Abstract
As firms increasingly rely on temporary clerical workers, previous control mechanisms centered in the workplace no longer are sufficient to maintain labor discipline and ensure production quality and uniformity. Through participant observation of four temporary help service firms and two placement sites, this case study reveals forms of control that differ from those in place at more commonly studied manufacturing enterprises. Temporary help service firms have developed a dualistic form of control that operates on two levels: (1) a decentralized level, whereby the temporary help service firm indirectly controls workers; and (2) a bureaucratic level, whereby the temporary help service firm rationalizes jobs in the organization's hierarchy by delimiting a set of tasks, competencies, and responsibilities.
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Gottfried, H. Mechanisms of control in the temporary help service industry. Sociol Forum 6, 699–713 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01114408
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01114408