Japanese Team-Based Work Systems in North America: Explaining the Diversity

Cutcher‐Gershenfeld, Joel; Nitta, Michio; Barrett, Betty; Belhedi, Nejib; Bullard, Jennifer; Coutchie, Cheryl; Inaba, Takashi; Ishino, Iwao; Lee, Seepa; Lin, Wen Jeng; Mothersell, William M.; Rabine, Stacia; Ramanand, S.; Strolle, M. E.; Wheaton, Arthur C.

doi:10.2307/41165777

Cited by 61 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…An assembly line worker can perform any task at any place on the assembly line (Vaghefi et al, 2000) (Table VI). (Cutcher-Gershenfeld et al, 1994). Commitment is critical for new forms of work organisation (Shapiro, 2001).…”

Section: Work Teamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work organisation practices for lean production

Olivella

Cuatrecasas

Gavilan

2008

Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to obtain and to expose work organisation practices common to the factories that successfully follow lean production (LP) principles. Design/methodology/approach -Analysis of the literature and interviews with experts.Findings -An analysis of the literature reveals clear connections between work organisation practices and LP. However, general reports on LP barely deal with work organisation. A set of work organisation objectives for LP was established for the authors and interviewed experts and analysed by reviewing the literature. Similarities are found between the different sources in terms of defining a set of policies and practices covering all the aspects of work organisation. It is shown that there are indeed work organisation practices characteristic of LP. Originality/value -This paper is believed to be the first complete analysis of work organisation practices for LP.

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Section: Work Teamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work organisation practices for lean production

Olivella

Cuatrecasas

Gavilan

2008

Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management

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“…Cutcher-Gershenfeld et al [5] offer a recent scheme tailored to manufacturing shop-floor team systems. They describe online and off-line teams, with the former having two categories: Japanese-style lean production teams and Scandinavian-style socio-technical systems teams.…”

Section: B On-line Versus Off-line Teamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Manufacturing improvement team programs in the semiconductor industry

Bailey¹

1997

IEEE Trans. Semicond. Manufact.

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Increasing numbers of semiconductor manufacturers are implementing improvement programs at their manufacturing sites (fabs). Yet despite their rising popularity, little attention has focused on the impact of a program's design on its overall effectiveness. This research examines the improvement programs established at ten fabs. A categorization scheme classifies programs according to their use of one of three types of teams: continuous improvement teams (CIT's), quality circles (QC's), and self-directed work teams (SDWT's). Results from 188 operator surveys and over 150 interviews with fab employees (including managers, engineers, technicians, supervisors, operators, and representatives from human resources and quality departments) indicate that a number of programs suffer from weak implementation and disorganized management. The failure to carefully design and implement a program is reflected in employee perceptions of the program's effectiveness. Perceptions of CIT programs are found to be significantly lower than those of QC or SDWT programs, both of which feature higher degrees of autonomy and training. Results also highlight a nearly universal failure to integrate production team programs with engineering and maintenance functions. To help improve future programs, design implications and aspects of effective team programs are noted. Special attention is paid to program selection, goal design, organizational support, engineering integration, information systems, and empowerment semantics.

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“…A large body of literature deals with how teams can be classified (Benders & Van Hootegem, 1999;Cutcher-Gershenfeld et al, 1994;Durand, Steward, & Castillo, 1999;Mueller, 1994;Mueller, et al, 2000). To distinguish self-managing teams from "ordinary" teams, the level of tasks and responsibilities is often highlighted.…”

Section: Self-managing Teams Sustainability and Institutional Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The silent practice: sustainable self-managing teams in a Norwegian context

Rolfsen

Johansen

2014

Journal of Organizational Change Management

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Purpose – The purpose is to provide explanations for why some self-managing teams survive and develop over a long period of time. Design/methodology/approach – The research design is longitudinal, having worked with several research projects over a period of 20 years. Interviews, observation, field notes have been widely used, and also participative methods while one of the authors has worked on the shop floor for six weeks. Findings – The authors offer several explanations: the maturity of teams; the process of institutionalization and creation of strong normative values; practices being “infused with meaning” and decoupling of practice from official policy. Research limitations/implications – The weakness is that the research presented is from one company, and within a Norwegian context which has certain characteristics. The contribution is the emphasis on institutional elements and the methodological implications regarding informal practice where explicit information is incomplete. Practical implications – By offering an explanation for why self-managing teams can survive, one can also prescribe some important learning. Mutual cooperation and high level of autonomy prove to be important. Originality/value – The main contribution is the authors' access to unique empirical data, and that they show and explain the social mechanisms for institutionalization of teamwork through participative observation.

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Japanese Team-Based Work Systems in North America: Explaining the Diversity

Cited by 61 publications

References 3 publications

Work organisation practices for lean production

Work organisation practices for lean production

Manufacturing improvement team programs in the semiconductor industry

The silent practice: sustainable self-managing teams in a Norwegian context

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