People and Technology Management in Flexible Manufacturing: An Apparel Industry Case Study

Abstract

Interviews were conducted with senior and middle managers, sales and marketing staff, and production employees who worked in teams at a small apparel manufacturing plant in the northeastern United States. The input of technology management was incorporated into Bailey’s model of high-performance work systems (i.e., flexible manufacturing) and used as a conceptual framework to organize and analyze the case study. Interviews focused on technology management, employee involvement, technical and people skills, and employee discretionary effort. Interrelationships among people and technology created greater organizational capacity. Employees at all levels in the firm described their opportunities for involvement, technical and soft skill development, and the discretionary efforts by employees that these opportunities promoted. The results support implementation of flexible or high-performance work systems that focus on technology management, skill development, and employee involvement through team organization. Additional quantitative and qualitative research is recommended to evaluate the performance effects of these work systems and clarify the relationships among these variables.

Keywords

flexible production technology teams

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