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All in A Day's Work: Boundaries and Micro Role Transitions
Abstract
We focus on everyday role transitions involving home, work, and other places. Transitions are boundary-crossing activities, where one exits and enters roles by surmounting role boundaries. Roles can be arrayed on a continuum, spanning high segmentation to high integration. Segmentation decreases role blurring but increases the magnitude of change, rendering boundary crossing more difficult; crossing often is facilitated by rites of passage. Integration decreases the magnitude of change but increases blurring, rendering boundary creation and maintenance more difficult; this challenge often is surmounted by boundary work.
... A recent strand of research placed at the centre of its investigation the concept of 'work-family boundary' (Ashforth et al., 2000;Clark, 2000;Nippert-Eng, 1996), with which scholars refer to the ways individuals create (or do not create) clear boundaries between the different domains of their daily lives. Examples are segmentation, integration or more mixed processes (Kossek, 2016). ...
... Examples are segmentation, integration or more mixed processes (Kossek, 2016). This line of research has allowed for the study of the 'fit' between effective boundary practices and those desired by individuals (Ammons, 2013), and directionality of individuals' boundary practices to understand whether they tend to integrate or separate family from work (for example, by taking or not taking their children into the office) or vice versa, i.e., integrating or separating work from family (for example, by taking or not taking work home) (Ashforth et al., 2000;Kossek et al., 2012). ...
... Contrary to the rhetoric of 'conquered time', it emphasises the invasion of work, both in terms of time and space, into the home, completely changing its look. In terms of directionality, the subjects who adopted this rhetoric tended to integrate from work to the family (Ashforth et al., 2000;Kossek et al., 2012). Domestic spaces were reconfigured to meet new professional and childcare needs without a clear construction of the boundaries between time-space for work, for oneself, for the family and for socialising. ...
The pandemic represents a turning point which affects the micro‐politics of managing productive, reproductive and social life in our new everyday lives. In this article, we make a contribution to the recent and growing scientific debate by exploring academic researchers’ processes of construction and de-construction of spatial, temporal and relational boundaries that take place in the pandemic work-life stay-at-home style. Particular attention is paid to some macro-structural drivers of work and family life, specifically the role of gender and the organisational culture of the neoliberal university. We chose an exploratory, qualitative, non-directive methodology in order to grasp the permeability between the public and the private that this pandemic, as ever before, makes clear. The empirical material consists of ten in-depth narrative video-interviews conducted online with Italian researchers living in different Regions. The article offers an empirical analysis of working from home with a specific focus on the academic context, which is a privileged setting for the investigation of gender inequalities. The analysis sheds light on subjective experiences of the disarticulation of boundaries and their intertwining with the neoliberal ideal type of academic researcher that have unequal consequences on the experience of time-space, productivity, and intimate relationships between men and women, women with and without children and people who live alone or with family.
http://www.italiansociologicalreview.com/ojs/index.php?journal=ISR&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=400
... Although researchers agree that individuals differ in how they manage their work and home life (Ammons, 2013;Bulger, Matthews, & Hoffman, 2007;Kossek, Ruderman, Braddy, & Hamm, 2012;Sturges, 2012) and there is considerable research on what drives individual preferences as to how to manage boundaries (Kreiner et al., 2009), there are few studies exploring other factors that influence individuals' boundary management (e.g., Chakrabarti, 2008;Thompson, Beavais & Lyness, 1999). While boundary theory delineates what boundaries are and their properties (Ashforth, Kreiner & Fugate, 2000), it provides minimal theoretical guidance as to inhibitors and facilitators of patterns of crossboundary micro transitions. That is, are boundary management styles related to inherent employee individual differences? ...
... Therefore, the primary aim of this study is to extend boundary theory and prior research on boundary styles. While boundary theory (Ashforth, Kreiner, & Fugate, 2000) acknowledges the difficulty of transitioning between roles, it says little regarding why this difficulty exists. We put forth job characteristics and personality as two factors that can inhibit role transitions and contribute to this difficulty, and in doing so, we provide theoretical insight into what maintains patterns of boundary management. ...
... According to boundary theory (Ashforth et al., 2000;Nippert-Eng, 1996), individuals construct and maintain boundaries between life domains as a way to simplify their environment. Boundaries refer to, '. . ...
