At Work, What Tasks Are “Unreasonable”?

In my previous post I had asked “Where do your work expectations come from?”, and discussed “professional identity” as a major part of the answer.

For a quick re-cap, I touched on how we can be torn between two half-truths: that are all people are unique from one another, and that we are all the same (i.e., “XYZ’s behavior is just human nature”). I posited that rather than one or the other of these positions being completely true, we each of have a constellation of identities in our private and professional lives that we share with others in the same role (i.e., father, tax accountant, Floridian). Although we are not identical people to others who share those identities, they create a strong sense of overlap between people, which can lead to a shared sense of what those identities are, how they are likely to be experienced, and what we will do in them.

Professional identity is intimately tied to tasks, roles, and goals. This, is a predominant source of where work expectations come from: Normative experiences of what it is to be a tax accountant, a management professor, a hospital administrator, or Fortune 500 CEO.

Expectations begin being formed in our first role, and in conversations with others within that role. The normative expectations which form our professional identity are then refined by time and experience in that…