Research Projects
Current
„Politics of Inscription in the digital transformation: The Labour Process in the intersection of firm strategies and technology design." German Research Foundation (DFG).This project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the priority program 2267 ‘The Digitalisation of Working Worlds’ and is carried out in cooperation with the ISF Munich and the ZZF Potsdam. Duration: 11/2023 - 10/2026.
Inscription of Technology and the Politics of Performance
Following the first project ‘Politics of Performance’, this follow-up project aims to deepen and expand the analysis of digital transformation focusing on the interrelation between technology inscription and appropriation of technology, firm strategies of digitalisation and the politics of performance. Specifically, we ask how, on the one hand, digital technologies expand the possibilities of control of the production process and the labour process and, on the other hand, require organizational adjustments that restrict the autonomy of decision making within the firm. Against this background we investigate how firms try to exert influence on technological design but also ask about the obstinate appropriation of digital technology in concrete work processes. Analogous to working conditions and politics of performance, the inscription or technology development is understood as a contested field that is not only influenced by firm strategies, but by all actors involved. The contested field of the ‘politics of performance’ is thus joined by the field of the ‘politics of inscription’, in which operating companies, technology suppliers and (representatives of) worker’s struggle over the concrete design of technology.
Approach:
The project examines the relationship between influence on and influence by technology design from an interdisciplinary perspective, taking the chemical industry as an example: The relationship between general rationalisation strategies and technological developments is investigated from a historical perspective (ZZF). From a sociological perspective the firm strategies of technology design and inscription as well as their effects on the work process level are investigated (University of Goettingen and ISF Munich). The investigation is based on case studies of digitally supported process integration in large-scale chemical industry and laboratory automation in the pharmaceutical industry.
Researchers:
„The Politics of Performance in the Digitalised Industrial Workplace: Firm Strategies of Digitalisation and Practices of Labour Control." German Research Foundation (DFG).
This project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the priority program 2267 "The Digitalisation of Working Worlds" and is carried out in cooperation with the ISF Munich. Duration: 11/2020 - 10/2023. (DFG) (Digitalization of Working Worlds)
Politics of Performance in the Digital Transformation of Work:
Digital technologies create new terms for modes of control and the steering of performance at work. For example, by using digital technologies the use of automated data collection and processing shows an increase in transparency and increases the possibilities of surveillance, enables more direct access to processes of the whole value chain and facilitate flexible automation. However, we assume that each firm pursues different (and possibly conflicting) objectives in using digital technology, with labour control and restriction of autonomy of the workers being only one among others. The project seeks to make a conceptual and empirical contribution to the analysis of the digital transformation of work by analysing new patterns of the ‘politics of performance’ in the light of ‘strategies of digitalisation’ pursued by firms in the industrial sector. We define the ‘politics of performance’ as the interaction between managerial strategies and workers’ involvement in the processes of definition, activation and control of performance. With ‘firm strategies of digitalisation’ we refer to the objectives a firm pursues by deploying digital technologies in the light of the constant requirements of valorisation – beyond control this includes e.g., the (systematic) rationalisation of the overarching processes of production, the influence on the market, and also the explicit activation of self-responsibility and self-organisation of workers.
Aims and Research Question
The overall aim of the project is to develop a concept that will allow us to analyse the ‘politics of performance’ in digital work as part of a broader perspective on strategies of digitalisation ― including those strategies that are not explicitly connected with labour control, but still affect its framework conditions. First, the questions of which strategies management pursue with the use of digital technologies, how the respective strategies are implemented, and which frictions or synergies arise between different objectives are addressed. Secondly, the project explores how the initiated digitalisation processes affect the processes of the politics of performance. In doing so the project considers both: intended and unintended, and direct and indirect effects of the deployment of digital technology on the labour process. Since it is not possible to draw conclusions about the actual effects on the work process from certain ‘firm strategies of digitalisation’, the project also focuses on concrete work practices and ways of appropriating technology by production workers. The project thus aims to build a conceptual bridge between the analysis of concrete work processes and firm strategies of digitalisation.
