Team-based production is a model of labor relations and production imported from Japan and applied to various American manufacturing businesses, notably with interest from the automobile industry. This approach promises to improve productivity and quality and to reduce the involvement of unions on the shop floor. The concept is seen clearly in the Japanese-owned automobile plants in the United States, and some version of the team concept is now in use in at least half of General Motors' assembly plants, six Chrysler plants, and two Ford plants. Each of the Big Three automobile manufacturers is also involved in a joint venture with or part ownership of a Japanese auto company which uses the team concept in its most advanced form (Slaughter, 1990: p. 9).
The team concept involves certain patterns of communication that differ from the standard American communication style, and this element along with others is what both promises great change for industry and is criticized by traditional labor unions as shifting the balance in industry too heavily toward management and away from labor. Hoerr (1989) notes the dichotomy in the team concept: "At one and the same time, it promises workers autonomy over their jobs but also threatens their old ways of working. It gives managers a powerful tool to improve productivity and quality but could undermine their control" (p. 56). The understanding and use of the patterns of communication involved could determine how well the team concept works.
The word "team" in this conception was added by American personnel executives to help sell the Japanese idea to their workers. The team is different from the American notion of the word, however, which is a unit of specialists in which each member makes a unique contribution to a group effort: "In contrast, the teams in auto plants are made up of interchangeable workers, each adaptable enough to grant management flexibility" (Slaughter: p. 9). Sl...