1. HOW DO ORGANISATIONAL
CULTURAL SYMBOLS AFFECT
THRIVING AT WORK AS A
CONSTITUENT OF PEOPLE’S WORK
LIFE BALANCE?
A Qualitative Research Proposal
Paul Gunner
A1146766
October 2016

2. INTRODUCTION
The wellbeing of people in organisations has occupied the minds of organisational
psychology researchers for some decades. More often than not, the research utilises
quantitative, method driven techniques (MacCallum, 2016). However, some researchers
utilise qualitative, problem driven and theory driven approaches in an attempt to uncover and
delineate the intrinsic nature of the relationship between work and a healthy, fulfilling life.
Drawing upon interdisciplinary fields of philosophy and anthropology, researchers such as
Pettigrew theorise particular ways of understanding the world of the organisation and its
cultural artefacts. For example, Pettigrew (1979) expounds theories of symbolic
representations, ideologies, rituals and myths in organisational settings.
Such a theory of organisation posited by Pettigrew suggests that cultural components of
organisations are often represented through such things as “symbols, ideologies, languages,
beliefs, rituals and myths” (Pettigrew, 1979, p574). How these everyday symbols and rituals
are constructed and viewed, impact upon the degree to which people may feel either attached
or disenfranchised within the organisation. These everyday, taken for granted phenomena of
objects, relations, structures, covert and overt actions; texture the cultural background
surreptitiously awaiting instigation by people within the organisation. Once realised, they
contribute to patterns of thoughts and behaviours that stimulate at both the individual and
collective levels.
Symbolic representations which include language in the form of such things as mission
statements or workplace banter can be represented to be either inclusive of all people within
or exclusive to the organisation at varying levels. As well, the underlying cultural artefacts
take on a variety of meanings and values circumscribed by the individual and collective
known realities of their personal and organisational lives (Pettigrew, 1979, Hartnell, Ou, &
Kinicki, 2011). The ambiguous cultural conceptions then attached to these representations
should thus be worthy recipients of attention and further understanding about the impact of
organisational culture upon the work-life balance of people in organisations.
WORK LIFE BALANCE
Work-Life balance is a readily accepted terminology in the world of Organisational
Psychology but understanding and obtaining consensus on what that balance is and what the
residing definitions actually are is highly problematic. There has arguably been a trend of

3. mono-disciplinarity within organisational psychology which increases the difficulties in
obtaining precise definitions of work life balance (Gartrell, Burnett, Cooper & Sparrow,
2013). However, a somewhat axiomatic and circular definition of work life balance suggests
that it is an assessment made by an individual as to the degree of balance between multiple
roles (Haar, Russo, Sune and Ollier-Malaterre, 2014).
The dearth of consensual definition along with restrictions of mono-disciplinarity creates a
void in the work life balance research. The examination of cultural influences in work-life
balance theory is also seemingly sparse with commentary suggesting that studies have been
limited to cultural concepts such as gender egalitarianism. Further research in the field has
since targeted multiple and diverse ethnicities in studies that analyse the relationships
between work-life balance, job satisfaction, life satisfaction across cultures, anxiety across
cultures and depression across cultures.(Haar et al, 2014).
Whilst previous studies demonstrate clearly that culture matters and is of importance in
furthering understandings about work life balance, the paucity of research about
organisational cultural implications regarding work life balance is apparent. Moreover,
problematic cultural understandings of work-life balance both influences and are influenced
by numerous factors including well-being at work (Haar et al, 2014). The well-being of
people as a constituent article of work life balance within the organisational cultural context
is also of importance.
THRIVING AT WORK
It is for this reason that this research seeks to investigate the thriving aspects of people’s well-
being within the context of an organisational culture. This qualitative study is proposed as
being of benefit for both the people and the organisation with a focus on people not just
existing, but thriving within the culture of an organisation. The ability of people to exist and
function within organisational culture is necessary of course but the capacity to be vital and
flourish is perhaps the more salient expression toward work-life balance that has meaning and
value for people. Thriving has been variously described as that state which realises this
vitality, passion and endeavour through embeddedness and connectedness in the organisation
and which culminates in a sense of fulfilment. It has also been considered in terms of an
intrinsic measure of individual progress and an adaptive psychological function (Porath,
Spreitzer, Gibson and Garnett, 2012).

