DOES TEAMWORKING WORK AND IF SO, WHY - A CASE-STUDY IN THE ALUMINUM-INDUSTRY

Although teamwork is a leading innovation in work organization, detail ed studies of employee responses, and the reasons for acceptance or re jection, are rare. Here, an advanced form of teamworking at a British aluminium smelter, part of a large Canadian multinational company, is examined. Direct supervision was abolished, and teamworking using semi -autonomous groups with job rotation, multiskilling and team briefing was introduced. Employees responded favourably to the initiative. Job satisfaction and labour productivity increased. Industrial action, ove rtime and accident rates fell. The conditions for this outcome include d prior experience of job shedding, capital-intensive continuous proce ss technology, union-management cooperation in the introduction of tea ms, and a pre-existing culture of strong work group solidarity. Some t ensions remained, however, notably over the pay system and some aspect s of work performance, and there was no evidence of a move towards hig h commitment.