Approach
Our conceptual approach links the fruitful body of literature on labour process and performance management in the German- and English-language debate, structurational perspectives on the appropriation of technology and the industrial sociological ‘firm-strategy approach’, which will be reviewed and actualised within the course of the project. This will make it possible to provide the means for a better understanding of the ongoing digital transformation of work, as it allows us to analytically connect working conditions and working experiences to economic and technological developments without reverting to determinist assumptions. Empirically we investigate the interplay of the strategies of digitalisation and the politics of performance in three in-depth case studies in the automotive, chemical and engineering sector. Each case is representing different starting conditions for the firm to develop and pursue strategies of digitalisation (e.g. market situation, position in the supply chain, previous degree of automation). The case studies include problem-centered interviews with production workers, guideline-based interviews with firm experts, as well as framing document analyses and firm visits. The evaluation of the cases is carried out both in firm-related case analyses and in comparative case comparisons.
Researchers:
Publications (Selection):
Klur, Konstantin; Nies, Sarah (2023): Governed by digital technology? Self-perpetuation and social domination in digital capitalism. In: Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation 17 (1), S. 12–33.
Becksteiner, Mario; Nies, Sarah (2022): Digitale Konstruktion betrieblicher Wirklichkeiten und die Grenzen des Verhandelbaren. In: Janis Ewen, Sarah Nies und Martin Seeliger (Hg.): Sozialpartnerschaft im digitalisierten Kapitalismus. Hat der institutionalisierte Klassenkompromiss eine Zukunft? Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, S. 182–202.
Nies, Sarah (2021): Eine Frage der Kontrolle? Betriebliche Strategien der Digitalisierung und die Autonomie von Beschäftigen in der Produktion. In: Berliner Journal für Soziologie 31 (3/4), S. 475–504. DOI: 10.1007/s11609-021-00452-8.
All Projects
Profession/ Occupation and cooperation in the workplace. Hans Boeckler Foundation (HBS)Project Objectives
In this project, qualitative case studies in the production and the IT sectors are conducted to investigate the question of whether and how occupational professionalism is influenced by the conditions of the dynamic change of digitalised and networked, i.e. agile work, in the daily work processes, as well as for the companies themselves. 03/2019-02/2021. (HBS)
Selection of Publications:
Neumer, Judith; Nies, Sarah; Ritter, Tobias; Pfeiffer, Sabine (2022): Beruflichkeit und Kollaboration in der digitalisierten Arbeitswelt'>, Working Paper of the HBS-Research Funding Nr. 242, February 2022.
Nies, Sarah; Ritter, Tobias; Pfeiffer, Sabine (2020): Anerkennung informeller Fähigkeiten in einer digitalisierten Arbeitswelt. In: DENK-doch-MAL.de. Das online Magazin für Arbeit-Bildung-Gesellschaft, 04-20.
Project Objectives
In the first step of the project, a stock of qualitative, empirical studies from over 40 years of sociological research on work and industry at the participating sociological research institutes is catalogued using IT-based methods. This output can then be used as a foundation for five secondary analytical pilot projects on various questions regarding the central aspects of the new shapes of work and production. Data from previous and current empirical studies are systematically integrated into a cross-sectional or longitudinal perspective to gain insights into the transformation of work. This research project took place in collaboration with the Sociological Research Institute Göttingen e.V. (SOFI). 10/2015-09/2020.
-> e-Labour
-> Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Selection of Publications:
Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah (2019): Autorität, Markt und Subjektivität: Ergebnisse einer sekundäranalytischen Längsschnittstudie vom Spät-Taylorismus bis zur Digitalisierung der Arbeit. In: Dunkel/Mayer-Ahuja/Hanekop (Hrsg.): Blick zurück nach vorn. Sekundäranalysen zum Wandel von Arbeit nach dem Fordismus. Frankfurt a.M.: Campus, S. 175-217.
Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah (2018): Methoden der Arbeitssoziologie. In: Böhle, Fritz; Voß, G. Günter; Wachtler, Günther (Hrsg.): Handbuch Arbeitssoziologie. 2. Auflage. Band 1: Arbeit, Strukturen und Prozesse. Wiesbaden: Springer, S. 265–318.
Project Objectives
Within the framework of the SOdA project, interactions and interrelationships that affect work in the digital factory are being investigated: the company strategies and objectives in the use of digital technology, the control of work and performance by the companies, the pre-structuring of the work process inherent in the technology, and the actual practice of the work process itself. The focus is thus on the interaction of management strategies, technology development, technology use and the control of work and performance.
