The effects of liquefying place, time, and organizational boundaries on employee behavior: Lessons of classical sociology

Abstract

This paper explores how the liquefying of place, time, and organizational boundaries affects social control and self-regulation at the workplace. We address Norbert Elias’s civilizing process theory (Elias 2000), and some of the criticism it has evoked, to explore the effects of both physical proximity and distance on control and behavior in work organizations. We hold that the theory still has relevance for contemporary organization and management theory with roots in the more classical traditions of the sociological discipline. Assuming that physical proximity at work is decreasing because of increased telework, the geographical spread of firms, and growing interorganizational collaboration, there is much to be gained by maintaining classical perspectives.