This place is not the same anymore; temps are coming in

Abstract

As organisations increasingly rely on temporary work arrangements, there is a significant rise in the proportion of workers in part-time, contractual, fixed tenure, and other such labour engagements. Due to the difference between the employment relationships of temporary and permanent workers, corporations often design separate control mechanisms for these two worker groups. This paper argues that organisational control of workers extensively shapes their organisational communication. Communication as constitutive of organisation (CCO) research says that the interaction between members and objects plays a vital role in constructing ‘communication yielding organising.’ The emergent organisation rests on the negotiations of conversations and texts which carry the ongoing organisational communication. Workplaces in which the workforce composition is shifting from permanent workers to a mixture of permanent and temporary workers gradually realise pertinent changes in their conversations and texts, which as carriers of organisational communication constitutes how the organisation emerges as well.