Knowledge work intensification and self-management: the autonomy paradox

Oscar Pérez-Zapata, null; Amparo Serrano Pascual, null; Gloria Álvarez-Hernández, null; Cecilia Castaño Collado, null

doi:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.10.2.0027

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Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Volume 10, Issue 2

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Knowledge work intensification and self-management: the autonomy paradox

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Author(s): Oscar Pérez-Zapata , Amparo Serrano Pascual , Gloria Álvarez-Hernández , Cecilia Castaño Collado

Publication date (Print): Winter 2016

Journal: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

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Abstract

In the analysis of the sustainability of knowledge work environments, the intensification of work has emerged as probably the single most important contradiction. We argue that the process of knowledge work intensification is increasingly self-driven and influenced by subjectification processes in the context of trends of individualisation and self-management. We use a qualitative case study of a leading multinational company in the information and communications technology sector (considered to be ‘best-in-class’) to discuss this intensification and its linkage with self-disciplining mechanisms. The workers studied seem to enjoy a number of resources that current psychosocial risk models identify as health promoting (e.g. autonomy, learning, career development and other material and symbolic rewards). We discuss the validity of these models to assess the increasingly boundaryless and self-managed knowledge work contexts characterised by internalisation of demands and resources and paradoxical feelings of autonomy. Knowledge work intensification increases health and social vulnerabilities directly and through two-way interactions with, first, the autonomy paradox and new modes of subjection at the workplace; second, atomisation and lack of social support; third, permanent accountability and insecurity; and finally, newer difficulties in setting boundaries.

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Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): workorgalaboglob

Title: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 1745641X

ISSN (Electronic): 17456428

Publication date (Print): Winter 2016

Volume: 10

Issue: 2

Pages: 27-49

Article

Publisher ID: workorgalaboglob.10.2.0027

DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.10.2.0027

SO-VID: b5b3598f-eb3c-41c9-85e6-18afab8cd650

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Sociology,Labor law,Political science,Labor & Demographic economics,Political economics

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[1] Alaluf, M. & P. Rolle (2003) ‘¿Clase sin obreros?, ¿obreros sin clase?’ in B. Lahire, P. Rolle, P. Saunier, M. Stroobants, M. Alaluf & M. Postone (eds) Lo que el trabajo esconde. Materiales para un replanteamiento del análisis sobre el trabajo , Madrid: Traficantes de sueño: 231–48

[2] Allvin, M. (2008) ‘New rules of work: Exploring the boundaryless job’ in K. Naswall, J. Hellgren & M. Sverke (eds) The Individual in the Changing Working Life , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press:19–45.

[3] Allvin, M. (2011) Work without Boundaries: Psychological Perspectives on the New Working Life , Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

[4] Alonso, L.E. & C.J. Fernández (2009) ‘Uso del trabajo y formas de gobernabilidad: La precariedad como herramienta disciplinaria’ in E. Crespo, C. Prieto & A. Serrano (eds) Trabajo, subjetividad y ciudadanía. Paradojas del empleo en una sociedad en transformación , Madrid: Editorial Complutense. Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas:229–58.

[5] Alvesson, M. & H. Willmott (1992) Critical Management Studies , London: Sage.

[6] Alvesson, M. & H. Willmott (2002) ‘Identity regulation as organizational control: Producing the appropriate individual’, Journal of Management Studies , 39 (5):619–44.

[7] Amigot Leache, P. & L. Martínez (2013) ‘Competency-based work management, enterprise model and its subjective effects. A view from critical social psychology’, Universitas Psychologica , 12 (4):1075–86.

[8] Appelbaum, E. (2000) Manufacturing Advantage: Why High-Performance Work Systems Pay Off , Ithaca: ILR Press.

[9] Arthur, J.B. (1994) ‘Effects of human resource systems on manufacturing performance and turnover’, Academy of Management Journal , 37 (3):670–87.

[10] Bakker, A.B. & E. Demerouti (2007) ‘The job demands-resources model: State of the art’, Journal of Managerial Psychology , 22 (3):309–28.

[11] Bakker, A.B., W.B. Schaufeli, M.P. Leiter & T.W. Taris (2008) ‘Work engagement: An emerging concept in occupational health psychology’, Work & Stress , 22 (3):187–200.

[12] Bakker, A.B., M. Tims & D. Derks (2012) ‘Proactive personality and job performance: The role of job crafting and work engagement’, Human Relations , 65 (10):1359–78.

[13] Barnes, C.M. & L. Van Dyne (2009) ‘“I'm tired”: Differential effects of physical and emotional fatigue on workload management strategies’, Human Relations , 62 (1):59–92.

[14] Bateson, G., D.D. Jackson, J. Haley & J.H. Weakland (1963) ‘A note on the double bind – 1962’, Family Process , 2 (1):154–61.

[15] Blom, V. (2012) ‘Contingent self-esteem, stressors and burnout in working women and men’, Work , 43 (2):123–31.

[16] Boltanski, L. & E. Chiapello (2002) El nuevo espíritu del capitalismo , Madrid: Ediciones Akal.

[17] Bourdieu, P. (2008) El sentido práctico , Madrid: Siglo XXI de España Editores.

[18] Boxall, P. & K. Macky (2009) ‘Research and theory on high-performance work systems: Progressing the high-involvement stream’, Human Resource Management Journal , 19 (1):3–23.

[19] Braverman, H. (1974) Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century , New York: Monthly Review Press.

[20] Bunting, M. (2004) Willing Slaves: How the Overwork Culture Is Ruling Our Lives , London: Harper Perennial.

[21] Burawoy, M. (1979) Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process under Monopoly Capitalism , Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

[22] Burchell, B. (2009) Working Conditions in the European Union: Working Time and Work Intensity , Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

[23] Burchell, B., D. Ladipo & F. Wilkinson (2002) Job Insecurity and Work Intensification , London: Routledge.

[24] Byung-Chul, H. (2012) La sociedad del cansancio , Barcelona: Herder.

[25] Cabanas Díaz, E. (2013) ‘La felicidad como imperativo moral: Origen y difusión del individualismo “positivo” en el capitalismo neoliberal y sus efectos en la construcción de la subjetividad’ Tesis doctoral, Madrid: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

[26] Castaño, C. (2010) Género y TIC: Presencia, posición y políticas , Barcelona: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

[27] Clot, Y. (2009) ¿El trabajo sin seres humanos? Psicología de los entornos de trabajo y de vida , Madrid: Modus Laborandi.

[28] Costas, J. & P. Fleming (2009) ‘Beyond dis-identification: A discursive approach to self-alienation in contemporary organizations’, Human Relations , 62 (3):353–78.

[29] Costea, B., N. Crump & K. Amiridis (2008) ‘Managerialism, the therapeutic habitus and the self in contemporary organizing’, Human Relations , 61 (5):661–85.

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