Katariina VikmanAino SaarinenJulius Valjakka

Conditions beforeMain reasons forCoordination TheoryCoercion TheoryFour empirical testsConclusion

Control of pace, timing and conduct of work

Ordinary salary: no rewards, no premiums

Autonomy of the workers

Increased work effort Employer extracted more

work/productivity per unit of pay (employee & fixed capital)

Technological changes of the Industrial RevolutionThe danger of working with

heavy machinery e.g. drunk.

”Discipline resulted from technological necessity”

Unpleasant features of discipline were just one bad aspect of new more productive and complex technologies

Advocates of this view: ”…the labor market was extremely competitive in Britain”

To coerce workers into doing more than they would have wanted

Premiums Manufacturers + reduced

costs + better wagesCoercion not possible in

competitive labor marketsWeakness of the will

Source: Clark (1994), 144

To accept conditions of discipline:

Wage premium per week 56 – 66 %

Wage premium per output 17%

30 - 38 % more output per week than undisciplined workers (using the same equipment)

Coordination theory: If workers valued freedom the employers could give it to them very cheaply

Condition for discipline to succeed is that there exist significant fixed costs per worker

Workers who came late would be penalized more than the expenses they incurred Heavy penalties Against the expected behavior in competitive labor market

Correct: Coercion Theory

Consider what happened in the Industrial Revolution companies with high inventory costs but small amounts of fixed capital per worker.

Coordination theory: discipline would be used with these techniques also.

Coercion theory: These techniques would stay undisciplined because only small gains would be achieved through improved coordination alone.

Coordination theory: discipline would be used with these techniques also.

Coercion theory: These techniques would stay undisciplined because only small gains would be achieved through improved coordination alone.

Examining pottery industry, pin making industry and miners.

Coordination theory: Fails

Coercion theory is supported: extensive division of labour but very little capital per worker

Machine powered industries made incentive system and factory discipline possible

Discipline pushed up the work rate by 33 percent

Factory discipline was coercive but employers did not abuse their position.

Instead workers voluntarily into the factories and rewarded for its disamenities with higher wages.

All in all, the factory discipline would have been avoided if the workers would have had more self control.

Clark, G. Factory Discipline. 1989

Questions?

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