Egalitarian

Abstract

The information-sector workplace was different from other workplaces I had observed and Irish people had described. I was interested in understanding the reasons for this difference. In seeking an answer, I explored two lines of investigation: the nature of information-sector work and the influence of American culture introduced through the corporate cultures of the multinational firms. What I found was that both factors have contributed to the IT workplace that has evolved in Ireland. But the most significant finding was that it occurred because these two factors appeared to have fallen upon very fertile ground. This type of work, with its multinational influences, released the Irish workers from the constraints of a different and foreign workplace and ethic. The information sector enabled them to be the kinds of workers who were much more consistent with their cultural heritage.

I think it may go back to the time, as well, when we literally had to look after ourselves and we had to find ways around existing structures. We had to be more manipulative, if you like. For instance, there was a time when we weren’t allowed to own things or we couldn’t be elected to government or we couldn’t take office of any kind. So we weren’t rulers of our own destiny. So the official structure wasn’t available to us, so we had to find unofficial structures. And the unofficial structures were almost cell-type structures. And the cell-type structures interlaced with each other. So that there was no center on it… [I]t was pretty much an open structure where people could enter it and be accepted within it, at different levels. Depending upon how much influence they could bring to bear on it. How much influence they could bring to bear very often depended on who they knew or how many they knew. Where their connections were. [Liam]