Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Organization
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ezzamel, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Work Organization in the Middle Kingdom, Ancient Egypt

Mahmoud Ezzamel

Cardiff Business School, UK, ezzamel{at}cardiff.ac.uk

This paper examines original documents from the Middle Kingdom in ancient Egypt (2050-1780 BC), containing material on various practices relating to the organization of work and labour discipline in state projects. The paper explores the roles of accounting and administrative practices in rendering possible the form and functioning of work organization and labour discipline during that historical era. Historical evidence so far removed from the present is clearly open to a variety of readings. Although acknowledging this, the paper argues that, through the compilation of rosters and name lists, the setting of work targets, regular reporting on performance, the application of sanctions against recalcitrant individuals and the determination and distribution of differential wages, accounting and administrative practices established a regime of control that traced workers’ presence and absence at precise temporal points and spatial locations and monitored their achievements. The evidence points to a very strong role for both accounting and administrative practices, lending greater credence to the view that the ‘visible’ hand of administration played a crucial role in the civilization of ancient Egypt.

Key Words: accounting • administration • ancient Egypt • control • labour discipline • work organization

Organization, Vol. 11, No. 4, 497-537 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/1350508404044060
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Organization StudiesHome page
M. Ruef and A. Harness
Agrarian Origins of Management Ideology: The Roman and Antebellum Cases
Organization Studies, June 1, 2009; 30(6): 589 - 607.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Accounting HistoryHome page
B. Barlev
A Biblical statement of accountability
Accounting History, May 1, 2006; 11(2): 173 - 197.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Management & Organizational HistoryHome page
A. Rehn
Anachronism and innovation: A case of hybrid economies in the early 19th century
Management & Organizational History, February 1, 2006; 1(1): 71 - 86.
[Abstract] [PDF]