`Delayering Managers': Time-Space Surveillance and its Gendered Effects

Abstract

This article seeks to extend the growing interest in time-space issues within social and organizational theory (Giddens, 1984, 1987; Harvey, 1990) by focusing on management and gender in the workplace. It examines the impact of what we have termed `time-space surveillance' on managers who have survived delayering and also addresses the gendered conditions and consequences of these processes. Drawing on research from the UK insurance industry, we explore the various managerial responses to increased time-space surveillance, how intensified monitoring generated considerable problems for both men and women managers in attempting to balance `home' and `work', and the significant gender-specific effects of these processes. Finally, we consider the extent to which these empirical dynamics might have a wider generalizability.