Monica Rolfsen

Autonomous work groups and the challenge of inter-group coordination

In work systems based on autonomous work groups, the effort of different autonomous groups needs to be coordinated to produce desirable system-wide effects. The existing literature on organizational structures for inter-group coordination is limited. In this article, the authors explore two different structures for inter-group coordination, which are alternatives to traditional hierarchical control. These structures are rotating group spokespersons and shared leadership. The main conclusion of this article is that inter-group coordination becomes a major challenge when groups enjoy high levels of autonomy. Our argument builds on a case study of a manufacturing company, analysed through the lens of modern socio-technical theory. The difficulties associated with inter-group coordination have implications for debates on organizational performance and may help explain why autonomous work groups are not widely used in industry.

Successful maintenance practice through team autonomy

Purpose – The paper aims to investigate how teamwork contributes to successful maintenance practice within maintenance work in an industrial setting.Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative data were gathered from a single case. This includes interviews, participatory observation and document collection.Findings – The findings suggest that even though TPM is originally a technologically‐based concept, the explanations for success or failure are mainly organisational, pointing to management style, collaboration between maintenance and production, involvement and teamwork. This case study shows that a high degree of team autonomy was an important contributor to success; a point not previously emphasized in the literature.Research limitations/implications – The paper provides a deep understanding of a unique case, but should be supplemented with more data in order to reach general conclusions.Practical implications – Many companies struggle with implementing total productive maintenance. The paper provides ...

How close can we dance? Labour–management partnership on a borderline

Recent studies have examined whether labour unions will benefit from stepping out of their traditional role and into labour–management partnership. This article discusses the limits of such partnership, exploring the negotiations prevailing as the union representatives go so far into cooperation that it turns out to be controversial among their members. In order to understand this conflict, there is a need to clarify the content of the labour–management partnership. This article contributes first by presenting novel empirical material from an in-depth qualitative case study. This material indicates that controversies occur when the union representatives start acting like managers, are responsible for decisions that reduce the members’ benefits and distance themselves from the rank-and-file’s point of view. In addition, this article contributes by exposing that close cooperation in long-term development issues need not be controversial. Quite the contrary – this is mentioned as the most positive outcome of the partnership.

We put teamwork back on the agenda again and again. The role of support systems in autonomous teamwork

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on teamwork by focusing on the influence support systems, like industrial relations, have on teamwork. Teamwork is conceptualized through three dimensions; technical, governmental and normative.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a case study approach in a single company with available data over a long period of time.Findings – Industrial relations conceptualized as local representation and partnership had a strong influence on all three dimensions of teamwork; technical, governmental and normative. Especially important is the unions involvement in the introduction of teamwork, shaping the arrangement and interpretation of it.Research limitations/implications – The paper is based on a single company, describing a particular phenomenon. Also, the contextual environment with a strong partnership culture with cooperative industrial relations is important.Practical implications – The practical implications emphasize the im...

Co-construction of management concepts: Interpretative viability as opportunity for workplace democracy

When management concepts are introduced in organizations, common problems are lack of enthusiasm and that the concept does not solve the organization’s problems. In this article, I argue that a more participative process is to introduce new ideas through broad participation and dialogue between insiders and outsiders in order to increase the level of industrial democracy. However, to be able to do so, the management concept has to be flexible enough to be able to be interpreted in different ways. Dialogue and participation require the actual opportunity to make changes to the original concepts. Most management concepts, however, are inherently flexible by being characterized by interpretative viability. This viability opens up an opportunity for participation. In this article, I will describe a case where such an opportunity was used.

Lean thinking: outside-in, bottom-up? The paradox of contemporary soft lean and consultant-driven lean implementation

Lean has evolved from an operational tool to a complete management concept that incorporates softer aspects such as participation, learning and leadership. This evolution challenges the traditional way in which large management consultancy firms intervene in the lean implementation process; an outside expert cannot easily install a soft, participation-oriented form of lean. To explore this challenge, we report a longitudinal, qualitative case study of how a large consultancy firm supported lean implementation in a public service organisation. Our findings show that although the consultants’ rhetoric had been adapted to the contemporary ideal of soft lean, their practice had not: implementation remained tool-centred and external consultants took the roles of experts. We posit that the business model of large consultancy firms and the nature of conventional client–consultant contracts may explain this mismatch between consultants’ talk and action. Hence, this challenge is difficult to overcome in practice, and managers are advised to consider critically what management consultants can and cannot effectively deliver in lean implementations.

Graphical profiling of team working through participatory research

Purpose – Companies desire to improve their team organization by learning from other companies in their sector and adopting “best practice”. Researchers and consultants, who are called on to facilitate these learning processes, are confronted with the real world ambiguity and multiple meanings of “team” and “team organization”. A shared understanding of team organization is a precondition for learning and knowledge transfer between companies. This paper seeks to ask how this common understanding can be constructed.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses participatory research and a literature review. Based on a research project involving Norwegian manufacturing companies, the paper presents and discusses a participatory process, in which a graphical profiling tool was developed and applied in order to make sense of different forms of team organization.Findings – The paper finds that companies were actively involved in deciding what the relevant dimensions of team working were. In reflection seminars,...

A blueprint paradox : Successful but unintended cross-national translation of total productive maintenance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate if a manufacturing concept such as total productive maintenance (TPM) can be copied from one location to another. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative data were gathered from a single case. This includes interviews, participatory observation and document collection. Findings – The authors present a company with an intention to make a pure copy from one location to another, and with identical technology, production equipment, owners, customers and products, the conditions for copying should thus be as sufficient as possible. However, several minor adjustments led to a translated version showing better results than the original. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides a deep understanding of a unique case, but should be supplemented with more data in order to reach general conclusions. The main theoretical contribution is to develop an understanding of translation processes different from copying concepts by expanding models of change...

The silent practice: sustainable self-managing teams in a Norwegian context

Purpose – The purpose is to provide explanations for why some self-managing teams survive and develop over a long period of time. Design/methodology/approach – The research design is longitudinal, having worked with several research projects over a period of 20 years. Interviews, observation, field notes have been widely used, and also participative methods while one of the authors has worked on the shop floor for six weeks. Findings – The authors offer several explanations: the maturity of teams; the process of institutionalization and creation of strong normative values; practices being “infused with meaning” and decoupling of practice from official policy. Research limitations/implications – The weakness is that the research presented is from one company, and within a Norwegian context which has certain characteristics. The contribution is the emphasis on institutional elements and the methodological implications regarding informal practice where explicit information is incomplete. Practical implicatio...

How to ‘Get Through’ Communication Challenges in Formative Evaluation

A challenge for all formative evaluators is how to communicate advice and ‘get through’ to the evaluand in order to bring about improvements. This case study of an evaluation of a Norwegian business development program analyses three different attempts at intervention by evaluators. Based on this, the article identifies four critical challenges in formative evaluation. First, stakeholders must clearly express their expectations when hiring evaluators. Second, the evaluator and the evaluand must represent different perspectives, thus together creating diversity as a basis for innovation. Third, diversity provides a challenge in terms of communication, and creates a need for a good form of communication. Fourth, we found that the best form of communication was to construct the arguments for change in terms of the functionality (does it work?) of the program. We called this functional argumentation, as opposed to normative argumentation.