With an increasing overlap between the work and non-work domain, more research is needed to understand the factors that relate to how individuals manage their boundaries across multiple roles (i.e., work roles, family roles). Using a sample of 498 individuals, we explored the relationships between personality, O*NET job characteristic variables, and boundary management styles. Results revealed that job responsibility and work structure related to cross-role interruptions and work identity centrality. Further, conscientious-ness was related to greater perceptions of boundary control, family identity centrality, and fewer interruptions of work, while neuroticism was related to fewer interruptions of non-work. Finally, the present findings replicated four of six defined boundary management styles put forth in prior research. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
... For example, people may blur the boundary differently depending on the type of relationships they have with individuals in the work domain; that is, an employee may blur the boundary differently with a boss than a peer, or a female versus a male colleague. Further, past research has not focused on such variations because it has largely examined how people navigate the personal/professional boundary by studying the characteristics, behaviors, and tactics a focal employee uses to blur or maintain "mental fences" between domains and transition between roles and identities (Ashforth, Kreiner, & Fugate, 2000;Kossek, Ruderman, Braddy, & Hannum, 2012;Kreiner, Hollensbe, & Sheep, 2009;Nippert-Eng, 1995;Ramarajan & Reid, 2013;Rothbard, Phillips & Dumas, 2005) rather than taking into account the relational partner. We depart from past work to examine a novel aspect of boundary management -with whom we blur the boundary. ...
... Boundary management is the process by which individuals make decisions and act to separate (i.e., segment) or blur (i.e., integrate) the boundaries between multiple life domains (Allen, Cho, & Meier, 2014;Ashforth et al., 2000;Rothbard & Ollier-Malaterre, 2016;Rothbard et al., 2005). Segmentors delineate work and non-work domains, for example, by keeping separate key chains for work and home (Nippert-Eng, 1996) and organizing "sacred time" in their calendars (Kreiner et al., 2009). ...
... Past work has focused on navigating boundaries between role identities across domains, such as work and family (Ashforth et al., 2000;Nippert-Eng, 1995), treating these domains as undifferentiated within, such that one integrates or segments similarly with all counterparts at work or home (Rothbard & Ollier-Malaterre, 2016). However, this assumption does not capture the important heterogeneity and variety of relationship partners within a particular domain. ...
... Second, researchers examine how individuals occupying roles in multiple domains negotiate their role performances and boundaries (i.e., role transitions; Ashforth et al., 2000). ...
... Such mutual influences may be particularly salient in cross-functional collaboration contexts, where one member's role shift inevitably causes systematic changes to others' roles due to the high interrelatedness of member roles (Kramer, 2009 It is noteworthy that we captured ED staff's upward role negotiations with physicians who held more advanced medical expertise and authority than them. Interestingly, their swift role negotiation strategies often used the fact that physicians had higher role status, which offered higher role boundary flexibility (i.e., the degree to which the role's spatial and temporal boundaries are adaptable; Ashforth et al., 2000). ED nurses and technicians seemed to believe that physicians could deviate from the prescriptive role structure with minimal effort and repercussions, whereas their doing so would not be seen as favorably. ...
This field study of a hospital emergency department (ED) examined role negotiations among ED care providers in teaming (i.e., the process of bringing individuals in distinct roles to collaborate as a temporary unit). A grounded qualitative analysis revealed that although a prescriptive role structure enables teaming through role-based coordination, ED providers negotiated one another’s role shifts via brief communicative acts to work through novel situations. Whereas role negotiation has traditionally been theorized as individuals’ attempts to (re)shape their roles throughout their organizational membership, this study showed how roles are negotiated in action quickly and as needed to adapt to emergent needs. Based on the findings, we reconceptualized role negotiation as swift communication situated in short-lived moments of collaboration.
... Kossek and Ozeki, 1998), this study defines WFC as the interference of work with family. In their boundary theory, Ashforth et al. (2000) articulated that boundaries are generally established to separate the roles between work and family, and when such boundaries are broken, individuals experience the interference. This theory demonstrates how people create and retain boundaries between their work and family domains and achieve a sense of equilibrium that results in greater fulfillment and a better role functioning. ...
