A Theoretical Conception for Analyzing Workplace Transformation in Incrementalist Plants

Abstract

This study develops a theoretical conception regarding the process and outcomes of workplace transformation at incrementalist plants, which mean plants where management tries to transform existing work systems with the existing workforce in a piecemeal manner. Drawing upon a critical review of three theoretical perspectives―labor control theories, economic theories of organization, and the strategy choice thesis―, strategic management’s policies and directives for workplace transformation are not always implemented as intended, and the actual outcomes of workplace transformation typically are limited in the social and operational context of incrementalist plants. The loosely-coupled implementation process of workplace innovation can be explained by incoherent management and a complicate reaction of shopfloor stakeholders (shopfloor managers, workers, and union representatives) intervening in the implementation process with their “bounded rationality” to defend their own self-interests in the given context of workplace transformation. In contrast to other industrial relations studies which chiefly focus on the external and institutional constraints on workplace innovation, this conceptual framework sheds light on the internal constraints and politics that operate inside the incrementalist workplace.