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Purpose – This study aims to describe how a work team adapted to its fluctuated and severe environment by changing from “lean” to “over-lean” mode. To do this, the author investigated the relations among productivity, the vertical division of labor, and group leaders' behavior in a Japanese automobile assembly plant. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted field study at an assembly plant for five months. They collected three plant-level data to investigate the capability of its shop floor: transition of production volume; transition of the number of workers; and productivity. And they collected two types of workforce data: skill map and work shift. Moreover, they videotaped the behavior of group leaders on several days and analyzed them through a time study. Findings – The work team of this study achieved high productivity even in its tough environment. However, the authors' time study of group leaders showed that the group leaders, who usually engage in some management activities outside of the production line, did many tasks within the line. This indicates the team had a weakness toward the change of team members. Changing to this over-lean mode enabled the team to survive in a short-run, but maintaining the mode has a weakness in enhancing long-term competitiveness. Originality/value – This study proposes a balance between the two modes is required for organizations if they are to survive their severe and fluctuating environments.

The office research in environmental psychology that was inspired by the non-territorial office experiments of Allen and his colleagues in 1970, and undertaken since the 1980s, deemed privacy in the open office setting problematic; however, experiments by Allen showed improvements in privacy. Why was privacy not seen as a problem in Allen's experiments? The non-territorial office in Allen was not limited to being open; in fact, it also incorporated a free-seating arrangement. Further exploration of Allen's experiments shows that a free-seating arrangement not only enabled employees to move about the office at will but also facilitated the adjustment of their mutual interaction. As a result, it was thought that privacy had actually improved. In other words, extracting an open setting, which is only one aspect of a non-territorial office space, is insufficient, and thus, free-seating arrangement must also be considered. Doing so increases the possibility of significantly remedying privacy problems.

This study conducted a questionnaire survey of all employees at a company that moved its office location, both before and after the move. Results of the survey showed that while work environment satisfaction rose significantly because of the office move, there was no significant change in job satisfaction (in fact, some deterioration was observed). In addition, there was no significant change in the perspective index, which is regarded as a factor in job satisfaction, after the move. Existing studies on offices have asserted that job satisfaction increases along with work environment satisfaction. These results, however, made it difficult to posit such simple causation, showing the need for further testing and consideration.

In this study, all employees (including part-time employees) of a shinkin bank were surveyed using the organizational activation diagnostic tool "oractika," developed by Takahashi (1997). Similar to Takahashi (2014), the results of the survey confirmed a mostly linear, positive relationship between the perspective index and job satisfaction and a mostly linear, negative relationship between the perspective index and the desire to quit one's job. In other words, as the perspective index increases, job satisfaction also increases, decreasing the desire to quit one's job. A further analysis by job type showed that, among part-time employees, overall job satisfaction tended to be high. At the same time, they tended to show an equally strong or somewhat stronger desire to quit one's job in comparison with other types of employees. These findings suggest that part-time employees dissatisfied with their work often quit their jobs, whereas those who continue have higher job satisfaction.