After Lean Production: Evolving Employment Practices in the World Auto Industry

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.

Thomas A. Kochan is the George Maverick Bunker Professor of Management at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Russell D. Lansbury is Professor of Industrial Relations and head of the department at the University of Sydney. John Paul MacDuffie is Associate Professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.