J.E. , Scientific Management, Job Redesign, and Work Performance (London: Academic Press, 1982).

Koike , op.cit.

Adler P.S. , “Managing Flexible Automation,” California Management Review, 30/3 (1988): 34–56.

Susman Chase , op. cit.

Skinner W. , “The Productivity Paradox,” Harvard Business Review, 64 (1986): 55–59.

Skinner , op. cit.

“Era of flexibility” is used by Adler, 1988, op. cit., and others to convey the significance of this phenomenon.

Adler , 1988, op. cit.

Jaikumar R. , “Postindustrial Manufacturing,” Harvard Business Review, 29 (1986): 69–76.

Thompson J. D. , Organizations in Actions (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1967).

Klein J. A. , “The Human Costs of Manufacturing Reform,” Harvard Business Review, 67 (1989): 60–66.

Walton R.E. , “From Control to Commitment in the Workplace,” Harvard Business Review, 63 (1985): 77–94.

Deming W.E. , Out of the Crisis (Cambridge, MA: MIT, Center for Advanced Engineering Study, 1986); Crosby P.B. , Quality Is Free (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1979); Juran J.M. , Juran on Planning for Quality (New York, NY: The Free Press, 1988).

Adler P.S. , “New Technologies, New Skills,” California Management Review, 29/1 (1986): 9–28.

Shimada H. Macduffie J.P. , “Industrial Relations and Humanware,” Working Paper #1855–87, Sloan School of Management, M.I.T., December 1986.

The roots of this argument can be traced to differentiation vs. integration. For example, see Lawrence P.R. Lorsch J.W. , Organization and Environment (Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1969)

March J.G. Simon H.A. , Organizations (New York, NY: Wiley, 1958).

Davis Wacker , op. cit.

Susman Chase , op. cit.

Aoki , op. cit.; and Koike , op. cit.

Susman G.I. , “The Impact of Automation on Work Group Autonomy and Task Specialization,” Human Relations, 23 (1970): 567–577.

Walton , op. cit.

Walton Susman , op. cit.

Thorsrud E. , “Job Design in Wider Context,” in Davis L.E. Taylor J.C. , eds., Design of Jobs (Middlesex, England: Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1972).

Leavitt H.J. , “Suppose We Took Groups Seriously,” in Cass E.L. Zimmer F.G. , eds., Man and Work in Society (New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinbold, 1975).

Hackman J.R. , ed., Groups That Work (and Those That Don't) (San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1990).

For example, see Posa E.J. Markus M.L. , “Success Story: The Team Approach to Work Restructuring,” Organizational Dynamics (1980), pp. 3–25; Buchanan D. , “Job Enrichment Is Dead: Long Live High-Performance Work Design,” Personnel Management (1987), pp. 40–43.

Davis , op. cit.; Susman G.I. , Autonomy at Work (New York, NY: Praeger, 1976); Kelly J.E. , “A Re-appraisal of Sociotechnical Systems,” Human Relations, 31 (1978): 1069–1099; Katz Kahn , op. cit.

Taylor J.C. , “The Human Side of Work: The Socio-Technical Approach to Work System Design,” Personnel Review, 4 (1974): 17–22.

Keidel R.W. , Quality of Work Life in the Private Sector: An Overview and Developmental Perspective (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Office of Personnel, 1980).

Hackman J.R. Lawler E.E. , “Employee Reactions to Job Characteristics,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 55 (1971): 259–286. Cummings T.G. , “Self-Regulating Work Groups: A Sociotechnical Synthesis,” Academy of Management Review, 3 (1978): 625–634.

Gulowsen J.R. , “A Measure of Work Autonomy,” in Davis L.E. Taylor J.C. , eds., Design of Jobs (Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin. 1972) pp. 374–390.

Herbst P.G. , Autonomous Group Functioning (London: Tavistock, 1962).

Sims H.P. Dean J.W. Jr. , “Beyond Quality Circles: Self-Managing Teams,” Personnel, 62 (1985): 25–32.

Emery F.E. , Characteristics of Socio-Technical Systems (London: Tavistock Institute, Document No. 527, 1959).

Kelly , op. cit.; Taylor J.C. , “Experiments in Work System Design: Economic and Human Results, Part I,” Personnel Review, 6 (1977): 20–34.

Trist E.L. Bamforth K. , “Some Social and Psychological Consequences of the Long Wall Method of Coal-Getting,” Human Relations, 1 (1951): 3–38.

