Assess the contention that 'post-Fordist' changes in the organisation of work have improved the quality of employees' work experience. Provide examples to illustrate your answer.

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Assess the contention that ‘post-Fordist’ changes in the organisation of work have improved the quality of employees’ work experience. Provide examples to illustrate your answer.

Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 during a period of time in the USA of rapid industrialisation. It was within these years (1880-1910) that large organisations were produced, and Henry Ford’s motor company was one of them. In 1908 the company initiated the production of the Model-T, of which the company sold 15million, it was the first car of its kind to built using a new type of production, Fordism. -

Fordism is a form of industrial production that was born developed from F.W. Taylor’s scientific management methods where the main aim is, as Abernathy (1978) wrote  “product maximisation through tight control over the employee’s every task movements.” Fordism pioneered mass production by fragmenting and simplifying work tasks for employees. It incorporated the use of a: “moving assembly line that controls the pace of the work. Under this system, workers performed repetitive assembly tasks which require little training or skill. The parts are designed so that they can be developed easily. Machines are used to produce standardized parts for products which are mass-produced. Products tend to be relatively cheap. Labour costs are held down because there is little need to employ skilled labour, and because of the large number of products produced, overheads and capital costs, such as the cost of machinery are relatively low.” (Haralambos and Holborn 2000; pg.713) Fordism also experiences an autocratic style of management, a strict division of labour and little empowerment/decision making for employees. Although work was secure for the majority, workers felt 'alienated.' 

With this revolutionary style of production, Fordism heavily influenced the improvement of developed countries economies during the mid twentieth century, particularly in the 1940’s to the mid 1960’s. Under Fordism, mass utilization shared with mass production to create continued economic growth and extensive material advancement.

However, problems with this form of regime emerged during the 1960s and early 1970s. Workers became less productive and efficient causing a drop in quality levels as they became angry and bored with the style of work Bradley et al (2000) mentions that working conditions of Fordism led to worker disaffection with adverse consequence for quality control and the alienated, deskilled and bored workers commonly adopted a hostile stance towards their employers. Profit for companies decreased as workers high wages did not match the productivity levels. Companies also found it harder to sell their products as consumers wanted more choices in goods and services which mass production or Fordism could not offer them. The demise of the Fordism was brought about further by Globalisation and rapid advancement in technology. 

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Michael J. Piore (1986) is amongst those who believe that Fordist is an obsolete view and that capitalist countries have entered a ‘post-fordist’ era. He claims that much work is now organised according to the principles of ‘flexible specialisation.’ (Haralambos and Holborn, 2000; pg.713) Post-Fordism is flexible in its methods so it can respond appropriately to sudden increases in consumer demand by quickly increasing supply to meet it. Computer technology is relied upon heavily as mass demand diversification requires rapid design and production processes; computation allows this. This is especially important in contemporary western markets, which are characterised by ...

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