Research Summary
Research Summary
The New Social Contract: Contractors, Firms, and Agencies
Description
The emergence of a 'new social contract' linking employees and organizations - perhaps most notable for the absence of a promise of lifelong job security - has been widely remarked. A related trend, less noted but potentially important, has been the emergence of a pool of independent contractors who make their skills available to multiple organizations on a temporary basis. Both trends are driven by responses to prevailing business conditions: downsizing with the frequently resulting lack of resources needed to respond quickly and flexibly to new opportunities and threats in an increasingly competitive environment; and the desire to make costs variable by closely matching labor and demand or eliminating fixed benefits. The rapid growth in the size, number, and diversity of firms providing temporary talent suggests the significance of this new relationship between people and organizations, traces of which have been evident for some time in such project-based industries as moviemaking and construction. Jeffrey L. Bradach is currently exploring why and how independent contractors, firms, and agencies are engaging in, and evaluating the implications of, these relationships for people, organizations, and society. His research, which focuses specifically on independent contractors, will attempt to answer questions such as: What is the new social contract that defines the relationship between individuals and firms? What factors lead people and firms to choose this way of organizing work? How do independent contractors construct their jobs and careers? What firm-based human resource policies and practices (in client firms and temporary agencies) promote high performance on the part of independent contractors? Bradach intends to study in depth forty individuals, selected from the ranks of five agencies in the temporary help business, who have decided to make careers of providing their services on a temporary basis. Among these will be interim CEOs and CFOs, technical and professional workers (e.g., software programmers, physical therapists, desktop publishers, and marketing managers), and office support workers. Bradach will also interview the clients who employ these individuals to determine why they have engaged in and how they plan to assess the effectiveness of the arrangement. Finally, he will examine the structure, systems, and processes employed by the five agencies that match contractors with clients.