Work–life boundary management and the personal digital assistant

Abstract

New mobile information and communication technologies are of special interest to researchers seeking to understand the problematic of boundaries between work and personal-life. This study examines how workers used and interpreted the personal digital assistant (PDA) as a boundary management resource. Using a protocol that combined structured, closed-ended questions with open-ended questions, 42 users were interviewed. The data were analyzed to examine individuals' practices in using this technology, the interpretive resources they drew upon, and the ways in which the spirit of the device's design intersected with their practices and interpretations. Results suggest that the spirit of the device is control, and that users interpreted their technological practices as expressions of personal agency, using the PDA to control the work—life boundary through both integration and segmentation of work and personal-life.

Challenges in delivering brand promise – focusing on municipal healthcare organisations

“…It is important to underline that we did not attempt to isolate or compare the views of individuals, or to compare the accounts between different individuals or organisations, but rather sought to generate knowledge about the meanings that could be attached to the municipal enterprise organisational form -the new organisational brand. The analysis and identification of interpretative resources is an iterative interpretive-analytical process of reading, re-reading, and coding interviews as categories of discourse and practices emerge, to be further considered in relation to each other (see Golden and Geisler, 2007). We identified four interpretative repertoires: The municipal enterprise as an economic solution; the municipal enterprise as a magic wand; the municipal enterprise as a factory; and the municipal enterprise as a servant of the customer.…”

Gestión individual del equilibrio entre el trabajo y la vida personal: Revisión e integración de la literatura

“…En este sentido, Mustafa & Gold (2013) identificaron una serie de tácticas tangibles para individuos que realizan tareas laborales desde el hogar como la gestión de elementos físicos que delimitan un espacio de trabajo en una habitación, la afectación de una habitación exclusiva para la actividad laboral, o la utilización de una decoración diferente para el espacio destinado al trabajo en relación con el resto del hogar. En esta categoría, se encuentran también aquellas tácticas que implican la adopción de tecnología (Golden & Geisler, 2007;Kreiner et al, 2009), como la utilización de teléfonos celulares o agendas electrónicas, para responder desde un mismo dispositivo a las demandas de ambos dominios, cuando se busca la integración entre ellos (D'Abate, 2005).…”

“…En este sentido, las tácticas suelen ser multi-funcionales y se refuerzan entre sí (Kreiner et al 2009). Asimismo, dependiendo de las preferencias del individuo para lograr el equilibrio trabajo-vida, estas estrategias pueden tener el fin de segmentar o de integrar ambos dominios entre sí, o alternativamente de lograr una combinación intermedia entre los extremos del continuo Golden & Geisler, 2007;Kreiner et al, 2009). …”

“…Adaptar límites físicos (Kreiner et al, 2009;McDowall & Lindsay, 2014;Mustafa & Gold, 2013) Utilizar comportamientos de selección, optimización y compensación (Baltes & Heydens-Gahir, 2003) Controlar el tiempo de trabajo (Mickel & Dallimore, 2009;Kreiner et al, 2009;McDowall & Lindsay, 2014) Conversar sobre la vida personal en el trabajo (D'Abate, 2005) estableciendo expectativas para su equilibrio trabajovida (Kreiner et al, 2009;McDowall & Lindsay, 2014) Manipular el espacio físico de trabajo (Kreiner et al, 2009;Sturges, 2012;Mustafa & Gold, 2013) Gestionar las identidades Bulger et al, 2007) y mantener la perspectiva sobre cada dominios (McDowall & Lindsay, 2014) Encontrar un respiro de las responsabilidades del trabajo y la vida personal (Kreiner et al, 2009;Mustafa & Gold, 2013) Negociar con supervisores y compañeros de trabajo (Powell & Greenhaus, 2006;Root & Wooten, 2008;McDowall & Lindsay, 2014) Gestionar artefactos o materiales físicos (Kreiner et al, 2009) Establecer prioridades asociadas a cada rol (Kreiner et al, 2009, Mickel & Dallimore, 2009 Implementar rutinas para gestionar los tiempo de las transiciones (Sturges, 2012;Mustafa & Gold, 2013) Hacer frente a eventuales infractores (Kreiner et al, 2009), creando normas (Mustafa & Gold, 2013) Utilizar la tecnología para integrar/ separar dominios (Golden & Geisler, 2007;Kreiner et al, 2009;McDowall & Lindsay, 2014) Permitir la permeabilidad diferencial de los límites …”

WhatsApp messenger, workload and satisfaction with work-life balance among employees of a Malaysian government office

“…This in turn allows workers to be able to complete their work at any time and location that is convenient for them (Grant et al, 2013). Researchers in work-life balance (WLB) studies view mobile technologies as very important, since these technologies are the medium that allows for the assimilation between personal life and work to happen in the first place (Duxbury and Smart 2011;Golden and Geisler, 2007). Thus, with such technology usage among employees and employers, we may find two types of workers; the type of workers that brings their non-work lives into their workplace, and the workers that tried to separate their non-work lives with work.…”