Lena Alt

Work-Life in the Media Critique

As humans, we are drawn to familiarity, and the media often creates content with this in

mind. The media often reflects our day-to-day lives and the habits, situations, and people that we

encounter. Although much of what can be seen in the media is dramatized, what we are shown is

often based on reality. One of the familiar issues that can be seen in the media is the idea of

work-life and the conflict that arises between the two. Although many shows and movies stray

from showing a typical American's work life, some, like The Office, are centered around it. The

Office and its characters Jim and Pam portray what work-life balance and conflict can look like

in some homes as they try to juggle their relationship, children, and work.

The Office, a popular television series, follows the fictional manager Michael Scott and

his employees as they spend their days working for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

Although not much of the employees' personal lives outside of the office are shown, a handful of

main characters' personal lives are brought into the plot. One of the main plots in the series is the

relationship between Pam, the receptionist, and Jim, a sales representative. As the show

progresses, Pam and Jim are married and start a family of their own. One time that work-life

conflict can be seen in their family is in season 8, episode 13, Jim takes an extended stay home

from work to help take care of his kids. He tells his coworkers that he is staying home to do jury

duty. Once they see through his lie they are infuriated that he got extra time off to stay home. Jim

then brings his screaming, crying children into the office and his co-workers see how difficult it

is for Pam to care for the children at home alone. This episode represents the idea of time-based

conflict between work and personal life. (Novak & Einhorn, 2012) Another time that conflict can

be seen is in season 9, episode 12. In this episode, the family is upset that Jim is not able to make
it to his daughter's dance recital due to a business meeting. Pam agrees to record it for him on her

phone, but due to her poor skills with her phone, she does not get a video of the performance.

Jim is enraged and takes his anger out on his wife. This episode represents both time-based

conflict and strain-based conflict. (Novak & Einhorn, 2013)

In the first scene, Jim is a perfect portrayal of the time-based conflict. Time-based

conflict happens when “time spent on one activity cannot also be spent on another activity”

(Kramer & Bisel, 2017, p. 317). In this scene, Jim is unable to go to work because he decided to

stay home and help his wife with their children. Although it is highlighted in this scene that Jim

was forced to leave work for an extended period, it should also be noted that Pam was still on

extended leave from the birth of her second child and was unable to return to work quite yet.

This example of work-life conflict being caused by the need to take care of children at home is

something that is quite common. Many parents can either not work because they have childcare

needs, or they miss work due to childcare. To some, taking care of children is a full-time job, and

having a job outside of that is often impossible. Many jobs, like Dunder Mifflin, do not

recognize the need for fathers to take care of their children as well. The employees had no issue

with Pam taking her long leave to care for her newborn and toddler, but when it came to Jim

missing a few days they were infuriated. This situation is a perfect example of the motherhood

norm. The motherhood norm is “a society-wide belief that women should be mothers, and

perform unpaid family care” (Drago, 2007, p. 7).

The second episode also portrays the time-based conflict as well as strain-based conflict.

The idea of time-based conflict can easily be seen in this scene because Jim is unable to attend

his daughter's dance recital because he has an important business meeting at the same time. The

idea of strain-based conflict comes into play in his reaction to Pam not filming the recital for him
to watch at home. Strain-based conflict is “when the challenges of completing one role makes it

difficult or challenging to fulfill the other roles.” (Kramer & Bisel, 2017, p. 318) Jim's role as a

husband to Pam is to be caring and understanding, because of the strain his other job has caused

him, he strays from this role and becomes agitated with her and is no longer able to fulfill his job

as an understanding husband. This scene shows the ideal worker norm, a norm in which there is

a “belief among managers and professionals in total commitment to career, and high rewards for

this commitment.” (Drago, 2007, p.7) Because Jim stays late at his meetings and commutes very

far to the location of his job he is an example of the ideal worker norm. He places his job above

his family commitments in hopes of building his new career in the sports industry.

The overall work-life “balance” that is presented by the media is often not accurate as to

create a more interesting and engaging plot. Working and work take up the majority of our lives

and often watching the media is an escape from this. Many shows are not centered around a

character who works an average job because this does not allow for a creative or exciting plot.

Work and life are often talked about as stressful things in the media. You can often hear

characters at work complaining about personal issues, and characters at home talking about work

issues. The media seems to lean on romantic and family relationships as of the highest

importance, as many shows are plotted around that. This is most likely because this is what many

people in society value or wish to achieve.

The media as a whole has romanticized the idea of work-life to create shows and movies

for us to escape to and to be entertained by, but a handful of shows provide insight on work-life

still. Through Pam and Jim’s relationship and their challenges in taking care of their children as

well as furthering their careers, The Office portrays many of the aspects of work-life conflict and

the struggle for balance.

Drago, R. W. (2007). Striking a balance: Work, family, life. Dollars & Sense.

Kramer, M. W., & Bisel, R, S. (2017). Organizational communication: A lifespan approach.

Oxford University Press.

Novak, B. J. (Writer), & Einhorn, R. (Director). (2012). Jury Duty [TV series episode]. In S.

Carell (Executive Producer), The Office.

Novak, B. J. (Writer), & Einhorn, R. (Director). (2013). Customer Loyalty [TV series episode].

In S. Carell (Executive Producer), The Office.