Kansas State University

Navigating going the extra mile at work and avoiding conflict at home

Submitted by Zoe Abner

In a recent article published in Harvard Business Review, Thomas Kelemen, College of Business management assistant professor, and colleagues from the University of Oklahoma evaluated communication strategies and offer recommendations on how to balance going the extra mile at work while being a good partner at home.

"We knew from previous research that going the extra mile at work can disrupt employees' families so we wanted to understand how employees communicated with their partners to navigate this reality," said Kelemen, whose research interests include leadership, organizational citizenship behavior and job design.

Taking on an extra project or going the extra mile at work can benefit your career but can also create conflict at home. After conducting a series of studies with more than 1,000 employees to analyze how they communicate with their partners about additional work demands, the team identified four strategies that can help families find balance.

1. Clarify whether extra work is actually required.
2. Engage in "citizenship crafting."
3. Recognize the power of communication.
4. Align your communication strategy with your goals.

"We found that those who focused on interpersonal communication were able to set healthy boundaries with work and were intentionally evaluating 'extra work' opportunities through a filter of what is best for them, and the people they care most about reported feeling the most successful across both home and work," Kelemen said.

"We are interested in continuing to study how individuals can balance being great employees while being great partners at home," Kelemen said. 

The Harvard Business Review article is a summary of the group's recent publication in the Academy of Management Journal titled "May I Please Go the Extra Mile? Citizenship Communication Strategies and Their Effect on Individual Initiative OCB, Work-Family Conflict, and Partner Satisfaction."

Learn more about the research endeavors in the College of Business.