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Works councils and teamwork in a German car plant

Thomas Murakami (University of Western Sydney, Australia)

Employee Relations

ISSN: 0142-5455

Article publication date: 1 February 1999

1626

Abstract

The paper contributes to the discussion on works councils and teamwork in the German auto industry. General Motors’ Opel plant in Germany has been chosen to study works councils’ participation in the process of introducing teamwork, and the effects of teamwork on workers’ representation on the shopfloor. The paper discusses the “dual structure” of works councils and union representatives, and will examine their role during the introduction of teamwork and relationship to their elected team spokespersons. The two key findings are: first, both levels of workers’ representation have contributed to the successful introduction of workplace changes and second, team spokespersons can be seen as a third level of workers’ representation.

Keywords

Citation

Murakami, T. (1999), "Works councils and teamwork in a German car plant", Employee Relations, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 26-45. https://doi.org/10.1108/01425459910252975

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited

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