Ruled by the calendar?
This paper discusses modern organizational meetings in the public sector, with a focus on time, specifically the planning and scheduling of time among managers. In this qualitative analysis, data were gathered through an ethnographic study of managers in several public organizations, all in Sweden....
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Danish |
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Swedish Sociological Association
2019-06-01
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| Series: | Sociologisk Forskning |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://sociologiskforskning.se/sf/article/view/19753 |
| _version_ | 1797937477626888192 |
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| author | Joakim Thelander Malin Åkerström |
| author_facet | Joakim Thelander Malin Åkerström |
| author_sort | Joakim Thelander |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This paper discusses modern organizational meetings in the public sector, with a focus on time, specifically the planning and scheduling of time among managers. In this qualitative analysis, data were gathered through an ethnographic study of managers in several public organizations, all in Sweden. During interviews and field observations, managers told about their time work involving strategies for dealing with their fully booked calendars, or for handling what they described as boring or meaningless meetings. These strategies can be conceptualized as a form of ”meeting resistance” among the managers in these organizations. Their retold experiences and strategies raise issues of meeting resistance in relation to the meetingization of contemporary work life and, in a wider sense, questions of power and control over time at work. By using a variety of strategies for negotiating and resisting the rule of the calendar, managers may achieve a greater sense of control over their time. Nevertheless, despite their strategies and resistance, the machinery of meetings is hard to stop due to an Eigendynamik of meetings.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T18:46:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9c161f770bec4fc1b15180fa0ba671fe |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0038-0342 2002-066X |
| language | Danish |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T18:46:19Z |
| publishDate | 2019-06-01 |
| publisher | Swedish Sociological Association |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sociologisk Forskning |
| spelling | doaj.art-9c161f770bec4fc1b15180fa0ba671fe2023-02-01T11:16:32ZdanSwedish Sociological AssociationSociologisk Forskning0038-03422002-066X2019-06-0156210.37062/sf.56.19753Ruled by the calendar?Joakim ThelanderMalin Åkerström This paper discusses modern organizational meetings in the public sector, with a focus on time, specifically the planning and scheduling of time among managers. In this qualitative analysis, data were gathered through an ethnographic study of managers in several public organizations, all in Sweden. During interviews and field observations, managers told about their time work involving strategies for dealing with their fully booked calendars, or for handling what they described as boring or meaningless meetings. These strategies can be conceptualized as a form of ”meeting resistance” among the managers in these organizations. Their retold experiences and strategies raise issues of meeting resistance in relation to the meetingization of contemporary work life and, in a wider sense, questions of power and control over time at work. By using a variety of strategies for negotiating and resisting the rule of the calendar, managers may achieve a greater sense of control over their time. Nevertheless, despite their strategies and resistance, the machinery of meetings is hard to stop due to an Eigendynamik of meetings. https://sociologiskforskning.se/sf/article/view/19753meetingstimeresistancemanagersethnography |
| spellingShingle | Joakim Thelander Malin Åkerström Ruled by the calendar? Sociologisk Forskning meetings time resistance managers ethnography |
| title | Ruled by the calendar? |
| title_full | Ruled by the calendar? |
| title_fullStr | Ruled by the calendar? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ruled by the calendar? |
| title_short | Ruled by the calendar? |
| title_sort | ruled by the calendar |
| topic | meetings time resistance managers ethnography |
| url | https://sociologiskforskning.se/sf/article/view/19753 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT joakimthelander ruledbythecalendar AT malinakerstrom ruledbythecalendar |