3.1.1. The transformation of space

Following the increased use of ICTs, the notion of place, that is to say a geographical zone contained within physical limits, no longer accurately describes individuals’ immediate environment. We must now use the notion of space instead. Anthony Giddens [GID 90] describes this change: individual or personal space can no longer be defined as the exact space in which the individual is physically present. This “space” has been replaced by a “virtual space” which incorporates all the “spaces” we can access, in particular, all those places to which access is facilitated by the electronic communication channels available to us.

This can lead us into a paradoxical situation that Wilson has described as being “far but near” [WIL 08]. This perception is particularly apt for individuals who rely largely on electronic communications for their work. They can feel much closer to a colleague working thousands of kilometers away but whom they often contact via electronic communications or transactions than to other colleagues stationed in the next office but with whom they have no interaction.

3.1.2. The transformation of time

Electronic communications do not just affect space, but also time. ICTs may facilitate the creation of global organizations whose activity is geographically dispersed widely but it affects temporal boundaries. Global businesses handle affairs across the entire planet; jet-lag affects decision-making processes and requires the use of asynchronous communications.

E-mail has built its success on the need for permanent and global interaction. But by definition, its major assets are its ability to be simultaneously asynchronous, as well as interactive and instant, indeed to operate almost in real time and its immunity to time zones, to the extent that the time continuum and former time references are disappearing day in and day out [AKR 00].

3.1.3. The transformation of distance

The dismantling of the traditional space-time model has also transformed the notion of distance.

Distance is generally defined in terms of space and time. It is sometimes defined as the physical distance that separates objects and is, therefore, expressed in physical units (meters, kilometers, miles, leagues, etc.). It is sometimes defined in units of time (seconds, minutes, hours, etc.) and it, therefore, expresses the time necessary to move from one place to another, or to pass from one situation to another. It can also be defined in cognitive or psychological terms, such as when we describe the distance between moods, or opinions, etc.

If we return to our definition of roles, we can observe that distance can assume various aspects. It can be a question of the physical distance between home and work. At home, an individual will engage in their personal role and identity. At work, they will enact their functional and professional roles. Distance can, therefore, represent the time necessary to move from home to office, or vice versa. It can also represent the time necessary to move from one mood to another in a single place, for example at work, when an employee passes from the role of supervisor to that of supervisee. This is what happens when, having given instructions to a co-worker, an employee reports to someone further up the hierarchy.

Distance can also define the contrasts between roles, that is to say the differences perceptible between the aptitudes and preferences that correspond to two distinct roles (for example, the instance of an individual who may be a policeman during the day and a guitarist in a music group during their leisure hours).

3.1.3.1. Idiosyncratic distance

Electronic communications have transformed the old perception of distance, which corresponds to the geographical distance between two places identified by their topographical position. The distance between individuals or organizations is no longer geographical; it has been transformed into an idiosyncratic distance [WIL 08]. Distance is no longer linked to space or to a place, but has instead become a socio-cultural phenomenon. What is important is the distance in a given social context, in terms of accessibility and proximity, and in terms of the ease and probability of establishing or maintaining relational transactions with individuals or organizations that enact roles in the same social context.

As shown in Figure 3.1, we define the distance between two individuals, Id_i and Id_j, as the minimal length of all the relational links between any of Id_i’s roles and any of Id_j’s roles. The distance is, thus, the shortest distance between any pair of roles (Figure 3.2).

Social networks have integrated this notion of idiosyncratic distance perfectly. In Figures 3.1 and 3.2, the two individuals identified are in a direct relationship. Their idiosyncratic distance is therefore equal to 1, that is to say to the number of links or transactions required to move from one individual to another. This is what social networks identify as a contact, a “friend” or a first degree connection. If these same individuals are linked via a third intermediary individual, the idiosyncratic distance is therefore equal to 2, which social networks identify as a second degree connection and so on.

Idiosyncratic distance, which is in theory limitless in an infinite population or network, seems to have a maximum of 4–6 on a global scale. In fact, this refers to Frigyes Karinthy’s theory of six degrees of separation according to which each person can be linked to any other in the world in at most five transactions or five links in a chain [KAR 29].

