ABSTRACT
The development and diffusion of the standardised Complex Systems of Management of Output Quality institutionalised two more elements of the Soviet path of industrial work – specific approaches to group or brigade work and remuneration. The Soviet standardised systems of organisation of production, work and remuneration contributed to complementary effects between the elements constituting the path of industrial work. The path of industrial work in the post-socialist period, combined the worst of both the planned economy and a liberal market economy. The two central ideas underlying the new quality management (QM) standards – involvement of shop-floor workers in operational decisions and flexible standardisation – completely contradicted the punitive path of industrial work. Internationalisation of the Russian automotive industry represented an opening of this industry to new actors and organisational ‘fields’ where alternative solutions to organisation of production and quality control were in place.
