Summarize the efforts at the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee to forge a new relationship between management and labor by using self-directed work teams. Why do you think the Saturn experiment failed?
What will be an ideal response?
The Spring Hill Saturn plan was an experiment in the use of self-directed work teams in auto-manufacturing, a traditional job control unionism stronghold. Saturn embraced team-based production and comanaged decision making at Saturn with the UAW. A series of formal join labor-management committees, called decision rings, were empowered with authority over extensive issues. The UAW was recognized as a legitimate stakeholder and participant in business decisions about technology, suppliers, pricing, etc. In 2003 the Spring Hill workers voted to return to the UAW master contract with General Motors and in 2009 General Motors sold the Saturn brand. In part the experiment failed due to factors outside the control of the parties but resistance to change from the traditional model of union representation and concerns over whether the union was "selling out" were certainly factors contributing to the plant's demise.
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Transnational companies, such as Toyota and Honda, have characteristic features that include:
A) being in both global markets and utilizing global supply chains. B) characterized by a mind-set of being "stateless." C) using both localized and standardized elements in marketing programs. D) decisions made on the basis of ongoing research. E) all of the above.
When a leader fails to pass on information that is relevant to the interests of others, this is called ______.
a. an act of commission b. decisional morality c. an act of omission d. moral integrity
When a work sheet is complete, the adjustment columns should have
A) total credits greater than total debits if a net income was earned B) total debits greater than total credits if a net loss was incurred C) total debits greater than total credits if a net income was earned D) total debits equal total credits
Neef Corporation has provided the following financial data from its balance sheet and income statement: Year 2Year 1Total assets$1,302,000 $1,330,000 Total stockholders' equity$885,000 $880,000 Income StatementFor the Year Ended December 31, Year 2Sales (all on account)$1,420,000 Cost of goods sold 890,000 Gross margin 530,000 Operating expenses 493,000 Net operating income 37,000 Interest expense 17,000 Net income before taxes 20,000 Income taxes (35%) 7,000 Net income$ 13,000 The company's gross margin percentage for Year 2 is closest to:
A. 37.3% B. 59.6% C. 4076.9% D. 2.5%