Keywords
Labour
Agile
Control
Flexibility
Categories
How to Cite
Abstract
This paper deals with the transformational shift from the waterfall model of software development to the agile method, and the restructuring of production processes in the Information Technology Industry. The adaptation of the agile method intensified hegemonic control over value generation and internalisation of capital interests, via contradictory yet coexisting forms of fragmentation of tasks and collaborative labour processes. The current paper situates the blurring of paid and unpaid labour-time, propensity to enter the labour reserve, and internalisation of capital interests to be characteristic of labour in Information Technology, shaped by the agile method. Following this, the labour is classified as new recruits and Individual Contributors (ICs), semi-managerial positions, and (tech and non-tech) managerial positions; incrementally moving from being subjected to the capital's logic towards internalising capital class interests; drawn from the in-depth case studies of 95 IT workers from the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HDMA) region. It argues that the progressively increasing integration of managerial tasks into job responsibility, which is central to the agile method, intensifies processes of capital accumulation by reinforcing labour flexibility to suit changing capital requirements.
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