Transcript Time and Employee Control in the Temporalities of Boundaryless

Time and Employee Control
in the Temporalities of
Boundaryless Work
Henrik Lund,
Roskilde University, DK
NWLC Helsingør April 2012
Social acceleration
Time sociologists say:
- The modern life make us poor on time –
Time has become the main enemy of
freedom
The ‘TiGa’ perspective:
- Contemporary work life is the starting
point of the modern societies
acceleration – Scarcity of time has
become the main enemy of employee
control
Point of departure
• We need to focus on the quality of time,
rhythms created and eroded by the
temporality of modern work if we are to
understand the linkage between time,
control and quality of work life
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New conceptualisation of
time in work
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Linier time and cyclic time
Conflicting temporal order
Instantaneous time
Unpredictability
Fragmentation
Stacking
Lack of time spaces
Juggling with time
Negotiating time
Flow
Rhythm
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Central references
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Csikszentmihalyi, M. et al. (1990): Flow…
Eriksen, T. B. (1999): Tidens historie….
Hassard, J. (1996): Image of Time in Work….
Nowotny, H. (1994). Time. The modern and postmodern
experience….
Perlow, L. (1999):The time famine: Toward a sociology of
work time….
Rosa, H. & W. E. Scheuerman (2008). High-speed society…
Hylland Eriksen, T. ([2001] 2007). Øyeblikkets tyranny…
Lefebvre, H. (2004): Rhythmanalyses. Space, Time and
Everyday Life….
Orlikowski, W.J. (2002). It’s about time….
Ylijoki, O. & Mätylä, H. (2003): Conflicting Time Perspectives
in Academic Work….
Westenholz, A. (2006) Identity, times and work….
Worker control
• Is control in contemporary
working life increasing or
declining?
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New and old work
• Traditional work: Taylorism and
bureaucracy as the enemy of employee
control
• Boundaryless work: Time as additional
enemy of employee control
- Huge difference between ‘having control’
and ‘being in control’
- Involvement and autonomy can be
combined with bureaucratic control
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Time, control and work strain
In traditional work, time is subject of managerial
control, and the crux of labour conflicts,
Key concepts:
•the length of working time,
•the placement on the work day (working odd
hours)
•the breaks
Work is regulated by concepts on normal time,
overtime, holidays etc.
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Boundaryless work
• Self-management
• Task-oriented work, internalization of control, out-put
control
• Boundaries of time and space are blurred
• virtualization of work; work can be carried out all
around the clock
• Individualization
• Organizational hierarchies blurred, roles defined and
redefined by customers or users
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The time - stress paradox
• Although we as individuals have more
control over working time, e.g. Self chosen
hours stress, symptoms are prevalent.
• Traditional regulation of working time does
not apply in work characterized by
boundarylessness
NWLC Helsingør April 2012
Our questions
• How to conceptualize time and control in
boundaryless work?
• What is the relation between new temporal
orders, control and strain?
• Which new strategies for ’re-regulation’ of
time are needed?
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The school: Baseline findings
Characteristics of work:
- Many task without any demarcation (the
skilled and socially well-functioning and
democratic child)
- Team organization
- Project and problem orientated learning
- Communication with peers, management,
pupils, authorities
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Findings related to time
• The number of interpersonal relations
explode
• All natural gaps are filled with ad hoc
planning and coordination
• Time is fragmented by interruptions
• The teachers are constantly ready to react
on new impulses and information
• Are expected to find new and innovative
teaching methods
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Findings related to time (2)
• The teachers are constantly juggling with
time and negotiating time with peers,
family and management
• Unpredictability (e.g. absence) and
uneven rhythms create long working days
• Many and long meetings challenge the
theaters experience of meaning in work
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Conclusions
• The teachers have control in work but do
not feel like being in control with their
overall work situation
• They lose control because there is never
enough time and the temporalities are
without (natural) rhythms
• Control is gained and lost collectively
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What is to be done?
(Re)creation of temporal rhythms:
- Collective obligations to create rhythms in
work practice – A time for every purpose
- Pauses that support rhythms between
effort and regeneration
- Demarcation of fast time too ensure time
for immersion
- Create rhythms between work and leisure
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Intervention
Focus on:
1. Lack of control
Or
2. Lack of time and unhealthy temporalities
- Resonance
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