Resistance to teamworking in a UK research and development laboratory

Thursfield, Denise

Abstract

This article presents an ethnographic exploration of resistance to teamworking in a UK research and development laboratory named RDL. It focuses on the nature of autonomy and responsibility and the implications for resistance. It finds that resistance is shaped by the laboratory technicians’ individualistic interactions with technology, the laboratory layout and the technicians’ desire for personal task-related autonomy and individual responsibility rather than team-based accountability. However, although resistance is linked to an individualistic interpretation of work it is supported by collective collusion. The article also finds that resistance is not necessarily anti-work. It is simultaneously oriented towards the interests of the company and individual technicians through the technicians’ desire to perform their job well. Finally, the article demonstrates the local and constructed nature of resistance.

Citation

Thursfield, D. (2015). Resistance to teamworking in a UK research and development laboratory. Work, employment & society : a journal of the British Sociological Association, 29(6), 989-1006. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017014559967

• Acceptance Date: Oct 1, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Apr 17, 2015
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Deposit Date: Apr 22, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 22, 2015
• Journal: Work, employment and society
• Print ISSN: 0950-0170
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 989-1006
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017014559967
• Keywords: Individual autonomy; Collective collusion; Resistance to teamworking; Flexibility; Responsibility
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/372876
• Publisher URL: http://wes.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/04/17/0950017014559967.abstract
• Additional Information: Author's accepted manuscript of article published in: Work, employment and society, 2015, v.29, issue 6.
• Contract Date: Apr 22, 2015