Dissertation Information for Saul Rubinstein NAME: - Saul Rubinstein
- (Alias) Saul Avery Rubinstein
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Management
SCHOOL:
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) (1996)
ADVISORS: - Thomas A. Kochan
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - None
MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected
Title: Saturn, the GM/UAW partnership: The impact of co-management and joint governance on firm and local union performance
Abstract: "This dissertation examines the depth of U.S. restructuring of industrial relations and production systems by analyzing the development and performance of General Motors' (GM) Saturn Corporation. Designed and implemented as a partnership between GM and the United Automobile Workers (UAW), Saturn breaks new ground in firm governance, management and industrial relations. This research builds both on organizational theories of the design and management of team-based work systems, and on theories of human resource management and industrial relations, by evaluating the impact of organized labor on firm quality performance using data from Saturn.
Through detailed analysis of Saturn's partnership arrangements this study finds that local management and union leaders have created a system of co-management which gives jointly selected union members the responsibilities of operations' management. This dissertation explores whether this system of co-management and the labor-management partnership work organization add value to Saturn's first-time-quality performance. Behavior patterns, supervisory methods, time use, dynamics of individual union-management partnership relations, differences in the patterns of communication and coordination, and quality performance outcomes of both union and non-union middle managers were studied in order to test whether the variations in the co-management system and quality performance were systematically related.
Three groups of variables were found to have a significant impact on quality performance: (1) The amount and pattern of communications and coordination activity; (2) The alignment between the partnered represented and non-represented managers; (3) The balance of time spent managing people and production.
Further, union managers had a higher level of communications, and a greater impact on quality performance, than did non-represented managers. Network analysis techniques were used to describe and measure the communications network built on the union organization throughout Saturn's management structure.
These data were combined with analyses of the tensions within the union between its traditional role in membership representation, and its new role in management and governance. Qualitative data were collected to determine the impact on the membership of the union's extensive involvement in firm management and governance. The evidence indicates that while Saturn's governance and management systems have provided the union access to management's strategic and day-to-day operational decision making thereby impacting firm performance, this may have come at some cost to individual representation. Finally, questions about organizational learning and the diffusion of innovation from Saturn back to General Motors and the UAW international union are explored."
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MPACT Scores for Saul Rubinstein A = 0
C = 1
A+C = 1
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2010-11-04 15:58:42
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