For three years, journalists Joseph and Suzy Fucini closely observed the interactions between American managers and workers and their top Japanese bosses at a new state-of-the-art Mazda auto plant in Michigan. They found that for all its strengths, the team system requires sacrifice of individual interests to the good of the group, and that no matter how hard an individual tries to become Japanese, advancement, for both managers and workers alike, will be limited by the fact that they are not Japanese.
For three years, journalists Joseph and Suzy Fucini closely observed the interactions between American managers and workers and their top Japanese bos...