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Control and inequality at work: variations, processes, and implications for worker well-being

Crowley, Martha L
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1149881563

Abstract Details

2006, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Sociology.
Decades of theory on the labor process have highlighted the influence of surveillance, technology, and bureaucracy as forms of workplace control. Research on the topic has underscored the influence of top-down controls, such as direct supervision, automation, task segmentation, and rules, along with more cooperative techniques, including career ladders and worker input, intended to elicit voluntary effort. Implications for workers, however, have received comparably less attention – particularly when it comes to unique combinations of control that permeate given workplaces. This study examines the implications of worker control techniques, and of their combined presence/absence, for worker outcomes relating to alienation, consent and resistance. Analyses draw from quantitative data on 141 work groups culled from the population of English-language workplace ethnographies. First, I use logistic regression to analyze the effects of each of the six dominant control techniques for worker outcomes. Second, I use Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to identify unique configurations of control within the workplaces represented in the data, and explore the consequences for worker well-being and behaviors. Finally, analyses highlight whether the nature of workplace control and worker well-being varies systematically by the social class, gender and race character of workplaces and work groups. Results largely conform to expectations – demonstrating significant inequality in the experience of production, and substantial variation in the use of workplace controls depending on the population of workers being examined. Most generally, top-down control techniques tend to impair worker well-being, prompting a sense of alienation and withdrawal of consent, and increasing the likelihood of worker resistance. Notably, cooperative control techniques have reverse and quite beneficial effects for both work organizations and workers themselves. Configurational analyses, drawing from QCA, elaborate on these patterns, suggesting that unique combinations of controls implemented in particular workplaces matter for workers above and beyond the singular influence of any one given control form. Coercive configurations (primarily top-down and/or non-cooperative) are detrimental for workers, while those that are persuasive are remarkably beneficial. Notable in the last portion of my analyses are the significant variations in control configurations by the social class, gender and racial composition of work groups. Coercive configurations are far more prevalent among lower-status and predominantly-female work groups compared to professionals and predominantly-male work groups. Moreover, persuasive configurations among work groups in lower-status, primarily-female, and disproportionately-minority work groups are less uniformly beneficial for worker well-being relative to those among comparatively advantaged work groups. I conclude with the implications of my theoretical development and configurational analyses for sociological understandings of employment-related inequality. I also discuss avenues for inductive reasoning regarding how control is structured, how status influences the process of control on the shop floor, and how external status shapes workers’ interpretations of, and responses to, these processes.
Vincent Roscigno (Advisor)
299 p.
work; employment; organization; alienation; resistance; labor process; worker control

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Crowley, M. L. (2006). Control and inequality at work: variations, processes, and implications for worker well-being [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1149881563

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Crowley, Martha. Control and inequality at work: variations, processes, and implications for worker well-being. 2006. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1149881563.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Crowley, Martha. "Control and inequality at work: variations, processes, and implications for worker well-being." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1149881563

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.