The degree of control workers are able to exert over their work by using their unique skills. Jobs with high levels of autonomy allow the worker to schedule and execute their work in the way they think is best.

Improvement Action: Promote autonomous function of work teams

 Sources:              

P.G. Gyllenhammar, People at Work, Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1977 p63-64     

  • GWT Analyst Summary of Volvo Kalmar: At Volvo Kalmar, the workers were grouped into small autonomous teams. Each team had its own work area on the shop floor and its own rest areas. The teams were responsible for their own organizational structure, and foremen took the role of consultants and teachers. As a result, workers chose to learn more tasks and make the team more flexible.
  • Excerpt from text: “Today about 500 production people, organized in about twenty-five groups, are involved with each car. Sorting the various miniscule tasks that evolved in the technical era into reasonable segments was the prerequisite for what we might call the social era in production. These groups can view themselves as experts - in electrical systems, in instrumentation, in steering and controls, in finish, in interiors, and so on. When a team has its own area on the shop floor and its own rest area, the ownership of that area seems to enhance the sense of membership in the team. How the team organizes itself is up to its members. This is not spelled out by top management, nor is it the responsibility of the foremen, who act more as consultants and teachers now, with one foreman for two work groups in most cases. Most of the workers have chosen to learn more than one small job, and the individual increase in skills gives the team added flexibility, too.”                 
  • GWT Analyst Summary of Volvo Torslanda: Efforts to improve workplaces at Volvo Torslanda relied heavily on input from workers. Workers were elected to works councils to represent their work area. These councils were given great decision latitude to make improvements in their work areas. Changes to reduce noise and dust levels rarely required upper approval.
  • Excerpt from text: “Most of the works councils, consultation groups, and project groups have money to spend on such things as improving their working conditions. Changes to cut dust or noise require little outside impetus. Changes of work structure that can take place within a single working group also occur easily. But we have discovered that most real changes of work structure affect other groups, at least indirectly. So the problem has been to draw the boundaries for single working groups wherever we could, and to make them as clear-cut as possible.”

Nilsson, Lennart.(1994). The Uddevalla plant: Why did it succeed with a holistic approach and why did it come to an end. In Ake Sandberg (Editor), Enriching Production: Perspectives on Volvo’s Uddevalla Plant as an Alternative to Lean Production (pp77-79). Brookfield, VT: Ashgate

  • The author refers throughout the text to “Natural Work”, of which he defines a group of characteristics. Of these, he asserts that “The worker is in control of the work performed during the day, and usually, over longer periods of time”. In designing the Uddevalla plant and processes, the focus was put on employee and organizational learning.
  • GWT Analyst Summary: In his analysis of Volvo's Uddvalla plant, Lennart Nilsson refers throughout the text to “Natural Work”, of which he defines a group of characteristics. Of these, he asserts that “The worker is in control of the work performed during the day, and usually, over longer periods of time”. In designing the Uddevalla plant and processes, emphasis was put on employee and organizational learning. This was accomplished through greater levels of autonomy and feedback.
  • Excerpt from text: “All efforts were organized so as to support a holistic view of the work and the competence to master a greater part of the total work. Those who had learned the techniques became “instructors” for novice workers. This was much like the comprehensive training of the old apprentice-journeymen relationship in the guild system. However, nobody spent the entire working day in the teaching position. The short time between being in the learning position and in the teaching position made it possible to remember what was important from the learner’s point of view. It created a willingness to explain how to do the assembly work and why.” 

Semler, Ricardo, Out of this world: Doing things the Semco way, Global Business and Organizational Excellence, July/August 2007, p13-21

  • Excerpt from text: “ At Semco, we believe that economic success requires replacing control and structure with democracy in the workplace. As you’ve probably already gathered, we place an immense amount of power in the hands of the workers. With a show of hands, our employees can veto new product ideas or scrap entire business ventures. When it comes right down to it, it’s about trusting our employees to be responsible adults. Think about it. People are considered adults in their private lives, at the back, at their children’s schools, with family and among friends, so why are they suddenly treated like adolescents  at work? Why can’t workers be involved in choosing their own leaders? Why shouldn’t they manage themselves? Why can’t they speak up - challenge, question, share information openly?” p18

 

Improvement Action: Involve workers in the creation of work standards and production plans