Thus, this project combines two thematic stands: the renewed debate on the effects of technological innovations and their designability regarding the buzz word of “Industry 4.0” on the one hand, and the analyses of upheavals in work organisation, company strategies, and performance management, with key words such as marketisation, subjectification, and indirect control management, on the other.
The aim of this project is to determine the conditions and scope for cooperative work structures and autonomy in the digital factory. 07/2017-06/2020.
Selection of Publications:
Nies, Sarah (2021): Eingehegte Autonomie und Perspektiven der Demokratisierung. Probleme der digitalen Transformation des Betriebs. In: Schmitz, Christoph; Urban, Hans-Jürgen (Hrsg.): Demokratie in der Arbeit. Eine vergessene Dimension der Arbeitspolitik, Bund Verlag, Frankfurt a. M., S. 89-103.
Nies, Sarah; Kratzer, Nick; Casas González, Beatriz; Reindl, Josef, Josef; Stadlinger, Jörg; Jost, Philipp; Ohl, Gerd; Holletschke, Dieter (2021): Selbstständiges Arbeiten in der digitalen Fabrik. In: Bauer, Wilhelm, Mütze-Niewöhner, Susanne, Stowasser, Sascha, Zanker, Claus, Müller, Nadine (Hrsg.): Arbeit in der digitalisierten Welt. Praxisbeispiele und Gestaltungslösungen aus dem BMBF-Förderschwerpunkt, S. 176-187.
Nies, Sarah; Reindl, Josef, Josef; Sauer, Dieter (2020): Digitalisierung, indirekte Steuerung und gesundheitliche (Selbst-)Gefährdung. In: Schröder, Lothar (Hrsg.): Gute Arbeit – Reader 2020, Bund Verlag, Frankfurt a. M., S. 21-33.
Reindl, Josef, Josef; Nies, Sarah; Casas González, Beatriz; Stadlinger, Jörg (2019): Das Echtzeit-Dilemma – Transparenz und Aktivierung in der digitalisierten Organisation. In: Bauer, Wilhelm; Stowasser, Sascha; Mütze-Niewöhner, Susanne; Zanker, Claus; Brandl, Karl-Heinz (Hrsg.): Arbeit in der digitalisierten Welt. Stand der Forschung und Anwendung im BMBF-Förderschwerpunkt, Fraunhofer IAO, Stuttgart, S. 106-111.
Nies, Sarah (2021): Eine Frage der Kontrolle? Betriebliche Strategien der Digitalisierung und die Autonomie von Beschäftigen in der Produktion. In: Berliner Journal für Soziologie 31 (3/4), S. 475–504. DOI: 10.1007/s11609-021-00452-8.
Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah; Sauer, Dieter (2019): Digitale Kontrolle und Vermarktlichung. Beschäftigtenautonomie im Kontext betrieblicher Strategien der Digitalisierung. In: PROKLA, Heft 195, Jg. 49, S. 181-200. DOI: 10.32387/prokla.49.195.1808.
Project Objectives
What claims to participation do young employees have today in and at work and in firms? How do they articulate and pursue their work-related interests?
The follow-up project links up with the study “Fragile Legitimations”, also conducted by SOFI Göttingen and ISF Munich, on the claims of working people to justice and rationality. It is a special evaluation of the available qualitative interview material from the main study on the participation claims and interest orientations of young workers (younger than 35 years) in particular. The aim is to contribute to the socio-political and trade union-political question of whether and to what extent the participation claims and interest-political orientations of young workers result in possibilities for a strengthening of company co-determination and participation opportunities. Future trade union policy options and possibilities for structuring social policy are also likely to depend significantly on the concrete participation demands of young workers in relation to work and the workplace (and possibly beyond) and on the critical, participatory, and solidarity-based behavioural potentials associated with them. This research project took place in cooperation with the Sociological Research Institute Göttingen (SOFI). Duration: 11/2016-01/2017.
-> Hans Boeckler Foundation
Selection of Publication:
Nies, Sarah; Tullius, Knut (2017): Zwischen Übergang und Etablierung. Beteiligungsansprüche und Interessenorientierungen jüngerer Erwerbstätiger. Reihe: Study der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Bd. 357, Düsseldorf.
