The last two decades of the twentieth century were a tumultuous time of innovation for business and labor. Perhaps the boldest and most far-reaching experiment in industry was the creation of the Saturn Corporation. Working together as partners, the UAW and General Motors built a new small car in Spring Hill, Tennessee, with American suppliers and American workers. Saturn's locally designed manufacturing system featured self-directed teams and the integration of union representatives into management's strategic and operational decision-making processes.

Saul A. Rubinstein and Thomas A. Kochan have followed the Saturn story since its beginning in 1983. Through surveys as well as hundreds of interviews with company managers, union representatives, and employees, and with leaders of GM and the UAW, they trace the history of, and the lessons to be learned from, this "Different Kind of Company."

The Saturn experiment embodied a new concept of labor-management relations, management, and organizational governance. Has it been a success or a failure? Is it relevant in the current industrial environment? What effect has it had on GM and the UAW? The authors resist overly simplistic conclusions; Saturn's strengths and limitations must be fairly assessed before the company's experience can provide lessons on the future of unions, labor-management relations, work organization, and corporate governance.

About the Author

Saul A. Rubinstein is Assistant Professor in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University. Thomas A. Kochan is the George M. Bunker Professor of Work and Employment Relations at MIT's Sloan School of Management. His previous books include After Lean Production and The Transformation of American Industrial Relations, also from Cornell.

Reviews

Learning From Saturn is a very nice and concise account of the Saturn process.... Labor relations policymakers, both in the private and public sectors, should read this book.

-- Henry P. Guzda * Monthly Labor Review *

This book is about the innovative Saturn experiment, America's most thoroughgoing attempt to restructure the entire production and distribution as well as industrial relations systems.... Learning from Saturn is an excellent window into the labor-management participation process. It provides a useful case study for instructional purposes as well. I have used the book twice in classes as the basis for a productive discussion about participation.

-- Michael H. Belzer, Wayne State University * Industrial and Labor Relations Review *

This is a jewel of a book: most informative, insightful and, in several respects, even endearing.... This reviewer feels that the authors have achieved a scintillating success both in looking at this experiment openly, critically and in-depth on the basis of years of superb research, and in conveying their results and judgments in a most readable and lively language.... Read what Rubinstein and Kochan have to say... is the best advice that can be given.

-- Jean Gerin-Lajoie, Ecole des hautes etudes commerciales * Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations *



Book Information
ISBN 9780801438738
Author Saul A. Rubinstein
Format Hardback
Page Count 176
Imprint ILR Press
Publisher Cornell University Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 21mm