Informal Supervisory Social Control Strategies*

The informal strategies that are employed by supervisors outside the formal discipline and control systems are explored via a literature review and an analysis of eight case studies from the United States. A comparison with the literature on formal controls reveals that these informal strategies violate virtually all the conventional prescriptive wisdom. the descriptive sociological and anthropological research on negotiated orders, status degradation, labelling and stigmatization is found to be applicable. However, even here, important distinctions must be drawn between this study which develops workplace controllers'strategies and the majority of the prior studies which have focused on deviants' reactions to control measures in non‐work settings.