The evolution of technology brings with it the evolution of business processes. Without a doubt, technology changes how work is performed. At first glance, workplace technology appears to be a great boon to society. However, research presents opposing views on how workplace technologies impact the individual. One perspective argues that organizations utilize technology to redesign work processes, such that the worker requires less skill, autonomy, and compensation. The opposing perspective argues that organizations utilize technology to empower employees to improve efficiency and profits. This dissertation consists of three interrelated studies examining workplace technology’s impact on decision makers. The first study examines the capability of an enterprise system to increase the application of scientific management techniques to middle management and, consequently, to degrade middle management’s work by limiting their autonomy. The second study investigates the capability of an enterprise system to facilitate the empowerment of managers via mutual monitoring and social identification. The third study builds upon the first study by examining how limiting autonomy through technology impacts the intrinsic motivation of decision makers and, as a result, affects the decision making process. Study one applies labor process theory to explain how enterprise systems can degrade the work of middle management via scientific management techniques. The purpose of this study is to test if the expectations of labor process theory can be applied to enterprise systems. In order to test this assertion, a field survey utilizing 189 middle managers is employed and the data is analyzed using component based structural equation modeling. The results indicate that iii enterprise system integration increases two scientific management techniques, formalization and performance measurement, but do not reveal a significant relationship between enterprise system integration and routinization. Interestingly, the results also indicate that routinization is the only scientific management technique, of the three studied, that directly limits the autonomy of the middle managers. Although performance measurement does not reduce autonomy directly, performance measurement interacts with routinization to reduce autonomy. This study contributes to the enterprise system literature by demonstrating enterprise systems’ ability to increase the degree of scientific management applied to middle management. It also contributes to labor process theory by revealing that routinization may be the scientific management technique that determines whether other control techniques are utilized in a manner consistent with labor process theory. The ability of an enterprise system to facilitate the application of Mary Parker Follett’s managerial control concepts are investigated in the second study. Specifically, Follett theorizes that information sharing facilitates the internalization of group goals and empowers individuals to have more influence and be more effective. This study employs a survey of 206 managers to test the theoretical relationships. The results indicate that enterprise system integration increases information sharing in the form of mutual monitoring, consequently, leading to social identification among peer managers. Additionally, social identification among peer managers empowers managers to have more influence over the organization. The study contributes to empowerment research by acknowledging and verifying the role that social identification plays in translating an empowering work climate into empowered managers. The study’s conclusion iv that enterprise system integration facilitates the application of Follett’s managerial control concepts extends both enterprise system and managerial control literature. The third study builds upon study one by examining the affect that autonomy has upon the decision maker. This study marries self-determination theory and technology dominance theory to understand the role that self-determination, intrinsic motivation, and engagement have upon technology dominance. Self-determination theory asserts that higher degrees of selfdetermination increase intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, self-determination research finds that intrinsic motivation increases engagement, while technology dominance research indicates that lack of engagement is an antecedent of technology dominance. Thus, applying self-determination theory as a predictor of technology dominance suggests that autonomy and relatedness associated with a task increase the intrinsic motivation to complete that task and consequently increase engagement in the task. Task engagement, in turn, reduces the likelihood of technology dominance. The proposed theoretical model is tested experimentally with 83 junior level business students. The results do not support the theoretical model, however the findings reveal that intrinsic motivation does reduce the likelihood of technology dominance. This indicates that intrinsic motivation as a predictor of technology dominance should be further investigated. Additionally, the study contributes to technology dominance literature by exhibiting a more appropriate operationalization of the inappropriate reliance aspect of technology dominance. This dissertation reveals that various theories concerning workplace technology and management control techniques have both validity and limitations. Labor process theorists cannot assume that all technologies and management control techniques are utilized to undermine the employee’s value to the organization, as Study 2 reveals that enterprise systems v and mutual monitoring lead to empowered managers. Likewise, proponents of enterprise systems cannot assume that the integrated nature of enterprise systems is always utilized in an empowering manner, as Study 1 reveals the increased performance measurement through enterprise systems can be utilized to limit managers in a routinized job environment. While the third study was unable to determine that the control features in technology affect the intrinsic motivation to complete a task, the findings do reveal that intrinsic motivation is directly related to technology dominance. The findings and theoretical refinements demonstrate that workplace technology and management control have a complicated relationship with the employee and that the various theories concerning them cannot be applied universally.

