The concept of self-directed work teams was first formally introduced into:
A) Frederick Taylor's production lines in the 1920s.
B) Henry Ford's production lines in the 1940s.
C) British coal mines in the late 1940s and 1950s.
D) US steel mills in the 1890s.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The origins of self-directed work teams go back to the work of social scientists Eric Trist and Ken Bamforth at Britain's Tavistock Institute in the late 1940s (Trist & Bamforth, 1951). In subsequent work, Trist, Emery, and Murray (1997) advanced the notion that greater productivity in a work unit can be accomplished through the 'optimisation' of the social (i.e. human) and technical subsystems that are embedded in the work unit. Their ideas came to be referred to as sociotechnical systems theory (STS). The strength of their ideas was demonstrated when the concept of self-directed work teams was introduced into British coal mines in the late 1940s and 1950s. Productivity and the work satisfaction experienced by mine staff increased dramatically (Flood, 2006). The ideas surrounding STS spread across the world, as large corporations such as Boeing, Volvo, 3M, Federal Express and numerous others implemented self-directed work teams to increase worker productivity, product/service quality and turnover, and reduce absenteeism.

The Concept of Self-Directed Work Teams Was First Formally Introduced