IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v37y2023i6p1443-1461.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Manufacturing Managerial Compliance: How Firms Align Managers with Corporate Interest

Author

Listed:
  • Devika Narayan

Abstract

Although the domain of labour process research is vast, few studies analyse compliance among managers. This article advances a neglected strand of analysis, focusing on how firms shape managerial actions. Organizational goals, such as downsizing, intensification, and reskilling, demand that professional managers cooperate and act in accordance with firm objectives, at times even at personal cost to themselves. To theorize this, I use the case of information technology (IT) firms in India that recently shed a large number of managerial jobs, fostering an environment of insecurity. Those who lost their jobs were positioned between lower-level employees and top management. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork, I contribute a two-part framing that theorizes the dualities of the managerial subject position and how it is instrumentalized. The article foregrounds the intersection of managerial insecurity and managerial hierarchy, emphasizing how firms utilize these to meet organizational goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Devika Narayan, 2023. "Manufacturing Managerial Compliance: How Firms Align Managers with Corporate Interest," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(6), pages 1443-1461, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:37:y:2023:i:6:p:1443-1461
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170221083109
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09500170221083109
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09500170221083109?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Thompson & Diane van den Broek, 2010. "Managerial control and workplace regimes: an introduction," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 24(3), pages 1-12, September.
    2. Richard Whittington, 1992. "Putting Giddens Into Action: Social Systems And Managerial Agency," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 693-712, November.
    3. Leo McCann & Jonathan Morris & John Hassard, 2008. "Normalized Intensity: The New Labour Process of Middle Management," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 343-371, March.
    4. Tom Redman & Adrian Wilkinson & Ed Snape, 1997. "Stuck in the Middle? Managers in Building Societies," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 11(1), pages 101-114, March.
    5. Craig R. Littler & Retha Wiesner & Richard Dunford, 2003. "The Dynamics of Delayering: Changing Management Structures in Three Countries," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 225-256, March.
    6. Michael Burawoy & Erik Olin Wright, 1990. "Coercion and Consent in Contested Exchange," Politics & Society, , vol. 18(2), pages 251-266, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leo McCann & John Hassard & Jonathan Morris, 2010. "Restructuring Managerial Labour in the USA, the UK and Japan: Challenging the Salience of ‘Varieties of Capitalism’," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(2), pages 347-374, June.
    2. Kuhn, Dieter, 2011. "Delayering and Firm Performance: Evidence from Swiss firm-level Data," Working papers 2011/02, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    3. Juliet McMahon & Michelle O’Sullivan & Sarah MacCurtain & Caroline Murphy & Lorraine Ryan, 2021. "“It’s Not Us, It’s You!”: Extending Managerial Control through Coercion and Internalisation in the Context of Workplace Bullying amongst Nurses in Ireland," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, June.
    4. Barrett, Michael & Cooper, David J. & Jamal, Karim, 2005. "Globalization and the coordinating of work in multinational audits," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 1-24, January.
    5. Elena Baglioni, 2022. "The Making of Cheap Labour across Production and Reproduction: Control and Resistance in the Senegalese Horticultural Value Chain," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(3), pages 445-464, June.
    6. Alex Veen & Tom Barratt & Caleb Goods, 2020. "Platform-Capital’s ‘App-etite’ for Control: A Labour Process Analysis of Food-Delivery Work in Australia," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(3), pages 388-406, June.
    7. Dragoș Adăscăliței & Jason Heyes & Pedro Mendonça, 2022. "The intensification of work in Europe: A multilevel analysis," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(2), pages 324-347, June.
    8. John T. Steen & Peter W. Liesch, 2007. "A note on Penrosean growth, resource bundles and the Uppsala model of internationalisation," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 193-206, March.
    9. Elbasha, Tamim & Avetisyan, Emma, 2018. "A framework to study strategizing activities at the field level: The example of CSR rating agencies," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 38-46.
    10. Spencer, David A, 2000. "The Demise of Radical Political Economics? An Essay on the Evolution of a Theory of Capitalist Production," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 24(5), pages 543-564, September.
    11. van Dalen, H.P. & Henkens, K., 2015. "Why Demotion of Older Workers is a No-Go Area for Managers," Other publications TiSEM cef69d5e-bcc2-4082-b9fa-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    12. Simon Schaupp, 2022. "Algorithmic Integration and Precarious (Dis)Obedience: On the Co-Constitution of Migration Regime and Workplace Regime in Digitalised Manufacturing and Logistics," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(2), pages 310-327, April.
    13. Alex J Wood, 2018. "Powerful Times: Flexible Discipline and Schedule Gifts at Work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 32(6), pages 1061-1077, December.
    14. Pina e Cunha, Miguel & Campos e Cunha, Rita, 2003. "The interplay of planned and emergent change in Cuba," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 445-459, August.
    15. Bitsch, Vera & Yakura, Elaine K., 2007. "Middle Management in Agriculture: Roles, Functions, and Practices," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 10(2), pages 1-28.
    16. Chiasson, Mike & Saunders, Chad, 2005. "Reconciling diverse approaches to opportunity research using the structuration theory," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 747-767, November.
    17. Gift Dafuleya, 2014. "Social Value Creation and Institution-Entrepreneurial Dynamics in a Three Sector Economy," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 6(10), pages 795-809.
    18. Aura Parmentier Cajaiba & Giovany Cajaiba Santana, 2014. "Routines and Networks: Strengthening a Missed Link," GREDEG Working Papers 2014-41, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    19. McKeever, Edward & Jack, Sarah & Anderson, Alistair, 2015. "Embedded entrepreneurship in the creative re-construction of place," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 50-65.
    20. De Fraja, Gianni, 2004. "Hierarchies in organisations and labour market competition," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(6), pages 669-686, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:37:y:2023:i:6:p:1443-1461. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.