Gurus, Hired Guns, and Warm Bodies (ebook)

Argumento de Gurus, Hired Guns, and Warm Bodies (ebook)

"This book fills an important gap by providing one of the first major research ethnographies of the high-tech sector, a major component of the knowledge economy. . . . It succeeds in providing the thick description that this field has needed for some time."--Vincent Mosco, Labour/Le Travail

"I know of no other book that provides the insightfulness, the detail, and thoroughness of Gurus, Hired Guns, and Warm Bodies. It synthesizes a great many theoretical strands and is truly brilliant. It will be the definitive text to which scholars and policy makers will turn for better understanding of this complex topic."--Vicki Smith, Administrative Science Quarterly

"If we are lucky, once a decade or so a classic ethnographic study comes along that captures the essence and the interesting nuances of an emerging, strategic occupation or work group. Barley and Kunda's Gurus, Hired Guns, and Warm Bodies is destined to be our classic for this decade. No one should be allowed to write about these itinerant professionals or propose new policies or labor market institutions to regulate or serve them unless they first read this book!"--Thomas A. Kochan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"This important book is the best account so far of the new and growing world of contract labor."--Peter Cappelli, University of Pennsylvania

"Few developments have been as heavily hyped and as poorly understood as the trend towards 'contingent employment' among the professional/technical/managerial classes. We know from statistical studies that many professionals, especially technical professionals, are hired as temporary, contract workers--but we have known very little about why they work this way or about the conditions of their labor. Barley and Kunda put flesh on the bones of these skeletal figures, exploring the diversity of motives and working conditions, as well as regularities in how they evaluate jobs, build careers, and navigate tricky relationships with employment agencies, high-tech firms, and professional peers. Gurus significantly expands our understanding of what is sometimes called 'the new economy,' exemplifying the value of organizational ethnography and, especially in its superb account of life in labor markets, contributing distinctively to economic sociology. Moreover, the authors' prose is so clear and graceful that Gurus should become the book of choice for teaching sociology and organizational behavior to budding engineers and natural scientists."--Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University

"This is social science at its best: Barley and Kunda's ethnographies of itinerant technical contractors provide nuanced and compelling insights into the changing nature of work and employment today, and a revealing glimpse into the organization of the knowledge economy."--AnnaLee Saxenian, University of California, Berkeley

"Barley and Kunda provide a valuable study that is sure to appeal to those interested in the various manifestations of contingent work or the inner workings of labor markets."--Jeremy Reynolds,American Journal of Sociology

"In this masterful and insightful book, Stephen Barley and Gideon Kunda study the intricate and often counter-intuitive consequences associated with the changing nature of work. . . . Gurus, Hired Guns, and Warm Bodies makes an invaluable contribution to the study of contemporary organizations and the transformation of work. . . . [A] must read."--Sarosh Kuruvilla, Industrial and Labor Relations Review

One of Amazon.com's Best Business Books for 2004

"The authors document a serious study of a specific community: the high-technology IT world of Silicon Valley at the height of the 1990s boom years. While the book is not a guidance manual for contractors or consultants, the dilemmas, contradictions, and situations recounted by the different actors would resonate and provide useful guidance for consultants and hiring managers in the development sector."--Frances Rubin, Development in Practice0Preface ix

Chapter 1: Unlikely Rebels 1
Itinerant Experts 1
The Unraveling of Permanent Employment 9
The Legal Context of Contingent Work 12
Estimating the Size of the Contingent Workforce 16
Making Sense of Contingent Work 18
The Study 26
Organization of the Book 30

Part I: Setting the Stage

Chapter 2: Clients 37
Why Do Clients Hire Contractors? 38
How Do Clients Hire Contractors? 49
Conclusion 51

Chapter 3: Contractors 53
Why Do Contractors Become Contractors? 55
What Kinds of Contractors Are There? 64
The Roles Contractors Play for Clients 67
Conclusion 72

Chapter 4: Agencies 73
Sales Culture and Technical Culture 74
What Types of Staffing Agencies Are There? 84
Conclusion 91

Part II: Life in the Market

Chapter 5: The Information Game: Finding Deals 98
What Contractors Do 99
What Clients Do 108
What Staffing Agencies Do 114
Conclusion 133

Chapter 6: Making the Deal 136
Hiring Manager Evaluations 138
Negotiating the Terms of Employment 144
Closing Deals 161
Conclusion 166

Part III: Life on the Job

Chapter 7: Contractors as Commodities 177
Maintaining a Task Orientation 177
Delegating Management Responsibilities 180
Creating Outsiders 183
Conclusion 187

Chapter 8: Contractors as Experts 188
Integration: Creating Team Members 188
Dependence 193
Conclusion 198

Chapter 9: Navigating between Respect and Resentment 199
Tales of Respect 199
Tales of Resentment 204
Forming an Identity 214

Part IV: Living the Cycle

Chapter 10: Temporal Capital 223
The Temporal Patterns of Contracting 225
The Rhetoric and Reality of Flexibility 241

Chapter 11: Building and Maintaining Human Capital 244
The Danger of Obsolescence 244
The Risks of Learning 248
Strategies for Remaining Current 251
Conclusion 263

Chapter 12: Building and Maintaining Social Capital 264
Reach 266
Reputation and Occupational Circles 269
Reciprocity and Referral Cliques 273
Networking: Building and Maintaining Networks 276

Chapter 13: Itinerant Professionals in a Knowledge Economy 285
Itinerant Experts: The Contracting Life 286
The Ambiguities of Self-Reliance 289
Itinerant Experts and the Social Order 292
The Occupational Dimension 302
Supporting Itinerant Professionalism 311

Epilogue 317
References 321
Appendix: Cast of Characters 333
Index 337