Revisiting the use and effectiveness of modern management practices

A survey of UK manufacturing companies in 1996 (Waterson et al., 1999) found modest levels of use and success of modern management practices, such as total quality management, just-in-time, teamworking, and empowerment. However, the large majority of companies planned increased use of the practices. In this paper we report the results of a follow-up survey conducted 4 years later. The aim was to assess whether the use of these practices had indeed increased within manufacturing by revisiting a sample of firms from the original study. In addition, data were collected from a sample of service companies to assess the extent to which the practices extend beyond manufacturing. The findings show that both the use and success of the modern management practices in manufacturing companies increased substantially between 1996 and 2000, and the practices are not limited to manufacturing. Service companies made equal use of total quality management and human resource practices, though they made less use of operational practices such as just-in-time. There are only minor differences between sectors in the reported success of the practices, with manufacturing companies tending to report greater success with operational practices.