Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2015
Abstract
This study investigates how managers, executives and professionals (MEP) working 50 or more hours per week and using Information Communication Technology (ICT) to stay connected with their work 24/7 manage their energy and thrive at work. Based on interviews with these subjects, we learn that they have adapted ICT to help them achieve the goals of their "protean careers" and meet the challenges of the transitional or liminal workplace. We also discovered that they function in an autopoietic fashion to rejuvenate themselves in the work domain by physical exercise, managing relationships, and through introspective reflection. We were surprised that for many MEP, the long hours and constant connection to the work domain are not as draining as dealing with human resource related challenges. Perhaps most significantly, we describe the evolving temporal and spatial boundaries of the modern work domain, its increasing complexity and implications for future research in this stream.
Keywords
work-life balance, quality of work life, management, Weatherhead School of Management, liminal, communication technology, protean career, reflection, exercise, emotional contagion
Rights
© The Author(s). This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
O'Hare, Michael, "The Liminal Workplace" (2015). Student Scholarship. 461.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/461