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Management and the control of technical labour

Management and the control of technical labour
Management and the control of technical labour
This paper addresses the issues involved in the management of professional employees through an examination of the management of professional engineers in a sample of electronics companies. It is argued that a measure of evaluation and control is secured through the development of organisational positions which combine elements of both technical and managerial work and through the operation of personalised systems of reward. The potentially demotivating effects of hierarchical structures of control are moderated by forms of work organisation which blur the distinction between employees and management, and by the development of managerial philosophies which stress a commonality of identity uniting those at different levels of the organisational hierarchy. The development of such philosophies is related to the nature of professional organisation within engineering and to the male-dominated nature of the work environment. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of the applicability of this analysis to the study of the management of professional employees more generally.
105-123
Causer, Gordon
86433890-5fa7-416b-8cf6-e22a44b6761d
Jones, Carol
d5180b08-9d6a-49cc-a665-4e6b85da0cad
Causer, Gordon
86433890-5fa7-416b-8cf6-e22a44b6761d
Jones, Carol
d5180b08-9d6a-49cc-a665-4e6b85da0cad

Causer, Gordon and Jones, Carol (1996) Management and the control of technical labour. Work, Employment and Society, 10 (1), 105-123. (doi:10.1177/0950017096101005).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper addresses the issues involved in the management of professional employees through an examination of the management of professional engineers in a sample of electronics companies. It is argued that a measure of evaluation and control is secured through the development of organisational positions which combine elements of both technical and managerial work and through the operation of personalised systems of reward. The potentially demotivating effects of hierarchical structures of control are moderated by forms of work organisation which blur the distinction between employees and management, and by the development of managerial philosophies which stress a commonality of identity uniting those at different levels of the organisational hierarchy. The development of such philosophies is related to the nature of professional organisation within engineering and to the male-dominated nature of the work environment. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of the applicability of this analysis to the study of the management of professional employees more generally.

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Published date: 1996

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 33822
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/33822
PURE UUID: a9a27ea0-a23b-4e6e-bb7f-9344cc5a9421

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Date deposited: 07 Dec 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 07:45

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Contributors

Author: Gordon Causer
Author: Carol Jones

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