“Self as enterprise”: overmarketization and the self-management of R&D engineers

Abstract

This article analyzes the self-enterprising mechanism of research & development (R&D) engineers based on a case study of labor control in a high-tech company. The concept of “self as enterprise” refers to the form of labor control by allowing workers to self-manage according to the market principle. It is neither a form of normative control built upon accepting and internalizing market-oriented values nor responsible autonomy aiming to enhance workers' organizational commitment. R&D engineers' reproduction of current living standards depends heavily on performance-based salaries, which forces them to pragmatically comply with market rules. When both the reproduction of labor and the labor market have been overmarketized, R&D engineers are at high risk of downgrading their living standards and facing double job insecurity. Therefore, they must manage their work and life in an enterprising way to maximize labor value and prevent it from being devalued.

Recoupling Corporate Culture with New Political Discourse in China’s Platform Economy: The Case of Alibaba

“…The Chinese high-tech industry shares similarities with its US counterpart in terms of long working hours, high volatility of jobs and skills, and its revolutionary effects on work organisations (Liang, 2016(Liang, , 2019Yan, 2020). The legendary commercial successes of Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent have not only created economic prosperity, but also motivated tens of thousands to pursue their 'entrepreneurial dreams' in the Internet economy (Li, 2019).…”

Managerial Technique and Worker Subjectivity in Dialogue: Understanding Overwork in China’s Internet Industry

“…Despite its insights, it risks a static theorisation of management strategies in the changing historical context when labour mobility plays a more prominent role. Existing literature has pointed out that the volatility of jobs and increasing labour mobility in the IT sector manifest managerial attempts in achieving flexibility in employment relationships (Benner, 2002;Kunda and Barley, 2004;Yan, 2020). However, the consequent increasing indeterminacy of labour mobility imposes a new challenge for management inside one firm.…”

“…From the self-as-property perspective, workers considered overwork a way of maximising their labour value, namely, maximising the monetary gains of selling their labour power, in a limited period of time. Considering the high volatility of jobs and skills in the IT sector (Benner, 2002) and the ruthless competition in the labour market, workers tried to maximise their monetary gains in their shortened employable time (Yan, 2020). Several interviewees made it explicit that their only motivation for coming to work was the wage while acknowledging that they were disposable any time for the firm.…”

“…Like its US counterpart, Internet companies in China emphasise flexibility in employment relationships, as illustrated by rounds of layoffs in Internet giants (Li, 2019). The labour market is characterised by the high mobility of workers across firms (Xia, 2018; Yan, 2020). Against this background, the article turns to organisational processes of how management organises overwork in China’s Internet sector.…”

“…With the high labour mobility, the dominant normative discourse of labour control has become the Foucauldian concept of ‘self-as-enterprise’ (Wang and Yang, 2019; Yan, 2020). Under the discourse, a plethora of Chinese workers are self-motivated to be active participants in the overworking Internet sector.…”