scholarly journals Woman, manage your life! The Life-Work Balance Discourse in Popular Management Literature Aimed at Women*

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 59-70
Author(s):  
Maria Medina-Vicent

Management posts have traditionally been held by men. Consequently, the business management normative model has dictated the rules women should follow. Among other reasons, this is why the issue of work-life balance has been sidelined in popular management literature. In keeping with these male-dictated rules, it was always blithely assumed that the manager's role was exclusively linked with his public presence — in other words, family and care issues were left out of the equation. However, as more and more women have become managers, new issues have shaped the management agenda. In this paper, we study how the issue of work-life balance has been incorporated in popular management literature for women. We are particularly interested in identifying whether the discourse on women’s presence in management enshrines: (1) a transformative, egalitarian vision (requiring policies fostering work-life balance), or (2) a view that sees women’s traditional household roles as something belonging to the private sphere, leaving them disadvantagedand bereft of support as they pursue their management careers.

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Łukasz Sienkiewicz

One of the key challenges faced by today’s workers is to live at an ever-increasing pace, which creates a conflict between professional and private life. This results from the extension and intensification of working time, the need for constant improvement of competences and, as a result, lack of free time for family life or rest. More and more companies are opting for specialised programmes to prevent imbalances between professional and private life (Work-Life Balance – WLB). However, the scope of solutions applied by Polish employers is not systematically examined. Therefore, the article reviews and analyses the applied solutions in the field of reconciliation of professional and personal life (including family life) in enterprises operating in Poland, as well as barriers and challenges of their implementation. Identified challenges of financial, legislative, organisational and cultural character limit the practical use of such mechanisms.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill R. Helmle ◽  
Isabel C. Botero ◽  
David R. Seibold

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that influence perceptions of work-life balance among owners of copreneurial firms. Research on work-life balance in the context of family firms has focussed on the effects that perceptions of balance can have on the emotional well-being of business owners and performance of the firm. Less attention has been given to understanding the factors affecting an owner's perceptions of work-life balance. This paper not only explores the antecedents of perceptions of work-life balance but does so with copreneurs, or couples who own and manage a firm. Design/methodology/approach – Data for this study were collected using surveys. In all, 210 copreneurs with businesses in nearly 20 industries answered questions about their perceptions of work-life balance, work-life conflict (WLC), life-work conflict, communication practices, characteristics of their jobs, and spousal support. Findings – WLC was negatively related to perceptions of work-life balance. Job involvement, flexibility at work, and permeability of communication were significantly related to perceptions of WLC. Interestingly spousal support did not affect individual perceptions of life-work balance, but had a direct influence on perceptions of work-life balance. Research limitations/implications – The sample was not randomly selected, and participants were surveyed at only one point in time. Notwithstanding these limitations, the findings have implications for advancing research and theory in the areas of family business, work-life issues, and communication. While the paper focus on copreneurial firms, the findings may have implications for family firms and co-founded ventures. Practical implications – The potential benefits of copreneurs’ increased awareness of these findings (from readings or through coaching) are important given prior research demonstrating that family to work conflict and work to family conflict affect the emotional well-being of family business owners, their satisfaction with work, and firm performance. Originality/value – This project offers two important contributions to research in family firms. First, it focusses on copreneurial firms as a unique type of family firm which has the potential to shed light on the differences between family firms. Second, results from this study provide a picture of the predictors of work-life balance for couples who are firm owners.


2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Rabl ◽  
Torsten M. Kühlmann

Abstract. Because of an aging population and workforce worldwide, this paper addresses the work-life balance issue of older employees. We thereby focus on work-life conflict in both its directions – work-life interference and life-work interference. Our survey study with a sample of 1,255 German employees aimed to answer the following questions: Are there differences between older and younger employees regarding work-life conflict? How does perceived age discrimination – an age-related work stressor – relate to work-life conflict? Does age function as a moderator? Our results provide evidence for lower work-life conflict of older employees. Furthermore, perceived age discrimination was positively related to both work-life interference and life-work interference. No moderator effect of age was found. These results yield important implications for an age-specific human resource management.


Author(s):  
Salamiah Sari Dewi ◽  
Abd. Madjid ◽  
Aris Fauzan

Today's work scenario is characterized by a fast rate of change, intense pressure, constant decline, changing demographics, increasing use of technology have affected the lives of employees. A person working aims to find life-work balance in his personal life. Work-life balance has implications for attitudes, behavior, welfare and organizational effectiveness. Therefore, it is necessary to have an attitude of appreciation from a sense of diversity towards a religion and one's belief in the existence of God which is manifested by obeying His commands and prohibitions with all one's heart and soul which is called religiosity. Religious activities are closely related to religiosity, not only when performing rituals (worship), but also other activities including work. Thus, religiosity can predict a person's behavior at work. This article reviews the literature on the role of religiosity in the work-life balance domain for employees, which emphasizes the importance of work-life balance supported by the values of religiosity of the employees.


2022 ◽  
pp. 533-545
Author(s):  
Kimber O. Underdown ◽  
Crystal L. McCabe ◽  
Michael F. McCabe

This chapter will discuss how to ensure that online educators are caring for themselves in order to avoid stress, burnout, and leaving the professions. Because many educators feel additional stressors when working online or from home, the following topics will be discussed to mitigate these stressors: life-work balance, self-care, and mindfulness. Each section will detail the research behind each strategy and will specific ways educators can implement these strategies with ease. The authors share key strategies to work-life balance, self-care, and mindfulness, as well as ways in which the reader can easily teach his or her own students these same skills to increase the likelihood that the future workforce is prepared for the stressors that will inevitably be a part of their lives.


Diagnostica ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 134-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Syrek ◽  
Claudia Bauer-Emmel ◽  
Conny Antoni ◽  
Jens Klusemann

Zusammenfassung. In diesem Beitrag wird die Trierer Kurzskala zur Messung von Work-Life Balance vorgestellt. Sie ermöglicht eine globale, richtungsfreie und in ihrem Aufwand ökonomische Möglichkeit zur Erfassung von Work-Life Balance. Die Struktur der Skala wurde anhand zweier Stichproben sowie einem zusätzlich erhobenen Fremdbild untersucht. Die Ergebnisse der Konstruktvalidierung bestätigten die einfaktorielle Struktur der Skala. Die interne Konsistenz der Skala erwies sich in beiden Studien als gut. Zudem konnte die empirische Trennbarkeit der Trierer Work-Life Balance Skala gegenüber einem gängigen Instrument zur Messung des Work-Family Conflicts ( Carlson, Kacmar & Williams, 2000 ) belegt werden. Im Hinblick auf die Kriteriumsvalidität der Skala wurden die angenommenen Zusammenhänge zu arbeits-, nicht-arbeits- sowie stressbezogenen Outcome-Variablen nachgewiesen. Die Eignung der Trierer Work-Life Balance Kurzskala zeigt sich auch daran, dass die Korrelationen zwischen den erhobenen Outcome-Variablen und dem Work-Family Conflict und denen der Trierer Work-Life Balance Skala ähnlich waren. Überdies vermochte die Trierer Work-Life Balance Skala über die Dimensionen des Work-Family Conflicts hinaus inkrementelle Varianz in den Outcome-Variablen aufzuklären. Insgesamt sprechen damit die Ergebnisse beider Stichproben für die Reliabilität und Validität der Trierer Work-Life Balance Kurzskala.


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