Robert R. Rehder

Saturn, Uddevalla and the Japanese lean systems: paradoxical prototypes for the twenty-first century

Developments in human resource management practices in the automobile industry have been a seedbed for more general movements which have emerged world-wide. Key examples have included Saturn in the USA, Uddevalla in Sweden and the Japanese lean production systems. These are examined in this paper and the conclusion is reached that new forces for change can be expected to continue to accelerate in this decade and beyond, forging a great need for creative, new, flexible organizations and management systems. As a consequence further radical initiatives are likely in the years ahead, with mass production and the traditional assembly line no longer featuring as a prominent part of the work systems of the automobile industry of the future.

Japanese transplants: After the honeymoon

TEAM-BASED WORK, ROLE OF THE UNION, JOB SECURITY, POSSIBLE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST BLACKS AND WOMEN, CULTURAL CONFLICTS, IMPACT ON U.S. BIG THREE MANUFACTURERS

The Invasion of the Mind Snatchers: The Business of Business Education.

Abstract Corporations and universities are engaged in a wide variety of cooperative exchanges, activities, and research with both positive and negative effects. Increasingly, both parties are embracing attitudes and practices typically associated with the other. There is evidence that some of the fundamental value differences that distinguish business from education have become blurred. In this article, we explore some of these value differences, and we argue that the developing interrelationships have both problematic and positive implications. If business education is to continue to develop tomorrows business leaders, universities and their business schools need to retain a meaningful degree of autonomy and provide a place where orthodox and unorthodox ideas can be freely discussed.

Japanese transplants: A new model for Detroit

The manufacturing plants opened in the United States by Japanese automakers have proven that Japanese management techniques can work here. The author says it is now up to Detroits Big Three to take that lesson to heart and reform their own management styles.

The creative MBA: A new proposal for balancing the science and the art of management

Robert Rehder is a Professor of Organizational Behavior and Industrial Relations at the Anderson Schools of Management at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. James Porter is an Associate Professor and Area Coordinator, Policy and Planning, also at the Anderson Schools of Management. The MBA specialists produced in the last twenty-five years are, it seems, no longer what American business needs. A new kind of MBA program with a distinctly humanistic and creative perspective would emphasize the non-cognitive qualities that MBAs need to become leaders.

Graduate Management education in Europe: The view from America

Provides an American perspective on European management education. Describes how, in Europe, management education, without rigid US accreditation standards, is conceptualized differently and is developing in innovative directions. Uses two examples from UK business schools and comments on the implications for US management education. Concludes that the US should take a lead from recent management education developments in Europe.