Burnout, chronic fatigue, and Prozac in the professions: the iron law of salaries

Haight, Alan Day

doi:10.1016/s0486-6134(01)00072-9

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Excessive working hours are widespread in professional service firms and have already attracted attention from a range of organizational, economic, and accounting scholars (Anderson-Gough et al, 1998, 2001Coffey, 1994;Crompton and Lyonette, 2011;Haight, 2001;Ladva and Andrew, 2014;Landers et al, 1996;Lupu, 2012;Pentland, 1993). The recent death of a young investment banker in London attracted considerable press attention when he collapsed in the shower after having "pulled eight all-nighters in two weeks", as reported in an article entitled "Slavery in the City" (Gallagher, 2013).…”

Section: Overworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A similar example in the accountancy sector is the case of the audit manager for EY, whose death was attributed to stress, combined with lack of sleep and exhaustion (AccountantKey, 2010). As a result, Haight (2001) argues, professional workers "toil on the verge of depression, much as wage workers once toiled on the verge of starvation" (p. 189).…”

Section: Overworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Illusio and overwork: playing the game in the accounting field

Lupu

Empson

2015

Acc Auditing Accountability J

146

131

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose-This paper seeks to understand: how and why do experienced professionals, who perceive themselves as autonomous, comply with organizational pressures to overwork? Unlike previous studies of professionals and overwork, we focus on experienced professionals who have achieved relatively high status within their firms and the considerable economic rewards that go with it. Drawing on the little used Bourdieusian concept of illusio, which describes the phenomenon whereby individuals are "taken in and by the game" (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992), we help to explain the "autonomy paradox" in professional service firms. Design/methodology/approach-This research is based on 36 semi-structured interviews primarily with experienced male and female accounting professionals in France. Findings-We find that, in spite of their levels of experience, success, and seniority, these professionals describe themselves as feeling helpless and trapped, and experience bodily subjugation. We explain this in terms of individuals enhancing their social status, adopting the breadwinner role, and obtaining and retaining recognition. We suggest that this combination of factors cause professionals to be attracted to and captivated by the rewards that success within the accounting profession can confer. Originality/value-As well as providing fresh insights into the autonomy paradox we seek to make four contributions to Bourdieusian scholarship in the professional field. First, we highlight the strong bodily component of overwork. Second, we raise questions about previous work on cynical distancing in this context. Third, we emphasise the significance of the pursuit of symbolic as well as economic capital. Finally, we argue that, while actors' habitus may be in a state of "permanent mutation", that mutability is in itself a sign that individuals are subject to illusio.

show abstract

Section: Overworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Illusio and overwork: playing the game in the accounting field

Lupu

Empson

2015

Acc Auditing Accountability J

146

131

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They have been found to not perceive overwork as mandatory (Golden and Wiens‐Tuers 2006), but rather to see it as a personal choice, even when working beyond the point of physical breakdown (Michel 2011). However, professionals’ perception of being in control of work hours does not spare them from severe well‐being consequences (Haight 2001). Therefore, the idea that work effort would only be harmful for individuals who do not perceive it as voluntary is questionable.…”

Section: Extensive Work Effort and Well‐beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motivational Drivers of Extensive Work Effort: Are Long Hours Always Detrimental to Well‐being?

Avgoustaki¹,

Cañibano²

2020

Industrial Relations

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Is extensive work effort always detrimental to professionals' well-being? We argue that the link between extensive work effort and well-being depends on the reasons why professionals work extended hours. Drawing on self-determination theory and data from an international consultancy firm, we show that extrinsically driven work effort is negatively related to well-being, while intrinsically driven work effort is positively related to well-being. A reinforcing effect seems to exist between the two types of motivators, revealing that intrinsically driven work effort has both a direct and an indirect link to well-being, mitigating the downsides of extrinsically driven work effort.

show abstract

“…Research has demonstrated 'reciprocal anxiety' between clients and consultants (Sturdy 1997), self-alienation (Costas and Fleming 2009), and status anxiety of consultants stemming from their identification with an elite organizational identity (Gill 2015;O'Mahoney 2007O'Mahoney , 2011. However, the literature has not examined in depth the possibility of negative self-meaning and all-consuming insecurities, which may result in long-term mental health problems (Haight 2001) and eventually in consultants losing the battle (Brown 2014).…”

Section: Definitional Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Management Consulting: Towards an Integrative Framework of Knowledge, Identity, and Power

Mosonyi

Empson

Gond

2019

Int J Management Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper reviews the past 28 years of scholarship on management consulting to synthesize the field and establish more broadly its contribution to management research. Through a systematic review of 219 articles, we identify three core conceptual themesknowledge, identity, and power -that have dominated the literature to date. Through a thematic inductive analysis of a subsection of articles, we then investigate how these themes have been defined, used, and linked. This allows us to uncover and problematize the relationships between these themes. In making explicit underlying theoretical assumptions and relationships between knowledge, identity, and power, we induce a unique framework that can guide and support future studies, instigate metaparadigmatic dialogue, and thus help consolidate the field.

show abstract

Burnout, chronic fatigue, and Prozac in the professions: the iron law of salaries

Cited by 3 publications

References 16 publications

Illusio and overwork: playing the game in the accounting field

Illusio and overwork: playing the game in the accounting field

Motivational Drivers of Extensive Work Effort: Are Long Hours Always Detrimental to Well‐being?

Management Consulting: Towards an Integrative Framework of Knowledge, Identity, and Power

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About