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Total Quality Management: Anti-Union Trojan Horse or Management Albatross?

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  • Darren McCabe

    (Department of Management Keele University STAFFORDSHIRE ST5 5BG)

Abstract

This article examines a co-operative union-management approach towards Total Quality Management (TQM) by recourse to a case study from the auto components manufacturing sector. Its purpose is twofold; first, it suggests that in contrast to much critical thinking, under certain conditions TQM need not undermine trade unions. Indeed, it is argued that a more moderate trade union stance towards TQM, in some circumstances, may prove to be a more effective form of resistance than a militant one. Second, the article provides insights into the ways in which TQM reinforces existing power relations, hierarchical structures, organisational bureaucracy and inequality, rather than transforming them as TQM pundits contend. The argument, however, is not that TQM simply enhances management control in a unilinear fashion. This is because it not only poses dangers for trade unions, but also presents management with dilemmas and contradictions. TQM is understood, therefore, to be part of the continuing and complex effort by management to balance control and consent within employment, the dynamics, and outcomes of which, are uncertain and need to be empirically examined.

Suggested Citation

  • Darren McCabe, 1999. "Total Quality Management: Anti-Union Trojan Horse or Management Albatross?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 13(4), pages 665-691, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:13:y:1999:i:4:p:665-691
    DOI: 10.1177/09500179922118178
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hugh Willmott, 1993. "Strength Is Ignorance; Slavery Is Freedom: Managing Culture In Modern Organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 515-552, July.
    2. Stephen Hill, 1991. "Why Quality Circles Failed but Total Quality Management Might Succeed," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 29(4), pages 541-568, December.
    3. Paul Smith & Gary Morton, 1993. "Union Exclusion and the Decollectivization of Industrial Relations in Contemporary Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 97-114, March.
    4. Knuth Dohse & Ulrich Jürgens & Thomas Nialsch, 1985. "From "Fordism" to "Toyotism"? The Social Organization of the Labor Process in the Japanese Automobile Industry," Politics & Society, , vol. 14(2), pages 115-146, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. McGovern, Patrick, 2014. "Contradictions at work: a critical review," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 45188, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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