Purpose-This study considered organizational politics as a source of stress and examined its spillover effects on the family domain. By integrating the work-home resource theory and transactional theory of stress, the authors developed a moderated mediation model that examined the moderating role of family support in the relationship between employee's perceptions of organizational politics and their family satisfaction through work-to-family conflict. Design/methodology/approach-The authors examined the moderated mediation model using a sample of 223 full-time employees in Bangladesh. Data were collected using a three-wave survey research design. Findings-The results indicate that organizational politics is negatively related to family satisfaction; work-to-family conflict medicates this relationship. Besides, family support attenuates the mediating effect of work-to-family conflict on the relationship between organizational politics and family satisfaction. Practical implications-Managers should reduce the extent of organizational politics to avoid its impact on the nonwork domain. Moreover, social support from family members might play a crucial role in reducing the negative consequence of organizational politics in the family domain. By taking human resource practices such as training, increased communication, family-friendly policies, organizations may improve the ability of workers to cope with the negative consequences of organizational politics. Originality/value-The current study uncovered the spillover effect of organizational politics on the nonwork domain. This research contributed to the burgeoning stream of organizational politics and work-family interface literature by investigating the influence of organizational politics in undermining family satisfaction and exploring the mediating mechanism linking organizational politics and family satisfaction as well as the boundary conditions of family social support.
... Thus, our research expands the boundary management literature by considering additional boundary management behaviors that intentionally violate organizational norms. Second, in Study 2 we explore the role of PFF integrating conservation of resources (COR) theory with boundary theory (Ashforth et al., 2000) to examine the crossover effects of PFF on the coworker and the spouse. Therefore, we demonstrate that individuals engage in PFF as a boundary management tactic (Kreiner et al., 2009) to help the individual maintain resources, but that doing so may be more harmful than helpful, especially when the effects of PFF on others in the job incumbent's network are considered. ...
Purpose
The authors examine a boundary management tactic for managing the work–family interface: putting family first (PFF). PFF is a boundary management tactic defined as the voluntary behavior of intentionally putting family obligations ahead of work obligations in a way that violates organizational norms
Design/methodology/approach
In Study 1, The authors develop a theoretically derived measure of PFF and distinguish it theoretically and empirically from similar existing constructs, examining convergent and discriminate validity to demonstrate its uniqueness. In Study 2, the authors demonstrate PFF's predictive validity beyond the job incumbent using a three-way matched sample of 226 individuals, including the job incumbent's coworker and spouse.
Findings
The authors established and validated a measure of PFF, developing and replicating the nomological network. PFF crossed over to positively relate to coworker role overload, job frustration and work–family conflict and to spousal stress transmission and relationship tension. Similarly, PFF related negatively to spousal family satisfaction and organizational commitment.
Originality/value
The authors extend the work–family and boundary management literatures by proposing a new form of boundary management, PFF, which is a tactic for managing the work–family interface, and explore how its use influences not only the job incumbent but also the coworker and the spouse.
... The majority of our participants intend to work from home more often in the wake of the pandemic. For employees, greater discretion and fungibility of time use (Borpujari et al., 2020), fewer interruptions and commute struggles (Haddad et al., 2009), and smoother transitions between work and family roles (Ashfort et al., 2000) are among the many benefits of working from home. However, working from home comes with blurring of work-life boundaries, which is among the most commonly identified occupational hazards. ...
As there is a growing trend for people to work from home, precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this research examines the impact of blurred work-life boundaries on lifestyle and subjective well-being. Our cross-sectional study in the Netherlands demonstrates that heightened levels of blurred work-life boundaries predict negative changes in happiness through enhanced emotional exhaustion. In addition, the findings point to a dual role of lifestyle in this process. On the one hand, we observed that healthy overall lifestyle patterns buffered employees against the detrimental effects of blurred work-life boundaries and emotional exhaustion on happiness. On the other hand, employees who experienced increases in blurring of work-life boundaries reported a deterioration in healthy lifestyle behaviors, which in turn was related to reduced happiness. Paradoxically, it seems that those who would benefit the most from a healthy lifestyle are less able to sustain health-promoting behaviors. A case for shared responsibility between employers and employees is built as we discuss the practical implications of the current research.
... Adding to this situation, the COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak led to a massive shift towards a Working From Home (WFH) operating modality, and public announcements by major tech companies are sparking a debate on the potential opportunities and perils of resorting to WFH on a permanent basis. In fact, despite its appeal, WFH may expose workers to new forms of stress and burnout, as the lines between professional and personal lives become blurry and workers struggle to preserve healthy boundaries between the two [39]. ...
