Contracting as an Institution: Managerial Arm Wrestling

Abstract

This chapter introduces the voice of the administrators and reveals the rhetoric of dialogue and consensus they use, contrasting it with the voice of OS admins and their point of view on the process. The erasure of occupational voices emerged as a mechanism to effectively reproduce low-quality jobs and intensify job insecurity for those in the caring and service occupations. In addition to avoiding actual control over service deliverers’ employment practices, and on top of standardized tables that flatten rewards and trim job sizes, budgeting ceilings also contributed to the deterioration in job quality. It emerged that budgeting administrators are more interested in generating services on the level of lip service; namely, taking pride in having an operating service, rather than actually taking an interest in the interpersonal processes in these services.