Controlling routine front line service workers: an Australian retail supermarket case
2016
30
6
December
915-931
case study ; part time employment ; retail trade ; service worker
Occupations
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0950017015601778
English
Bibliogr.
"Food retail is known for its use of flexible labour and for the centralisation of functions at head office, resulting in a reduction of managerial autonomy at store level. This article employs a typology of controls developed from labour process scholarship to explore how retail managers negotiate the control of their predominantly part-time workforce. Using an Australian supermarket chain as a case, and mixed methods, the article demonstrates that supermarkets use a multiplicity of forms of control across their workforce. For front line service workers, the article identifies a new configuration of controls which intersects with employment status and acts differentially for checkout operators on different employment contracts."
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