Sources:

P.G. Gyllenhammar, People at Work, Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1977 p63-64

  • GWT Analyst Summary: The working groups established at Volvo Kalmar were treated as experts in their area of the assembly. They were given authority to develop their own work plans and methods within the scope of production needs. Foremen who previously dictated how work should proceed moved into the role of responding to production problems.
  • Excerpt from text: “Today about 500 production people, organized in about twenty-five groups, are involved with each car. Sorting the various miniscule tasks that evolved in the technical era into reasonable segments was the prerequisite for what we might call the social era in production. These groups can view themselves as experts - in electrical systems, in instrumentation, in steering and controls, in finish, in interiors, and so on. When a team has its own area on the shop floor and its own rest area, the ownership of that area seems to enhance the sense of membership in the team. How the team organizes itself is up to its members. This is not spelled out by top management, nor is it the responsibility of the foremen, who act more as consultants and teachers now, with one foreman for two work groups in most cases. Most of the workers have chosen to learn more than one small job, and the individual increase in skills gives the team added flexibility, too.” 

 

Semler, Ricardo. (1989). Managing without managers. Harvard Business Review. Sept-Oct 1989, pp. 76-84.

  • GWT Analyst Summary: At Semco, decision making is done democratically. Manufacturing workers in their plants are given responsibility for designing work and their work spaces. In some circumstances, workers have been involved in the selection of the plant's location.
  • Excerpt from text: “We insist on making important decisions collegially, and certain decisions are made by a company-wide vote. Several years ago, for example, we needed a bigger plant for our marine division, which makes pumps, compressors, and ship propellers. Real estate agents looked for months and found nothing. So we asked the employees themselves to help, and over the first weekend they found three factories for sale, all of them nearby. We closed up shop for a day, piled everyone into buses, and drove out to inspect the three buildings. Then the workers voted - and they chose a plant the counselors didn’t really want. It was an interesting situation - one that tested our commitment to participatory management. The building stands across the street from a Caterpillar plant that’s one of the most frequently struck factories in Brazil. With two tough unions of our own, we weren’t looking forward to front-row seat for every labor dispute that came along. But we accepted the employees’ decision, because we believe that in the long run, letting people participate in the decisions that affect their lives will have a positive effect on employee motivation and morale. We bought the building and moved in. The workers designed the layout for a flexible manufacturing system, and they hired one for Brazil’s foremost artists to paint the whole thing, inside and out, including machinery. That plant really belongs to its employees.”  

 

Shaiken, H., Lopez, S., and Mankita, I. (1997) Tow Routes to Team Production: Saturn and Chrysler Compared. Industrial Relations, 36(1), 17-45

  • GWT Analyst Summary:  At the Saturn plant outside of Nashville, Tennessee, teams conduct their own time studies and look for ways to improve the flow of work. They are given responsibility to develop better methods and propose design changes that would increase efficiency. They are also able to use these time studies to defend their team in the even that a production increase would lead to overburdening the team. In this way, the team has a vested interest in continuously improving their work methods and maintaining a sustainable working pace. p 38              

 

J.R. Hackman and G. R. Oldham, Work Redesign, Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1980

  • GWT Analyst Summary: In Work Redesign, Hackman and Oldham recommend involving workers in the data collection to measure their jobs as well as in the methods of improving them. Doing so will give workers a sense of ownership over their work and encourage further improvements. Workers are the most reliable source of information about a process and the ways it can be improved.
  • Excerpt from text: “Those who advocate making employees full collaborators  in the redesign of their own jobs point to a number of possible advantages of a participative approach. First, the quality of the diagnostic data that employees provide may be improved. If people know that changes in their own work will be made partly on the basis of their responses to the diagnostic instruments, they may try especially hard to provide valid and complete data. Second, suggestions made by employees may be especially constructive. Since employees are very familiar with their jobs, they may come up with ideas for substantive alterations in the work content that would escape the attention of detached observers. Third, employees may feel increased ownership of their newly enriched jobs and heightened commitment to the entire work redesign program. These attitudes, which are well-established benefits of participation, can prompt employees to work hard to ensure that meaningful changes are actually made in their jobs and that the work redesign program as a whole succeeds. p 231

  

