1. Women & Men in Management
Chapter 8 – Managing the Work-Family Interface

2. Finding Work-Family Balance
Work-family balance represents:
Satisfaction with the effectiveness of one’s work role in relation to the effectiveness of one’s family role
Good work-family balance is dependent on management of work-family interface
How work role influences family role, and vice versa

3. Define Family
Three variables: marital status, parental status, spouse’s employment status
Six basic combinations:
Single, no children
Married, no children, spouse employed
Married, no children, spouse not employed
Single, children
Married, children, spouse employed
Married, children, spouse not employed

4. Define Family Why are these combinations too simple?
Divorce
Separation
Widowed
Remarried
Same sex vs. opposite sex couples
Unmarried couples with children
Importance of parents, siblings, extended family
Today, those first three variables are not enough to define the family life of each individual!

5. Family Structures in Management
As they become more successful in their careers, they are more likely to have a spouse and children
Women
As women assume managerial positions at higher levels, they are less likely to be married or have children

6. Bias in the Workplace: Family Diversity
Individuals are subject to bias in the workplace based on marital status, parental status, family diversity:
Singlism
Men taking paternity leave
Relocation job offers

7. A Juggling Act Optimistic view Pessimistic view “Trade-offs” view
Involvement in one role enhances functioning in the other.
A heightened sense of well-being and subjective career success
Pessimistic view
Attempting to participate in both work and family roles to a significant extent results in a time bind
“Trade-offs” view
There are costs and benefits to juggling family and work, the challenge is to minimize costs and maximize benefits

8. Conflict Perspective: Work-Family Interface
Work and family roles will inevitably interfere with each other
Work-family conflict
Results from pressures from work and family roles that are mutually incompatible
Has negative consequences for
Employees
Family members
Employers

9. Conflict Perspective: Work-Family Interface
Three types of work-family conflict occur:
Time-based conflict
Time spent working cannot be devoted to family activities, and vice versa
Strain-based conflict
Strain in one role spills over into the other role
Behavior-based conflict
Occurs when incompatible behaviors are required for work and family roles

10. Alleviating Work-Family Conflict
Social support in one role for involvement in the other role
Tangible
Information
Advice
Assistance
Intangible
Affirmation
Affection
Trust

11. Enrichment Perspective: Work-Family Interface
Work and family roles continually enrich or enhance each other
Work-family enrichment
Extent to which individuals’ experiences in one role improve the quality of life in the other role
Has considerable positive consequences
High job satisfaction & organizational commitment
Family satisfaction and overall health

12. Enrichment Perspective: Work-Family Interface
Work-family enrichment occurs when resources generated in one role are applied to positively affect the other role
Skills
Perspectives
Psychological and physical resources
Social-capital resources
Flexibility
Material resources

13. Work and Family as Segmented or Integrated
Individuals vary in preference to segment or integrate work and family roles
Segmenters
Prefer to keep these roles disconnected by maintaining boundaries between work and family
Integrators
Prefer to have roles interwoven in their lives by merging or blending various aspects of work and family

14. Segmenters vs. Integrators: The Trade Off
Experience less work-to-family conflict
Are able to turn off work stressors in the family role
Leave behaviors at the office that would be dysfunctional in the home
Integrators
Transfer positive effects from work to family
See relevance in applying skills and perspectives from work to their family roles
Experience more work-to-family enrichment

15. The Meaning of Success Objective career success Measured by:
Earnings
Level of position in the organizational hierarchy
Rate of advancement
Positively related
Involves more status-based satisfiers
Does not always necessarily lead to career satisfaction

16. The Meaning of Success Subjective career success Measured by:
Potential for advancement
Job security
Relationships with coworkers
Positively related
Involves more socioemotional satisfiers

17. The Meaning of Success Objective family success:
Measured by
Marital or relationship status
Number of children, children’s activities, number of friends
Objective family success is too limited and does not accurately describe family situation
Subjective family success:
Family satisfaction
Quality of family life

18. Sex Differences and Success
Paradox of the contented female worker
Research findings of women who achieve less objective success than men but maintain the same amount of subjective success
Lawyers
Human service workers
Hospitality managers, etc.
Reasoning
Women may expect less objective success than men
Women value objective success less than men do

19. Sex Differences and Success
Paradox of the contented female business owner
Reasoning
Female business owners place less value on achieving business success in traditional terms
They are more concerned with the quality of their relationships with employees and contributions to society

20. Work-Family Decisions
Decisions in one role (work/family) that are influenced by factors in the other role.
Decisions regarding the work domain:
Role entry
Role participation
Role exit

21. Work-Family Decisions
Decisions vary from:
Whether to work part-time or full-time
Whether to start a business
Number of hours to devote to a job or business
Whether to go through a voluntary employment gap
Whether to quit a job
Overall, women’s work decisions likely to be more influenced by family
Decline in gender role endorsement
Leading to more males who take family into consideration

22. Creating a Family-Friendly Work Environment
Recommended Actions for Organizations
1. Offer counseling when organizational decisions affect the family
2. Offer employment assistance to spouses of relocated employees
3. Offer assistance to employees in meeting child care and elder care needs
4. Offer flexible work arrangements to employees when possible
5. Make telecommuting available to qualified employees
6. Offer training on how to deal with family issues
7. Provide incentives for managers to permit subordinates to take advantage of flexible work arrangements
8. Adopt a flexible model of the successful career that does not penalize employment gaps, leaves of absence, and lateral moves
9. Set reasonable standards for the number of hours employees are required to work

23. Creating a Family-Friendly Work Environment
Fostering the family-friendly organizational culture
Create supportive managers to make employees feel more comfortable with family matters and work
Combat singlism
Mindset of employing individuals, not simply job holders

24. Balancing Work and Family
Recommended Actions for Individuals
1. Be aware of your life values regarding the importance of work and family
2. Cultivate social support from all possible sources
3. Get a mentor if possible
4. Deal with stresses in your work and family roles and in juggling the two roles by adopting appropriate coping strategies
5. Reach accommodations with partners about the role that work and family concerns will play in each other’s lives
6. If you are a trailing partner, join a support group or form one with others in similar positions

25. Chapter 8 Terms Extreme jobs Physical resources Work-family balance
Social-capital resources
Work-family interface
Flexibility
Gender roles
Material resources
Gender stereotypes
Segmenters
Singlism
Integrators
Conflict perspective: Work-family interface
Segmentation preferences
Work-family conflict
Objective career success
Time-based conflict
Subjective career success
Strain-based conflict
Status-based satisfiers
Behavior-based conflict
Socioemotional satisfiers
Social support
Paradox of the contented female worker
Gender egalitarianism
Paradox of the contented female business owner
Enrichment perspective: Work-family interface
Work-family decisions
Work-family enrichment
Role entry decisions
Skills
Role participation decisions
Perspectives
Role exit decisions
Psychological resources