Organizational change and job redesign in integrated manufacturing: A macro organizational to micro-organizational perspective

Summary form only given. Integrated manufacturing's (IM) specific flexibility provides a spectrum of alternatives for its utilization in organizations. This article presents some of the relationships between IM and macro/micro organizational characteristics. One of the most important elements is the definition of a coherent strategy at the highest organizational levels. In the case of a dependent organization, the IM strategy must be organically linked with the corporate strategy. In spite of being evident, studies show that this approach to IM is not always followed. The IM implementation strategy, defined along the lines of the corporate strategy, would attempt to estimate the magnitude of the changes needed in the organization, their costs and time of implementation based on present organizational characteristics, such as: size, performance, culture, structure, human resource practices, skill level of employees and other factors (presence of unions, for example). As organic structures can amplify the flexibility and speed of response of an organization, management should consider the flexibility-oriented design strategy as a better alternative for the IM implementation than control oriented paradigms.