Assessment of the teamwork organization in a production plant of a major German automobile manufacturer

In this article the assessment of work organization method (AWO) developed by Frieling et al. was used to describe and compare different settings under which teamwork occurs in a production plant of a major German automobile manufacturer. The aim was to And significant differences within several shop-floor areas at. The original AWO consists of 43 items operationalized in six categories: organizational structure, team-oriented activities/tasks, participation/autonomy, formal team communication, qualification and continuous improvement process. Due to specific conditions in the plant the AWO was adapted and extended. An ANOVA was used to compare the four different shop-floor areas. The results demonstrate significant differences within five of the categories between all four shop-floor areas. Only the category formal team communication did not differ among the shop-floor areas.