Automatons, sales-floor control and the constitution of authority

Workplace authority in contemporary contexts is increasingly being constituted through online automatons, internet platforms whose logic is diametrically opposed to the notion of hierarchical knowledge. They govern the organization of work and derive legitimacy from three principles: (1) the streaming of information into a network composed of all workers; (2) the transparency of the information and measurements they provide to workers; and (3) their automatic self-regulation, which obscures the role of management in their design. Via interviews and on-site observation in a large computer chain store, I examined how one automaton controls workers through a complex system of sales contests. To lure workers into active engagement with the automaton, management offers hefty prizes to contest winners and also strives to legitimate the automaton’s operation by presenting the contests as fair and just. Through the behavioural scripts inscribed into it, the automaton fosters belief in markets as efficient means of resource allocation and promotes self-interested behaviour and arm’s-length social ties. Smart artefacts like this automaton, which foster belief and generate authority through workers’ prescribed engagement with them, are, I argue, emerging as effective managerial tools in a variety of work contexts, part of a pattern of increasing automation of workplace authority.

Remuneración a la fuerza de ventas: variables que determinan su éxito o fracaso. Remuneration of sales force: Variables that determine your success or failure.

<p><strong>Resumen</strong></p><p>La remuneración a la fuerza de ventas es un tema fundamental en las organizaciones comerciales. ¿Qué tipo de incentivos incrementan el esfuerzo del vendedor para lograr las metas de la organización? ¿Si se combinan diferentes esquemas de incentivos se incrementa la dedicación del vendedor? Este es el primer estudio realizado en Costa Rica con técnicas experimentales para abordar tales cuestiones. Se realizan un conjunto de sesiones con más de doscientos estudiantes de carreras afines a la administración de negocios, a fin de estudiar, específicamente, los concursos de ventas cuyo esquema de remuneración consiste en un primer premio seguido de varios premios menores asignados según el logro de ventas por parte del vendedor. Se encontró que no siempre más es mejor y que algunas combinaciones en ambientes en los que los sujetos se comunican continuamente pueden hasta reducir el esfuerzo por lograr los objetivos organizacionales.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>The remuneration to the sales force is a major issue in commercial organizations. What kind of incentives increase the selling effort to achieve the goals of the organization? With the combination of different incentive schemes it is possible to increase seller’s dedication? This is the first study applied in Costa Rica, using experimental techniques to address such issues. A set of sessions are conducted with more than 200 students, from careers related to business administration, to study sales contests with a compensation scheme, in which there is a first prize followed by several smaller prizes assigned to the achieved sales made by the seller. It was found that it is possible to reduce the effort to achieve organizational objectives when the subjects can communicate constantly.</p>