Navigating Work and Life Boundaries

As organizations continue to adapt and evolve to meet the challenges related to globalization and working with new collaboration technologies to bridge time and space, demands on employees’ time and attention continue to increase. Recognizing this problem and its implications, such as increased employee turnover, many companies are seeking ways to help their employees maintain a healthy balance between work and life. This book examines work-life conflict, i.e., the increasing lack of employees’ work-life balance, in the context of virtual teams and distributed work. It explores the negative impact on work-life conflict exacerbated by working across time zones, cultures, and geographical spaces. Further, it investigates specific causes of work-life conflict in distributed work environments. For researchers and practitioners in the HRM and OB domains, this book adds to the body of knowledge on work-life conflict, with a unique focus on the role of technology.

Saonee Sarker is Professor at Lund University, Sweden. Until recently, she was Rolls-Royce Commonwealth Commerce Professor and Senior Associate Dean at the McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia, USA.

Manju Ahuja is the Frazier Family Professor at the College of Business, University of Louisville, USA.
Suprateek Sarker (“Supra”) is the Rolls-Royce Commonwealth Commerce Professor at the McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia, USA.
Kirsten M. Bullock is a PhD candidate at the University of Louisville, USA.

“An extremely timely and valuable contribution to help address big challenges facing managers and employees during and after the pandemic - how to address the increasing blurring of our work and personal lives, with the attendant costs to wellness and effectiveness. As technology permeates all aspects of our lives it is incumbent upon us to address the unintended effects. This work provides a very well-researched diagnosis of the issues and clear recommendations for managers who want to address the work/life balance challenges of their teams, especially as related to knowledge work. The focus on globally distributed collaboration, with the heightened time zone, communication and culture challenges is unique and particularly helpful.”

Dan Elron

Managing Director, Strategy, Innovation and Technology, Accenture



“The authors have provided a brilliant analysis and a useful set of navigation tools for this pandemic-induced voyage we are all on together. We were all forced, literally overnight, into this world of working from home, using new collaboration technologies to bridge time and space, nearly completely enmeshed in virtual teams and distributed work, and all struggling mightily with work-life conflict. This work based on the study of distributed work and IT offshoring presents an incredibly helpful and much-needed guide for this journey.”

Dr. Leonard M. Jessup

President, Claremont Graduate University



"The book shows that distributed knowledge work is leading to ongoing work intensification, and that work life boundaries are not just blurred today but essentially erased. It addresses the critical need for IS experts to weigh in on work-life issues. It will be an excellent addition to any manager, student or scholar who wants to thoughtfully understand why and how the changing social and technical structures of distributed work are creating an unsustainable workplace, and motivate a call for change."



Dr. Ellen Ernst Kossek

Basil S. Turner Professor of Management, Purdue University