Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry
Title | Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry PDF eBook |
Author | Roger Blanpain |
Publisher | Kluwer Law International B.V. |
Pages | 164 |
Release | 2008-02-25 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 9041130527 |
This important study—based on a three-year empirical research project in seven countries—focuses on employment relations in the auto assembly industry and shows that the influence of globalisation is tempered to varying degrees by institutional employment patterns at the local level. Twenty-one scholars and researchers representing all seven countries analyse the data, clearly describe the differences across both countries and firms, and offer conclusions and recommendations that greatly facilitate our understanding of the globalisation process at the level of human resources in industrial production. For each of the seven countries—two liberal market economies (the United States and Australia), two coordinated market economies (Germany and Sweden), and three Asian market economies (Japan, South Korea, and China)—the book describes five key issues in detail: work organisation; skill formation; remuneration systems; staffing arrangements and employment security; and enterprise governance and employee–management relations. The authors offer in-depth comparative analysis of these central issues in the context of such overriding factors as corporate strategy, local institutional constraints and advantages, competitive pressures among automakers to capture emerging markets, power relations within firms, and the role that agency and interests play in shaping social action.
Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry
Title | Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry PDF eBook |
Author | Roger Blanpain |
Publisher | Kluwer Law International B.V. |
Pages | 166 |
Release | 2008-01-01 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 9041126988 |
Describes work organization, skill formation, remuneration systems, staffing arrangements and employment security, and enterprise governance and employee-management relations in seven countries: the United States, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Japan, South Korea, and China.
When Good Jobs Go Bad
Title | When Good Jobs Go Bad PDF eBook |
Author | Jeffrey S. Rothstein |
Publisher | Rutgers University Press |
Pages | 201 |
Release | 2016-03-16 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 0813576083 |
From Chinese factories making cheap toys for export, to sweatshops in Bangladesh where name-brand garments are sewn—studies on the impact of globalization on workers have tended to focus on the worst jobs and the worst conditions. But in When Good Jobs Go Bad, Jeffrey Rothstein looks at the impact of globalization on a major industry—the North American auto industry—to reveal that globalization has had a deleterious effect on even the most valued of blue-collar jobs. Rothstein argues that the consolidation of the Mexican and U.S.-Canadian auto industries, the expanding number of foreign automakers in North America, and the spread of lean production have all undermined organized labor and harmed workers. Focusing on three General Motors plants assembling SUVs—an older plant in Janesville, Wisconsin; a newer and more viable plant in Arlington, Texas; and a “greenfield site” (a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility) in Silao, Mexico—When Good Jobs Go Bad shows how global competition has made nonstop, monotonous, standardized routines crucial for the survival of a plant, and it explains why workers and their local unions struggle to resist. For instance, in the United States, General Motors forced workers to accept intensified labor by threatening to close plants, which led local unions to adopt “keep the plant open” as their main goal. At its new factory in Silao, GM had hand-picked the union—one opposed to strikes and committed to labor-management cooperation—before it hired the first worker. Rothstein’s engaging comparative analysis, which incorporates the viewpoints of workers, union officials, and management, sheds new light on labor’s loss of bargaining power in recent decades, and highlights the negative impact of globalization on all jobs, both good and bad, from the sweatshop to the assembly line.
Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry
Title | Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry PDF eBook |
Author | Roger Blanpain |
Publisher | Kluwer Law International |
Pages | 168 |
Release | 2008 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 9789041126986 |
"[This book] describes work organization, skill formation, remuneration systems, staffing arrangements and employment security, and enterprise governance and employee-management relations in seven countries: the United States, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Japan, South Korea, and China."--
After Lean Production
Title | After Lean Production PDF eBook |
Author | Thomas A. Kochan |
Publisher | Cornell University Press |
Pages | 364 |
Release | 2018-09-05 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 150173167X |
Nearly every country that produces cars views the automobile industry as strategically important because of its direct economic significance and because it serves as a bellwether for innovation in employment conditions. In this book, industrial relations experts from eleven countries consider the state of the industry worldwide. They are particularly interested in assessing whether the loudly heralded model of lean production initiated by Toyota has become pervasive.The contributors focus on employment practices: the way work is organized, how workers and managers interact, the way worker representatives respond to lean production strategies, and the nature of the adaptation and innovation process itself.
Work Organizational Reforms and Employment Relations in the Automotive Industry
Title | Work Organizational Reforms and Employment Relations in the Automotive Industry PDF eBook |
Author | Kenichi Shinohara |
Publisher | Taylor & Francis |
Pages | 85 |
Release | 2022-05-26 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 1000635295 |
General Motors (GM)'s attempt to adapt the renowned Toyota production system for its own automotive manufacturing plants had historically produced disappointing results. Why was it not sufficiently successful? This book aims to shed insights into GM's failed attempt through the analysis of work organization reforms and labor-management relations on production-system efficiency. The book examines collective bargaining agreements between automakers and the United Auto Workers union and the arbitration rulings in retrospect to illuminate the critical role continuous improvement activities initiated by production workers would play in enhancing performance management. It also looks at the impact of the meritocratic system in Japanese auto plants on performance success. As GM begins operations at its new electric vehicle assembly plant, Factory Zero, the book analyses the challenges of such production for both employment relations and workforce deployment. The book will be a useful reference for those interested in a comparative study of management styles and a better understanding of Japanese manufacturing practices.
Flexibility at Work
Title | Flexibility at Work PDF eBook |
Author | V. Pulignano |
Publisher | Springer |
Pages | 204 |
Release | 2008-09-02 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 0230581935 |
An examination of the form and character of recent transformations in the international automobile industry. Using comparative and national-based case study analysis, it explores the nature of such recent developments (outsourcing, modularization, high performance workplaces, etc.) and their impact on issues in the sector on a world scale.