Autonomy or Layers of Control: Examining Labor Control Measures in the Software Outsourcing Industry

The labour process of knowledge-intensive work is a significant question in the contemporary post-Fordist world. Though integration into knowledge-intensive industry networks may enhance employment opportunities and foster socio-economic upgradation, employment relations in the outsourcing sector are often fraught with complexities. Against this backdrop, this paper addresses how labour control is organized in the knowledge-intensive outsourcing industry within an emerging, peripheral cluster of global production networks. The article distinguishes itself from existing workplace or organizational-centric narratives by providing a renewed analysis of multiscalar labour regimes within the Global Production Network (GPN). For this, the article adopts the critical readings of "global production networks and labour" by economic geographers as its analytical framework.

The article centres its empirical focus on the software industry in an emerging cluster, Trivandrum/Technopark, India. It focuses on Tier 1 and Tier 2 supplier software services for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the automotive domain, examining control measures in the periphery network of the GPN In the global south. The study is qualitative, relying principally on semi-structured interviews with software employees, managers, HR heads, government officials, and employee association leaders.

The study reveals that the execution part of software development is outsourced, with the life cycle model favouring Scrum with various working models. However, in this type of tailored Scrum, the client maintains disproportionate authority over technical control. The study also uncovers various knowledge and people management systems. The analysis shows that bureaucratic control is largely defined by the organization, with cultural and societal practices co-existing within it. The regional and national political economy provides the necessary legitimacy for various layers of governance and control. So, the study states that labour control moulds through the dialectics of lead firms, the national and regional political economy of labour control, and workplace-centric control measures in a knowledge-intensive industry.