Fostering Continuous Improvement in a Changing Business Context. Textron Systems, Wilmington, Massachusetts, 1998,1999,2000

This is a large non-union facility implementing systems change initiatives in a rapidly changing business context. Textron has been an important contributor to the U.S. defense aerospace business for five decades. Textron is a prime contractor with the U.S. government and supplier for other technologies. Textron sees workplace change initiatives as key to business success. It seeks performance gains through employee training and development. Textron Systems illustrates the ever-changing challenge of aligning employment systems with business strategy in the aerospace industry. It can sustain major change initiatives and is vulnerable to the swings that come with each new business contract. A combination of training, organizational development and work restructuring activities are being implemented. Even so, they cannot fully mitigate the instability associated with the defense aerospace sector.