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The knowledge economy and the restructuring of employment: the case of consultants

Birmingham Business School, r.donnelly{at}bham.ac.uk

Knowledge workers are said to be the vanguard of a new era in work and employment, with some even claiming that these workers have been freed from the constraints of organizational employment (Pink, 2001; Reed, 1996). However, many knowledge workers operate as employees and emerging research suggests that the interplay between these workers and organizations generates strong competing tensions. This article proposes that these conflicts lead to a hybridization of the employment relationship.The findings from this case study of a large consultancy firm suggest that these tensions along with organizational context, the form of knowledge work, the seniority of the individual and the level and nature of client influence play an important role in shaping the degree and balance of this hybridization in contemporary bureaucracies.

Key Words: consultants • employment relationship • knowledge workers • knowledge economy • knowledge work

Work, Employment & Society, Vol. 23, No. 2, 323-341 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0950017009102861


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