Teams in Australia's automotive industry: Characteristics and future challenges

Abstract

Australia's automotive industry has throughout the 1990s embarked on a sustained programme to improve product quality, productivity and quality of work life through the development of a more flexible and team-based work-force. This paper examines the results of these efforts through a study of Australia's four car makers and their largest component suppliers. The paper examines the role of union-management cooperation in implementing work teams, identifies the forms of work teams that have been developed as well as evidence for the alignment of organization capabilities to support team-based work. The effects of work teams on organizational performance and quality of work life are also examined. Implications are discussed.

Keywords:

• Lean Manufacturing
• Union/Management Relationships
• Teamwork
• Leadership