Human Behavior on the Development of Group Technology: A Study in Sri Lankan Apparel Industry

Greater attention was paid to the increasing need of organizations for alternate process solutions to integrate the efficiency of product flow layouts with the flexibility of functional layouts. The solution, at least for some organizations, is group technology (GT). Much GT studies focused on the technical concerns involved in transforming functionally segregated operations into integrated multifunctional cells. However, it is proposed that a complementary connection between technical and human behaviour is required to ensure the optimization of GT implementations. In that regard, the present research was primarily conducted to study the effect of human behaviour on the implementation of the GT, especially referring to the apparel industry in Sri Lanka, where the GT was introduced as a key strategy for process improvement initiatives to reduce the burning issue of longer lead time. In addition, the study aims to explore the key factors for implementing the GT and the perceived benefits that can be obtained from the implementation of GT. A selection of 70 executives from the sewing departments of garment manufacturing organizations where the GT concept was applied, was chosen on the basis of a judgmental sampling technique. The questionnaire was the primary research instrument. Findings have shown that high inventory storage, high lead time, quality problems and, as well as dissatisfaction among staff, are the serious manufacturing issues that contributed to the implementation of GT. Furthermore, the potential advantages of using GT include improved productivity of employees, skills of workers, flexibility, on time delivery, and product quality, while decreasing lead time, inventory level, set up time, throughput time, and production and quality control cost. Employee resistance to change has been shown to have the greatest detrimental effect on the implementation of the GT.