The engineer … no longer a person but a number on an excel sheet: enterprise resource planning and commoditisation of labour
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Global Labour Journal
Abstract
Based on transcripts provided by 145 engineers working in various information technology organisations in Bangalore, India, the article examines the commoditisation of labour in this sector. In doing so, we specifically want to problematise algorithm-based decision-making embedded in the wider technology of Integrated Development Environments like Enterprise Resource Planning and its ramifications for business and labour processes. Standardisation and modularisation of tasks have made wide inroads in workers' lives, resulting in a replication of Taylorist mass-production techniques. In unpeeling the “materiality“ behind such a development, we elaborate on how efficiency and profit motives of these firms are turning engineers into numbers on a spreadsheet. We conclude by commenting on the implications of this on labour's organisation and resistance and the future trajectory of working life.
Publication Date
30-5-2020
Publisher
OJS/PKP
Volume
Vol.11
Issue
Iss.2
Recommended Citation
Kamath, Rajalaxmi and Sarkar, Eureka, "The engineer … no longer a person but a number on an excel sheet: enterprise resource planning and commoditisation of labour" (2020). Faculty Publications. 352.
https://research.iimb.ac.in/fac_pubs/352
