Grey zones and triangulation of the employment relationship in globalisation

Abstract

This article discusses the changes in employment relationships under globalisation and, more specifically, the phenomenon of triangulation and the attendant proliferation of employment grey zones. The first section sets out a framework for analysis of the conditions governing the organisation and exercise of power by employers in such situations by reviewing two types of relationship: an agency relationship and a relationship of intervention. Drawing on fieldwork and a number of case studies, the second part examines how human resources managers in large corporations use their powers of discretion in these situations. The third part analyses this particular form of regulation with regard to the nature of the subordinate relationship of employees to their employers. We show that the existence of employment grey zones reflects not so much a watering down of that subordinate relationship as a shift towards new values and new means of expression.