Barry Wilkinson

`Someone to Watch Over Me': Surveillance, Discipline and the Just-in-Time Labour Process

Theory and observations are used to argue that JIT/TQC regimes both create and demand systems of surveillance which improve on those of previous factory regimes by instilling discipline and thereby enhancing central control. For its theoretical inspiration this paper draws upon the work of Michel Foucault, especially his conception of Power/Knowledge as articulated in his book Discipline and Punish. This theoretical framework is extended to provide a means of analysis of the mechanisms of surveillance and control that operate in the contemporary work place. While there is a sense in which tactical responsibility is delegated in an organisation practising JIT/TQM, strategic control is simultaneously centralised - a form of devolutionism. Drawing on the work of Foucault we will argue that the JIT/TQM approach is both enabled and enhanced by the operation of two complementary disciplinary forces. The first of these is the discipline which derives from the scrutiny of ones peers in a manufacturing cell, quality circle, etc. - a horizontal process which is supported by the organisational structure associated with JIT/TQM. The second and key disciplinary force is that which derives from the use of increasingly powerful management information systems which provide extensive shop floor surveillance - a vertical process which provides an over-arching controlling mechanism. We demonstrate that the surveillance systems integral to JIT/TQM are deliberately designed such that discipline is established in a most efficient manner and the exercise of minute control is possible with a minimum of supervisors. The desired effect of harnessing these dual forces is to minimise negative divergences from expected behaviour and management defined norms whilst identifying positive divergencies and maximising their creative potential.

Corporate strategy and corporate culture: the view from the checkout

Strategy and culture in British supermarkets are dealt with in a second article, this time from the viewpoint of the checkout. Attempts to create a customer care ethos include instilling a corporate philosophy. For checkout staff this means smiling and meaning it. The staff see it differently; compliance may mean just “putting on an act”. Their response is discussed within the broader context of internal resistance to change and market factors beyond company control.

The New International Division of Labour in Asian Electronics: Work Organization and Human Resources in Japan and Malaysia

This article documents and analyses the organization of work and human resources management in ten manufacturing plants in Malaysia and three plants in Japan. Each of the plants carries out specific tasks within an emergent international division of labour surrounding two Japanese multinational producers of consumer electronics goods. Plant roles reflect their positions in commodity chains driven by the multinationals, varying in relation to product-to-product and component-to-component divisions of labour, and in relation to the location of product and process innovations. How work is organized and how workers are managed are explained by the location of each plant within this division of labour, and by the characteristics and situation of labour, the one commodity which talks back, within the local environment.

Power relations in the UK grocery supply chain

The heightened dependence of grocery manufacturers on a small number of major grocery retailers is well documented. Retailer concentration, new channels of physical goods distribution, the emergence of own label products, and the use of new information systems have combined to increase the capacity of the retail giants to exert power over their suppliers. However, our research suggests a more complex picture and therefore the need for further exploration of power in the grocery supply chain. This is because first, differentiated relations between suppliers and buyers complicate the picture of supplier dependence; secondly, because ambiguity and contradictions arise from legitimate activities.

Supplier performance and selection in China

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the availability and performance of different types of supplier in China.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on a survey of the purchasing behaviour of 75 western firms with manufacturing facilities in the eastern seaboard region of China and 167 separate supply relationships with foreign‐invested and indigenous Chinese suppliers.Findings – The results suggest that, while the availability of indigenous suppliers is limited, private Chinese enterprises have the flexibility and potential to perform well if both the supplier and buyer are willing to make significant investments, especially in the areas of workforce training and quality procedures.Practical implications – Firms should treat state‐owned enterprises with caution, carefully considering whether they have the willingness and flexibility to respond to investment.Originality/value – This should prove beneficial to both supplier and buyer companies based in China, both now and in the future.

