Working Under the Gun: A Theoretical Analysis of Stressors Associated With the Re-negotiation of Norms and Control of Work Tasks During COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led many of the world's nations to impose numerous preventive and mitigative measures to increase social distance, including various forms of home isolation and quarantine. A central premise for the current paper is that the COVID-19 situation is likely to constitute a massive re-negotiation of social and organizational norms, which may lead to psychological distress at the individual, family and interpersonal level. Virtually overnight, people have to re-define what is expected and deemed appropriate by a given group member in a certain social setting. This goes for all kinds of general social interaction, such as societal, even multinational medical demands on social distancing. Simultaneously it also goes for a sudden, gargantuan re-division of labor in a complex global system. We provide a theoretical analysis of the potential consequences of re-negotiation of norms from the perspective of four sets of psychological theory: Theory of professions; organizational strategic crisis responses; the job-demands-resources model; and theories addressing the interplay between norm violations and psychological distance. From these theories we derive three suggestions that the discussion centers around: (1) The COVID-19 situation leads to a massive re-negotiation of norms related to work, (2) The COVID-19 situation diffuses the demarcation between the various professional arenas and the private sphere, and this diffusion enhances the stress associated with norm conflict, and (3) Norm conflicts are enhanced by digitalization. Our discussion centers on potential stressors associated with the renegotiation of norms, and also includes a few suggestions for practice. For each theoretical suggestion, we give examples of how the suggestion may manifest itself with respect to (a) the work task, (b) the individual's relationship to their leader and/or organization, and (c) interpersonal relationships. We finally point to some theoretical and applied implications.

The Impact of Digital Change Processes on Adaptive Performance

“…These current digital developments, reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic, lead to massive re-negotiation of organizational, social, and behavioural norms, resulting in psychological distress on an individual and interpersonal level (Kant & Norman, 2021). Organizational climate is defined as "the relatively enduring quality of the organization's internal environment that is experienced by members, influences their behavior, and can be described by the values of a particular set of characteristics of the organization" (von Rosenstiel & Nerdinger, 2011, p. 371).…”

“…(3) The instrumental aspect describes involvement in tasks and hierarchy. Kant and Norman (2021) observed that digitalization caused a power asymmetry regarding hierarchies as individual responsibilities increased but also became less clear.…”

The Usage and Impact of ICTs during the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…In many places, the contextual complexity increases as we all engage in work, health, education, and social activities, using the same devices, in the same friendliest-to-video-conferencing spaces in our homes, and challenging expectations and norms about the privacy of our homes in the process. In this sense, previous norms do not necessarily guide us toward what good governance might be, with respect to ICTs (Dwivedi et al, 2020;Kant & Norman, 2021). In this sense, the pandemic not only raises normative contextual boundary management challenges, but also conflates and collapses contexts, introducing new normative challenges.…”