This dissertation is about the incorporation of labor migrants from Turkey in the context of precarious U.S. labor markets. Labor market transitions and work experiences are two aspects of incorporation. This dissertation analyzes the process by which first-generation Turkish male immigrants arrive in the United States, enter low-wage jobs, and then shift to the trucking industry. This shift brings a significant upward mobility for them. This discussion explains how the socio-economic cleavages within the immigrant community both conform to and challenge the dynamics of immigrant-dominated sectors. Moreover, this study examines the work life of immigrant truckers through their conception of money, time, occupation, entrepreneurship, and labor. This dissertation addresses two sets of research questions: The first set analyzes the structural reasons of labor market transitions by looking at the limitations that immigrants face. The second set looks at the role of agent, examining the formation of family-based and community-based networks and resources. It asks the question of how migrants navigate the labor market by changing jobs and sectors as well as by forming businesses. The findings of this research draw from investigations spanning three years. The qualitative data is based on 24 in-depth interviews, as well as several hundred hours of participant observations among first-generation Turkish immigrants who work as truckers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The present study contributes to sociological knowledge in general and specifically to three areas of the discipline. First, it enriches the limited literature on Turkish immigrants in the United States, as there is a dearth of research on their labor market incorporation in the trucking industry. Second, it contributes to the theoretical discussions on the entrepreneurship of first-generation immigrants by focusing on small and understudied immigrant communities. Third, this study extends the academic knowledge about the work experiences of immigrant truckers. It examines how the varying immigrant work experiences outcomes are influenced by employment status and the structure of trucking segments. Chapter 2 develops a conceptual framework regarding the labor transitions of immigrants focused on three dimensions: the migration policies of sending and receiving countries, the structure of labor markets in the receiving context, and the characteristics of the immigrant community. Chapter 3 details the methodology and methods used in this study. Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7 encompass the empirical sections of this dissertation. Chapter 4 discusses the migration patterns of truckers by focusing on the importance of social networks. Chapter 5 explores the pre-trucking period during which Turkish immigrants work in dead-end jobs and prepare to become truckers. Chapter 6 examines the work life of truckers by revealing the processes of obtaining commercial driver's licenses (CDL), choosing the segment of the industry where they will work, and their search for and selection of trucking companies and loads. Chapter 7 scrutinizes the acts of entrepreneurship in which these migrants are engaged. Chapter 8 summarizes the empirical findings while engaging with the theoretical debates within sociology on the incorporation of migrants. First, the labor demands of U.S. capitalism attract immigrants to certain low-income jobs with little promise. After the early years of settlement, nonetheless, migrants are able to mobilize networks and resources to change this early labor-intensive occupational entrapment. Such a change provides income and status increases for the migrants. I term this new concentration “creative occupational entrapment,” which can (potentially) bring migrants some economic success via entrepreneurship. However, the accessed immigrant resources are constrained by the limitations of the dynamics within the trucking industry. The segmentation within the trucking sector is not something created by immigrants, as they only fill out the existing segments depending on their resources and ties. Second, the characteristics of a migrant community heavily shape the differentiation within the trucking industry in terms of an individual’s sector segment and employment status. The way in which immigrants mobilize ties are affected by three dynamics: hometown background, class-based dispositions, and family-based resources. I define three segments of trucking in this study: (1) national tractor-trailer trucking, (2) regional tractor-trailer trucking, and (3) local dump trucking. National tractor-trailer trucking attracts a variety of immigrants who tend to leave this “tough” segment after a brief while due to opportunities in the other segments. Immigrants of relatively higher education levels from urban backgrounds are more likely to work in the “cool” regional tractor-trailer throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania. These individuals have loose ties to the immigrant community and have no tight-knit community ties. Conversely, immigrants of relatively lower education levels from rural background tend to concentrate in “dirty” dump trucking in specific counties of New Jersey. They have closer ties with the immigrant community and strict ties with their tight-knit community. Within each segment, new differentiations based on employment status are formed. Through the course of this research, five categories of immigrants were identified. Such categories depend on an individual’s employment status and the number of trucks they