Two failed attempts and one success: The introduction of teamwork at SEAT–Volkswagen

Abstract

The debate concerning the convergence or divergence of human resource management (HRM) and industrial relations has grown in parallel with the importance of multinational companies (MNCs) in OECD countries. The “country-of-origin effect” and “host-country effect” are two obvious poles of this debate (Ferner & Quintanilla, 1998). The country-of-origin effect claims the ability of MNCs to shape industrial relations and HRM practices in their subsidiaries abroad, frequently in accordance with industrial relations practices and institutions in their country of origin. Conversely, the host-country effect stresses the resilience of industrial relations institutions at both the national (Whitley, 1999; Hall & Soskice, 2001; Katz & Darbishire, 2000) and the regional or local levels (Belanger, Berggren, Björkman, & Köhler, 1999; Ortiz, 2002). Yet, the possibility that each one of these effects could prevail under different circumstances has hardly been considered. Moreover, the roles of politics and structure within the organization (Edwards, Almond, Clark, Colling, & Ferner, 2005), as well as the role of local culture, have often been ignored.

Citation

Ortiz, L. and Llorente-Galera, F. (2008), "Two failed attempts and one success: The introduction of teamwork at SEAT–Volkswagen", Lawler, J.J. and Hundley, G. (Ed.) The Global Diffusion of Human Resource Practices: Institutional and Cultural Limits (Advances in International Management, Vol. 21), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 59-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1571-5027(08)00003-X