Lean Work and Gender Inequalities: Manufacturing Consent at a Multinational Car Plant in Provincial Russia

How do local labour market structures, in tandem with workforce dispositions and attitudes, influence the way multinational companies localise their standardised work and production systems? This article investigates the conflict-ridden factory regime of a lean automotive plant in provincial Russia...

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Main Authors: Martin Krzywdzinski, Grzegorz Lechowski, Valentina Mählmeyer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: McMaster University Library Press 2019-05-01
Series:Global Labour Journal
Online Access:https://mulpress.mcmaster.ca/globallabour/article/view/3488
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spelling doaj-989eb2b5f11a470bb51f556d68c66ad62021-04-02T19:06:58ZengMcMaster University Library PressGlobal Labour Journal1918-67112019-05-0110210.15173/glj.v10i2.3488Lean Work and Gender Inequalities: Manufacturing Consent at a Multinational Car Plant in Provincial RussiaMartin Krzywdzinski0Grzegorz Lechowski1Valentina Mählmeyer2WZB Berlin Social Science CenterWZB Berlin Social Science CenterWZB Berlin Social Science Center How do local labour market structures, in tandem with workforce dispositions and attitudes, influence the way multinational companies localise their standardised work and production systems? This article investigates the conflict-ridden factory regime of a lean automotive plant in provincial Russia at which the management was able to secure a relatively high level of consent among its female workers but not among male workers. In order to explain this gendered pattern of worker consent, the plant-internal gender division of labour and two societal factors proved crucial: the gendered segmentation of the local labour market and the workers’ cultural dispositions. At the same time, the analysis points to the transformative effect that the company’s work and production system had on the local labour regime. The case study relies on a combination of quantitative survey data and qualitative interviews. It emphasises the need to reconnect the analysis of branch-plant factory regimes to a nuanced understanding of their embeddedness within local labour markets – also in the case of highly standardised work and production systems.  KEY WORDS: labour control regime; labour process; labour market; lean production; gender relations https://mulpress.mcmaster.ca/globallabour/article/view/3488
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Martin Krzywdzinski
Grzegorz Lechowski
Valentina Mählmeyer
spellingShingle Martin Krzywdzinski
Grzegorz Lechowski
Valentina Mählmeyer
Lean Work and Gender Inequalities: Manufacturing Consent at a Multinational Car Plant in Provincial Russia
Global Labour Journal
author_facet Martin Krzywdzinski
Grzegorz Lechowski
Valentina Mählmeyer
author_sort Martin Krzywdzinski
title Lean Work and Gender Inequalities: Manufacturing Consent at a Multinational Car Plant in Provincial Russia
title_short Lean Work and Gender Inequalities: Manufacturing Consent at a Multinational Car Plant in Provincial Russia
title_full Lean Work and Gender Inequalities: Manufacturing Consent at a Multinational Car Plant in Provincial Russia
title_fullStr Lean Work and Gender Inequalities: Manufacturing Consent at a Multinational Car Plant in Provincial Russia
title_full_unstemmed Lean Work and Gender Inequalities: Manufacturing Consent at a Multinational Car Plant in Provincial Russia
title_sort lean work and gender inequalities: manufacturing consent at a multinational car plant in provincial russia
publisher McMaster University Library Press
series Global Labour Journal
issn 1918-6711
publishDate 2019-05-01
description How do local labour market structures, in tandem with workforce dispositions and attitudes, influence the way multinational companies localise their standardised work and production systems? This article investigates the conflict-ridden factory regime of a lean automotive plant in provincial Russia at which the management was able to secure a relatively high level of consent among its female workers but not among male workers. In order to explain this gendered pattern of worker consent, the plant-internal gender division of labour and two societal factors proved crucial: the gendered segmentation of the local labour market and the workers’ cultural dispositions. At the same time, the analysis points to the transformative effect that the company’s work and production system had on the local labour regime. The case study relies on a combination of quantitative survey data and qualitative interviews. It emphasises the need to reconnect the analysis of branch-plant factory regimes to a nuanced understanding of their embeddedness within local labour markets – also in the case of highly standardised work and production systems.  KEY WORDS: labour control regime; labour process; labour market; lean production; gender relations
url https://mulpress.mcmaster.ca/globallabour/article/view/3488
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AT valentinamahlmeyer leanworkandgenderinequalitiesmanufacturingconsentatamultinationalcarplantinprovincialrussia
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