Project Objectives
This research project analyses which claims and norms of justice workers assert in the context of crisis of the company and/or the wider societal contextand which perspectives of agency are associated with them. The focus is on legitimacy claims of workers that are relevant for their own actions. On the one hand, the projects ask about the characteristics and changing tendencies of claims for participation in work and the company ("procedural legitimation"): What status do workers consider appropriate and fair for themselves as actors in the light of the processes of crisis management? What effects do various practice constellations and experienced crisis processes have on workers' participation claims? What experiences have workers had with participation concepts from the workplace and trade unions? On the other hand, the employees' demands for results ("output legitimation") is investigated in relation to concrete policy fields (securing employment and pay, working time, performance and workload, work design, company innovation policy): What patterns of evaluation can be found regarding the distribution of demands and returns, of burdens and opportunities for action? What normative principles do employees draw on in these evaluations? This research project took place in cooperation with the Sociological Research Institute Göttingen e.V. (SOFI). Duration: 04/2012-10/2014.
Selection of Publication:
Kratzer, Nick; Menz, Wolfgang; Tullius, Knut; Wolf, Harald (2019): Legitimationsprobleme in der Erwerbsarbeit. Gerechtigkeitsansprüche und Handlungsorientierungen in Arbeit und Betrieb. 2nd expanded edition. edition sigma, Baden Baden.
Menz, Wolfgang; Nies Sarah (2019): Marktautoritarismus und bedrohte Selbstverständnisse. Impulse der arbeitssoziologischen Bewusstseinsforschung zur Erklärung von Rechtspopulismus. In: Book, Carina; Huke, Nikolai; Klauke, Sebastian; Tietje, Olaf (ed.): Alltägliche Grenzziehungen. Zum Konzept der imperialen Lebensweise und seinen Implikationen. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot, p. 207-227.
Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah (2018): Doing Inequality at Work. Zur Herstellung und Bewertung von Ungleichheiten in Arbeit und Betrieb. In: Behrmann, Laura; Eckert, Falk; Gefken, Andreas; Berger, Peter A. (ed.): ‚Doing Inequality‘. Prozesse sozialer Ungleichheit im Blick qualitativer Sozialforschung. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, p. 123-147.
Menz, Wolfgang; Nies Sarah (2019): Fragile Sicherheiten und Legitimationsprobleme. Rechtspopulismus aus arbeitssoziologischer Perspektive. In: WSI-Mitteilungen 72 (3), p. 177-184.
Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah (2016): Gerechtigkeit und Rationalität – Motive interessenpolitischer Aktivierung, In: WSI-Mitteilungen 69 (7), p. 531-539.
Project Objectives
The MoSte project aims to contribute a better understanding of the social aspects of the economic foundations of modern financial systems. The aim is to empirically record the connections between the economic discourse of the New Classical Macroeconomics and the partly public discourses of central banks. Regarding central bank governance knowledge and practices, the question of how knowledge is formed in economics and how this knowledge is made applicable in transfer, will be examined. In the field of disciplinary knowledge of economics, the project questions how New Classical Macroeconomics conceptualises the economy and the role of central bank governance.
The research project thus combines a (meta-)theoretical perspective on economics with an empirical investigation of the interfaces between the scientific and financial systems. Duration: 10/2015-09/2018.
Das Forschungsprojekt verbindet somit eine (meta-)theoretische Perspektive auf die Ökonomik mit einer empirischen Untersuchung der Schnittstellen zwischen dem Wissenschafts- und dem Finanzsystem. 10/2015-09/2018.
Selection of Publication:
Jan Sparsam, Sarah Nies, Hanno Pahl (2017): Der Aufstieg der New Classical Macroeconomics: Zum (un-)gleichzeitigen Wandel von Steuerungsparadigmen in der Makroökonomik und in Zentralbanken. In: Lessenich, Stephan (Hrsg.): Geschlossene Gesellschaften. Verhandlungen des 38. Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie.
Projektlaufzeit: 10/2012-02/2015.
Selection of Publications:
Nies, Sarah; Roller, Katrin; Vogl, Gerlinde (2018): Managing Mobilities in the Working Context. In: Freudendal-Pedersen, Malene; Hartmann-Petersen, Katrine; Perez Fjalland, Emmy Laura (Hrsg.): Experiencing Networked Urban Mobilities. Practices, Flows, Methods. New York/London: Routledge, S. 48-52.