have: pre-trucking migrant workers have nothing to sell but labor (Employment 1), company truckers (Employment 2), survivalist truckers with one truck (Employment 3), family truckers with two trucks (Employment 4), and boss truckers who have more than three trucks (Employment 5). For the regional tractor-trailer segment, having class-based dispositions (such as English proficiency and the familiarity with the economic system) enables for the transitions from Employment 2 to Employment 3. Those who have family resources are more likely to increase their position from Employment 3 to Employment 4 and 5. For the local dump trucking segment, having tight-knit community ties and resources is usually enough to jump from Employment 2 to Employment 3. Thus, class-based dispositions are not strictly required given their tight-knit community resources. Those who have family-based resources have additional likelihood to increase their position from Employment 2 to Employment 4 and Employment 5. While individual-based resources are important to be self-employed due to the lack of community resources in regional tractor-trailer trucking, an individual’s tight-knit community helps truckers in local dump trucking to be self-employed. In both segments, family-based resources are key to becoming employers. The use of labor characterizes the labor market experiences of immigrants. For my participants, such a process begins with taking commands from employers, and ends with giving commands to their own employees. Labor matters when immigrants are exploited in non-trucking as well as trucking businesses. It also matters when they exploit themselves and family members in individual or family-based trucking businesses respectively. Only those who have several trucks are exempted from getting exploited. Although entrepreneurship might be economically beneficial for some, success is not always guaranteed in the long-term. Moreover, entrepreneurship potentially brings destructive competition, long hours of work and the intensive use of family labor. / Sociology

[pt] Nos últimos anos observaram-se mudanças significativas no mundo do trabalho devido à reestruturação produtiva do sistema capitalista. O período da pandemia da COVID-19 atuou como um catalisador dessas mudanças, produzindo desdobramentos como a ampliação do teletrabalho e, posteriormente, a criação de formatos híbridos de trabalho. Essas transformações motivaram a realização dessa tese que, utilizando a perspectiva teórica da Teoria do Processo de Trabalho (LPT), objetivou compreender, a partir das narrativas emergentes das vivências de trabalhadores em regimes remoto e híbrido as dinâmicas de controle-resistência desse processo de trabalho. Com este intuito, sob o posicionamento ontológico do Realismo Crítico e por meio da abordagem metodológica da Análise de Narrativa Temática (ANT), foram entrevistados 15 trabalhadores que atuam em regime de teletrabalho na modalidade híbrida ou integralmente remota com vistas a entender suas vivências de trabalho. Assim, suas narrativas reconstituíram o movimento dinâmico e integrador da dicotomia capital-trabalho e do tensionamento entre controle-resistência, apontando para o aspecto recursivo, e por vezes contraditório, dessas categorias constituintes do devir organizacional. As histórias narradas também indicaram a experiência ambígua da sobreposição das dimensões individuais e laborais; a articulação de narrativas que tensionam os conflitos marcados pela subjetividade das estratégias de controle e da individualidade das formas de resistência; além da percepção da presença de um elemento geracional a influenciar as vivências. Finalmente, ainda que o teletrabalho possa se configurar como uma expressão da integração do lar como espaço de produção de mais-valia – ele também aparece como terreno contestado e palco da disputa entre a vida e o capital. / [en] In recent years, there have been significant changes in the world of work due to the productive restructuring of the capitalist system. The COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for these changes, producing developments such as the expansion of teleworking and, later, the creation of hybrid work formats. These transformations motivated this thesis which, using the theoretical perspective of Labour Process Theory (LPT), aimed to understand how the work process and its dynamics of control and resistance are experienced and narrated by workers in the context of remote or hybrid work. To this end, under the ontological stance of Critical Realism and using the methodological approach of Thematic Narrative Analysis (ANT), 15 workers who work remotely in the hybrid or fully remote modality were interviewed in order to understand their work experiences. Their narratives reconstructed the dynamic and integrating movement of the capitallabour dichotomy and the tension between control-resistance, pointing to the recursive and sometimes contradictory aspect of these categories that make up the organisational becoming. The stories told also indicated the ambiguous experience of the overlapping of individual and labour dimensions; the articulation of narratives that tension conflicts marked by the subjectivity of control strategies and the individuality of forms of resistance; as well as the perception of the presence of a generational element influencing experiences. Finally, although teleworking can be configured as an expression of the integration of the home as a space for the production of surplus value - it also appears as contested terrain and the stage for the dispute between life and capital.

