ABSTRACT
The organization of work in Malaysian firms is influenced by a host of factors. Todd and Peetz (2001: 1374-1375) found that work organization varied from Tayloristic with limited multiskilling style to modern flexible multiskilled style. In Japanese factories operating in Malaysia, they found an apparent influence of Japanese practices through the active use of QCs, and Just in Time (JIT) practices (see Wilkinson et al., 2001 for a detailed study of work organization in Japanese firms operating in Malaysia). Wilkinson et al. (2001) reported that in several Japanese companies in Malaysia there is a high division of tasks. However, Elger and Smith (2001: 461) suggest that, in practice, work roles remain very tightly defined; the predominant paradigm remains low value-added production under autocratic control. This reflects the continued importance of industries centering on the assembly of mature standardized products (such as VCRs and TVs), and the production of lower value components for such products (ibid.).