Nies, Sarah; Roller, Katrin; Vogl, Gerlinde (2017): Mobilität und Leistung. Dienstreisende im Trade-off zwischen Verdichtung und Entgrenzung. In: ARBEIT, Jg. 26, Heft 2, S. 173-191.
Nies, Sarah; Roller, Katrin; Vogl, Gerlinde (2015): Räumliche Mobilität „Rund um die Arbeit“ – Katalysator sozialer Ungleichheit? Analysen zum Mobilitätskapital im beruflichen Alltag am Beispiel der Region München. Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Forschungsförderung Working Paper 001.
Project Objectives
With modes of control focusing on targets – like management of objectives – the principle of work-life balance faces new challenges. Within the framework of market-oriented "indirect" modes of control, effort and outcome must be flexibly balanced. This leads to increasing pressure to perform, negative consequences for motivation, growing problems of work-life balance and an increase in mental stress.
Duration: 08/2009-04/2013.
Selection of Publication:
Nick Kratzer; Wolfgang Menz; Barbara Pangert (2015): Work-Life-Balance – eine Frage der Leistungspolitik, Springer VS, Wiesbaden.
Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah (2015): Wenn allein der Erfolg zählt. Belastungen und Work-Life-Balance in den Finanzdienstleistungen. In: Nick Kratzer; Wolfgang Menz; Barbara Pangert (Hrsg.): Work-Life-Balance – eine Frage der Leistungspolitik, Springer VS, Wiesbaden, S. 233-273.
Project Objectives
Follow-up project on "Frameworks of Action and Interests in the Crisis". Duration: 11/2011-05/2012.
Selection of Publications:
Detje, Richard; Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah; Sauer, Dieter; Bischoff Joachim (2013): Krisenerfahrungen und Politik. Der Blick von unten auf Betrieb, Gewerkschaft und Staat. Hamburg: VSA.
Menz, Wolfgang; Detje, Richard; Nies, Sarah; Sauer, Dieter (2013): Verriegelte Verhältnisse - Solidarität und interessenpolitische Handlungsorientierungen unter Krisenbedingungen. In: Billmann, L., Held, J. (ed.) Solidarität in der Krise. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, p. 31-52.
-> RLS
Duration: 04/2010 – 11/2010.
Selection of Publications:
Detje, Richard; Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah; Sauer, Dieter (2011):Krise ohne Konflikt? Interessen- und Handlungsorientierungen im Betrieb – die Sicht von Betroffenen, VSA, Hamburg.
Menz, Wolfgang; Detje, Richard; Nies, Sarah; Sauer, Dieter; Keller, Nina (2011): Zeit- und Leistungspolitik in und nach der Wirtschaftskrise – die Perspektive der Betroffenen. In: Schröder, Lothar; Urban, Hans-Jürgen (Hrsg.): Gute Arbeit. Folgen der Krise, Arbeitsintensivierung, Restrukturierung, Bund-Verlag, Frankfurt a. M., S. 99-113.
Detje, Richard; Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah; Sauer, Dieter (2011): Krise ohne Konflikt? Zur Wahrnehmung der Wirtschaftskrise aus Sicht von Betroffenen. In: WSI-Mitteilungen, Heft 10, Jg. 64, S. 503-510.
Project Objectives
Within the framework of this project, a systematic review of the practice of empirical case studies prevailing in German sociology of work, industrial sociology, and its further development is carried out. By combining comprehensive analyses of methodological research practice across German sociology of work, a comprehensive assessment of the prevailing practice of empirical case studies in the discipline becomes possible. In this context, in-depth focus analyses of individual development strands in the research institutes ISF Munich and SOFI Göttingen are also conducted. This assessment can be used as a foundation for further methodological debates. The project offers a variety of possibilities for further development, such as narrowing down the characteristics of industrial sociological case studies in the light of historical trends, presenting differentiations, but also commonalities in research practice, as well as reflections on possible quality criteria and potential for further development. The results of the project lead to the proposal that case study research should in the future be increasingly measured by the three criteria of focus, transparency, and reflection. This research project took place in cooperation with the TU Munich and the Sociological Research Institute Göttingen e.V. (SOFI). Duration: 04/2007-03/2009.
Selection of Publications:
Hans Pongratz; Rainer Trinczek (2010): Industriesoziologische Fallstudien. Entwicklungspotenziale einer Forschungsstrategie. Berlin: edition sigma.
