Work Without Boundaries

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

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 10 7 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