Disaggregating and reaggregating work: Workers, management and the struggle over creating coherency and purpose in a context of work degradation

McBride, Jo; Lucio, Miguel Martínez

doi:10.1111/1748-8583.12118

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The current trends in organizational designs foster flat hierarchies and so‐called self‐managing organizations. These ‘changes of work’ (McBride & Martínez Lucio, 2016; Rubery, 2015) are accompanied by purpose‐driven working behaviors and new forms of leadership (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). Lee and Edmondson (2017) undertook the first attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of self‐managing organizations and presented the three features of the definition of self‐managing organizations.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These developments motivate companies to change their way of organizing work by changing the organizational design, reducing hierarchy and, thus, becoming more agile. ‘Changes of work’ (McBride & Martínez Lucio, 2016) are accompanied by purpose‐driven working behaviors and new forms of leadership. A new form of organization is Holacracy, which is a self‐managing organizational design with flat hierarchies, purpose‐driven actions and high requirements for self‐leadership (Amundsen & Martinsen, 2015; Dinh et al, 2014; Lee & Edmondson, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Change the way of working. Ways into self‐organization with the use of Holacracy: An empirical investigation

Schell

Bischof²

2021

European Management Review

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Holacracy, a self‐managing design for organizations, uses the radical decentralization of authority and a lack of a manager‐subordinate relationship. It differs significantly from traditional organizational forms, and in particular, the transformation of the organization from a traditional to a holacratic system brings with it various challenges, especially for employees and teams that need to be resolved, so organizations can realize their potential. This study uses an explorative case study design with 43 qualitative interviews in Swiss holacratic organizations to gain deeper insights into the organizational system itself and especially the path into the holacratic system. We conclude by presenting an overarching model and identifying four different ways to handle the change into the self‐managing organizational design.

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Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change the way of working. Ways into self‐organization with the use of Holacracy: An empirical investigation

Schell

Bischof²

2021

European Management Review

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“…The challenges faced by cleaners are compounded by neoliberal policies which promote outsourcing as a strategy to achieve cost-effectiveness and workforce flexibility (McBride and Martínez Lucio, 2016). Apart from precarity (Holley and Rainnie, 2012; Tomic et al, 2006), outsourcing leads to work intensification with tight managerial controls, heavy workload, unsocial hours, and low pay (Campbell and Peeters, 2008; Herod and Aguiar, 2006; Munro, 2012).…”

Section: The Low-prestige Dirty Occupation Of Cleaningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identity work at the intersection of dirty work, caste, and precarity: How Indian cleaners negotiate stigma

Mendonca

D’Cruz²,

Noronha

2022

Organization

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Drawing from in-depth interviews of cleaners employed in the cleaning industry in India, the study examines the ongoing process of constructing a positive identity among dirty workers. Cleaners respond to the intense identity struggles emerging from caste stigma, dirty taint, and precarity by constructing ambivalent identities. Cleaners’ identity work is constituted by the very identity struggles they encounter, and their efforts to negotiate stigmatized identities further create identity tensions. Apart from accenting the paradoxical duality inhered in identity work, the findings show how caste/class inequalities are reworked in a neoliberal milieu and reproduced in identity construction processes. The findings call attention to caste as an important social category in organizational studies that has implications for work identities, dirty work, and precarious work.

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“…The ongoing changes of flexibilisation driven by the shift into a globalised post-industrial, 24/7-economy, in tandem with a neoliberal drive towards deregulation and de-collectivisation (Rubery, 2015) and increased financialisation at the expense of working conditions (Kalleberg, 2011), have led to more employees being ‘spread thin’ in the service industries, in order to save on labour costs. One example is the study of cleaning work (McBride and Martínez Lucio, 2016), where staff reductions have led to cleaners in various sectors working mainly alone at inconvenient hours, with very little interaction both between co-workers and with managers. Paradoxically, this means that as processes of globalisation and digitalisation offers opportunities for increased interactions and communication, there are simultaneous flexibilisation processes that seem to increase the isolation experienced by workers in very different jobs.…”

Section: Flexibilisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alone at work: Isolation, competition and co-dependency in flexibilised retail

Arman

Gillberg

Norbäck

2019

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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Previous studies of flexibilisation through employer-controlled flexible scheduling and off-site isolated work have shown how such practices have detrimental effects on workers’ wellbeing. This qualitative study, set in Swedish retail, adds to previous findings by showing how flexible scheduling practices that include irregular variation of work hours and headcount have consequences also for worker interaction in the workplace. Even on-site work can be experienced as isolating if workers are ‘spread too thin’ in efforts to reduce labour costs. Set in two different retail settings, the study demonstrates and discusses how inter-employee competition and co-dependency are created, respectively. The authors also discuss how the flexibilisation described in this study reduced possibilities for face-to-face meetings and communication between co-workers, between workers and managers, and between workers and union representatives. Finally, it is discussed how the kind of flexibilisation described in this study coincides with defeatism and barriers to collective voice as well as action.

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Disaggregating and reaggregating work: Workers, management and the struggle over creating coherency and purpose in a context of work degradation

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

Change the way of working. Ways into self‐organization with the use of Holacracy: An empirical investigation

Change the way of working. Ways into self‐organization with the use of Holacracy: An empirical investigation

Identity work at the intersection of dirty work, caste, and precarity: How Indian cleaners negotiate stigma

Alone at work: Isolation, competition and co-dependency in flexibilised retail

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