Current Topics in HRM

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Current Topics in HRM
Work-Family Balance
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Work-Family Conflict vs. Family-Work Conflict

• Work-family conflict
• Work adversely affects family life
• Working overtime, work frustration, workplace
  injustice
• Family-work conflict
• Family adversely affects work life
• Especially serious when
• number of children increases

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Outcomes of work-family and family-work conflict

• Poorer job attitudes (job satisfaction,
  organizational commitment)
• Reflecting dissatisfaction with those job or org
  conditions that create conflicts
• Less job motivation poorer job performance
• Poorer life satisfaction
• Conflicts make one feel life is difficult and
  discouraging
• Greater withdrawal intention

4
Demand-Control-Support

• Work stress if often a function of three
  components
• Job demands
• Job control
• Autonomy to make decisions related to work
• Support
• External assistance from employers
• Work-family balance is the lowest (and,
  therefore, work stress is highest) when

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Types of Work-Family Support

• Informal (Indirect) support
• These support measures enhance work-family
  balance

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Types of Work-Family Support

• Formal (Direct) support
• Flexitime, compressed work weeks
• Telecommuting
• Child-care support (subsidy, on-site)
• Childbirth unpaid and paid leaves
• Family medical insurance schemes
• Research shows that support is more
  important in achieving work-family balance

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Telecommuting

• Telecommuting is work conducted from home that is
  often supported by telecommunications technology
• Phone, internet, fax, computers
• Telecommuting is positively related to
  psychological well-being
• Boundary management becomes important

8
Family-Work Enhancement?

• The traditional perspective is that work and
  family are conflicting domains
• The more modern perspective is that work can also
  enrich family life just as family life can enrich
  work
• E.g., spouses doing household tasks during peak
  work seasons (instrumental support)
• E.g., kids comforting and supporting daddies
  (emotional support)
• ? positive mood spillover

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The Role of Personality

• Conscientiousness ? careful planning of time and
  effective time management ? less work-family
  conflict
• Neuroticism ? poor emotional adjustment ? more
  work-family conflict
• Extraversion ? greater repertoire of positive
  energy ? less work-family conflict
• Agreeableness ? more support received ? less
  work-family conflict

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A Summary Model
Job stressors
Work-Family conflict
Family distress
Job involvement
Depression
Family stressors
Family-work conflict
Job distress
Family involvement
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Implications for HRM

• Differentiating between formal and informal
  support for work-family balance
• Paying attention to female employees in
  particular
• Single-parents are particularly in need of
  work-family support

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Reading Guide

• Ignore the comparison with mid-life men
• Pay attention to the strategies adopted by young
  or mid-life female employees to strive for
  work-family balance
• Ignore the text and table related to outcomes of
  coping strategies