The German Automobile Industry in Transition

Michael Schumann

The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 1997, vol. 8, issue 2, 221-247

Abstract: This paper describes the new approaches the German automobile industry has developed during the last four years. It deals with product strategy, production concepts, work organization, industrial relations and technology. In the automobile industry, team concepts and groupwork have been the most important innovations in increasing efficiency. There are two fundamentally different approaches to team work The concept of ‘structurally conservative groupwork’ is a more or less modernized version of Taylorism. The job descriptions of production workers remain narrow, there is not much work autonomy and no reprofessionalization. By contrast, ‘structurally innovative groupwork’ builds on the specific assets of the German industrial order: the tradition of craft work (Facharbeiter), the strong focus on qualified, self-directed work, and the consensus orientation in the field of industrial relations.

Date: 1997
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:8:y:1997:i:2:p:221-247

DOI: 10.1177/103530469700800203

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