Ever since the beginning of industrialization the fight for the reduction of working hours was considered the way out of the „kingdom of necessity“. It was only in the 1980s, in the course of a decentralized organization in worldwide networks, that the paradigm changed to more flexible forms of working time management. This is no longer an issue of the collective actors alone but also of the individuals who have to cope with the increasing time flexibility in a socio-structurally differentiated way. From trust-based working hours to on-call duty, from the core workforce with a 35-hour week to temporary work: the contemporary organization of working time took since long already various forms. In addition, the ongoing economic crisis leads in many European countries to forced over-employment and under-employment at the same time.
At the same time the topics are changing under which the problems of the „flexible character“ in balancing different aspects of life are discussed in (human resource) management, psychology and sociology. Role conflicts, the balance of work, free time and family or burnout as a possible consequence are keywords which show that work and work time cannot be separated from life time.
In the special issue and the corresponding seminar (IUC Dubrovnik, 23 – 27 April 2014), we would like to discuss our topic in an adequately broad and interdisciplinary way. We are particularly interested in questions such as:
- Disparities of working time and desired working hours in the course of time
- Quantitative and qualitative working-time regimes
- Time-related stress and wealth in time
- Balancing life domain work conflict
- Models of labour time re-distribution
- Externalities of problematic working time arrangements, e.g. influences on family life, happiness, fertility etc.
This is not an exhaustive list.
Deadline
Potential contributors to the seminar at the IUC Dubrovnik are encouraged to contact the guest editors directly with an abstract of 1-2 pages before January, 31st 2014. A limited amount of travel grants for scholars from German universities are available.
Full papers for a special issue of management revue (http://www.management-revue.org/) must be with the editors by July 31st 2014. All contributions will be subject to a double-blind review. Papers invited to a „revise and resubmit“ are due October 31st 2014. Please submit your papers electronically to Wenzel Matiaske at using as subject „IUC Dubrovnik: Working Time“.
Hoping to hear from you!
Wenzel Matiaske
Simon Fietze
Gerd Grözinger
Doris Holtmann