Fordism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Fordism - Essay Example Moreover, the essay discusses the strengths and limitations of each form of work process for employers and employees. Lastly, it critically examines whether these theories are relevant to the work in the contemporary organization. Fordism refers to a notion of modern social systems and economic growth. It bases its concept on industrialization and a standard form of production for the sustainability of population growth. It gives emphasizes on the change in working conditions of workers. It is a form of production used in automotive industries to increase production (Fincham and Rhodes 2005, p. 231). It focuses on producing goods at low costs giving its workers' decent wages. For the mass production to occur it uses special purpose machinery. The form of production applied the three principles to enhance the mass production. First, they employed special machines, which operate on an assembly line (Buchanan and Huczynski 2010, p. 121). These machines did not require skilled employees because one employee did one task repeatedly. Second, standardization of products, this is to say that nothing was hand-made. All their products were made using machines (Fincham and Rhodes 2005, p. 121). Third, they focused on the welfare of the workers. The workers were paid high wages so that they can afford the products they made; this was to avoid theft cases. In his principle, Henry Ford the founder of Fordism simplified work-using assembly lines. This is where a worker did a certain task repeatedly. Research shows that, Henry Ford was not the original founder of assembly lines he increased its efficiency. This form of production increased affordability to the average consumer. Increase in wages reduced worker absenteeism increasing the production turnover to 400 percent annually. This form of production encouraged specialization within the organization hence quality in the production of goods. Fordism as a form of work process has different strengths. First, the use of assemb ling lines as a form of production encouraged specialization. This is because one worker did the same task repeatedly hence specialization. Specialization results for quality and quantity production. Thus, the goods produced, were quality thus attracting a wide market (Lister 2010, p.51). This led to more profits on the part of employers. In addition, the high wages given to the workers encouraged them to give quality service. As stated above the production increased by 400 per cent because of the high wages given to employees (Buchanan and Huczynski 2010, p. 121). Theft cases did not occur among the employees because of the high wages and they could afford the goods, which they produced. Even though the work was tedious, the employees had a sense of security for their work because of the presence of the industrial unions, which bargained for their wages. On the other hand, Fordism had its own limitations. This particularly resulted in the onset of development of Post- Fordism by An tonio and Bonanno (Lister 2010, p. 95). They said that this form of production was not efficient because the population had reduced due to the effects of World War II. The goods produced remained that means that the demand had reduced making this form of production ineffective. This form of production was rigid and did not encourage the introduction of new ways of production. With the monotonous work, the workers got bored with time and they stopped providing quality services. Due to