Teamworking and Labour Regulation in the Autocomponents Industry

Abstract

This paper examines how particular structural pressures external to the firm can combine with the internal micro-dynamics of workplace relations and conflict to create a mode of labour regulation which corresponds to a `Japanese style' teamworking rather than alternative, more autonomous models. It draws on both quantitative and qualitative case study research data of the introduction of job reforms at a brownfield autocomponents factory in South Wales. The paper investigates three key facets of the reform process. First, how the external factors of industrial restructuring and the forging of new customer-supplier relations between firms shape managerial priorities and organisational outcomes. Second, how the microdynamics of workplace relations, in particular, the different interests and actions of managerial, white collar and shopfloor employees, have a direct bearing on the final composition of teamworking. Third, in response to the lack of attention given to the views of those who are most affected by job reforms, the paper provides a systematic analysis of the disempowering impact of teamworking on shopfloor workers' labour processes.