[pt] Em um contexto de profundas transformações nas relações de trabalho causadas pela tecnologia, milhares de entregadores se movimentam pelas ruas brasileiras entregando comida e outros itens sob o comando de plataformas digitais. Essa modalidade de trabalho, em ascensão nos últimos anos, tem sido alvo do interesse de pesquisadores em função das peculiaridades que a caracterizam. Um aspecto relevante a ser estudado diz respeito ao controle sobre esse tipo de trabalho. Nesta direção, a presente dissertação buscou entender de que forma o controle exercido pelos aplicativos é percebido pelos trabalhadores de entrega por aplicativos em suas relações de trabalho e quais as suas formas de resistência. Para isso foi feita uma netnografia em redes sociais que analisou 21 grupos no Facebook com 136 postagens de entregadores, e foi criado um grupo, Conversas sobre o trabalho por aplicativos, para complementar a coleta de dados. Todo o material coletado foi analisado com base em análise temática. A teoria do processo de trabalho de Harry Braverman foi utilizada para entender como o controle se manifesta nessas relações trabalho, desde o controle técnico e burocrático até o controle normativo e neo-normativo, bem como nas transformações que a tecnologia tem criado nas relações de trabalho e no controle algorítmico sobre os trabalhadores, exercido pelas plataformas digitais de entrega de comida, operando no Brasil. Os principais achados da pesquisa indicam que, embora o trabalho de entregador tenha características claras de precarização e intensificação do trabalho, sua inserção no contexto brasileiro, marcado por desemprego sistêmico e estrutural, faz com que essa atividade seja considerada como uma opção melhor do que o trabalho formal, sendo considerada mais garantida e, até mesmo, pertencente a uma elite entre os precarizados. Além disso, a construção identitária dos entregadores, marcada por discursos de reforço de estereótipos de masculinidade, como o do homem provedor e pai de família, bem como discursos de empreendedorismo, de liberdade ressignificada, ao depender somente do esforço pessoal do indivíduo, mascaram os aspectos deletérios desse tipo de trabalho. Argumenta-se que esses fatores contribuem para a produção do consentimento e enfraquecimento das possibilidades de resistência, da representação sindical e da transformação da realidade dos entregadores frente aos aplicativos. / [en] In a context of deep changes in labor relations caused by technology, thousands of food-delivery worker move through Brazilian streets delivering food and other stuffs by digital platforms. This kinda of work, which has been increase in recent years, has been the target of interest by researchers due to the peculiarities that characterize it. A relevant aspect to be studied concerns the control over this type of work. In this direction, the present dissertation get to understand how the control by applications is perceive by food-delivery worker through applications in their work relationships and what are their forms of resistance. For this, a netnography was carried out on social networks that had analyzed 21 groups on Facebook with 136 posts from food-delivery worker, and a group was created, conversations about work through applications. All material collected was analyzed based on thematic analysis. Harry Braverman s labor process theory was used to understand how control manifests itself in these labor relationships, from technical and bureaucratic control to normative and neonormative control, as well as the transformations that technology has created in labor relationships. and in the algorithmic control over workers, exercised by digital food delivery platforms, operating in Brazil. The main findings of the research indicate that, although the delivery job has clear characteristics of precariousness and work intensification, its insertion in the Brazilian context, marked by systemic and structural unemployment, makes this activity to be considered a better option than the formal work, being considered more guaranteed and even belonging to an elite in the middle of the precariat. In addition, the identity construction of the food-delivery worker, marked by discourses that reinforce masculinity stereotypes, such as the provider and family man, as well as discourses of entrepreneurship, of resignified and guaranteed freedom, depending only on the individual s personal effort, mask the deleterious aspects of this type of work. It is argued that these factors contribute to the production of consent and weakening of the possibilities of resistance, union representation and the transformation of the delivery people s reality in front of the applications.

