Topeka Pride Film Clips

A 30-minute documentary highlighting the self-directed work team system

In 1971, General Foods Corporation built a state-of-the-art pet food plant in Topeka, Kansas. Little did they know that this plant would become legendary as one of North America's birthplaces for the "team concept" of work.  Despite numerous changes in corporate owners, and a well-publicized suspicion of  head-office "indifference" and "hostility" from the original parent company, the system survived.

The Topeka work system, designed by a plant task force with consultant support, eliminates layers of management and supervisory personnel and assigns three areas of responsibility to self-managing teams of workers: processing, packaging and shipping, and office duties. It is a "whole  system" model that has benefited from stable and highly dedicated plant management. Twenty years after start-up of this "North American experiment" the documentary shows the extraordinary high level of commitment and performance that is "Topeka Pride."

What impresses us about this classic video is that the insights discussed by management and workers alike are pivotal to the success of any team-based work system.

We would suggest that this video be used when starting up new self-directed or high-performance work team systems. It can also be used to re-energize or renew existing team systems.

Check out our article entitled Management Bites Dog Food Factory that tells the entire Topeka story.

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Produced 1991 by Blue Sky Productions, Inc.