Extra Credit Blog

After reading chapter 3 in iSpy by Mark Andrejevic it reminded me of this clip that I came across a few months ago about a recent surveillance strategy a company in Norway was inflicting on their employees. In order to increase productive work time among the staff, the company began monitoring the amount of bathroom breaks employees were able to take per day. They installed surveillance cameras outside of all the bathroom stalls and even required each worker to swipe a scanner card each time they entered and left the bathroom. By doing this, the company was able to regulate and keep track of the amount of restroom breaks among employees. Just when you think they couldn't crack down anymore, they even established a rule that women who had their period needed to wear a red bracelet in order to indicate their need for extra bathroom breaks. This excessive surveillance used among these workers in Norway relates directly to the "Taylor System" talked about in this chapter. Taylor was known for managing his workers using the most efficient actions towards performing a particular task. He not only monitored and recorded every action but he also based his system around specialization and customization. This example of bathroom surveillance shows a more up-to-date version of Taylor's beliefs. Instead of using a stop-watch to keep track of efficiency, the Norwegian company uses camera's and scanner cards. By creating a rule that women need to wear red bracelets during their time of the month relates back to Taylor's specialized and customized attitude towards his employees.