ABSTRACT
Most sectors face aggressive competition, rapidly changing customer needs and fashions, and further technical change. Organizations in this turbulent environment must pay attention to asset utilization, product quality, and organizational flexibility to remain competitive. Many other organizations around the world, including those identified by Richard E. Walton and Edward E. Lawler, have adopted similar organizational innovations. IBM adopted a team-based approach to the manufacture of disc drives and processors at its Havant plant in England, using ‘low technology’ in combination with human skills. The development of autonomous teamwork is central to the company’s competitiveness, which relies on constant attention to product quality and reliability. Ray Grigg also argues that, ‘People are more important than the equipment, because of the necessity of understanding it, maintaining it, and running it’. The internationalization of standards applies to human resource strategy in the same way as it does to products and services.
