Organisational restructuring as an innovation strategy - Lean production in industry

The causes, the logic, and the consequences of organisational reforms according to the conceptual ideas of lean production that have been launched in German industry in the past decade are reviewed. Because of unexpected competitive weakness, many firms, particularly in the automotive sector, have changed intra- and interorganisational governance structures to improve deployment of the productive potential of the whole workforce, irrespective of status. The overall aim is to regain economic competitiveness. In the course of the reform process the hitherto established regulating mechanism and institutions of so called Fordism within and outside the firm have been undergoing considerable devaluation. However, at least to date, the parties involved have not succeeded in erecting and stabilising new governances that can replace the Fordist regime completely. Instead, elements of the old and of the new order co-exist. From this ambiguity unsolved tensions and problems have arisen.