Work Without Boundaries: Psychological Perspectives on the New Working Life

by Michael Allvin, Gunnar Aronsson, Tom Hagström, Gunn Johansson, Ulf Lundberg

Overview

Drawing on more than a decade of inter-disciplinary research, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the available theories, concepts, data and research on new work organizations and the concept of ‘work without boundaries’.

• Explores a concept of work that is not restricted by traditional organizational rules like regular office hours, a single workplace, fixed procedures and limited responsibility
• Provides a comprehensive overview of the available theories, concepts, data and research on new work organizations
• Examines the shift of power away from organizations to make individuals accountable for their own employability and work
• Draws on over a decade of original research into ‘work without boundaries’ in which the authors are  key authorities
• Brings together organization theory and work psychology with scholarship from related fields including sociology, social psychology, cognition and psychobiology

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470666135
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	04/04/2011
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Michael Allvin is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at Uppsala University and a licensed Psychologist.  

Gunnar Aronsson is Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Stockholm University.

Tom Hagström is Professor Emeritus of Education in the Department of Education, Stockholm University and a licensed Psychologist.

Gunn Johansson is Professor Emeritus of Work Psychology in the Department of Psychology, Stockholm University. 

Ulf Lundberg is Professor of Biological Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Stockholm University, and at the Centre for Health Equity Studies (CHESS), affiliated with Stockholm University and the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. 

Table of Contents

About the Authors vii

Foreword by Cary L. Cooper ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

1 The New Work 1

The new inequality 4

New markets and new structures 7

The new work life 13

What is so new about “The New Work”? 16

The new and the old work 18

The purpose and structure of this book 22

2 The New Rules of Work: On Flexible Work and How to Manage It 25

Flexible work 29

Flexibility through empowerment 35

Flexibility through substitution 48

Separate paths? 60

3 The New Work Life and the Dimensions of Knowledge 69

The cognitive knowledge demands 71

The social knowledge demands 81

The societal knowledge demands 97

The existential knowledge demands 107

Some concluding considerations 120

4 The Place of Work in Life 123

Separate spheres 126

Competing spheres 129

Coping with boundaries 130

Mutually favored spheres 133

New conditions outside work life: the consumption society 134

The moral supermarket 138

The market aesthetic 141

The new family 144

Organizing living 149

Conflict and balance in life 158

An individual matter 162

5 Work Life, Stress, and the New Ill Health 163

Stress as a social problem and research area 167

Stress models for the work life 172

The new work life as a source of stress 189

The new ill health 205

The new ill health, work environment, and the possibility space of work 212

6 Some Concluding Comments and Reflections 217

The deregulation of working life 218

The individualization of working life 219

The heterogenization of working life 220

The new inequality 221

New strains and symptoms 222

Flexibility and power in times of economic recession 223

Future – trust or new forms and fields for external regulation? 225

References 229

Index 253

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Too often authors writing on the ‘new workplace’ have drifted away from assessing the data to actively promoting a particular form of work organization. These authors recognize that the increased flexibility and deregulation that allows some new forms of work behaviour might also sever the bonds of employment security – as a result individuals stand to gain or lose. This book will have a substantial impact on my own thinking about the changing nature of work.
—Kevin Kelloway, Professor of Management, St. Mary’s University, Canada

The post-recession world will mean that there will be fewer people doing more work, with the demands of new technology and global competition adversely affecting their work and private lives. This book attempts to identify the fundamental drivers of change, the issues that workers at all levels will have to face and how we should re-structure our organizations and working lives to confront these challenges. I congratulate the authors for their important contribution not only to the literature but also to the health and wellbeing of the workers of the world.
—Cary l. Cooper CBE, Distinguished Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health, Lancaster University Management School, UK