Frits K. Pil

Social Capital and Organizational Performance: Evidence from Urban Public Schools

In this paper we examine social capital and its relationship with performance at the organizational level. We predict that both internal and external social capital will have a positive effect on organizational performance. We test our hypotheses in 88 urban public schools where we collected data from principals, teachers, parents, and students. Results indicate that both internal social capital (relations among teachers) and external social capital (relations between the principal and external stakeholders) predict student achievement in mathematics and reading. These effects were sustained over time for reading achievement, providing support for a causal relationship between social capital and performance. We provide evidence that social capitals impact on student achievement in mathbut not readingis mediated by the quality of instruction provided by teachers. These results underscore the importance of context in studies of social capital.

Linking Product Variety to Order-Fulfillment Strategies

Providing a variety of attributes in products is an important way of attracting customers, but it often increases complexity and managerial cost. We drew on two data sets collected in the automotive sector to explore the link between external variety (the variety offered the customer) and internal variety (the variety involved in creating the product). We found that these two dimensions can be independent of each other. External variety is problematic for firms producing to forecast, and handling internal variety is challenging for firms building products to order. The effectiveness of strategies to mitigate varietys negative effects, such as modularity, mutability, late configuration, and option bundling, depends on the order-fulfillment strategy the firm follows.

Employee voice and organizational performance: Team versus representative influence

This article explores the effects of team voice and worker representative voice, as well as their interaction, on labor productivity. We examine team voice in terms of team influence on key work-related issues and representative voice via the degree of worker representatives’ influence on multiple collective voice issues. We thus build on the European tradition of examining both direct and indirect voice and their implications for valued organizational outcomes. We find that neither type of voice bears a significant relationship to labor productivity when examined solely but that team voice significantly contributes to enhanced worker efficiency when considered in conjunction with representative voice. In examining the interaction of the two types of voice, we find that a combination of low team and low representative voice leads to inferior labor efficiency compared to other conditions. We also find a negative interaction between team voice and worker representative voice, supporting an interpretation that these types of voice do not complement each other with respect to worker productivity. The positive impact of each type of voice is significantly stronger at low levels of the other type of voice.

Lean and reflective production: the dynamic nature of production models

Toyota and Volvo have traditionally been viewed as anchoring two extremes of production models that companies in the automotive and other manufacturing sectors draw upon. The “Toyota (Lean) Production System” drove superior organizational learning, innovation, and control with positive implications for customer-oriented outcomes. Volvos “reflective production” model aimed to leverage and develop workers’ unique abilities, leading to adaptability, motivation, satisfaction, and innovation at the individual and group levels, with positive benefits for employees. Through a longitudinal case study, we show that environmental pressures, in the form of increased international product market competition and labour market constraints, drove convergence across the two production systems as enacted at Volvo and Toyota, in organizational structure, work design, and to a lesser extent, technology. The result is an integration of the adaptability, motivation, and development of workers at the individual and group levels, with enhanced organizational capacity for responsiveness, variability reduction, and innovation at the organizational level. Understanding how production models evolve provides insight into their operation, their limitations, and the challenges that are associated with their study, imitation, implementation, and use.

What makes transplants thrive: managing the transfer of "best practice" at Japanese auto plants in North America

Multinational companies are a conduit by which superior organizing principles can be transferred across national, institutional, and cultural environments. However, for such transplantation efforts to be successful, the companies face the challenge of adapting their practices and principles to the requirements of local environments. In the process they risk losing the performance benefits from those practices. In this paper we study the North American transplant production facilities of Japanese automobile producers--companies known for their ability to achieve superior labor productivity and quality in their manufacturing plants, along with high levels of product variety--for insight into how the practices associated with superior performance (including work systems, technology choices, and supplier relations) can be implemented outside of Japan. By comparing the Japanese transplants with automobile plants in Japan, and Big 3 plants in North America, we show that the extent of transfer varies by type of practice. Furthermore, we find that plants can shape and alter their external environment, and can also buffer themselves from it. Despite these modifications, we find that the transplants are able to achieve productivity and quality levels similar to plants in Japan.

Team design and stress: A multilevel analysis

Using a sample of 1708 team members in 292 team-based establishments, we examine the relationship between team member stress, and team autonomy in the form of team decision making, team leader appointment, and team responsibility. We also examine the relationship between stress, and intrateam interdependence in the form of team member interdependency and team-based job rotation. We further examine whether the relationships between team design and stress are mediated by team member job demands and job control. We find that an increase in job demands indirectly mediates the positive relationships between team decision making and team responsibility, and stress. We also find that a decrease in job demands indirectly mediates the negative relationship between team-based job rotation and stress. Our results suggest that the optimal design of a team, with respect to stress, is a team that has a low degree of autonomy and a high degree of intrateam interdependence.

From Fixed to Flexible: Automation and Work Organization Trends from the International Assembly Plant Study

The considerable attention given by researchers and managers alike to the diffusion of “lean” or “flexible” production concepts throughout the world automobile industry carries with it the assumption - often implicit - that flexible automation is an integral part of this alternative production paradigm. The ample anecdotal evidence available about automation trends in automotive manufacturing is typically based on the newest and most advanced plants of various companies, focusing on their most “cutting-edge” technological installations. What is lacking is more systematic data about how automation use differs across assembly plants around the world, in terms of the relative capital intensity of different parts of the assembly process, the types of automated equipment that are used, and the specific tasks to which automation is applied.

A Break from the Past: Volvo and its Malcontents

By the start of the 1990s Volvo had managed to establish itself with a clear and consistent brand identity, a unique manufacturing strategy and a loyal customer following. The world around it has changed drastically since the start of the second automotive century: shifting economies of scale due to an expansion of model range and shortened product life cycles, new efficiency imperatives and a changing competitive landscape in the near luxury segment have placed Volvo’s modus operandi in peril. In this chapter we will briefly touch on the failed merger with Renault in 1993, and leap forward in our discussion to start with Ford’s purchase of Volvo in the spring of 1999. Over the following eight years, Volvo has become an integral part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group, a move which has resulted in a major expansion of its product range, through product sharing with family partners. We will comment on the success of this merger and — given Ford’s recurring yet conflicting statements of intent to sell Volvo on — also comment on the long-term future for Volvo.

Relational Models of High Performance Work Systems

A well-established stream of research in strategic human resource management (HRM) investigates the impact of high performance work practices on organizational outcomes in multiple industries. Within this stream, scholars have sought to open the black box in order to understand the causal mechanisms through which HR practices impact organizational outcomes. The two dominant arguments are based on human capital and skill on the one hand, and motivation and commitment on the other. A third emerging argument focuses on relationships among participants as the primary causal mechanism that connects high performance work systems to performance outcomes by enabling participants to share knowledge and coordinate their work (e.g., Collins & Clark 2003, Collins & Smith 2006; Leana & Van Buren, 1999; Leana & Pil, 2006; Gittell, Seidner & Wimbush, 2010). In this presenter symposium, we further explore this third causal mechanism to build both theory and evidence. We present six empirical papers that explore relationa...