Economic Crisis and the Centralization of Control Over the Managerial Process: Corporate Restructuring and Neo-Fordist Decision-Making

Abstract

I analyze the effects of the recent intensification of control over the managerial process in a large steel corporation in the United States. Corporate restructuring was an attempt to overcome constraints on capital accumulation and resolve the contradictions and inefficiencies embedded in the previous controls over the managerial process. Formal controls over the managerial process were intensified to standardize decisions, improve product quality, and reduce costs. Additional findings include: (1) discretion over many decisions was centralized in decision centers where conceptual activities were performed; (2) the new formal controls increased surveillance over production managers; (3) many decisions were eliminated, which reduced the need for some managers and eliminated four layers of the managerial hierarchy; and (4) the corporation became more tightly coupled and more flexible. These Neo-Fordist controls entailed a structure of capital accumulation that separated conception from execution while enhancing control over the managerial process.