Stabilizing Self-Identities in
Knowledge Work
Anders Buch
Associate Professor, Technical University of Denmark
Senior Advisor to The Danish Society of Engineers
CMS6
13. – 15. July 2009, Warwick
The problem and the paradox
• Reports of knowledge workers
(e.g. engineers, lawyers,
reporters, etc.) suffering from
work related stress
• But do they (really) suffer from
work related stress?
• Knowledge workers belong to a
privileged group
• What is work related stress and
who are knowledge workers?
• The “battle” of the appropriation of
the concepts goes on…
2
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
CMS6, Warwick
11. – 13. July 2009
The predominant stress model (Karasek &
Theorell)
Psychological demands
HIGH
Low
strain
Learning
Motivation to
Develop new
Behaviour Patterns
Active
Decision
latitude
(control)
LOW
Passive
LOW
3
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
High
strain
HIGH
CMS6, Warwick
Risk of psychological strain
and physical illness
11. – 13. July 2009
Work & stress in perspective
Classical stress
problems
New classical
stress problems
Modern stress
problems
Type of work
Industrial work
Welfare work
Knowledge work
Stressors
Monotony
High pace
Low control
High strain
Emotional
demands
Conflicts
Boundlessness
Unlimited demands
Unpredictability
Examples of job
categories
Cashier
Unskilled industrial
workers
Nurses
Teachers
Welfare workers
Computer
engineers
Advertising agents
Government
officers
Bason et al. 2003
4
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
CMS6, Warwick
11. – 13. July 2009
Knowledge work and stress – between strain
& enthusiasm
• Sidestepping the conceptual battle zone
– we are not looking for a universal
theory of work related stress
• Trying to understand how knowledge
workers conceive their working
conditions and their own situation
• Qualitative interviews with knowledge
workers in 6 Danish knowledge
intensive firms
• Workshops with managers, knowledge
workers, shop stewards etc.: What are
the enthusing and straining elements in
knowledge work
5
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
CMS6, Warwick
11. – 13. July 2009
Statements from the workshops
• Enthusiasm
– High professionalism
– The open-endedness of work
– The creative elements in work
– Personal (and professional)
development
– Flexible work procedures
(anarchy)
– The production of “results” and
“products”
– Autonomy of work (self
organization)
– Feedback
– Competing (and winning)
– Challenging work
– Variation in work
6
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
• Strain
– Bureaucratic procedures and
standardization
– The unpredictability of work
and work load
– Bad planning
– Lack of recognition
– To high ambitions
– Unclear quality standards
– High work pace
– Internal competition
– Unclear KPI’s
CMS6, Warwick
11. – 13. July 2009
The ambiguity and reflexive character of
knowledge work
• Knowledge work is ambiguous in relation to
– Framing a knowledge domain and field of expertise
– Procedures
– Results / products
• Interpretive flexibility and reflexivity increase with the complexity of work
• Pressure on the production of self-identity
– Who am I?
– Who do I want to become?
– Where do I belong?
– Am I good enough?
– Is my performance OK?
– Who is capable of judging my performance?
7
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
CMS6, Warwick
11. – 13. July 2009
Knowledge work and identity production
Knowledge work and organisation
Self identity
Ambiguity
•Knowledge
• What people do
•Results
Image
•Macro
•Everyday
Rhetoric
Relations
•Associations
•Social ties
•Social process
Mats Alvesson 2004:240
8
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
CMS6, Warwick
11. – 13. July 2009
Stabilizing institutional pillars (Dick Scott)
Regulative
Normative
Cultural-Cognitive
Expedience
Social obligation
Taken-for-grantedness /
Shared understanding
Basis of order
Regulative Rules
Binding expectations
Constitutive schema
Mechanisms
Coercive
Normative
Mimetic
Instrumentality
Appropriateness
Orthodoxy
Rules
Laws
Sanctions
Certification
Accreditation
Common beliefs
Shared logics of action
Isomorphism
Fear /Guilt/ Innocence
Shame / Honor
Certainty / Confusion
Legally sanctioned
Morally governed
Comprehensible
Recognizable
Culturally supported
Basis of compliance
Logic
Indicators
Affect
Basis of legitimacy
9
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
CMS6, Warwick
11. – 13. July 2009
The professional framework
• Embracing traditional professional
standards and practices
• Virtues (in engineering)
– Precision, closure, stability,
rigidity, unambiguousness,
consistency, truth,
determinism, rationality,
mechanic models,
reductionism, duality of
abstraction/concreteness,
conservation, hierarchy, value
freedom, results, individual
achievements…
• Cultural and cognitive frame of
reference (engineering culture)
• Affection: Certainty and/or
confusion
10
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
CMS6, Warwick
11. – 13. July 2009
The framework of bureaucracy
• Embracing (selectively)
bureaucracy and organizational
standards / procedures
• Virtues
– Objectivity, disaffection,
impartiality, hierarchy,
explicit rules,
loyalty/abidance to the
bureau (company), esprit
de corps, meticulousness,
etc.
• Regulative frame of reference
(The Company Man). Local
regimes or Weberian ideals
• Affection: Fear / Guilt /
Innocence
11
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
CMS6, Warwick
11. – 13. July 2009
The “broader” frameworks
• Results, products, artefacts,
externalities as the hallmark
of success
• Virtues
– Lasting result, impact,
vision, sustainable
solutions, making a
difference, “being of use”,
“a greater purpose”,
meaningfulness, inventing
something new,
craftsmanship
• Normative frame of reference
(religious, political,
humanistic…)
• Affection: Shame / Honor
12
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
CMS6, Warwick
11. – 13. July 2009
The argument
• The interviews show that the “same” elements in knowledge
work can be enthusing and straining
• Knowledge work is inherently ambiguous
• Self-identity is stabilized and/or de-stabilized trough resources
from institutional frameworks
– The framework of archaic professionalism
– The bureaucratic framework
– The “broader” frameworks
• De-stabilization through demands for flexibility and colliding
frameworks
13
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
CMS6, Warwick
11. – 13. July 2009
The challenge
Flexibility
Bureaucracy
14
DTU Management Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark
Self-management
CMS6, Warwick
11. – 13. July 2009