The last two decades of the twentieth century were a tumultuous time of innovation for business and labor. Perhaps the boldest and most far-reaching experiment in industry was the creation of the Saturn Corporation. Working together as partners, the UAW and General Motors built a new small car in Spring Hill, Tennessee, with American suppliers and American workers. Saturn's locally designed manufacturing system featured self-directed teams and the integration of union representatives into management's strategic and operational decision-making processes. Saul A. Rubinstein and Thomas A. Kochan have followed the Saturn story since its beginning in 1983. Through surveys as well as hundreds of interviews with company managers, union representatives, and employees, and with leaders of GM and the UAW, they trace the history of, and the lessons to be learned from, this "Different Kind of Company." The Saturn experiment embodied a new concept of labor-management relations, management, and organizational governance. Has it been a success or a failure? Is it relevant in the current industrial environment? What effect has it had on GM and the UAW? The authors resist overly simplistic conclusions; Saturn's strengths and limitations must be fairly assessed before the company's experience can provide lessons on the future of unions, labor-management relations, work organization, and corporate governance.
Saul A. Rubinstein is Assistant Professor in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University. Thomas A. Kochan is the George M. Bunker Professor of Work and Employment Relations at MIT's Sloan School of Management. His previous books include After Lean Production and The Transformation of American Industrial Relations, also from Cornell.
What People are Saying About This
Barry Bluestone
For the past two decades there has been no experiment in labor-management relations more revolutionary, more path-breaking, and more critical than that forged by the UAW and General Motors at the Saturn plant in Tennessee. And there is no one who tells that story better than Saul Rubinstein and Tom Kochan. This superb book documents the trials and tribulations of this grand experiment, providing all of us with important insights not just about Saturn, but the emerging world of union-management partnerships in a global economy.
Paul S. Adler
Saturn has pushed the envelope-creating extraordinarily high-quality cars through extraordinarily high levels of worker involvement. This book shows how this "different kind of organization" really functions and in the process raises urgent, deep questions about the future of US industry. —(Paul S. Adler, University of Southern California)
Barry Bluestone
For the past two decades there has been no experiment in labor-management relations more revolutionary, more path-breaking, and more critical than that forged by the UAW and General Motors at the Saturn plant in Tennessee. And there is no one who tells that story better than Saul Rubinstein and Tom Kochan. This superb book documents the trials and tribulations of this grand experiment, providing all of us with important insights not just about Saturn, but the emerging world of union-management partnerships in a global economy. —(Barry Bluestone, Co-author, Negotiating the Future: A Labor Perspective on American Business)
