`Someone to Watch Over Me': Surveillance, Discipline and the Just-in-Time Labour Process

Abstract

Theory and observations are used to argue that JIT/TQC regimes both create and demand systems of surveillance which improve on those of previous factory regimes by instilling discipline and thereby enhancing central control. For its theoretical inspiration this paper draws upon the work of Michel Foucault, especially his conception of Power/Knowledge as articulated in his book Discipline and Punish. This theoretical framework is extended to provide a means of analysis of the mechanisms of surveillance and control that operate in the contemporary work place. While there is a sense in which tactical responsibility is delegated in an organisation practising JIT/TQM, strategic control is simultaneously centralised - a form of devolutionism. Drawing on the work of Foucault we will argue that the JIT/TQM approach is both enabled and enhanced by the operation of two complementary disciplinary forces. The first of these is the discipline which derives from the scrutiny of one's peers in a manufacturing cell, quality circle, etc. - a horizontal process which is supported by the organisational structure associated with JIT/TQM. The second and key disciplinary force is that which derives from the use of increasingly powerful management information systems which provide extensive shop floor surveillance - a vertical process which provides an over-arching controlling mechanism. We demonstrate that the surveillance systems integral to JIT/TQM are deliberately designed such that discipline is established in a most efficient manner and the exercise of minute control is possible with a minimum of supervisors. The desired effect of harnessing these dual forces is to minimise negative divergences from expected behaviour and management defined norms whilst identifying positive divergencies and maximising their creative potential.

Technological Frame Incongruence, Diffusion, and Noncompliance

“…Culture and control issues are recorded in other case studies, in particular, studies call centers where the perception is that workforces are closely monitored (Bain and Taylor 2000;Callaghan and Thompson 2001;Lankshear et al 2001;Sewell and Wilkinson 1992). It may be that all workplaces ignore this type of behavior up to a point to allow some breathing space, but within this case study there was a definite management attitude of "as long as we get our data…" and the reflection of actuality was not considered important or perhaps too difficult to confront.…”

Novas Modulações do Controle Organizacional: um Estudo de Caso

“…O controle concertivo (Barker, 1993) ou normativo (Barley, & Kunda, 1992), exercido de modo mais ou menos consensual pelos membros de um grupo, constitui uma vigilância entre iguais (Sewell, 1998) por meio do exercício do "olhar panóptico" (Sewell, & Wilkinson, 1992) que garante a autoadministração. Boltanski e Chiapello (1999) denominaram de controle mercantil a dependência gerada diretamente por um cliente.…”

Michel Foucault and the Administering of Lives

“…In the early years of the reception of Foucault in organization studies, much emphasis was placed on Foucault's relevance for the study of mechanisms of surveillance and discipline in the post-Fordist organization: the rise of computer-based monitoring, the use of closed-circuit television cameras, and the just-in-time labour process (see in particular Sewell & Wilkinson, 1992; but see also Burrell, 1988;andTownley 1993, 1994), as well as the effects of management knowledge on the constitution of the employee (Jacques, 1996). Barbara Townley, a colleague of Gibson Burrell at Warwick, before moving to the University of Alberta in the early 1990s (see Carter, 2008: 19), applied Foucault's work very fruitfully to the study of human resource management (HRM) (Townley, 1993(Townley, , 1994).…”

“…In so doing, Knights and Willmott sought to shift attention away from structuralist and Marxist debates in organizational sociology (see also Clegg, 1989). In a similar move, Sewell and Wilkinson used Foucault to show that just-in-time and total quality control (TQM) regimes both create and demand systems of surveillance to instil discipline (Sewell & Wilkinson, 1992: 271; see also the works by Knights & McCabe on TQM, e.g. Knights & McCabe, 1998).…”