'You monitor performance at every hour': Labour and the management of performance in the supermarket supply chain

Citation

Newsome K, Thompson P & Commander J (2013) 'You monitor performance at every hour': Labour and the management of performance in the supermarket supply chain. New Technology, Work and Employment, 28 (1), pp. 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12000

Abstract
With reference to the performance management research agenda, this article focuses on the politics of production in food manufacturing and distribution companies in the supermarket supply chain. Burawoy's concept of ‘factory regimes' is utilised to explore the broader context of labour process change in inter-linked organisations in the retail supply chain. The article examines the extent to which new despotic or coercive regime characteristics are emerging that weakens the power of both suppliers and labour. In revealing changes in the nature and dynamics of performance regimes within these organisations, the article exposes the connections and linkages between workplaces as distinct moments in the integrated circuit of capital.

Keywords
performance management; politics of production; retail supply chains; routinised work; factory work; distribution and warehousing; labour process; coercion and consent

Journal
New Technology, Work and Employment: Volume 28, Issue 1

People

Professor Paul Thompson

Emeritus Professor, Management, Work and Organisation