Research Paper on:
Management Practices of the Ford Corporation

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
paradigms. Fordism had been a system of production which enables a manufacturer to make products, on a large scale, for mass marketing purposes (McLeish 409). This is carried out through  assembly line workers who are tied to their own specific duties and have no need to move about the plant (409). This, both figuratively and literally, keeps the worker in  his place. The term was coined for a method introduced by Henry Ford who used it in assembling automobiles. Obviously, an automobile plant would be the best example to  illustrate this theory. Fordism, as expressed by Alain Lipietz, is the combination of industrial productivity and high mass-consumption principles (Lipietz 17). The crisis of Fordism is essentially a crisis of  the labor process, because it dehumanizes the worker, and ends up being inefficient, even from the employers point of view(17). While it is easy to equate Fordism with the  Ford Corporation, Ford is by no means what it started out to be. Rather, it is an innovative company that values its employees. Yet, Ford has a lot of baggage.  It is alone blamed for the alienation of the American automobile worker, because it has essentially created the management model. Thus, an examination of organizational policies and external influences are  in order. What has happened to Ford? How did it change and emerge as a modern day company? II. Organizational Policies and External Forces The Ford Motor Company  is headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan and is presently the worlds largest truck maker; it is second only to General Motors as an overall auto manufacturer ("Ford" PG). Henry Ford  started the company in 1903 and in 1908 introduced the Model T (PG). By 1920, approximately 60% of all cars on the road were manufactured by the company (PG). It