| dc.description.abstract | The relationship between technocratic and socioideological control in organizations is contested
among scholars. In an attempt to understand this complex interlinkage, the present study
examined organizational control processes in inbound and outbound call centers in Bangalore,
India. Relying on qualitative interviews and thematic analysis, the study demonstrated how
organizations invoke the concept of professionalism in their employees. Organizational efforts
in this direction result not only in employee compliance but also internalization of professionalism
such that agents’ sense of self changes to embrace employer-defined professionalism.
Socioideological control thus sets the stage for the acceptance and effectiveness of technocratic
control. Rather than viewing organizational identities and organizational cultures as
additional or separate extensions of the substantive, structural, material dimensions of control,
the findings of the study highlight that socioideological and technocratic forms of control build
on and feed each other. Nonetheless, the managerial notion of control espoused through the
appeal to professional identity continues to be contested. | |