Improvement Action: Allow teams to schedule their production hours if possible, allow working remotely when possible               

Source:

Semler, Ricardo. (1989). Managing without managers. Harvard Business Review. Sept-Oct 1989, p. 81

  • GWT Analyst Summary: At Semco, employees are given decision latitude in their work shifts. Employees can choose to work hours that best fit their life and schedule. Working remotely is allowed for those who are able to do so, as long as communication is preserved. Semco's manufacturing plants are designed with flexible assembly groups that can set their own shift start time without affecting overall production.
  • Excerpt from text: “By the same logic that governs our other employee programs, we have also eliminated time clocks. People come and go according to their own schedules - even on the factory floor. I admit this idea is hard to swallow; most manufacturers are not ready for factory-floor flextime. But our reasoning was simple. First, we use cellular manufacturing systems. At our food-processing equipment plant, for example, one cell makes only slicers, another makes scales, another makes mixers, and so forth. Each cell is self-contained, so products - and their problems - are segregated from each other. Second, we assumed that all our employees were trustworthy adults. We couldn’t believe they would come to work day after day and sit on their hands because no one else was there. Pretty soon, we figured, they would start coordinating their work hours with their coworkers. And that’s exactly what happened, only more so. For example, one man wanted to start at 7 A.M., but because the forklift operator didn’t come in until 8, he couldn’t get his parts. So a general discussion arose, and the upshot was that now everyone knows how to operate a forklift. In fact, most people can now do several jobs. The union has never objected because the initiative came from the workers themselves. It was their idea”...”When we introduced flexible hours, we decided to hold regular follow-up meetings to track problems and decide how to deal with abuses and production interruptions. That was years ago, and we haven’t yet held the first meeting.” 

  

Improvement Action: Allow workers to question established rules without fearing repercussions         

Source:

Semler, Ricardo. (1989). Managing without managers. Harvard Business Review. Sept-Oct 1989, p 79

  • GWT Analyst Summary: The leadership at Semco believes in hiring adults and treating them as such. Semco avoids bureaucracy and regulations that are in place only for a rare occurrence of infraction. Semco trusts it employees to do the right thing with the company's assets and time and to question rules and standards that are not in line with promoting employee and company interest.
  • Excerpt from text: “We have other ways of combating hierarchy too. Most of our programs are based on the notion of giving employees control over their own lives. In a word, we hire adults, and we treat them like adults. Think about that. Outside the factory, workers are men and women, who elect governments, serve in the army, lead community projects, raise and educate families, and make decisions every day about the future. Friends solicit their advice. Salespeople court them. Children and grandchildren look up to them for their wisdom and experience. But the moment they walk into the factory, the company transforms them into adolescents. They have to wear badges and name tags, arrive at a certain time, stand in line to punch the clock or eat their lunch, get permission to go to the bathroom, give lengthy explanations every time they’re five minutes late, and follow instructions without asking a lot of questions. One of my first moves when I took control of Semco was to abolish norms, manual, rules, and regulations. Everyone knows you can’t run a large organization without regulations, but everyone also know that most regulations are poppycock. They rarely solve problems. On the contrary, there is usually some obscure corner of the rule book that justifies the worst silliness people can think up. Common sense is a riskier tactic because it requires personal responsibility.”

 

  

Improvement Action: Engage workers in the selection and evaluation of their management    

Source:

Semler, Ricardo. (1989). Managing without managers. Harvard Business Review. Sept-Oct 1989, p 78

  • GWT Analyst Summary: Semco's leadership believes that new managers should be interviewed and accepted by their future subordinates. In this way, they promote democratic engagement from their workers and prevent managers from being hired solely for their connections.
  • Excerpt from text: “Managers and the status and money they enjoy - in a word, hierarchy - are the single biggest obstacle to participatory management. We had to get  the managers out of the way of democratic decisions making, and our circular system does that pretty well. But we go further. We don’t hire or promote people until they’ve been interviewed and accepted by all their future subordinates. Twice a year, subordinates evaluate managers. Also twice a year, everyone in the company fills out a questionnaire about company credibility and top management competence. Among other things, we ask out employees what it would take to make them quit or go on strike.”

