Making sense of work as a part of everyday life: A qualitative study of Swedish identity construction

Scholars note that over the past few decades work processes have shifted considerably, resulting in adjustments to the relationship between individuals and work organizations. Within this more flexible milieu, intersections between individuals' work lives and the rest of their lives are gaining attention as the boundaries between work and home are increasingly contested. Work/life scholarship offers much in terms of understanding how individuals navigate work and life, but has not paid enough attention to the ways that the organizational and societal contexts within which individuals navigate work and life shape their experiences. Using the qualitative methods of participant-observation and interviewing, in this study I consider how organizational and societal Discourses shape the ways members of a Swedish organization make sense of paid work as a part of everyday life. I approach the issue of managing work and life as a process by which identities are constructed; negotiating the relationship between work and life is a matter of crafting selves. Drawing upon Alvesson and Willmott's (2002) discussion of identity work and identity regulation, I consider how members of the organization appropriate two discursive resources---delivery and wellbeing---in their identity construction. I argue that there are two competing views of the wellbeing resource: The cultural view, drawing on the Swedish cultural value of lagom (moderation), frames wellbeing as an end in itself while the company view frames wellbeing as a means to achieve delivery. Members experience a tension between the preferred identities that result from these competing, yet relatively unarticulated, views of wellbeing. Through the processes of identity construction, however, members retain a tension between the two views. Although organizational structures sediment and legitimize the company view, organizational members readily draw upon the cultural view in interaction. This dynamic enables both practical and instrumental interests to productively interact within this discursive space of identity construction. Their intersection enables moments of micro-emancipation in which neither interest dominates, a tension facilitated by the multi-faceted and moderate cultural Discourse of lagom.; Keywords. organizational identity, identity construction, work/life, work/family, Sweden, micro-emancipation...