4. The constituents of thriving at work may also be conceived as both hedonic (pleasurable) and
eudemonic (realisation of potential) with positive psychology playing an underpinning role
(Spreitzer, Sutcliffe, Dutton, Sonenshein & Grant, 2005). Through the development of trust,
support, autonomy, respect and learning within the organisational setting; the ability to thrive
with its attendant positive psychological and affective corollaries may be apprehended (Boyd,
2015).
A study carried out in 2012, produced a ‘thriving’ metric which set out a measurement scale
for vitality and learning for use in organisational settings. This scale delineates between the
affective (Vitality) and cognitive (Learning) elements of human development particularly in
organisational settings. The authors advocate the predictive capacity of the thriving construct
and argue that it provides evidence of the importance of thriving at work (Porath et al, 2012).
However what is arguably missing in this and some previous studies is attention to the impact
of cultural assignations, meanings and values associated within the organisational symbols,
rituals, myths and language as they interact with the qualities of thriving.
Whilst the presence of these thriving features such as trust, support, autonomy, respect and
learning in the organisation can be ascertained, it is perhaps the absence of these elements
that may also shed light on how thriving at work impacts upon people within the
organisation. And it is perhaps the cultural representations associated with these elements
which may illuminate the presence or absence of a conducive organisational environment
where people are most likely to thrive.
Interestingly, the organisational absence of contributory thriving qualities such as may be
represented symbolically or otherwise, may display as forms of oppression, subordination
and domination. Oppressive organisational environments may lack the required synergy
between collective values, relational values and personal values leading to poor well-being,
lack of thriving and undifferentiated work life balance among people within the organisation
(Prilleltensky, 2003). Organisation context is a matter alluded to in a study which posits
thriving as a result of agentic behaviours in a socially embedded model of thriving at work
(Spreitzer et al, 2005).

5. THE RESEARCH QUESTION
Thus the research question proposed in this paper seeks to qualitatively extend research about
thriving at work by seeking the lived understandings of people in organisational settings
where the symbols of culture may be expressed through elements of language, rituals,
objects, relations and structures. The complex of thriving as a psychological construct of
these cultural representations may then be better understood for its contribution toward
greater knowledge of work life balance matters. So this proposal utilises a theory driven
qualitative research design and will ultimately employ thematic analysis. The theoretical
underpinnings such as concepts of organisational culture inform this research proposal along
with thriving theory.
Thus the broad research question which has been developed from the above literature review
is articulated as:
HOW DO ORGANISATIONAL CULTURAL SYMBOLS AFFECT THRIVING AT
WORK AS A CONSTITUENT OF PEOPLE’S WORK LIFE BALANCE?
Some contemplative sub-questions which may also arise from this encompassing research
question could be in the order of: Does the absence or presence of organisational cultural
artefacts signify differences in people’s thriving at work? Does thriving at work impact upon
work life balance? Do organisational cultural artefacts have meaning beyond the
organisational context?

6. REFERENCES
Gatrell, C., Burnett, S., Cooper, C., & Sparrow, P., (2013), Work-Life Balance an
Parenthood: A Comparative Review of Definitions, Equity and Enrichment.
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Haar, J. Russo, M., Sune, A., Ollier-Malaterre, A., (2014), Outcomes of work-life balance on
job satisfaction, life satisfaction and mental health: A study across seven cultures,
Journal of Vocational Behavior, 85, 61 -373.
Pettigrew, A., (1979), On Studying Organizational Cultures, Administrative Science
Quarterly, 24, 570 – 581.
Prilleltensky, I., (2003), Understanding, resisting and Overcoming Oppression: Toward
Psychopolitical Validity, American Journal of Community Psychology, 31 (1&2),
195 -201.
Spreitzer, G., Sutcliffe, K., Dutton, J., Soneshein, S., & Grant, A., (2005), A Socially
Embedded Model of Thriving at Work, Organization Science, 16 (5), 537 – 549.
Porath, C., Spreitzer, G., Gibson, C., & Garnett, F., (2012), Thriving at Work: Toward its
measurement, construct validation and theoretical refinement, Journal of
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Boyd, N., (2015), Introducing Thriving at Work to the Field of Psychology, Journal of
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MacCallum, R, (2016), Commentary on Quantitative Methods in I-O Research, Society for
Industrial and Organizational Psychology, http://my.siop.org/journal, Accessed
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