Detecting stress in computer users, while technically challenging, is of the utmost importance in the workplace, especially now that remote working scenarios are becoming ubiquitous. In this context, cost-effective, subject-independent systems are needed that can be embedded in consumer devices and classify users’ stress in a reliable and unobtrusive fashion. Leveraging keyboard and mouse dynamics is particularly appealing in this context as it exploits readily available sensors. However, available studies are mostly performed in laboratory conditions, and there is a lack of on-field investigations in closer-to-real-world settings. In this study, keyboard and mouse data from 62 volunteers were experimentally collected in-the-wild using a purpose-built Web application, designed to induce stress by asking each subject to perform 8 computer tasks under different stressful conditions. The application of Multiple Instance Learning (MIL) to Random Forest (RF) classification allowed the devised system to successfully distinguish 3 stress-level classes from keyboard (76% accuracy) and mouse (63% accuracy) data. Classifiers were further evaluated via confusion matrix, precision, recall, and F1-score.
There have been major changes in current workforce competitiveness trends. The changes in workforce demographics particularly in the increase of dual-earner families and single-parents have resulted in increased multiple role conflicts. Working couples must cope with the problem of combining work and family responsibilities in their daily life. Many industries adopted the current trend of the flexible working environment into their organizations. This study explores the moderation effect of supervisor support between flexible working arrangements (FWA), the effect on work interference with family conflict (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW). The population for this study primarily focused on the organizations that adopt the flexible working arrangement such as flexible working time, working from home, and compressed work-week practices in Malaysia. The companies selected is based on the listing of global organizations practices FWA mentioned in TalentCorp Malaysia Flexible Working Arrangement collaboration with Malaysian Federation Employer report, 2015. The questionnaires were distributed through the Human Resource Department of each organization. The result demonstrated that there is relationship between FWA and WIF and there was moderation effect of supervisor support (SS) between FWA and WIF. However, the result showed no moderation effect of SS between FWA and FIW. This study supports the idea that supervisor support is a resource that helps employees to manage the occurrence of interference from work to family and to overcoming FIW, supports particularly from family members either siblings, parents and spouse is important. The implication of this study is that, work conflict issue requires the proactive effort and support not only from the organization in terms of supervisor support through FWA but also support within the family circle. Organizations approach in adopting FWA in their attempts to minimize WFC is recommendable but it should be applied across occupation and organizations as one of employee benefits policy.
Araştırmanın amacı, akademisyenlerde aşırı iş yükü, iş amaçlı akıllı telefon kullanımı ve iş-aile çatışmasının yaşam doyumu ve iş doyumuna etkisinin tespit edilmesidir. Araştırmanın örneklemini Türkiye genelinde yükseköğretim kurumlarında görevli olan 413 akademik personel oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmada veri elde edebilmek için anket tekniği kullanılmıştır. Veriler SPSS 25 istatistik paket programı ile analiz edilmiştir. Verilerin analizinde faktör analizi, güvenilirlik analizi, tanımlayıcı istatistikler, korelasyon ve regresyon analizi kullanılmıştır. Araştırma bulgularına göre, akademisyenlerde iş arkadaşlarının desteği yaşam doyumunu artırmakta, iş aile çatışması ise yaşam doyumunu azaltmaktadır. İş-aile çatışması, işin genel yapısından kaynaklı doyumu azaltırken, iş amaçlı akıllı telefon kullanımı ve iş arkadaşı desteği, işin genel yapısından kaynaklı olarak elde edilen doyumu artırmaktadır. İş-aile çatışması bireyin işindeki roller ve kişisel değerlerden dolayı elde ettiği doyumu azaltırken, iş arkadaşlarının desteği ise söz konusu doyumu artırmaktadır. İş-aile çatışması iş yerindeki amir/çalışan ilişkilerinden elde edilen doyumu azaltırken, iş arkadaşlarının desteği amir/çalışan ilişkilerinden elde edilen doyumu artırmaktadır. İş-aile çatışması işin doğasından kaynaklı doyum düzeyini azaltırken, iş amaçlı akıllı telefon kullanımı işin doğasından kaynaklı doyumu artırmaktadır. Araştırma Türkiye'deki yükseköğretim kurumlarındaki akademik personellerle gerçekleştirilmiştir. Örneklemin sadece akademik personeli kapsaması yönünden araştırma sınırlıdır. Ayrıca kolayda örneklem yöntemi kullanımı araştırmanın sonuçları açısından diğer bir kısıttır.
