[mazuhl]

They never really solved the 'alienation' problem. Nothing changed about people's jobs, they were just working in the factory for 'The Good of the People' rather than 'Faceless MegaCorp'.

Where I work (medium-sized mail-order clothing company) almost all roles would be better if they were balanced job complexes[1]. People packing orders would benefit from dealing with customers directly, customer services would benefit from actually shipping orders, designers would benefit from seeing feedback from customers directly, etc. Giving people a larger view of the business would benefit the company and those employees (most efficiency/service breakthroughs have come someone changing teams).

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_job_complex