SYSTEMS OF WORK AND SOCIOECONOMIC STRUCTURES - A COMPARISON OF GERMANY, SPAIN, FRANCE AND JAPAN

This article compares systems of work and production in the German, Sp anish, French and Japanese machine-building industries and draws some methodological and conceptual conclusions. The analysis shows a common basic structure of work but with nation-specific variations. France d isplays a more rigid division of labour than Germany, while Japan show s more functional differentiation. In Spain there is a marked differen ce between formal and informal organization: a paradoxical mix of 'Tay lorist' bureaucratic structures and craft elements. In the late 1980s, tight economic constraints initiated a phase of change and experiment ation in national models of production and work, and new types of nati onal and regional variation are emerging. The findings of this article support 'neo-contingency' theories at the micro (plant and company) l evel, but 'societal effects' seem to be more important at the meso and macro levels (structure of industry and economy).