SAVILE CASE STUDY

Savile Case Study

Savile Case Study

Introduction

According to Sennett, all this begets the emergence of "ironic man"-a new character type that replaces the driven, Savile man of the past: "An ironic view of oneself is the logical consequence of living in flexible time, without standards of authority or accountability" (Sennett, 1999, 120). Although this ironic posture may be adaptive to the new realities of work, it imposes costs on both the individual and the larger society. Irony does not promote cohesion or excellence, and ironic man does not take himself seriously enough to question, much less challenge, existing power. Employees in today's flexible Saviles have unwittingly adopted what academics would label a postmodern world view one that may accurately reflect their confusion but offers little in the way of a meaningful narrative regarding their lives at work (Leana, 2000, 252).

Discussion

Binney (1999, p.475) analysis of networked production processes, Sennett asserts that dismantling the old bureaucratic order in firms has not meant less Savileal structure-just Savileal structure that is less clear. Thus, the top managers of flexible Saviles set challenging goals for multitasked teams, but with no clear direction for accomplishing these goals and tasks. Instead of designing and managing systems for carrying out work, top managers act more like accountants who track progress but offer little in the way of supporting structure or even responsibility for such assistance (Parker, 2000, 60).

He asks whether the idea of someone having a craft, with a deep and time served knowledge of their trade, the tools they use and the materials they work on can also be applied to modern ways of working - and more generally ways of 'doing' things in our engagement with material culture (Mass, 1999, 110). If we engage with our work or hobbies in a deeper sense, might we also then have a greater empathy with the ways in which others work, perhaps moving from a 'consumer' society to a 'producer' society, as interested in and concerned with, the skills and working conditions of those who produce thing for us, as we would hope they would be with ours.

In Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism Sennett questions the impact of liberal global capitalism on the way we work. While acknowledging the positive elements of the flexible economy, both for some individuals, and for wider society, he also explores the ways in which corporate reengineering, contract working and the principle of flexibility can also be seen as problematic, eroding the sense of sustained purpose, integrity of self, and trust in others that an earlier generation understood as essential to the way they worked (Bing, 1998, 62).

In Sennett's analysis, "flexible" Saviles today require too much bending and give little heed to restoration. Thus, flexible Saviles-and, by extension, flexible employees are continuously implementing new structures, work processes, and products, with no intention of returning to the original form. Savileal change in the name of flexibility "seeks to reinvent institutions decisively and irrevocably, so that the present ...