The conscientious worker: Changing management conceptions of the ideal worker in warehouse labour regimes
Employer discourse is an under-researched element of scholarship on labour regimes, which has tended to dismiss employer views as self-serving or duplicitous. In response, this article argues that employer discourse should be taken more seriously as a response to real-world transformations in market...
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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.19.2.0002 |
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| _version_ | 1849710243573923840 |
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| author | Tom Barnes |
| author_facet | Tom Barnes |
| author_sort | Tom Barnes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Employer discourse is an under-researched element of scholarship on labour regimes, which has tended to dismiss employer views as self-serving or duplicitous. In response, this article argues that employer discourse should be taken more seriously as a response to real-world transformations in markets, supply chains, technologies and labour markets. Evidence is drawn from Australia’s largest cities, where experimentation with automation has led to a combination of different labour processes alongside an emphasis on accuracy, as well as speed, in each. Drawing on interviews with managers, this article documents the emergence of a new image of the ideal worker as one who is more than simply flexible and agile, but also conscientious in observing the accuracy requirements of consumer fulfilment in contemporary warehousing. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cbac2d486a9340cbb3bad5a7a182c7f5 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| 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-cbac2d486a9340cbb3bad5a7a182c7f52025-08-20T03:14:58ZengPluto JournalsWork Organisation, Labour and Globalisation1745-641X1745-64282025-05-0119214015510.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0002The conscientious worker: Changing management conceptions of the ideal worker in warehouse labour regimesTom BarnesEmployer discourse is an under-researched element of scholarship on labour regimes, which has tended to dismiss employer views as self-serving or duplicitous. In response, this article argues that employer discourse should be taken more seriously as a response to real-world transformations in markets, supply chains, technologies and labour markets. Evidence is drawn from Australia’s largest cities, where experimentation with automation has led to a combination of different labour processes alongside an emphasis on accuracy, as well as speed, in each. Drawing on interviews with managers, this article documents the emergence of a new image of the ideal worker as one who is more than simply flexible and agile, but also conscientious in observing the accuracy requirements of consumer fulfilment in contemporary warehousing.https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0002 |
| spellingShingle | Tom Barnes The conscientious worker: Changing management conceptions of the ideal worker in warehouse labour regimes Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation |
| title | The conscientious worker: Changing management conceptions of the ideal worker in warehouse labour regimes |
| title_full | The conscientious worker: Changing management conceptions of the ideal worker in warehouse labour regimes |
| title_fullStr | The conscientious worker: Changing management conceptions of the ideal worker in warehouse labour regimes |
| title_full_unstemmed | The conscientious worker: Changing management conceptions of the ideal worker in warehouse labour regimes |
| title_short | The conscientious worker: Changing management conceptions of the ideal worker in warehouse labour regimes |
| title_sort | conscientious worker changing management conceptions of the ideal worker in warehouse labour regimes |
| url | https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0002 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tombarnes theconscientiousworkerchangingmanagementconceptionsoftheidealworkerinwarehouselabourregimes AT tombarnes conscientiousworkerchangingmanagementconceptionsoftheidealworkerinwarehouselabourregimes |