Empirical study of attitudes to teamworking in manufacturing system maintenance

This paper describes a study of attitudes to team working in an engine plant of a major UK motor manufacturer. The aim of the study was to identify causes of resistance to teamworking and suggest possible solutions. A survey was designed to obtain input from the workers and, in addition, workers were interviewed. The results indicated that workers valued the chance to interact more and get to know each other better. However, they felt strongly that there was not enough communication between the company management and the teams.