How do employees perceive their organization and job when companies adopt principles of lean production?

The concept of lean production originally emerged in the beginning of the 1990s in the automobile industry, but its principles were adopted in other industries as well. According to the literature, the principles of lean production are controversial from the point of view of human well being. This study examined: 1) the extent to which lean production and related technologies were adopted in four Finnish manufacturing companies; 2) the way different occupational groups experienced their organization and work when principles of lean production had been implemented; and 3) which factors in the organization and change processes were associated with the employees' positive or negative perceptions of production, job satisfaction, and stress.