Developing its system Essay Example

the idea of management control and directly opposed the principles of Taylorism and Fordism. While flow production and moving line assembly had reduced soldiering, it still remained a concern. Moreover, Ford management was worried about more organized forms of opposition and the potential influence of unions like the Carriage, Wagon and Automobile Workers' Union (CWAWU) and radical groups such as the International Workers of the World (IWW) on its workers. Although Detroit had been known as an open-shop town since 1902 with weak labor unions and radical organizations, IWW had launched a highly-publicized campaign to organize auto workers in Detroit. It agitated Ford's Highland Park plant and led a strike that was organized along industrial lines, making it even more frightening for employers. Additionally, Ford faced labor control issues due to the high number of immigrants in its new industrial workforce.

In 1914, over 70% of the workers at Ford were foreign-born, with at least 22 nationalities represented. Eastern and southern Europeans were the most common. Many of these workers came from a peasant background and found the industrial work culture at Ford to be entirely unfamiliar. Despite the division of labor and machinery at Ford minimizing the need for skill, managers worried about the implications of a culturally diverse workforce on shop discipline and productivity. To address this, Ford aimed to create a collective vision where unskilled immigrant workers could identify with American values and engage in voluntary cooperation with management for mutual success. This partnership would enable individuals to succeed based on their abilities, becoming property owners and even investors.

According to Banas and Sauers' (1988) report, Ford's policies aimed to provide workers with

the benefits of liberal capitalism and its protection of individual rights and private property, thus promoting a common American identity centered on abstract individualism. This approach was reflected in the company's emphasis on participative management and employee involvement.

Banas, P. and Sauers, R. explored the association between participative management and employee involvement at Ford Motor Company in Dearborn in 1989. Meanwhile, Darlington, R. delved into workplace unionism dynamics in London and published a book under Mansell in 1994.

McGraw-Hill published Legge's Power, Innovation and Problem-solving in Personnel Management in London in 1978. Starkey and Mckinlay are also authors in the field.

The book, "Strategy and the Human Resource" by Oxford Blackwell, was published in 1993. In 1989, K. Starkey and A. McKinlay wrote an article titled "Beyond Fordism? Strategic Choice and Labor Relations in Ford UK" that appeared in the Industrial Relations Journal (20(2), 93-100). Additionally, there is a program called Turu that offers Employee Development and Assistance.

Oxford's Ruskin published a work in 1991, while Turu's study on employee participation and non-participation in EDAP was conducted in 1993.