Volvo's HR Practices - Focus on Job Enrichment
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Case Details:
Case Code : HROB062
Case Length : 13 Pages
Period : 1973 - 1999
Pub Date : 2004
Teaching Note :Not Available
Organization : Volvo Car Corporation
Industry : Auto and Ancillaries
Countries : Sweden
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Excerpts
The HR Problem
Volvo was among Sweden's leading employers with employees
numbering 41,000 in company-owned plants. Its dealer network provided employment
to an additional 10,000 people as of 1973. An additional 15,000 people were
employed through Volvo's sub-contractors. Volvo's products were marketed in 120
countries with 75% of its total production exported mainly to other European
countries and the US...
The Job Enrichment Experiments
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The changes in the organization structure facilitated easier implementation of
job enrichment concepts. Volvo's efforts involved both employees and the
management. The management decided to experiment with five job enrichment
measures - job rotation, management-employee councils, small work groups,
change implementation and employee-oriented facilities - at its manufacturing
facilities.
Job Rotation
Job rotation involved shifting around of jobs among workers according to a
pre-determined plan. Each employee within a group was offered a job, which was
different both physically and psychologically from his/her previous job...
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The New HR Initiatives
Volvo introduced three new HR programs in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
These were Match Project, Full Rulle (Full Speed Ahead) and Dialog.
The first was introduced in 1983. It aimed at achieving five HR objectives,
which were:
• Training new recruits intensively.
• Disseminating organizational objectives to all employees in the company.
• Framing rules and regulations for employees to establish discipline...
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The Uddevalla Plant
Uddevalla offered the best work environment for employees.
Developing staff competence was deemed vital by Volvo to build
quality cars as well as to achieve the organizational objectives of
improving productivity, flexibility and efficiency. Also, operations
had to be scaled up as Kalmar could accommodate only 600 employees,
which was not sufficient.
Employee representatives were involved in the plant's planning
group, which had a team of researchers with diverse backgrounds
ranging from engineering to psychology... |
End of the Socio-Technical Approach?
While Volvo was going ahead with its human-centric approach, the external market
forces in the automotive industry were changing. This forced the company to take
serious measures, which stopped the progress of its job enrichment initiatives.
In the early 1990s, with the declining demand for cars in the global market, it
was no longer feasible for Volvo to continue operating in relatively smaller
facilities like Kalmar and Uddevalla...
Exhibits
Exhibit I: The Volvo Way
Exhibit II: Volvo Kalmar Assembly Plant
Exhibit III: The Uddevalla Plant
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