Browsing by Author "Fernandes, Ana I."
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- Coffee in the workplace: a social break or a performance enhancer?Publication . Rodrigues, Carla F.; Raposo, Hélder António; Pegado, Elsa; Fernandes, Ana I.Coffee is a socially rooted drink with pharmacological properties. It is embedded in different everyday rituals, including ‘coffee breaks’ during working hours. This paper analyzes the role of coffee in the workplace. Focusing on three professional areas associated with high pressure and responsive demands, we explore the social expression of coffee use at work, and how it is mobilized as a tool for managing sleepiness, fatigue, stress, and concentration problems, amongst other work-related issues.
- The uses of coffee in highly demanding work contexts: managing rhythms, sleep, and performancePublication . Pegado, Elsa; Rodrigues, Carla; Raposo, Hélder António; Fernandes, Ana I.This paper presents a sociological approach to coffee consumption as a performance management strategy in work contexts, particularly in professions with intense work rhythms and highly responsive demands. Focusing on the daily work of three professional groups (nurses, police officers, and journalists), we analyze the social expression of coffee and how it is mobilized to deal with sleep problems, fatigue, concentration, or stress. For this purpose, three intertwined dimensions are explored: (1) the nature of these professionals’ work and the pressures for certain forms and levels of performance; (2) sleep problems as both a result of those work characteristics and a constraint on performance; and (3) the role of coffee in managing professional imperatives. The use of coffee appears as a legitimate practice in everyday working routines, due to its socializing markers, whereas additional benefits are attributed to the pharmacological properties of caffeine, given the perceived improvement in performance. The empirical data was derived from a study carried out in Portugal on the use of medicines and food supplements for performance management, following a mixed methods approach. In particular, data from a questionnaire survey in a sample of 539 workers and information collected through seven focus groups with a total of 33 participants were used.