The Discipline of Teams: The Control of Team-Based Industrial Work through Electronic and Peer Surveillance

This article proposes a new model of industrial labor process control that maintains discipline under conditions of teamwork. The model draws on theoretical and empirical studies to examine how work monitoring undertaken using management information systems interacts with the peer-group scrutiny tha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Administrative science quarterly 1998-06, Vol.43 (2), p.397-428
Main Author: Sewell, Graham
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Administrative control
Administrative science
Control
Discipline
Efficiency
Empowerment
Groups
Human resource management
Industry
Information technology
Job performance standards
Labor
Labor process theory
Labour
Management
Normative discourse
Normativity
Organization theory
Organizational behavior
Peer groups
Peer review
Power
Process controls
Productivity
Resistance to control
Skills
Social control
Surveillance
Surveillance equipment
Teamwork
Work
Workers
Working conditions
Workplaces
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Description
Summary:This article proposes a new model of industrial labor process control that maintains discipline under conditions of teamwork. The model draws on theoretical and empirical studies to examine how work monitoring undertaken using management information systems interacts with the peer-group scrutiny that goes on in teams. These represent "vertical" and "horizontal" forms of surveillance, respectively, creating the conditions for a hybrid or "chimerical" mode of workplace control to operate. The article concludes by assessing the practical and theoretical implications that the model holds for further studies of the labor process.
ISSN:0001-8392
1930-3815
DOI:10.2307/2393857