Best Practices at Volvo

Do traditional workplaces reward long hours instead of efficient hours? Wouldn’t it

make more sense to listen workers’ needs and try to meet them? Or, to have a workplace in
which people can do whatever they want , whenever they want , as long as the works get
done? Well , that’s the approach that Volvo in Sweden has taken

Volvo is one of the largest industrial concerns in the Nordic countries and is directly
responsible for the employment of more than 42000 people in Sweden alone. In the late
1980’s , the company found itself suffering from a high degree of absenteeism and staff
turnover. There were also issues with the quality of the cars leaving the production line, the
cost of retrospectively solving the faults was high. The root of these problems was believed to
lie in the traditional assembly line model , characterized by highly repetitive tasks, which
allowed for little flexibility and meant Volvo’s factories were not an attractive workplace.

Volvo decided to reorganize the production line to take into account the uniqueness of
each individual on it. After a series of a false starts, Volvo came up with a new
manufacturing system where small groups of between 5 to 12 employees were responsible for
the assembly of a complete vehicle, from beginning to end, rather than simply taking a role in
one aspect of the production. The groups can select their own supervisors; schedule, inspect
and assign their own work; and receive equal financial rewards for their work, except for the
supervisor. Goals are set as to how many vehicles the team has to produce in a day , and any
time left over is used to discuss experiences from that day’s production and to plan for the
following day.

While being able to work independently is an important part of the new philosophy,
teamwork is also key to making it work. Thus , the interaction between coworkers is helped
by a culture called FIKA. FIKA us a small-scale get-together everyday, where the team
shares coffee and ideas , with a grand FIKA every Friday where one member of the
department is responsible for preparing food for everyone.Every worker is also encouraged to
take advantage of the flextime working arrangement , where they can choose the times they
complete their 40-hours workweeks.

Reorganizing the workforce into smaller, self-managed, groups meant that many
members of the workforce needed to learn new skills. This was particularly true of the older
team members who had been with the company for some time. However, instead of letting
these workers go and replacing them with younger, more widely skilled, recruits, Volvo took
the iniative to redeploy them. In 1992, Volvo introduces an initiative to offer older workers
employment in specialized senior unit. Alternatively , both the old and young who want to
learn any new skills are offered courses during the working day, which are financed by the
company and lead to valuable professional qualifications.

Productivity has soared thanks to the new humanist approach and staff turnover has
also reduced. Volvo also discovered that when employees’ engagement with their jobs
increases, average annual sales increase too.
Disscusion Questions

1. Describe the elements of Volvo’s new production approach. What do you think might
be the advantages and drawbacks of this program?
2. Using one or more motivation theories from the chapter, explain why you think
Volvo’s system works.
3. What might be the challenges for managers in motivating employees in a program
like this?
4. Does this sound like something you would be comfortable with? Why or Why not?
5. What’s your interpretation of the statement that “work isn’t a place where you go- it’s
something you do?” Do you agree? Why or Why Not?

Penyelesaian :

1. Unsur – unsur pendekatan dari produksi baru Volvo :

- Pandangan hubungan dalam rancangan kerja adalah pendekatan untuk rancangan
pekerjaan yang berfokus pada bagaimana pekerjaan seseorang didasarkan pada
hubungan sosial.
○ Kelebihan dari pendekatan ini :
a. Pekerjaan lebih terkontrol karena dilakukan dengan teamwork dan
pekerjaan dapat diselesaikan tepat waktu. Dalam Volvo hubungan
interaksi teman sekerja tersebut dinamakan FIKA.
b. Peningkatan produktivitas kerja membuat penjualan tahunan meningkat
○ Kekurangan dari pendekatan ini :
a. Adanya staff yang dominan dan tidak dominan dalam menyelesaikan
rancangan kerja yang ada.
- Pandangan proaktif dalam rancangan kerja adalah sutu pendekatan untuk
merancang pekerjaan di mana karyawan mengambil inisiatif untuk mengubah cara
kerja yang mereka lakukan.
○ Kelebihan dari pendekatan ini :
a. Para karyawan dapat bekerja dengan waktu yang lebih fleksibel dan
melakukan apa yang mereka inginkan
○ Kekurangan dari pendekatan ini :
a. Apabila semua karyawan bekerja dengan santai, akan membuat karyawan
menjadi malas sehingga pekerjaan tidak dapat diselesaikan tepat waktu
(tidak efisien)

2. - Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

- Three-Needs Theory (McClelland)
Karena sistem kerja Volvo memberikan kebebasan dan kenyamanan dalam bekerja.
Mereka dapat memilih waktu sendiri untuk memenuhi kebutuhan mereka. Tentunya
karena adanya kebebasan yang dilakukan pihak perusahaan maka para karyawannya
juga bekerja dengan baik sehingga dapat terus semakin meningkatkan penjulan dan
 produktiitas kerja mereka semakin meningkat. Jadi, kami menyimpulkan bahwa
Volvo memberikan motivasi yang setara seperti kedua teori motivasi di atas.

3. Tantangan manager dalam memotivasi karyawan seperti keadaan ini adalah tidak bisa
mengontrol langsung kinerja para karyawan, karyawan merasa bebas sehingga
pekerjaan tidak dapat diselesaikan tepat waktu

4. Bagi para karyawan keadaan seperti ini akan merasa nyaman dan fleksibel tetapi tidak
begitu efisien. Karena karyawan dapat bekerja seperti apa yang mereka mau dan
kapanpun yang mereka mau tetapi ini bukan hal yang tepat untuk memotivasi kinerja
karyawan bila karyawan benar – benar merasa bebas dalam melakukan pekerjaannya.

5. Setuju, karena pekerjaan bukan hanya tempat semata melainkan apa yang kita
kerjakan dan kita lakukan. Tanpa kita lakukan maka itu tidak dapat disebut sebagai
pekerjaan. Selain itu, pekerjaan harus kita selesaikan bukan semata hanya kita pergi
ke tempat kerja.