Anahtar Sözcükler: İş amaçlı akıllı telefon kullanımı, Aşırı iş yükü, İş-aile çatışması, Yaşam doyumu, İş doyumu
An examination of the literature on conflict between work and family roles suggests that work-family conflict exists when: (a) time devoted to the requirements of one role makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of another; (b) strain from participation in one role makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of another; and (c) specific behaviors required by one role make it difficult to fulfill the requirements of another. A model of work-family conflict is proposed, and a series of research propositions is presented.
Several unsettled issues related to the day-to-day experience of work and family roles were investigated through the daily reports of 41 employed parents. Multiple role juggling, task demands, personal control, and goal progress affected mood in work and family roles. Unpleasant moods spilled over from work to family and vice versa, but pleasant moods had little spillover. Mood states, role juggling, and daily levels of role involvement predicted end-of-day ratings of work-family conflict. In particular, daily involvement in family roles, distress experienced during family activities, and family intrusions into work were positively related to perceptions that family interfered with work.
This article presents an empirically-grounded model of identity transformation that differs both from the gradual transformation processes that characterize most adult identity changes and from such radical transformation processes as brainwashing or conversion. Data for the study are derived from participant observation and focused interviews with first-time, short-term inmates at a maximum security prison. By attempting to suspend their preprison identities and constructing inauthentic prison identities through impression management, these inmates are able to forestall more radical identity change and to maintain a general sense of identity continuity for most of their prison careers.
The male work role, the female work role, the female family role, and the male family role, are conceptually analyzed as components of the work-family role system. The links among these roles are examined. I then analyze two kinds of structural “buffers” in the linkages among these roles, specifically, sex-segregated labor markets for both paid work and family tasks, and asymmetrically permeable boundaries between work and family roles for each sex. Finally, several issues in the future development of a less sex-segregated work-family role system are considered.
Several theoretical ideas in role theory are integrated with the empirical literature that has investigated such role transitions as adjusting to the coming of the first child, retirement, bereavement, etc. This analysis is an attempt to build theory by identifying and reworking propositions that are sufficiently general and precisely stated that they can be used as a basis for deductively explaining why variation occurs in the ease of making various role transitions.
The concept of a "script" is presented as a framework for understanding the cognitive dynamics underlying many organizational behaviors and actions. A script is a schematic knowledge structure held in memory that specifies behavior or event sequences that are appropriate for specific situations. "Script processing" is the performance of the behaviors or events contained in the knowledge structure. Many facets of organizational behavior can be effectively described, analyzed, and understood by using the script concept and processing notion.
This research deals with managerial conflict management in Denmark, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Spain, and Belgium. According to Hofstede (1991). these countries' cultures differ primarily in terms of uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and masculinity-femininity. The differences in uncertainty avoidance suggest the hypothesis that Danish managers should prefer constructive ways of conflict management much more than Belgian managers, and-as a consequence of power distance differences-in particular in the case of conflict with superiors. The other three countries in our sample were predicted to take intermediate positions. An alternative prediction was that managers from highly feminine nations, such as Denmark and The Netherlands would show more constructive behaviour in conflict with colleagues than managers from more masculine nations. A questionnaire study among middle-managers from one large multinational firm with plants in these various countries confirmed the power distance, and the femininity-masculinity prediction. The results of this study did not support the prediction that cultural differences in terms of uncertainty avoidance influence managers' preferences for conflict management.
Feminist scholars have consistently argued for broadened definitions of work that include the invisible family and emotion work done predominantly by women. This article focuses on women's resistances to placing these various activities into the common category of work. Drawing from interviews with teleworkers (women who work at home), it examines how and why women narrowed the meaning of work and explores some of the costs that may accompany a more expansive definition of work.
Professional homework, that is, performing paid labor out of one's home, provides an opportunity to examine the spatial, temporal, behavioral, and social boundaries individuals create to manage role conflict and role overlap. Interviews were conducted with 104 homeworkers, and inventories of their homes were completed. Although there is considerable reported role overlap between work and domestic/leisure activities, this overlap does not necessarily lead to role conflict. Rescheduling work activities, maintaining a separate workspace, restricting access to the workspace, relocating activities outside the home, and eliminating and starting new activities are particular adjustments homeworkers make to minimize or avoid role conflict. An agenda for future work based on this exploratory study is suggested.