Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
The viability of the Scandinavian work-life model and the impact of lean production: The case of Scania
University of Borås, Faculty of Textiles, Engineering and Business.
Centre for Global HRM, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
2020 (English)In: Economic and Industrial Democracy, ISSN 0143-831X, E-ISSN 1461-7099Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Sustainable development
According to the author(s), the content of this publication falls within the area of sustainable development.
Abstract [en]

From the 1970s through the 1990s, Scandinavian work-life, especially in Sweden, was an international role model for work organization and industrial relations. Practices such as job enrichment, teamwork in semi-autonomous groups, multi-skilling, and long work cycles were commonplace. This article investigates if and how such practices, the Socio-Technical Systems model (STS), are still followed in Sweden after the arrival of lean production. The study was conducted at Scania, a Swedish heavy truck and bus manufacturer well-known for its innovative work organization and its previous use of a socio-technical work design. The study finds that as this production and management model has been substantially marginalized, a new model has emerged. The new model, inspired by the Toyota Production System and lean, is characterized by a line organization design, standardized work processes, daily control, all shorter cycle-times, permanent team leader positions, position ownership, and continuous improvement with rotation possibilities. This new model, Scania Production System (SPS), has enjoyed considerable success. Yet challenges remain with respect to employee commitment to work and their boredom with highly-paced, repetitive work, leading to an advocacy for more of a hybrid model between the SPS and the STS models. Although the study is performed in only one company it is an exemplar company in Sweden which has been highly influential also beyond the transportation industry. The article also expands the scientific knowledge of production systems by the help of a novel stakeholder model. The article’s contribution is its demonstration of current work organization practices and to what extent these represent continuity or new trajectories. Lean production has had a vigouous reception in Scania but there are problematic features that are distinct from a stakeholder model perspective.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD , 2020.
Keywords [en]
Industrial relations; lean production; socio-technical work design; Swedish work-life; work organization
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-24382DOI: 10.1177/0143831X20939137ISI: 000551157200001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85088303076OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hb-24382DiVA, id: diva2:1508203
Funder
Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, 2015-00435Available from: 2020-12-09 Created: 2020-12-09 Last updated: 2025-09-24Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(245 kB)643 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 245 kBChecksum SHA-512
f0648d0657586f62af4759a47a9ef391a594c1d67cdb608ee609005356ea09fd6ed56a4e77b0da0fd39e11adb752938e9c8d226f48540a177bf2014b31956c64
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Oudhuis, Margareta

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Oudhuis, Margareta
By organisation
Faculty of Textiles, Engineering and Business
In the same journal
Economic and Industrial Democracy
Business Administration

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 661 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 236 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf