Work

The Cost of Managerial Caring: Exploring Identity Work in the Hybrid Work Context

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT The Covid crisis and the resulting enforced teleworking have significantly shaken up the manager's role, leading to increased identity work. This article draws on a longitudinal study of managers conducted over the course of a full year during the Covid crisis, from May 2020 to June 2021, using interviews and self‐administered diaries to reveal a distinct sequence of identity work. This sequence combines a reappropriation of the humane dimension inherent to the manager's role ( expectations and practices of managerial caring) and a distancing from the team and the managerial role through disembodied management ( cost of caring ). We discuss these results by identifying a paradox of managerial caring which, translated in terms of identity, may help understanding the contemporary withdrawal tendencies among managers.

Source: New Technology Work and Employment

DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12316

Authors: Laurent Taskin, Laurianne Terlinden, Stéphanie Coster, Michel Ajzen

Institutions: UCLouvain, KU Leuven

Language: English

Topic: Work-Family Balance Challenges

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: green

Funder: Fondation Louvain