Control and flexibility: the use of wearable devices in capital- and labor-intensive work processes
Publication date
2024-06-10
Document type
Forschungsartikel
Author
Organisational unit
Publisher
Sage Publications
Series or journal
ILR Review
ISSN
Periodical volume
77
Periodical issue
4
First page
506
Last page
534
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
✅
Language
English
Keyword
Technological change
Labor process
Labor control
Skills
Workplace bargaining
Logistics
Germany
Abstract
The use of wearables in the workplace allows for close monitoring of work processes and might also have consequences for work content and skill requirements. Past research has emphasized the detrimental effects of wearables, particularly those caused by the standardization of work and monitoring of workers. By contrast, this study asks under what conditions the implementation of wearables as part of digital assistance systems is beneficial for workers. Based on recent contributions in the field of labor process theory, this study analyzes the implementation of new technologies using the concepts of the regulatory regime, organizational first-order factors, and workplace second-order choices. The analysis is based on findings from 48 interviews with 83 interviewees in 16 German manufacturing workplaces along with making site visits. It examines the implementation of wearables and the impacts on work content, skills, working conditions, and employment. Besides showing how labor agency affects the implementation of new technologies, the particular contribution of this study lies in analyzing the differences in the implementation of wearables in capital- and labor-intensive organizations. While standardization of work and reduction of work content prevailed in labor-intensive processes, capital-intensive processes were most often characterized by the extension of skill requirements and the risk of work intensification.
Description
This article is part of the ILR Review’s ongoing Special Series on Novel Technologies at Work. Funding from Hans Böckler Stiftung 2016_200-1. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Version
Published version
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