Global boundary work tactics: managing work and family transitions in a 24–7 global context

ABSTRACT

This study addresses how today’s global managers navigate their work and family transitions through employing various boundary work tactics in a global context. Interviews with 25 global travelers or international business travelers in dual-career families uncovered how they handle global workflows and protect family time when working domestically or abroad. Patterns emerged across a typology of temporal, communicative, behavioral and physical boundary work tactics. A key contribution is that workplace flexibility in addition to technology allows global managers to maintain connectivity beyond spatial or temporal boundaries. Moreover, technology was perceived as an integral tool by global managers, with few cases of tensions reported from a blurring of boundaries. The research contributes to the nascent literature on work-life balance among global managers. It also provides evidence of how mobile and telepresence technologies are being used in performing global work. Companies are encouraged to foster flexibility among their global managers around viewing time and using communication techniques and technology to manage role transitions. Results suggest that global work approached in this manner can be sustainable as well as beneficial to the individual, his/her family, and the organization.

RÉSUMÉ

Cette étude examine comment les gestionnaires globaux d'aujourd'hui concilient le temps personnel et professionnel en employant diverses tactiques de ‘boundary work’ dans un contexte mondial. Lors des entrevues avec 25 voyageurs d'affaires internationaux dans des familles à double-carrières, on découvre comment ces gestionnaires manipulent les flux de travail globaux et protègent le temps familial lorsqu’ils travaillent à l'intérieur du pays ou à l'étranger. Certains motifs ont émergé sur les tactiques de ‘boundary work’ d’après une typologie de: temporelle, communicative, comportementale et physique. Une contribution essentielle est que la mise en oeuvre de la flexibilité au travail accompagnée par la technologie permet aux gestionnaires globaux de maintenir la connectivité au-delà des frontières spatiales ou temporelles. En outre, la technologie a été perçue comme un outil intégral utilisé par les gestionnaires globaux, avec peu de mention de tensions causées par des flous des frontières. La recherche contribue à la littérature naissante portant sur la conciliation entre le temps personnel et professionnel chez les gestionnaires globaux. Par ailleurs, l’étude met en évidence la façon dont les technologies mobiles et de téléprésence sont utilisées dans l'exécution du travail global. Les entreprises sont encouragées à permettre aux gestionnaires la flexibilité de s'organiser en ce qui concerne l’utilisation du temps, des techniques de communication et de la technologie afin de gérer les transitions de rôle. Les résultats suggèrent que réaliser le travail global de cette façon présente un cadre durable qui puisse servir à la fois l'individu, sa famille et l'organisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Global travelers
• work–family
• boundary management
• technology
• boundary work tactics

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Voyageurs d'affaires internationaux
• conciliation travail-famille
• technologie
• flexibilité au travail

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Pamela Lirio (Ph.D., McGill University) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Industrial Relations at Université de Montréal in Québec, Canada. Her research is focused in the areas of international HRM, work–family, global talent management and employee branding via social media. Dr Lirio has published most recently in MIT Sloan Management Review, Gestion, International Journal of Human Resource Management, and the Journal of Global Mobility, in addition to various edited books. She has over 10 years of experience in industry positions in areas such as finance, marketing and consulting in North America, Europe and Asia. Bilingual in English (native) and French, Dr Lirio also has working knowledge of Spanish, some Filipino and Mandarin.

Notes

1. PDA was a precursor to today's smartphone: A portable computing device capable of the same data messaging, email and calendar function except they did not typically have a mobile phone component.

2. Officing: The term was coined by Sutherland (1986) ‘to describe office work in terms of what it does for an organization, in contrast to focusing on the work's location. He characterized officing as the systematic integration of capital, people, and technology, including facilities, to produce knowledge, information, or data’ (Niles, 1999).

3. The topic of ‘work–life balance’ was introduced to global managers in terms of how they generally felt work and home life was going.

4. An exception was a global manager who had clients in some Middle Eastern countries where Sundays were workdays.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by SSHRC Institutional Grant – Université de Montréal [grant number 633-2015-0013].