Labouring under an illusion? The labour process of software development in the Australian information industry

Abstract

In this paper a case study of a small firm engaged in producing packaged software in the Australian 'information industry' is conducted in order to shed light on the nature of control over the labour process of software development. It is shown that the interplay of human agency and structural forces means employees are largely unaware of the exercise of control over their work.

‘The future’s bright, the future’s mobile’: a study of Apple and Google mobile application developers

“…Over the last decade or so, the IT workforce has been confronted with considerable turmoil including the burst of the dot.com bubble, the offshoring of software work, to a more general thinning out of the industry. Although regulatory contexts differ, sectoral transformation has resulted in a bifurcation with large firms consolidating their position as the proportion of small firms increases, confirmed by studies in Australia (Barrett 2001), Holland (Gill 2007), Sweden (Sandberg et al 2007), the UK (Marks and Huzzard 2010), and the US (Batt et al 2001).…”

“You Feel The Threat From Asia”. Onshore Experiences of IT Offshoring To India

“…Aneesh (2001) and Barrett (2001) declare in a similar vein that the development of structured programming and object-oriented languages that allow for modular programming, and the use of software engineering tools, have led to the emergence of 'software factories' or 'assembly lines' for software development (cf. also Upadhya and Vasavi 2008).…”

Teleworkflow: supporting remote control with Workflow Management Systems

“…Another call centre study finds that strain caused by electronic surveillance can be reduced by introducing an additional (limited) amount of employee autonomy (labelled ‘personal control’ in this study) (Varca, 2006). Finally, Barrett (2001) finds that an Australian software development firm applies a ‘hybrid strategy’ of direct control (mostly output appraisal) and autonomy, fitting the very specific characteristics of this industry.…”