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Sociology, Vol. 34, No. 3, 421-436 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/S0038038500000274

`Ain't Misbehavin'? Opportunities for Resistance under New Forms of `Quality' Management

David Knights

Department of Management University of Keele

Darren McCabe

Department of Management University of Keele

In this paper we explore the development of a new regime in a major bank where total quality management (TQM) has recently been introduced. A number of recent critics have suggested that TQM all but eliminates resistance either through a management regime that removes waste or through the totalising discourse it propagates. We argue that new management innovations associated with TQM and `empowerment' are effective in increasing control over work processes and the subjectivity of staff. Even so, employees are able to retain some control over areas of their working lives. A central concern of the paper is to provide some limited evidence of how an analysis of subjectivity enhances our understanding of both consent and resistance at work.

Key Words: consent • control • management • resistance • subjectivity • TQM


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