Restructuring the Workplace: Understanding Undocumented Labor Employment Through Structuration Theory

• In Event: Organizational Communication Research Escalator - Extended Session (Part 1)

Abstract

With over 8.1 million undocumented workers currently residing in the U.S., there has been a shift in organizational hiring processes with the influx of this new labor force. This paper utilizes structuration theory (Banks & Riley, 1993; Giddens, 1984) to examine the motivations that organizations consider when hiring unauthorized labor. Through an inductive qualitative approach, organizational stakeholders at three small, family-owned businesses, in South Texas will be interviewed to understand motivations for employing undocumented workers. This study argues that these practices of hiring undocumented labor are re-structuring organizational dynamics and enabling companies to engage socio-politically within the context of immigration climate in contemporary U.S. politics.

Author

• Ignacio Cruz, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, U of Southern California