Since the introduction of Toyota's Production System, the deployment of lean production systems (or lean manufacturing), and more advanced technological developments, Participatory Management Practices (PMP) have been viewed as lying at the heart of successful manufacturing workplaces. Studies on technology and PMP have concluded that the state of technology in a company unequivocally shapes PMP and can open spaces to enhance the wellbeing of workers regardless of the PMP dynamics. However, these claims are contested by studies that question the positive effects from PMP. These studies argue that workplaces are organized in such a way that workers are viewed as mere resources to be deployed in the production process, without paying attention to their human morale and agency. This research presents a case study of a food plastics packaging firm that contextualizes, describes, and analyzes: 1) PMP from a Socio-technical Systems Theory (SST) perspective to further our understanding of the role of participative dynamics in the wellbeing of workers; and 2) the dynamics of control-resistance in the workplace as a measure of dignity at work in the context of power relations. This research provides a rich exploration of a workplace that is facing and managing the challenge of automation and technological development. Using an extended case study research method (Burawoy, 2009), data are collected by observing workers' daily interactions with a combination of technologies. These observations reveal the importance of team dynamics in the production process. The observed PMP dynamics show conflictive, competitive, and cooperative behaviors that are negotiated through continuous human-machine, machine-machine, and human-human interactions in the production process. However, management is found to be indifferent to the impact that a combination of technologies and lean production approaches have on participation dynamics. This indifference inhibits managers from embracing and appreciating the value of PMP. All the identified expressions of what technology and PMP mean to workers, and their dynamics, show an ongoing negotiating process. This process comes from all types of participation in which a worker struggles for dignity. The organizational structure of the firm expects workers to display specific types of participation in team efforts, but workers are also provided with opportunities to negotiate their interests or struggle for dignity by changing their type of participation in team activities. The work processes and findings described in this dissertation generally support the theory of Hodson (2001). Further, this research develops the concept of "combination of technologies," which can be used to help observe workers' understanding of technology and participative dynamics. The research also identifies various types of participation based on the interactions of workers in the technology process and how workers manage or safeguard their dignity based on their engagement with different types of participation in team-based situations or events. Finally, this research identified how participative engagement by workers can be used as a power mechanism to retain their dignity. / Doctor of Philosophy / Modern manufacturing production is based on the increasing use of technology and workers' participation in problem solving when it comes to the production system. These types of production systems are called Lean Production Systems. These systems stem from the philosophy of doing more with less and are viewed as lying at the heart of successful manufacturing workplaces. However, studies on technology and teams have concluded that not only does technology shape the dynamics of teams, but the practices and dynamics of workers in teams can open spaces to enhance human wellbeing. Even so, some studies question the positive effects of worker participation in teams based on Participatory Management Practices (PMP). These studies argue that workplaces are organized in such a way that workers are viewed as mere resources to be deployed in the production process, without paying attention to human morale and agency. This research is a case study of a rigid food plastics packaging firm that contextualizes, describes, and analyzes: (1) the participation of workers in PMP from the perspective that workers and technology have a social relationship with deep contextual meaning; and (2) a measure of human dignity in the context of power relations and how control and resistance are met in these spaces. This research provides a rich exploration of a workplace that is facing and managing the challenge of automation and technological development. Using an extended case study research method (Bloomfield, 1994 as cited in Burawoy, 2009, p. 154), data are collected from workers' daily interactions with a combination of technologies. The importance of how people participate in teams during the production process, was observed and acknowledged to enhance workers wellbeing. A range of dynamics were observed and defined as conflictive, competitive, or cooperative behavior that are negotiated through the continuous human-machine, machine-machine, and human-human interactions that occur during the production process. However, management is indifferent to and disregards the impact that technology has on worker participation in teams and is unconcerned with contrasting meanings of technology from workers, which means they are not paying attention to how these factors impact the use of technology and participation dynamics. All expressions of what technology and worker participation means show an ongoing negotiating process in which workers struggle for dignity. This research follows Hodson (2001) categories of struggle for dignity as a measure of self-worth. This research develops concepts that can be used to help observe workers' understanding of technology and participative dynamics, as well as identifies different types of participation by observing the interactions of workers in the technology process. This research identified how workers manage or safeguard their dignity based on their engagement with different types of participation observed during team-based situations or events. Finally, the research identified how workers' ability to change their interactions in teams is used as a power mechanism to retain their dignity.