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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page analysis of Eileen Appelbaum and Rosemary Batt's book on changes in the American workplace. The writer gives a summation of authors' overall approach, detailing the structure and approach of this text. No additional sources cited.
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5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KE9_99amwork.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
begin by pointing out that the 1970s and 80s were an important period of experimentation with new work systems (5). Many of these models for new work systems have been
somewhat transitory. Consequently, the central argument of this book is that there are two features that distinguish the current period of experimentation from those of the past (6). First
of all, the current era is characterized by a broad and diverse constituency?composed of employees, companies, union, and government agencies--that offer full support to workplace change. As a result, experimentation
and is more widely dispersed than in previous eras (6). The question becomes what changes will occur and who will benefit, rather then whether or not change will happen.
Secondly, a growing number of companies of already committed themselves to transforming their work systems into high ?performance organizations (6). These companies have "distilled and selectively adopted techniques and features
of production models developed abroad," but they have combined them with uniquely American practices. The authors outline this position in the introductory chapter and then develop their argument further in
chapter 2. In this chapter, they argue that fundamental change in the American workplace is necessary because US firms can no longer capture cumulative gains in productivity, as they once
did, by merely "moving down the learning curve" (8). With this point in mind, the authors discuss strategies that were developed in the 1970s to "reform" mass production and make
it more flexible. In chapter 3, which begins Part II of the book, the authors consider alternative production systems that were created in other countries in the 1970s
and early 1980s, pointing out that US companies have increasingly borrowed techniques and concepts both from other countries and Americas past. While many of these techniques have proven to be
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