Attending to Work The Management of Attendance and Shopfloor Order

The reconstruction of order and discipline on the shop floor has been a major theme in recent debates on the management of labour. Attending to Work breaks new ground in two important ways. First, it focuses on a surprisingly neglected issue, the management of attendance. As well as looking at issues such as flexibility within the workplace, managers need to know how workers are persuaded to attend in the first place. It is also a major indicator of wider changes. The ways in which attendance is controlled sends messages to workers about how their employers regard them. These messages have even more impact on daily behaviour than new communications or payment systems.Secondly, unlike many studies which rely on discussions with few, if any, workers, Attending to Work draws on detailed interviews with over 300 workers. It shows how changing the managerial policies has altered (or has failed to alter) workers' attitudes and behaviour. Based on four case studies, including the public and private sectors and white collar as well as blue collar workers, Edwards and Whitston show how the regulation of work has been changing in a variety of settings.