The changing practice and sociological study of management control

This chapter explores how sociologists have addressed the issue of management and its role in the control of work. It traces the origins of managerial control from its earliest forms, through Taylorism and into post-industrial managerial efforts to regulate not just the effort made by workers, but also the subjective element of work. This exploration is paralleled by a discussion of how sociology has developed in its examination of these managerial trends and, in this, has also evolved through a series of debates. Debates have, however, been within separate, if not mutually exclusive, approaches or sub-disciplines. The approaches considered are industrial relations approaches, labour process approaches and critical management studies approaches. The evolution of these sub-disciplines and also debates generated within and between them are examined.