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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Post-Fordist High Road? A South African Case Study
Author:Hunter, MarkISNI
Year:2000
Periodical:Journal of Contemporary African Studies
Volume:18
Issue:1
Period:January
Pages:67-90
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:labour
industrial policy
Politics and Government
Development and Technology
Labor and Employment
External links:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/025890000111977
http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=Q1PRXX32C3FXGM4T04JY
Abstract:The policy recommendations of the Industrial Strategy Project that developed postapartheid industrial policy during the democratic transition in South Africa came to be influenced by post-Fordist work organization methods associated with Japanese Management Techniques (JMTs). It was suggested that multiskilling, teamworking, and worker involvement initiatives could help chart a high road for industry, benefiting not just productivity but redressing a legacy of poor human resource development and a racially skewed labour market. In this article, a review of both the labour implications of post-Fordist work organization and the formulation of industrial policy in South Africa provides the context for a case study of working conditions in a firm that adopted JMTs (also, as a system, called Lean Production). The article questions whether a high-skill, more democratic era with greater worker control can be driven through Japanese-influenced work organization changes. Whilst industrial policy was over-optimistic, further research is necessary before detailed conclusions about JMTs in South Africa and their effect on labour can be drawn. The primary research for the article draws on a Human Resource Development Study conducted by the author for the KwaZulu-Natal Industrial Restructuring Project, University of Natal. The case study deals with an auto-components company in KwaZulu-Natal. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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