Inside the Ford–UAW Transformation – Pivotal Events in Valuing Work and Delivering Results

I will extend this review when I have a little more time. I was a bystander to most of this history, but know it pretty well, and most of the management main players. I think the authors have written an outstanding business history with a level of detail and understanding I have rarely seen. One may disagree with their conclusions, but they provide enough detailed evidence for grown-up readers to draw their own conclusions. They do have a point of view on the contextual significance of what they are describing, and I think they marshall good evidence to support their view.They end (as they are throughout) skeptical about how easy it will be to sustain the UAW Ford relationship under different circumstances and I share that concern. They are not light on examples of set backs and the impact of changing personnel on both sides as well as changing business conditions. There is little rose tinted spectacle about the description of the hard slog through the issues that Ford and the UAW have faced these last 30 years.I would have liked a little more sense of some of the personalities and individual motivations involved. And for the general reader, some of the discussion of for instance quality issues would benefit from more concrete examples: this particular part was having quality problems and this is how employee involvement help sort it. I strongly recommend this book for business school case studies, for anyone wanting to understand the auto industry's struggles from the grass roots and also anyone who wants to see a way forward via Lean Manufacturing and strong work force/management collaboration and profit sharing towards re-establishing US manufacturing on a sound basis and thus restoring the earnings of middle class Americans which have stagnated these 30 years. An alternative to the race to the bottom advocated by many. And yes I did read the book from cover to cover and my review is based on that.