3.1.4. Mobility and ubiquity

One more recent characteristic of electronic communications is its mobility. The International Telecommunication Union announced in 2010 that the number of mobiles used globally had exceeded five billion. In some countries, the penetration of mobile devices was more than 100%, in other words there are more devices used than there are inhabitants.

Thanks to mobility, messages and information have become ubiquitous. They can be accessed from anywhere, at any time, such that the traditional space-time framework has largely been superseded. Their ubiquity has completely dismantled the notion of distance, just as much as our references to spatiotemporal boundaries that we used to erect to separate our different roles [BAT 09].

3.2.1. Role boundaries

Electronic communication has changed the characteristics of the boundaries between roles. A substantial body of academic work has focused on studying the changes in permeability and flexibility in work/family and work/leisure boundaries by deconstructing the space-time framework that makes individuals accessible at any time or place.

These studies show a paradigm shift according to which, after quickly abandoning the model in which IT enabled the individual’s access to information at any place at any time, we are returning to a model in which the employee is contactable at any place, at any time. We are no longer in a situation in which the individual is free to access information whenever they like but one in which the individual is relentlessly pursued by messages.

3.2.2. Flexibility

Role boundary flexibility is the opportunity for a given role to be enacted outside its “natural”, predefined space-time domain (see section 2.2.2). Telecommuting is evidence that carrying out professional work from home is no longer a myth. Mobile communications allow professionals to check their e-mails at home, while traveling or at any moment of the day. In a similar way, employees are also able to fulfill personal agenda while at the office, such as booking holidays or leisure activities from their workplace.

These elements show that in principle there should be a balance in directivity. We should find the same level of interference in personal activities at the office as professional activities during leisure time. As Chesley [CHE 05] indicates, means of electronic communication should be easy to manage since they provide integrated tools: messages can be filtered, telephone conversations transferred to answering machines and voicemails, we can leave the telephone to ring without answering it, read our e-mails only when we decide to and all these systems can be switched off!

If reality shows that there are examples of managing electronic messages healthily, it also reveals behavior that is not healthy!

Some organizations are aware of these problems and have not hesitated to implement radical measures. For instance, in January of 2008, Richard Fadden, Deputy Minister for Citizenship and Immigration in Canada, sent an instruction to his employees that, among other measures, called on his teams to “switch off their BlackBerrys between 7 pm and 7 am, as well as at the weekend and when on leave” [FAD 08].

In the memorandum sent to all personnel, Richard Fadden wrote this: “Work/life quality is a priority for me and this organization because achieving it benefits us both as individuals and as a department”.

This directive represents an effort to discipline managers at the Ministry. It also aimed to enforce a blackout on the sending of e-mails, in order to prevent the message recipients from finding large quantities of messages in their inboxes on arriving to the office on Monday mornings. A possible response to information overload is actually to handle messages during catch-up sessions at the weekend. The asynchronous nature of electronic communications, as well as the ubiquity and mobility of IT tools permit this. But the impact on colleagues (and on family life) is sometimes disastrous.

In the same spirit, consultants at the Boston Consulting Group were given instructions to ignore their e-mail one evening per week (and received the promise that they can do so). Thales Avionics recommends that its managers monitor the times when employees log on (outside of work and outside working hours).

But not all organizations and businesses adopt such measures for protecting their employees’ quality of life. Thus, while users are promised increased freedom in theory, practice shows that work pressure encroaches on the individual and private spheres and that work time is spilling over into everyone’s home.

Our research confirms Hall & Richter’s work and shows that personal boundaries are more flexible than professional ones. Deputy Minister Fadden’s responsible and reasonable approach has not been imitated. According to the data we have collected, if new technologies are not carefully and conscientiously managed, they inevitably increase users’ exposure to an imbalance between the professional and the private, as they feel “pursued” at home by their professional roles and the expectations associated with them.

We have sought to discover how far we believe employees should be contactable by telephone, landline, mobile or smartphone, or any other device that increases the range of the newly-created “e-proximity” made possible by the use of electronic communications.

Our survey, carried out over 49 businesses representing around 200,000 employees, shows that remaining in e-proximity to one’s business is increasingly considered an element of professional behavior. In total, 80% of businesses that responded to this survey believe that their employees should answer calls or check professional e-mails more or less permanently, 85% believe that their employees should never turn off their professional mobile phone (for calls and/or messages) and 91% their professional Smartphone (calls, messages and/or e-mails). In total, 80% think it is natural for their employees to answer professional calls outside normal working hours.

