Restructuring, Teams, and Learning: the case of a clothing company

abstract

In the course of the past 15 years many expectations and claims have been made about the benefits of restructuring for workers, companies and national economies. Significant national reports published by governments, trade unions, business associations and universities set out these aims and articulated a case for why it was in the mutual interests of employers, workers and the nation that these changes take place.

As claim and counter claim is made about the benefits of workplace change and the role of education and training in that process, it is important that case study research sheds light on workplace experience.

This article argues that far from being an outmoded philosophy, Taylorism is being reinvented and reapplied in workplaces and highlights the example of an Australian clothing factory to investigate how the introduction of teams, training and new industrial relations systems have combined to produce greater work intensity, lower wages and higher productivity. The apparent discrepancy between what the management literature claims as the benefits of restructuring and the experience of a group of women manufacturing workers raises important questions for adult educators.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tony Brown

This research was undertaken while Tony Brown was a Ronald Henderson Research Fellow at the UTS Centre for Popular Education.