What Makes Teams Take? Employee Reactions to Work Reforms

This paper examines employee reactions to the introduction of work teams, reduced job classifications, and skill-based pay as established through the Modern Operating Agreement (MOA) between Chrysler Corporation and the United Auto Workers. Survey data suggest that workers responded favorably to the MOA across six diverse manufacturing plants, despite variation in founding conditions. The authors draw on field research to assess differences in effects across individual plants. Individual attitudes were more negative in plants facing the threat of sell-off, although individuals in those plants also reported engaging in more of the team-based behaviors required by the MOA. Individual responses to the MOA also varied by demographic characteristics, and by perceptions of the MOA's impact on various individual, group, and organization-level outcomes