Susman G.I. , “The Concept of Status Congruence as a Basis to Predict Task Allocations in Autonomous Work Groups,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 15 (1970): 164–175.

Gulowsen , op. cit.

Trist E.L. Susman G.I. Brown G.W. , “An Experiment in Autonomous Group Working in an American Underground Coal Mine,” Human Relations, 30 (1977): 201–236.

Steers R.M. Porter L.W. , Motivation and Work Behavior (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, Inc. 1975).

Blumberg M. , “Job Switching in Autonomous Work Groups: Exploratory Study in a Pennsylvania Coal Mine,” Academy of Management Journal, 23 (1980): 287–306.

Denison D.R. , “Sociotechnical Design and Self-Managing Workgroups: The Impact of Control,” Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 3 (1982): 297–314.

Kemp N.J. Wall T.D. Clegg C.W. Cordery J.L. , “Autonomous Workgroups in a Greenfield Site: A Comparative Study,” Journal of Occupational Psychology, 56 (1983): 271–288; Wall T.D. Kemp N.J. Jackson P.R. Clegg C.W. , “Outcomes of Autonomous Workgroups: A Long-Term Field Experiment,” Academy of Management Journal, 29 (1986): 280–304.

Manz G.C. Angle H. , “Can Group Self-Management Mean a Loss of Personal Control: Triangulating a Paradox,” Group & Organizational Studies, 11 (1986): 309–334.

Cummings T.G. Melloy E.S. Glenn R. , “A Methodological Critique of Fifty-Eight Selected Work Experiments,” Human Relations, 30 (1977): 675–708.

National Science Foundation, “The Process of Technological Innovation: Reviewing the Literature,” 1983.

Pasmore W. A. , Designing Effective Organizations: A Sociotechnical Systems Perspective (New York, NY: Wiley, 1988).

Klein J.A. , “Why Supervisors Resist Employee Involvement,” Harvard Business Review, 62 (1984): 87–95.

For an extensive treatment of the Swedish experience with the sociotechnical concept the reader should consult Cole, op. cit.

Cole , op. cit.

Kelly , op. cit.

Klein , 1989, op. cit.; and Susman , 1990, op. cit.

NSF, op. cit.

Susman G.I. , “Action Research, A Sociotechnical Systems Perspective,” in Morgan G. , ed., Beyond Method (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1983).

Susman , 1983, op. cit.

Hackman J.R. , “The Design of Work Teams,” in Davis L.E. Taylor J.C. , eds., Improving Life at Work (Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear, 1983).

Ibid.

Leavitt , op. cit.

Walton Susman , op. cit.

Levine D.I. , “Participation, Productivity, and the Firm's Environment,” California Management Review, 32/4 (1990): 87–100.

Shimada Macduffie , op. cit.

Dertouzos M.L. Lester R.K. , R.M. Solow, and the MIT Commission on Industrial Productivity, Made in America: Regaining the Productive Edge (Cambridge, MA: the MIT Press, 1989).

Koike , op. cit.

Hellriegel D. Slocum J.W. Jr. , Management: Contingency Approaches, 2nd ed. (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., Inc., 1978).

Susman , 1990, op. cit.

Hayes R.H. Wheelwright S.C. Clark K.B. , Dynamic Man Creating the Learning Organization (New York, NY: Free Press, 1988).

Klein , 1989, op. cit.

A body of research has examined the impact of workers' demography on social integration, performance, turnover, and performance evaluation, among other factors. For example, see O'Reilly C.A. III Caldwell D.F. Barnett W.P. , “Work Group Demography, Social Integration, and Turnover,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 34 (1989): 21–37; Tsui A.S. O'Reilly C.A. III , “Beyond Simple Demographic Effects: The Importance of Relational Demography in Superior-Subordinate Dyads,” Academy of Management Journal, 32 (1989): 402–423.

Shimada Macduffie , op. cit.

Klein , 1989, op. cit.

Klein , 1984, op. cit.

Lawler E.E. , High Involvement Management (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1986).

Hackman , 1983, op. cit.

Leavitt , 1975.

Manz G.C. Sims H.P. Jr. , “Searching for the “Unleader”: Organizational Members Views on Leading Self-Managed Groups,” Human Relations, 37 (1984): 409–424; Manz G.C. Sims H.P. Jr. , “Leading Workers to Lead Themselves: The External Leadership of Self-Managing Work Teams,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 32 (1987): 106–128.

Adler , 1990, op. cit.

Hackman , 1983, op. cit.