The conscientious worker

Changing management conceptions of the ideal worker in warehouse labour regimes

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21189649
AutoresTeresa Barnes (0000-0002-3768-7905, Australian Catholic University, autor correspondente), Tom Barnes (0000-0003-0287-1451, Australian Catholic University)
Ano2025
Volume19
Fascículo2
Data de publicação2025-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoWork Organisation Labour & Globalisation (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1745-641X • E-ISSN: 1745-6428
EditoraPluto Journals (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0002
OpenAlexW4411856539
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas32

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

Business · Economics · Labour economics · Operations management · Political science · Warehouse · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Employment and Welfare Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Marketing