Neo‐bureaucratic organisational forms, technology, control and contingent work: the case of UK TV

• Author: Jonathan Morris,Catherine Farrell
• Date: 01 July 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12088
• Published date: 01 July 2017

© 2017 Brian Towers (BRITOW) and

John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Neo-bureaucratic organisation 115

New Technology, Work and Employment 32:2

ISSN 1468-005X

Neo- bureaucratic organisational forms,

technology, control and contingent work: the

case of UK TV

Catherine Farrell and Jonathan Morris

A feature in contemporary labour markets has been the growth

of non- standard work. This has to be set within a context of

evolving new organisational forms and the ways that large or-

ganisations control these forms. Based on a qualitative study

of freelance work in television, we have witnessed consider-

able vertical- disintegration of the industry and a substan-

tial growth of freelance working. Control over the network is

maintained by employing former large broadcaster staff, and

in turn their own preferred freelancers. This has significant im-

plications for the nature of freelance work. While work is char-

acterised as more insecure, generally the degree varies. This is

based, in part, on occupation but also on access to social cap-

ital. Freelancers also reported a positive attitude to work, but

more negative findings on working hours, work intensification

and on related benefits.

Keywords: neo-bureaucratic organisational forms, control,

technological change, television, freelance work.

Introduction

A growth in contingent and non- standardised forms of work is now well- versed, tra-

ditionally associated with neo- liberal economies, but now spread across OECD econo-

mies (Lee and Kofman, 2012). There has been a growth of jobs associated with labour

flexibility and flexible working time arrangements variously described as contingent,

freelance and precarious (Kalleberg, 2011; Standing, 2011; Appelbaum, 2012), strongly

associated with the transfer of risk from employer to employees (Lambert, 2008). This

has been true of the UK television industry, with a move from a vertically integrated

industry based on a small number of broadcasters to a far more disintegrated struc-

ture, with considerable outsourcing of activities to independent producers and free-

lance workers.

Catherine Farrell, (catherine.farrell@southwales.ac.uk), is a Professor of Public Management at the

University of South Wales. Her research interests are in the areas of governance and the changing

roles of professionals. She has published widely on school governance and the role of public boards in

public service improvement. She is currently researching different models of public board governance

including the stakeholder and skills based approaches in a range of different services including the fire

and rescue service. Her work has been published in journals including Public Administration, Policy

and Politics, Local Government Studies, Human Relations and Industrial Relations. Jonathan Morris,

(MorrisJL@cardiff.ac.uk), is Professor of Organisational Analysis and Associate Dean for Research at

Cardiff University’s Business School. He is interested in the managerial implications of new organiza-

tional forms, and the impact of neo liberalism upon professional work. He has published eight books

and over 80 articles on these themes, amongst others.

116 New Technology, Work and Employment © 2017 Brian Towers (BRITOW) and

John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

This literature has, however, a number of gaps which this paper will address. First,

freelance work is often de- contextualised. Working as a freelancer in TV has been

portrayed as insecure and unstable (Grugulis and Stoyanova, 2012). We will argue,

however, that the position that freelancers play is dependent upon the project ecology

of this industry (Grabher, 2004). The rise of freelance and temporary work (and

organisations) needs to be set within a specific organisational context of the rise of

the neo- bureaucratic form (Schorpf et al., 2017). Second, this has a number of impli-

cations for freelance work, particularly the locus of control over this form, how con-

trol is exercised, and its implications for freelance work. This has been characterised

in the creative industries as dependent on occupation, thus those working in ‘above

the line’ are in a better position to cope with the vagaries of the ‘dark side’ of free-

lance employment than occupations with a more generic skill base i.e. ‘below the line

(Mayers, 2011). We would also argue, however, that individual access to social capi-

tal is used to control these polyarchic forms and thus access to social capital also

shapes employment outcomes for freelance workers. Third, and relatedly, much of

the research on contingent work has concentrated understandably upon unskilled

work, but this study concentrates upon freelance skilled occupations (for exceptions,

see Barley and Kunda, 2004; for software workers, and Dex et al., 2000; McKinlay

2009; Townley et al., 2009, for television). This has implications for the motivation for

individuals taking on freelance work, for ambivalent attitudes towards such work,

and for the potential for freelance worker self- exploitation. These will be the research

questions addressed in the paper, first, how is freelance work contextualised within

an emerging neo- bureaucratic form; second, how is social capital used in this context

to access work and third, what implications does this have for the types of work that

freelance staff carry out. To do so, paper draws on data from 45 interviews in the UK

television industry (with broadcasters, independent companies and freelance

workers).

The next section of the paper outlines the emergence of neo- bureaucratic forms in

the industry, the issue of control within these forms and its implications for freelanc-

ers. The following section outlines the growth of such forms in the UK industry and

the reasons for this. The empirical data are then presented, concentrating upon the

working experiences of freelance workers in the industry. Conclusions are then

drawn.

Neo- bureaucratic forms, control and contingent work: the case of

UK television

From the 1990s onwards, a literature emerged which pointed to a post- bureaucratic

form becoming hegemonic. Traditional organising forms were no longer appropriate

in a context of heightened competition and marked technological change (Castells,

2000; Morris et al., 2016). The new paradigm stressed the need for more flexible, flatter

organisational structures and gained considerable academic and practitioner currency

(Child and McGrath, 2001). Leaner, flatter, post- bureaucratic forms would emerge,

predicated upon major organisational restructuring. This would include centralisation

of, and a concentration on core activities, and outsourcing of non- core ones and re-

duced hierarchical levels. However, empirical work on the post- bureaucratic form has

been relatively limited (Reed, 2011) and points to a more complex pattern than that

proposed by the post- bureaucratic paradigm, representative of evolutionary change

and the emergence of hybrid, neo- bureaucratic, forms based upon ‘centralised-

decentralisation’ (Farrell and Morris, 2003; Hassard et al., 2009; Clegg, 2011). This has

implications for power and control within these forms, with more diffuse, polyarchic,

control regimes are evident than in the ‘command and control’ regimes that typify

bureaucratic structures (Reed, 2011). The neo- bureaucratic form is thus hybrid, includ-

ing contrasting control logics of enhanced complexity and uncertainty, and the control

technologies are fragmented and unstable, with more concertive modes of regulation.

The form, therefore, retains centralised strategic control with ‘softer’ modes of cultural