| This dissertation sought to answer the following question: Is there a relationship between the appropriateness of the decisions management makes regarding the skill level of operational employees in Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) installations and adoption success? Field studies were conducted to collect the data from both manufacturing and human resource managers. The data was analyzed using both statistical and visual approaches.; The key result of the analysis is that there is no evidence that highly skilled employees are a prerequisite for AMT adoption success. The data set contains a number of AMT installations which are both highly successful and using very low skilled employees. In addition the analysis suggests that fitting skills to; the manufacturing environment, the level of managerial discretion over the workforce, and the uncertainty of the external environment, may increase the level of adoption success. |
