Forget FORD

1
Forget FORD?

• Michael Hughes
• Professor of Management MBA Director
• Faculty of Management
• University of Stirling
• Scotland

2
Industrialization to post-Fordist Globalization

• Levels of Analysis
• Global ( regional)
• Societal
• Organizational
• Group
• Individual
• Task

3
Managing Transition

• Contingency Approaches
• Organizational-Environment interface constant
• Adaptation
• Differentiation
• Integration
• Turbulent environment and sub-systems
• Resource dependency finance, materials,
  information, skills, power.

4
Cont..

• Strategic Choice
• Pro-active management
• Focus upon specific strengths
• Sustain value belief system
• Overcome interests and managerial politics
• Take decisions
• Weigh up alternatives irrational/unpredictable
  outcomes

5
The Context of Business Management

• Industrialism Industrial Society
• Fordism, post-Fordist systems Toyotarism
• Post-Industrial Society
• manufacturing to service sector?
• Post-Fordist Globalization Underdevelopment

6
Industrialism Industrial Society

• 19th. Century concept
• Based upon shared factors and acquired
  advantages, means of production, science
  technology,
• Belief in Social Evolution
• Dominant values of
• progress, Modernity, growth, Evolution,
  Scientism.

7
Major features

• Large scale industry
• Separation of home work
• New divisions of labour (now global?)
• Hi-tech vs low wage /regional competition
• Colonial use of raw materials/processing and
  western markets
• Role of capital (inward investment)

8
..

• Development of rational calculation
• Efficiency and productivity
• Concentration of labour
• CLOCK symbolizes work, timing, scheduling, speed
  of work

9
Industrialism convergence

• Concept of industrialization dominated by
  evolution of society and CONVERGENCE between them
• Technology, nature of work and production
  converge in a universal logic (globalization/EU?)
• Generates common problems and solutions
• Economic development based on rational/scientific
  principles
• Society accommodates to technology and work

10

• Consumerism and market homogeneity
• Less diversity
• Dominant organizational form is the FACTORY
• Control of labour production
• De-skilling/reskilling
• Automation
• Ownership control
• Complexity managerial functions/roles

11
FORDISM

• Combination Taylors scientific management
  Henry Fords assembly line c.1910
• Innovative technical control of production
• Continuous flow assembly
• Job fragmentation
• Work governed by lin-speed, time and motion.
• PORTABLE!

12
Factory extended

• System is generic
• Units of production separated then joined
• (disassemble/fragment assemble/integrate)
• Interchangeability of parts
• Product uniformity
• Control quality and accuracy
• Cost sensitive
• Mass production, mass market

13
Post-Fordism

• New forms of control non-tangible benefits
• Re-introduction of craft concept, small/batch
  production, niche markets
• Flexibilty flexible firm(labour and time, cost,
  production, structure)
• Decentralization (dispersal)
• Fluid control communication (horizontal
  linkages)
• Team group work
• HRM (participation, empowerment, involvement,
  commitment)
• Management of Change environmental turbulence

14
Post-Industrial Society

• Economic activity dominated by scientific and
  technical KNOWLEDGE
• Knowledge central to social life structure
• Knowledge Management key organizational activity
• Shift from industrial concepts (economizing
  resource allocation, cost, substitutability,
  optimization, efficiency)
• Shift from business enterprise as main
  organizational form

15
..PIS

• Tertiary sector dominant (services, state
  agencies,health, education, welfare, white-collar
  employment)
• Work is knowledge based
• Technocracy
• New economic principle is knowledge problem
  solving skills, forecasting, dealing with
  complexity
• Research, professions, Universities key
  organizations