Nies, Sarah; Sauer, Dieter (2010): Theoriegeleitete Fallstudienforschung. Forschungsstrategien am ISF München. In: Hans Pongratz; Rainer Trinczek (Hrsg.): Industriesoziologische Fallstudien. Entwicklungspotenziale einer Forschungsstrategie. Berlin: edition sigma, S. 119-162.
Nies, Sarah; Sauer, Dieter (2010): Was wird aus der Betriebsfallstudie? Forschungsstrategische Herausforderungen durch Entgrenzung von Arbeit und Betrieb. In: Arbeits- und Industriesoziologische Studien, Online-Journal der Sektion Arbeits- und Industriesoziologie in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie (DGS), Jg. 3, Heft 1, S. 14-23.
-> HBS
Project Objectives
The aim of the preliminary study is a reconstruction, documentation, and initial typification of company closures. For this purpose, the reasons for the company closures, the course of the conflicts, the main interest-political strategies of employees, companies and trade unions as well as the results of the disputes will be analysed on the basis of various cases. At the same time, the extent to which innovative practices and approaches, as well as the revitalisation of trade unions, emerge from an initially defensive position can also be examined. Duration: 1/2008-6/2008.
Selection of Publications:
Detje, Richard; Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah; Sanné, Günter; Sauer, Dieter (2008): Gewerkschaftliche Kämpfe gegen Betriebsschließungen – Ein Anachronismus? In: WSI-Mitteilungen, 5, Jg. 61, S. 238-245.
-> HBS
Project Objectives:
This project is created for a socio-scientific monitoring of the implementation of the collective agreement on a uniform pay system in Germany (in German: Entgeltrahmenabkommen, hereinafter referred to as ERA). Within this framework, the effectiveness of new instruments of performance regulation in the white-collar sectors were investigated. The project focuses on examining the problems and approaches of the ERA implementation in the white-collar sector, also looking at the expectations associated with it. Duration: 09/2005-06/2008.
Selections of Pubblications:
Nies, Sarah; Kratzer, Nick (2011): Mit ERA auf dem Weg zu einer neuen Leistungspolitik bei Angestellten. In: Brandl, Sebastian; Wagner, Hilde (Hrsg.): Ein ‚Meilenstein der Tarifpolitik’ wird besichtigt. Die Entgeltrahmentarifverträge in der Metall- und Elektroindustrie: Erfahrungen – Resultate – Auseinandersetzungen, edition sigma, Berlin, S. 157-182.
Kratzer, Nick; Nies, Sarah (2010): Leistungsentgelt als Instrument von Leistungspolitik? In: Sterkel, Gabriele; Ganser, Petra; Wiedemuth, Jörg (Hrsg.): Leistungspolitik: neu denken. Erfahrungen - Stellschrauben - Strategien, VSA, Hamburg, S. 40-57.
Kratzer, Nick; Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah (2010): Leistungspolitik im Wandel. Entwicklungstendenzen leistungspolitischer Arrangements bei Angestellten. In: Schwitzer, Helga; Ohl, Kay; Rohnert, Richard; Wagner, Hilde (Hrsg.): Zeit, dass wir was drehen! Perspektiven der Arbeitszeit- und Leistungspolitik, VSA, Hamburg, S. 173-199.
Kratzer, Nick; Nies, Sarah (2009): Neue Leistungspolitik bei Angestellten. ERA, Leistungssteuerung, Leistungsentgelt. edition sigma, Berlin.
Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah; Kratzer, Nick (2008): Die Interessenpolitik des „nutzbringenden Individuums“. Interessenhandeln und Interessenvertretung in individualisierter Leistungspolitik. In: Arbeits- und Industriesoziologische Studien, Online-Journal der Sektion Arbeits- und Industriesoziologie in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie (DGS), Heft 2, Jg. 1, S. 27-43.
Kratzer, Nick; Menz, Wolfgang; Nies, Sarah; Sauer, Dieter (2008): Leistungspolitik als Feld „umkämpfter Arbeit“. In: Prokla, Heft 150, Jg. 38, S. 11-26.
Kratzer, Nick; Nies, Sarah (2009): Neue Leistungspolitik bei Angestellten – Impulse durch ERA? In: WSI-Mitteilungen, Jg. 62, Heft 8, S. 425-432.