Abstract

There are some professionals whose work is always prone to extremes; emergency service workers would fit in to this category. These extremes, however, have typically been short-term aspects of the role punctuated by long periods of normality. This article examines the experiences of line managers in an Australian police service facing pressures both internal and external to the organisation that make extreme working conditions the norm rather than the exception. We use data from forty-seven managers in The Police Service supported by illustrative diary study data to examine their experiences in times of significant change. Our results reveal extreme work resulting from human resource management system out of sync with changes in the expectations of society and media, technological advances in surveillance and social media access and use and an increase volume of ‘extreme’ weather events.

摘要

有些专业人士的工作总是容易走极端；紧急服务人员就属于这一类。然而，这些极端情况通常是该角色的短期表现，其间夹杂着长期的正常状态。本文探讨了澳大利亚警察部门直线经理的经历，他们面临着组织内部和外部的压力，这些压力使极端的工作条件成为常态，而不是例外。我们使用来自警察局47 名管理人员的数据以说明性日记研究数据为支持，检查他们在重大变化时期的经历。我们的研究结果表明，人力资源管理系统与社会和媒体期望的变化、监控和社交媒体访问和使用方面的技术进步以及“极端”天气事件数量的增加不同步，导致了极端工作。