New analytic technologies have enabled firms to engage in what Michel Foucault has called “panoptic surveillance”; these technologies put real-time maps of resources and performance on screen. This computerized surveillance differs, however, from the control envisaged by Taylor and efficiency experts in an earlier era. 
In order to deliver quick, flexible results, work groups have to be given a certain measure of autonomy. Indeed, the firm will try to motivate autonomy through internal markets; the center (CEOs, management) sets the terms of competition between teams in writing a piece of computer code, raising money, or designing a product, then five or six teams compete against each other to do it. In Taylor’s way of thinking, based on pyramid form, this would be highly inefficient, since you have duplication of effort, but in the new, flexible way of thinking, what matters is producing the best result as quickly as possible. That’s a more modern measure of efficiency. This kind of internal competition leads to what the economist Robert Frank calls “winner-takes-all” rewards: the big prizes come only to the winning team, and there are few or no consolation prizes.
This system produces high levels of stress and anxiety among workers, as I and many other researchers have found. All competition, of course, breeds stress; the stakes are raised in winner-takes-all markets. Internal markets raise the anxiety stakes again higher, since the line between competitor and colleague becomes unclear.

- Richard Sennett, The Culture of the New Capitalism

It’s not difficult to see how the solidarity of workers could be undermined by this intensely competitive environment, to say nothing of how emotionally draining it is for the individuals involved. I have friends and family members who work in offices like the one just described. What has always struck me about their stories are the ways management attempts to ameliorate worker anxiety. Usually this comes in the form of forced pep. Teams are encouraged to showcase their quirkiness all the while competing against each other for sales. In one case, teams would send out office-wide emails of each other “planking” after each confirmed sale. All of this is meant to distract from the ever present worry that a new bout of lay-offs are just around the corner. After all, it could be anyone’s head on the chopping block (no one is guaranteed a position. Past performance doesn’t make up for recent failures). Then, when heads do roll, everyone plays a game of musical desks. This is offered by management as a way keep everyone fresh and on their toes. More likely, it’s due to the fact that it’s difficult to spot a missing face when no one knows where someone usually works. Just another example of the way we live now. Precariously.