The role of third spaces in the transference of practices between life domains Sample Clauses

The role of third spaces in the transference of practices between life domains. Blending between the two areas of work and home occurs not only where work is performed at home or home activities are performed at work, but there are also spaces which are experienced by workers, managers and unionists alike as neither home nor work. These places are particularly important in organizations in which the difference between the work and home domains is more marked, through the organization of the process of production. How important these are for public organizations, for example, or organizations in which borders are not so strong, is still an open question. In the case of Volvo we have seen that the lunchroom is treated differently by workers and managers than the factory floor. While in the latter, there are different bins for different kinds of waste, no provisions have been made for recycling in the lunchroom. In a similar vein, unionists, who are actively engaged in ecological practices at home and have made suggestions to the management for reducing CO2 emissions, have not thought of suggesting that the canteen should be buying ecological, locally produced food. Neither have they enquired about the working conditions of the company which provides the food for the canteen. These examples show that the lunchroom is not treated as a workplace for which managers and unionist take responsibility. Moreover, it is clearly not conceptualised as a space where their concerns and priorities (e.g., working conditions) as union members, have relevance, as it is not seen as part of the workspace. On the other hand, workers report that this is the space where they engage with their colleagues discussing environmental issues that not only relate to the workplace but also the way of life of their colleagues in general, how they use their cars, snow scooters, what kind of toys they buy for their children, etc. In this respect, the lunchroom is similar to the home, where people engage in conversations that are not related to work. This issue is not confined to the factory canteen. There are other ambivalent spaces in the workplace. For example, many office workers bring their lunch to work (e.g., salads, sandwiches) and eat it in their office simply because they have so much to do; their office thus temporarily becomes a different kind of space with different requirements. If they were at home they might separate out recyclable material (e.g., fizzy drink cans), non-recyclable materials (e.g., some plastics) and food waste, putting each in a different ...