The Time Famine: Toward a Sociology of Work Time

Abstract

and three anonymous reviewers offered invaluable advice and suggestions.This paper describes a qualitative study of how people use their time at work, why they use it this way, and whether their way of using time is optimal for them or their work groups. Results of a nine-month field study of the work practices of a software engineering team revealed that the group's collective use of time perpetuated its members' "time famine," a feeling of having too much to do and not enough time to do it. Engineers had difficulty getting their individual work done because they were constantly interrupted by others. A crisis mentality and a reward system based on individual heroics perpetuated this disruptive way of interacting. Altering the way software engineers used their time at work, however, enhanced their collective productivity. This research points toward a "sociology of work time," a framework integrating individuals' interdependent work patterns and the larger social and temporal contexts. The theoretical and practical implications of a sociology of work time are explored.' Corporate lawyers, investment bankers, computer programmers, and many other types of workers routinely work seventy-or eighty-hour weeks, putting in extra effort during particularly hectic times (Kidder, 1981; Schor, 1991). These men and women, married and single, are stressed, exhausted, and even dying as a result of frantic schedules (Harris, 1987). They have insufficient time to meet all of the demands on them from work and their lives outside of work. The purpose of this paper is to explore what I refer to as their time famine-their feeling of having too much to do and not enough time to do it-and to question whether this famine must exist.I chose to study a group of software engineers in a hightech corporation. Over the past three decades, a number of studies have described the nature of engineers' work (e.g., Perrucci and Gerstl, 1969; Ritti, 1971; Brooks, 1982; Zussman, 1985; Whalley, 1986); however, I chose this group not because of the type of work they do but, rather, because of the immense pressure they are under to get their product to market and the time famine they experience as a result. Several recent books have described with awe the fastpaced, high-pressure, crisis-filled environment in which software engineers work (Kidder, 1981; Moody, 1990; Zachary, 1994). These authors portray the engineers as heroes for their willingness to work extremely long hours and celebrate the engineers' intensity and total devotion to work. 1, in contrast, explore the engineers' actual use of time at work and the impact their use of time has on other individuals and the groups to which the individuals belong, which reveals the problematic nature of the current way of using time. Ultimately, I therefore challenge the assumption that the current way of using time, which is so destructive to individuals' lives outside of work, is in the corporation's best interest (Perlow, 1995(Perlow, , 1997. Time Use ResearchThe existing literature on time use cont...

Knowledge Gathering, Team Capabilities, and Project Performance in Challenging Work Environments

“…Slack time, defined as the amount of time and attention the team members can potentially commit to the project beyond the minimum required, is a specific form of slack that can affect performance as well as satisfaction in organizations. For example, Perlow (1999) found that "time famine", a feeling of having too much to do and not enough time to do it, affected how software engineers used their time at work and reduced their productivity. Also, interventions that increase or decrease slack time can influence the performance of knowledge-intensive work.…”

Agent Based Modeling to Inform the Design of Multiuser Systems

“…Spontaneous, informal communication at work is important, yet, it often helps the initiator of the communication at the expense of the person being interrupted (Perlow, 1999 ). Interventions designed to balance the benefi ts and costs of spontaneous communication have often had unforeseen consequences.…”

Applying Dynamic Causal Mining in Retailing

“…The communication also helps with identifying prospects [Ebling, 2001], sales and relationship building [Ginovsky, 2001], and deepening customer loyalty [Kranzley, 2001]. Perlow [1999] describes a software company characterized by an environment. It also allows for easy follow-up on customers' needs [Marks, 1998].…”