Faculty Publications

Assessing The Organizational Fit Of A Just-In-Time Manufacturing System: Testing Selection, Interaction And Systems Models Of Contingency Theory

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Accounting, Organizations and Society

Volume

20

Issue

7-8

First Page

665

Last Page

684

Abstract

The adoption of new manufacturing practices such as just-in-time (JIT) and total quality management (TQC) is only a first step to improving manufacturing performance. Even more critical is the fit between manufacturing practices and organizational design, structure and processes. Using archival and survey data, this paper reports the results of a field study within a Fortune 500 company that tests three operationalizations of contingency theory as discussed by Van de Ven and Drazin (1985) [The Concept of Fit in Contingency Theory, Research in Organizational Behavior, pp. 333-365]. Results show that the misfit between worker empowerment required by JIT/TQC practices and existing authoritarian management partially explain relative workgroup performance as do other conflicts within workgroups and between operators and supervisors. © 1995.

Department

Department of Accounting

Original Publication Date

1-1-1995

DOI of published version

10.1016/0361-3682(95)00022-2

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