3.2.3. Permeability

A role’s permeability measures the level of concentration or attention required for a given role. On one hand, the use of electronic communications has increased role permeability, while individuals’ maximal attention span is decreasing on the other, which can become pathological and amount to Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). This drop in attention is due to information overload, to more frequent interruptions and to unplanned interposed role transitions.

Permeability in professional roles has also increased with the transformation of the economy and the gradual move from an industrial economy to a service economy, and a knowledge economy. Professional and managerial activities are increasingly centered on communication. They are more cognitive and consequently it is becoming easier to “think of work” when in another context.

We can, in fact, think about our professional activities at any time and place. We can mentally prepare a report, a sales pitch or a motivational speech at any point in the day. This includes at home, during journeys, at the theater or the cinema. ICTs have only added to this confusion, to the point where we have to be constantly reminded to switch-off our electronic devices during conferences, meetings or performances.

Recently, there was a joke which went “viral” on social networking sites: when laying a table, should the smartphone be placed to the left or right of the plate?

3.2.4. Role separation

Due to the gradual disappearance of role boundaries, it is becoming more and more difficult to separate (segment or sequence) roles. The transformation of time, space and distance is causing a shift in the integration–separation continuum, in favor of integration.

Businesses do not really help their employees to separate their roles and balance their professional and private lives better. The latter should put their own boundaries in place. According to Olson-Buchanan and Boswell, “individuals may attain segmentation through deliberately erecting and defending self-imposed (or idiosyncratic) boundaries surrounding use of the communication technologies” [OLS 06]. However, their work shows that the more an individual is involved in professional activities, the less effort they will make to impose their own boundaries. It is not likely that they will “switch-off their mobile phones” when they leave the office.

We have also noted that individuals vary according to the self-concept of their roles, that is to say their own opinion of what is an appropriate behavior for a given role or a behavior not demanded by that role. Roles evolve with time, as well as the behaviors that are expected of whoever plays that role. This is as applicable to the individual conception as to general conception, or to the socio-professional context in other words. It seems that increased accessibility to employees, their increased availability to be contactable outside normal working hours and outside their workplace, is considered normal by businesses just as much as by their employees.

3.2.5. Transitions between roles

Richter [RIC 90] handled the question of transition anticipation (see section 2.2.3) and was, thus, able to differentiate between planned and interposed transitions (which can be initiated by the individual or imposed on them). The use of electronic communications has increased the number of interposed transitions and, in particular, those that are imposed on the individual. This is especially the case when, under the pressure of the volume of communication and the socio-professional context, individuals feel the need, indeed the obligation, to be constantly “connected” and attentive to alerts indicating the arrival of new messages.

Each time a new message is received an audible or visual alert appears. It distracts the attention of the person receiving the message and triggers an interposed transition, or at least a disengagement from the role in which the individual finds themselves at the moment the alert appears. This disengagement lasts for, at least, the time that it takes for the individual to read the message, attribute it to a certain role and eventually put it to one side in order to return to the role or task at hand.

For some users, this behavior, almost an addiction to messaging, means that they use their e-mail as a form of habitat [DUC 01]. In fact, their office or their daily activity is centered on their e-mail account, which is used for much more than sending or receiving messages. They use it to archive documents, to chat, to manage tasks, social and work meetings, etc., but also to send themselves reminders, documents to work on, all while sometimes mixing professional and private activities.

This problem generally overwhelms a number of organizations and individuals, and is becoming a serious managerial issue, since these situations can not only have an adverse effect on employees’ health and stress levels, but also (and generally) on productivity [TAY 08, ISA 07]. We observe a drop in levels of attention, an increasing number of transitions and a form of operational zapping and the breaking down or spreading of tasks, along with an information overload that also affects managerial decision-making processes as well as the quality of the decisions that result.

Transitions also depend on role identification. The higher the identification with a given role, the greater its permeability into roles with which the individual identifies to a lesser degree. In this way, individuals who identify strongly with their professional role will be more inclined to accept this interference in non-professional activities. This personal inclination is now believed to be a major source of conflict linked to an imbalance between professional and private life.