When algorithmic management was new: Engineered standards and the managerial prerogative in Australia
In this article we analyse the significance for critical logistics studies of a neglected chapter in industrial relations history, the introduction of so-called ‘Engineered Standards’ into the Australian food and groceries sector in the late 1980s and early 1990s. We argue that this episode was deci...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Pluto Journals
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation |
| Online Access: | https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0008 |
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| author | Christopher O’Neill Lauren Kelly Jake Goldenfein Thao Phan Jathan Sadowski |
| author_facet | Christopher O’Neill Lauren Kelly Jake Goldenfein Thao Phan Jathan Sadowski |
| author_sort | Christopher O’Neill |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this article we analyse the significance for critical logistics studies of a neglected chapter in industrial relations history, the introduction of so-called ‘Engineered Standards’ into the Australian food and groceries sector in the late 1980s and early 1990s. We argue that this episode was decisive in establishing the conditions which have allowed algorithmic management to flourish in Australia in more recent years. We argue for the significance of this episode as responding to a crisis in the corporatist organisation of Australian industrial relations during the neo-liberal ‘Accord’ era. Engineered Standards, we argue, constituted a decisive ‘break’ within Australian logistics, establishing a new technical, managerial, and discursive order. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2f6a3886d8574c0f9fe2ea7e6dcf1e05 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1745-641X 1745-6428 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Pluto Journals |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation |
| spelling | doaj-art-2f6a3886d8574c0f9fe2ea7e6dcf1e052025-08-20T03:31:10ZengPluto JournalsWork Organisation, Labour and Globalisation1745-641X1745-64282025-05-0119224426010.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0008When algorithmic management was new: Engineered standards and the managerial prerogative in AustraliaChristopher O’NeillLauren KellyJake GoldenfeinThao PhanJathan SadowskiIn this article we analyse the significance for critical logistics studies of a neglected chapter in industrial relations history, the introduction of so-called ‘Engineered Standards’ into the Australian food and groceries sector in the late 1980s and early 1990s. We argue that this episode was decisive in establishing the conditions which have allowed algorithmic management to flourish in Australia in more recent years. We argue for the significance of this episode as responding to a crisis in the corporatist organisation of Australian industrial relations during the neo-liberal ‘Accord’ era. Engineered Standards, we argue, constituted a decisive ‘break’ within Australian logistics, establishing a new technical, managerial, and discursive order.https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0008 |
| spellingShingle | Christopher O’Neill Lauren Kelly Jake Goldenfein Thao Phan Jathan Sadowski When algorithmic management was new: Engineered standards and the managerial prerogative in Australia Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation |
| title | When algorithmic management was new: Engineered standards and the managerial prerogative in Australia |
| title_full | When algorithmic management was new: Engineered standards and the managerial prerogative in Australia |
| title_fullStr | When algorithmic management was new: Engineered standards and the managerial prerogative in Australia |
| title_full_unstemmed | When algorithmic management was new: Engineered standards and the managerial prerogative in Australia |
| title_short | When algorithmic management was new: Engineered standards and the managerial prerogative in Australia |
| title_sort | when algorithmic management was new engineered standards and the managerial prerogative in australia |
| url | https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0008 |
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