Why do operators behave irresponsibly? Why is there so much apathy, frustration, fear, and mistrust on the production line? Why do paradoxes exist on the shop floor? < > < >In his book, Verkerk investigates the shop floor processes of modern factories. Two ethnographical case studies are presented from the perspective of a factory manager. He asks many important questions. Are we making the right observations? Why are new production concepts failing in modern factories? Are we overlooking the fundamental characteristics of industrial organisations? Are we ignoring the meaning of labour? < > < >Verkerk approaches these questions from different perspectives: ethnography, organisational design theory, and philosophy. He shows that high-trust and high-power relations between management and employees are the basic conditions for responsible, accountable, and successful organisations. In an engaging philosophical argument, he develops an ethics of responsibility combining the ideas of
