** apologies for cross-posing **

Sociologists studying work and organization may be interested in this call for papers for our stream at this year's Critical Management Studies conference, July 10-12, University of Manchester.

https://www.meeting.co.uk/confercare/cms2013/
 
Thank you
yours
Leo and Ed


Reminder call for papers for CMS 2013 subtheme: ‘Extreme work / normal work’

Subtheme chairs: Edward Granter & Leo McCann, University of Manchester

Deadline for abstract submissions: January 31st 2013

Latest news: A call for papers for a Special Issue of the journal Organization on the subject of ‘Extreme Work / Normal Work’ will be advertised soon

Intense work and long-hours cultures are increasingly understood as ‘the norm’ in contemporary workplaces. Discussions of excessive hours, exhaustion, and burnout are far from new, but it seems that notions of ‘extreme jobs’ have become central to ways of conceptualising the world of work (Hewitt and Luce 2006). Many people take long hours and very intense work for granted, believing it to be inevitable; an unspoken part of the employment contract. In an attempt to characterise this situation, commentators have used seemingly paradoxical or tautological phrases such as ‘normalized intensity’ (McCann et al 2008). For many in the twenty first century workforce, extreme has become normal, normal has become extreme.

What drives this normalizing of intense work? Part of the explanation is structural. What were once extreme demands become normal as demand and expectations are ramped up while employee resources and support are cut back. Large organizations are notoriously greedy with salaried employees’ time, but those working in SMEs and the self-employed are also forced to work long and often antisocial hours in order to maximise their incomes. While high-end software developers face ‘crunch time’ as deadlines loom, workers in international export-processing zones are put under intense pressure to meet orders or face fines for missing delivery target times. Staff at all levels are pressured by arrays of targets, KPI dashboards, bullying from above, and the standard ideological line that shorter time horizons and higher competitive demands are the ‘tough new reality’. This is the case even in organizations that are not ‘under the gun’ to realize short-term shareholder value or profit targets, such as public sector organizations. Structural conditions seem to make extreme work unavoidable.

Other parts of the explanation are agential and cultural. While workers widely bemoan the intensity of their extreme jobs, they simultaneously describe them as varied, worthwhile and exciting. Some seem almost addicted to the buzz and social kudos attached to certain extreme jobs. Many claim that long hours are self-inflicted, wearing their commitment to long hours ‘as badges of honor’ (Hewitt and Luce 2006: 52). The culture into which work is embedded also seems to be reinforce the extreme/normal paradox. ‘Extreme work’ is portrayed in metaphors of battle, crisis, violence, and emergency, and everyday life seems infused with a culture of fear as militarized language abounds. Organizations enact security cultures or safety cultures that assume high-risk relationships between staff and/or customers. Expectations of deviance, danger and malfeasance are high, amid the ever-present possibility of conflict or violence between people. This is another mechanism whereby seemingly mundane work is acculturated as extreme. Ticket inspectors become ‘Revenue Protection Officers’. Administrators work in ‘credit capture’. Meteorological offices issue ‘extreme weather warnings’. Movies and reality TV reproduce tropes of intensity as manifest in products such as Extreme A&E or Toughest Place to be a Bus Driver.  Does the culture industry play a role in how we imagine work as extreme? Does it define our ability to imagine alternatives to extreme jobs? Do we want alternatives? Or have they become so alluring that they make up a core part of our self-identity?

We invite abstract submissions for papers on any area relating to the broad theme of ‘extreme work / normal work’. We welcome papers on the more naturally ‘intense’ or ‘extreme’ kinds of work such as military and security services, emergency services, and medicine (see Palmer 1993; Klein et al 2006) as well as papers on less dramatic environments where ordinary work becomes extreme, perhaps because of crises, systematic work overload and resource cutbacks, or characterized by high stress, frequent rows and conflicts, or by abusive relationships or bullying. The stream looks to explore and re-imagine the paradoxes of ‘extreme/normal work’ across many sectors, academic disciplines, and conceptual formations. We welcome papers based on all manner of methodological approaches, from surveys to ethnography. We also welcome theoretical papers or works of textual analysis and synthesis. 

Our subtheme hopes to describe, explain, and theorize the problematic of intense/normal work in as open and wide-ranging an approach as possible. Doing so may enable us to consider whether or not we can imagine different ways of working and living. What would happen if employees started insisting on a 35-hour week (or less)? What would happen if we challenged norms and cultures of intensity and extremity, replacing metaphors of battle, conflict and emergency with tranquillity, collegiality and dignity?

We are also pleased to announce that there will be Special Issue of the journal Organization based around the theme of ‘Extreme Work / Normal Work’. The call for papers for this SI will appear later in the year, and it will be an open, competitive, and blind-reviewed call. However, those interesting in submitting to the SI it may find the CMS conference stream useful in preparing their ideas.

Please send abstracts or any questions to either or both of the subtheme convenors:

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Abstracts should be between 500-1000 words in length, A4 paper, single spaced, 12 point font.

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 31st January 2013.
 
Notification of paper acceptance: 22nd February 2013. 
 
Full papers will be expected by: 1st May 2013.
 
Your abstract should include: 
 
- Title
- The nature of the paper and its core question
- A brief outline of the argument
- How the paper will contribute to the theme


References:

Hewitt, S.A. and Luce C.B., (2006) ‘Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek’, Harvard Business Review December 2006

Klein, K.J, Ziegert, J.C., Knight, A.P., and Xiao, Y., (2006) ‘Dynamic Delegation: Shared, Hierarchical, and Deindividualized Leadership in Extreme Action Teams’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 51, 4: 590-621

McCann, L., Hassard, J. and Morris, J.L. (2008) ‘Normalized Intensity: The New Labour Process of Middle Management’, Journal of Management Studies, 45,2: 343-71.

Palmer, C.E. (1983). ‘Trauma Junkies and Street Work: Occupational Behavior of Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians’, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 12, 162-183. 

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