 

 

 Improvement Action: Give workers a measure of control over their compensation        

Source:

Semler, Ricardo. (1989). Managing without managers. Harvard Business Review. Sept-Oct 1989, p 83

  • GWT Analyst Summary: Semco's approach to compensation involves paying all of their workers a salary rather than hourly wage. This salary is negotiated yearly between the worker and leadership. During negotiation, the worker are given the opportunity to suggest to the leadership what their salary should be, and are required to justify the salary based on a number of factors. According to Semco leadership, rarely do workers suggest a salary that is not accepted.
  • Excerpt from text: “The distinction between wage-earning workers and salaried employees is alive but not well, nearly universal but perfectly silly. The new clerk who lives at home and doesn’t know how to boil an egg starts on a monthly salary, but the chief lathe operator who’s been with the company 38 years and is a master sergeant in the army reserve still gets paid by the hour. At Semco, we eliminated Frederick Winslow Taylor’s segmentation and specialization of work. We ended the wage analyst’s hundred years of solitude. We did away with hourly pay and now give everyone a monthly salary. We set the salaries like this: A lot of our people belong to unions, and they negotiate their salaries collectively. Everyone else’s salary involves an element of self-determination. Once or twice a year, we order salary market surveys and pass them out. We say to people, “Figure out where you stand on this thing. You know what you do; you know what everyone else in the company makes; you know what your friends in other companies made; you know what you need; you know what’s fair. Come back on Monday and tell us what to pay you….But with half a dozen exceptions, our people have always named salaries we could live with.” p 83

  

  

Improvement Action: Give workers the opportunity to know and interact with end users          

 Source:

 J.R. Hackman and G. R. Oldham, Work Redesign, Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1980

  • GWT Analyst Summary: In Work Redesign, Hackman and Oldham recommend a three step process for connecting workers with the "clients" of their work. First is identifying the downstream process that relies on the worker. Second, the most direct method of contact is established between worker and client. Third, criteria are established for judging the quality of the goods or services received by the client. Enabling workers and clients to interact directly, they can work together to improve quality. Autonomy is increased for the worker, who is responsible for managing the relationship with the client.
  • Excerpt from text: “...natural work units can often be formed around specific groups of “clients” of the work. In such cases, it may be possible to put the employee in direct contact with those clients and give him or her continuing responsibility for managing relationships with them.” “Creating client relationships is a three-step process. First, the client must be identified - not always an easy task. Second, the most direct contact possible between the worker and the client is established. Third, criteria are set up by which the client can judge the quality of the product or service received. And, whenever possible, the client should have a means of relaying his or her judgments directly back to the worker.” “The contact between worker and client should be as great as possible and as frequent as necessary to reduce the chance that messages will be distorted or delayed. Face-to-face contact is highly desirable, at least occasionally. In any case, it is important that the performance criteria used by the client be mutually understood and agreed upon.” “By enabling employees to establish direct relationships with the clients of their work, improvements are often realized simultaneously… [and] feedback increases because of additional opportunities for individuals to obtain direct and immediate praise or criticism of their work outputs from the persons who receive the work. Autonomy increases because individuals have personal responsibility for deciding how to manage their relationships with the clients.” pp.137-138

 

  

Improvement Action: Vertically load the job

Source:

J.R. Hackman and G. R. Oldham, Work Redesign, Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1980             

  • GWT Analyst Summary: In Work Redesign, Hackman and Oldham recommend vertically loading work in order to increase autonomy. A vertically loaded job includes the responsibilities typically reserved for a supervisor: scheduling, assigning, and managing work. The idea is to advance the status of the worker from a position of highly restricted authority to near-total authority over their own work.
  • Excerpt from text: “When a job is vertically loaded, autonomy increases. Workers are given increased control over the work by “pushing down” responsibility and authority that formerly were reserved for higher levels of management. In effect, the gap between the doing and the controlling parts of the work is narrowed.” ”There are several ways to vertically load a job. Jobholders can be given discretion in setting schedules, determining work methods, and deciding when and how to check on the quality of the work produced. Employees can make their own decisions about when to start and stop work, when to take breaks, and how to assign priorities. They can be encouraged to seek solutions to problems on their own, consulting with other organization members as necessary, rather than calling immediately for the supervisor when problems arise. In all, the idea is to advance employees from a position of highly restricted authority to one of reviewed authority and, eventually, to near-total authority for their work.”