Human resource barriers to partnership sourcing in China

Building on previous research on both buyer–supplier relations and human resource management in the PRC, interviews with managers in each of 47 UK-owned PRC subsidiaries were undertaken. The majority of firms are actively pursuing close and cooperative relationships with local suppliers, but there are substantial human resource barriers to the establishment of partnership sourcing arrangements. Grounded analysis reveals key HR barriers to partnership sourcing in the form of difficulties in staff recruitment and retention, problems in cross-cultural communication, poor working practices in supplier firms, and corrupt staff behaviour. This paper describes and analyses these problems, discusses measures that are being taken in an attempt to overcome the problems, and comments on the progress being made towards ‘ideal type’ partnership sourcing arrangements.

Inter-organizational power relations in the UK grocery Industry: contradictions and developments

Drawing upon theories of power and based on our research into and knowledge of the UK grocery sector, this paper analyses developments in the relationship between grocery manufactures and retailers. As is well documented in the literature, industry concentration, new channels of physical goods distribution, the rise of own-label products and new information systems have contributed to a real and perceived heightening of the dependence of manufacturers on a handful of major retailers such that retailer relations with grocery suppliers have shifted from dependence towards dominance. However, the picture we present is more complex: first because relations between suppliers and buyers are differentiated; second because of legitimatory processes which give rise to ambiguity.

Factories or Warehouses? A Welsh Perspective on Japanese Transplant Manufacturing

MUNDAY M., MORRIS J. and WILKINSON B. (1995) Factories or warehouses? A Welsh perspective on Japanese transplant manufacturing, Reg. Studies 29, 1–17. Critics of Japanese direct manufacturing investment have argued that the Japanese transplant manufacturing sector (TMS) represents an attempt to circumvent trade barriers rather than a genuine globalization of Japanese capital, and that host regions will find themselves with warehouses or low value-added final assembly plants rather than fully integrated manufacturing operations which will contribute significantly to the development of the local economy. This paper presents a detailed study of the economic impact of Japanese manufacturing in Wales, a region within the UK which has one of the highest concentrations of Japanese manufacturing investment in Europe. It finds that there are some problems with Japanese investment, but although Japanese companies do appear to operate their businesses in different ways to other inward investors, many of these are be...

British Factory, Japanese Factory and Mexican Factory: An International Comparison of Front-Line Management and Supervision

This paper presents a case study of a Japanese-owned electronics firm, presenting a comparative analysis of the companys supervisory systems in three of its plants located in different countries – Japan, Mexico and Britain. Comparative analysis is enabled through use of the concept of a supervisory system of control, which allows us to match the relative positions of managers, supervisors and workers across the three sites. The case study data enables us systematically to examine questions of the transferability of a Japanese supervisory system – a central component of Japanese manufacturing – outside of Japan. The results suggest that ‘Japanese’ supervisory systems have been established with more success in Mexico than in Britain, and the main factors that explain this are varying local labour market conditions, limits to managerial control on the shopfloor, the relationship between the product market and the organization of production, and local and expatriate management commitment to a Japanese system.

Mass production is alive and well: the future of work and organization in east Asia

This paper reviews the extent to which multinational corporations from developed economies and newly industrialized economies1 in east Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong) are hollowing out their mass production of standardized goods and transferring such production to the emergent economies of China and Malaysia. Jos Gamble, School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK (E-mail: J.Gamble@RHBNC.ac.uk). Jonathan Morris, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Wales, UK (E-mail: MorrisJL@Cardiff.ac.uk). Barry Wilkinson, School of Management, Bath University, UK (E-mail: mnsbw@management.bath.ac.uk). Based on data from sixty-one mini-case studies in two industries, garments and electronics, it argues that the HRM practices and policies being utilized in those overseas affiliates are functions of a number of factors, including corporate business strategies, corporate control mechanisms and host-country institutional HRM capacity. The research finds remarkable similarities in HRM policies and practices between the two countries, the two industries and between different corporate ownerships. The use of Taylorist forms of work organization and low-trust/low-investment HRM policies are part of corporate strategies of hollowing out, of poor host-country HRM capability and of tight control over affiliates.