The office: Home away from home

An article released in the September 2005 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research helps to better explain our lives in the workplace. The article finds that in order to reconcile the competing worlds of work and home, people often find ways to blend the two--often by using possessions--yet at the same time maintaining lines of division between cubicle and home comforts.

Setting home and work boundaries

"Even though work often occupies as much of our time and energy as family, the focus of prior research and theory on the extended self has been the home.

We find that negotiating the home/work boundary through personal possessions in the work space is an attempt to reconcile these competing spheres of identity," argue Kelly Tian (New Mexico State University) and Russell Belk (University of Utah).

Tian and Belk stress the importance of possessions, such as pictures, in the workplace. These not only stabilize the self, but they also allow for shifting of the self between home and work. As such, there is an inevitable blurring of boundaries. Also important is the bringing of work-related artifacts home, making a once "privileged place for privacy" less so.

"As more functional work-related possessions enter the home, more symbolic home-related possessions likely enter the workplace. Thus, we seem more apt to bring photos of family members to our office than to bring photos of work colleagues to our home."

More organizing tips for work and home

• Nine secrets of successful organizers
• Get organized and stress less
• How to bust clutter at your workplace in the office