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Powerful Times: Flexible Discipline and Schedule Gifts at Work

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  • Alex J Wood

Abstract

This article uses two ethnographic retail case studies to investigate contemporary workplace control. The findings highlight how flexible scheduling has serious consequences for workers and causes insecurity. This provides managers with a powerful and unaccountable mechanism for securing control. The benefits for managers of using flexible scheduling to secure control are shown to be its ambiguity and flexibility. Moreover, flexible scheduling creates an environment where workers must continually strive to maintain managers’ favour. Little evidence is found to suggest that this control is aided by work games obscuring workplace relations. Flexible scheduling does, however, enable misrecognition of workplace relations due to the schedule gifts which it entails. Schedule gifts act to bind workers to managers’ interests through feelings of gratitude and moral obligation.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:32:y:2018:i:6:p:1061-1077
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017017719839
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hans De Witte & Nele De Cuyper & Yasmin Handaja & Magnus Sverke & Katharina Näswall & Johnny Hellgren, 2010. "Associations Between Quantitative and Qualitative Job Insecurity and Well-Being," International Studies of Management & Organization, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(1), pages 40-56, January.
    2. Mark Granovetter, 2005. "The Impact of Social Structure on Economic Outcomes," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 33-50, Winter.
    3. 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.
    4. Robin Price, 2016. "Controlling routine front line service workers: an Australian retail supermarket case," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 30(6), pages 915-931, December.
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