Evading Surveillance and Making Time: an Ethnographic View of the Japanese Factory Floor in Britain

A core element of the debate surrounding Japanese manufacturing transplants is the capacity of management to suppress employee resistance. This paper reports a study based on an eight‐week period of participant observation of a particular form of resistance, fiddles. It argues that the opportunity for fiddling stems from the organization’s inability to control its buyer–supplier relationships, temperamental technology, and the ability of workers to manipulate standard operating procedures. Moreover, it suggests that fiddles operate mainly with the consent of supervisors, and ultimately are not in conflict with interests of management as they contribute to production targets.